Hudson beats his former A's, now has W against all 30 teams

SAN FRANCISCO -- Tim Hudson knows almost nobody around the ever-changing Oakland Athletics anymore. That didn't make defeating his former team for the first time any less sweet.

Hudson earned a win against the only team he had never beaten in a 17-year big league career, pitching the San Francisco Giants past the struggling A's 4-3 on Sunday for a sweep in the Bay Bridge Series.

Matt Duffy hit a two-run homer in the first and drove in three runs, and Brandon Belt added an RBI single in the initial inning to back Hudson, who became the 15th pitcher to defeat all 30 current teams in the majors.

"It's a pretty cool thing to be able to say you've done," he said. "I spent a lot of fun years over there ... a lot of great memories, a lot of great success. The only familiar faces over there now is the front office and the medical staff. It is nice to finally have beaten them."

He also won his first game since turning 40 on July 14.

Buster Posey had a season-high four hits in the Giants' sixth straight home win, fifth in a row overall and 12th in 14.

The reigning World Series champion Giants recorded their seventh sweep of the season and first against the A's since May 20-22, 2011, at AT&T Park. The clubs play again at Oakland from Sept. 25-27.

Hudson (6-8) faced Oakland for the third time after losing the first two. The right-hander was a sixth-round draft pick by Oakland in 1997 and pitched his initial six major league seasons for the A's from 1999-2004.

Hudson's wild pitch in the second allowed the A's to get one run back after Josh Reddick's leadoff double. Brett Lawrie and pinch-hitter Billy Butler had consecutive run-scoring singles in the fourth.

Fourth reliever Santiago Casilla gave up a leadoff walk and a single with none out before finishing for his career-high 26th save.

"We couldn't get that one last run again," A's manager Bob Melvin said.

Third base umpire and crew chief Joe West checked the ball Hudson was throwing in the third -- the first time the pitcher has ever had that happen -- drawing boos from the sellout crowd of 42,034. Hudson then hit his 19th career double in the bottom half.

"I guess I went to my mouth and didn't wipe my hand before I went to the ball," Hudson said of West's explanation. "If I was cheating I'd hope I'd have a little better stuff than I was throwing out there today."

The Giants recognized West on the main scoreboard before the sixth for working his 4,768th game, tied for third all-time with Tommy Connolly.

Combined with his nine home runs, Duffy has driven in himself and Angel Pagan 17 times.

Oakland lost its fourth straight and fifth in six.

A's rookie Kendall Graveman (6-7) lost his third straight start and failed to make it out of the fifth in as many of those outings that came following a three-start winning streak.

He missed batting for the first time as a professional, too, knocked out after 1 1/3 innings with seven hits and four runs.

Oakland leadoff hitter and center fielder Billy Burns returned to the starting lineup after being held out of the lineup Saturday after fouling a ball that hit him in the groin area a day earlier, causing a testicular bruise.

MELVIN VS. BIG UNIT

As Randy Johnson was enshrined in the Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, Melvin reminded everybody how well he batted against the Big Unit back in the day.

Melvin went an impressive 14 for 31 against Johnson with a double, an RBI, two walks and six strikeouts. But Melvin swears he has 18 hits in the matchup, with four somehow missing.

Melvin's .452 batting average against Johnson is tied for second-best with Albert Pujols for players with at least 24 at-bats.

"I'm not going to complain about my numbers," he said. "I've told him many times he kept me in the big leagues for 10 years."

TRAINER'S ROOM

Athletics: Switch-pitcher Pat Venditte (strained right shoulder) will pitch again Tuesday for Class-A Stockton using both arms after throwing a scoreless inning Saturday pitching left-handed. ... OF Coco Crisp, out since May 20 with a neck injury, will begin a rehab assignment Monday with Stockton.

Giants: LF Nori Aoki (broken right fibula) was returning to San Francisco from Triple-A Sacramento to be reevaluated following a rehab assignment, with the hope he will be activated from the disabled list Monday. Manager Bruce Bochy hasn't decided on his lineup upon Aoki's return considering Angel Pagan has done well leading off.

UP NEXT

Athletics: After Monday's off day, All-Star Sonny Gray (10-4) goes again for his 11th victory in the opener of a quick two-game series at Dodger Stadium.

Giants: RHP Chris Heston (10-5) pitches Monday's opener of a home series with Milwaukee.