The San Francisco Giants received another strong outing from veteran right-hander Adrian Houser on Sunday as they rolled to a 10-1 victory over the Athletics in challenging weather conditions at Sutter Health Park.

With heavy winds swirling throughout the afternoon in Sacramento, Calif., Houser described the outing as more of a grind than the final score might suggest.

“You know, it was a battle,” Houser said postgame. “There was a grind out there, trying to just stay in the mechanics, and just feeling the wind blowing and messing with stuff. But I was able to execute when I needed to.”

Despite issuing five walks, Houser limited damage across six strong innings while relying heavily on the defense behind him. The veteran acknowledged the walks were frustrating but credited the fielders for helping him escape difficult situations throughout the game.

“Obviously, don’t want to have all those walks,” Houser said. “I don’t like that. But the guys are playing great defense behind me, making plays when I needed to.”

The wind became one of the biggest storylines of the afternoon, impacting everything from fly balls to pitchers’ balance on the mound. Houser admitted there were moments where the gusts physically altered his mechanics during his delivery.

“There’s a few pitches where literally I raised my leg up and my back foot and everything shifted forward from the wind,” Houser explained. “So it was a pretty strong wind out there.”

While the conditions were unusual even for San Francisco, Houser said his background pitching in Oklahoma may have helped him adjust quicker than most.

“Oh yeah,” Houser said when asked if he had pitched in similar weather before. “Springtime in Oklahoma, you got a strong south wind, north wind, and so it’s all over the place.”

One of the game’s biggest defensive moments came on a difficult pop-up catch by Matt Chapman, a play that Houser viewed as much harder than it may have appeared from the stands.

“I don’t think people realize it was about 10 or 15 rows deep into the stands and then it came all the way back,” Houser said. “Being able to keep an eye on that and make that catch right there, it’s big time.”

The Giants have now started to build momentum after a competitive series in Los Angeles earlier in the week, and Houser said the club’s focus remains simple moving forward.

“This is big,” Houser said. “Just keep stacking good days on top of good days, take it one day at a time, and get on a roll here.”

Houser also praised the atmosphere surrounding the Bay Area rivalry series, noting the energy in the ballpark throughout the weekend.

“It was a pretty awesome atmosphere,” Houser said. “It felt like a playoff-type environment at times.”

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