The San Francisco Giants wrapped up their Bay Area rivalry series against the Athletics with a commanding 10-1 victory on Sunday, and afterward manager Tony Vitello said the unpredictable wind at Sutter Health Park played a major role throughout the afternoon.

“It was a massive factor,” Vitello said when asked about the conditions before the game. “You saw some things that wouldn’t normally happen, and it was kind of fun.”

Several hard-hit balls from the Athletics died in the outfield because of the heavy wind, while routine defensive plays suddenly became much more difficult.

Vitello pointed to Matt Chapman’s key pop-up catch as one of the game’s defining moments, especially after Chapman spoke before the game about wanting another opportunity on a similar play.

“Chappie came in more determined to make a play on a pop-up, a crazy pop-up,” Vitello said. “He spoke that one down the line to Houser’s outing into existence.”

Vitello also believed the conditions favored veteran starter Adrian Houser, who delivered another strong performance. The Giants manager joked that Houser’s upbringing in Oklahoma prepared him perfectly for the windy environment.

“We had a clear, unfair advantage today with Houser growing up in that state, because it’s like that all the time,” Vitello said.

Houser continued what Vitello described as an excellent stretch of pitching despite occasionally being “snake bitten” earlier this season. The manager praised the right-hander for continuing to attack hitters and trust the process even when results had not always gone his way.

Offensively, the Giants finally broke through with the type of sustained rally Vitello has been waiting to see from his lineup. Rather than relying solely on home runs, San Francisco consistently strung together quality at-bats and low line drives in difficult hitting conditions.

“There wasn’t one explosive moment,” Vitello explained. “It was kind of a lot of scrapping, and taking advantage of mistakes, and just hitting low line drives.”

Vitello said the Giants’ recent offensive improvement is a sign that the group is beginning to settle in after some frustrating stretches earlier in the year.

“We got guys who can hit,” Vitello said. “We just hadn’t strung everything together.”

He also referenced Harrison Bader’s recent misfortune after the outfielder nearly hit a grand slam Saturday that was knocked down by the wind. On Sunday, Vitello believed baseball rewarded the Giants for continuing to push forward mentally instead of dwelling on bad breaks.

“If the game sidetracks you into the negative and beating yourself down, and thinking the game’s going against you, it’ll probably work that way,” Vitello said. “But if you realize you just keep pushing forward and keep doing what you can control, then we string together innings like we strung together.”

Vitello also praised the defense as a whole, specifically mentioning Willy Adames and Rafael Devers for continuing to improve in the infield while Bader stabilizes center field defensively.

“Defense has been good,” Vitello said. “Guys are just getting better each day.”

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