Month: May 2016

Rangers’ Manager Banister Defends Rougned Odor

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By Ben Leonard

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rantsports.com photo: Texas Rangers Jeff Banister said the now famous punch by the Rangers Rougned Odor was justified on the Toronto Blue Jays Jose Bautista as stated before the Rangers-A’s game on Monday
OAKLAND– The unwritten rules of baseball are tricky. Hit a home run and celebrate, and you get drilled. Take a hard slide to try to exact your pound of flesh in return, and you’ll get drilled again with a sucker punch. 

Jose Bautista learned it the hard way on Sunday after hitting a go-ahead home run in the seventh inning in an elimination game against the Texas Rangers last postseason, arguably the most enthralling in Blue Jays history. His crime? Dropping his bat emphatically and electrifying the Rogers Centre. 

On Sunday, Bautista came up to the dish in likely his final plate appearance against Texas in 2016, and finally got hit with the revenge the Rangers had been seeking, a Matt Bush fastball to the ribs. When Bautista slid hard into second base, Rangers’ second baseman Rougned Odor took exception, dealing Bautista a punch right to the face. The benches cleared, and the rest is history. 

The fiery Odor has a reputation for playing physically. According to Yahoo’s Jeff Passan, when Odor came up to the majors, a scout had this to say about him: “The thing I love about him the most is you do not want to [expletive] with him.” Wild guess, but I think Bautista would agree with that.

Don’t count Rangers’ manager Jeff Banister as one of those coming down hard on Odor. The second-year manager thinks the media has been unfair in criticizing the second baseman.

“I’m not going to criticize a player for playing hard in those situations, on our side or on their side,” Banister said Monday before a game against the Oakland Athletics. “Things happen during those situations that are ugly, that look bad — it’s not good for anybody. But I think you’re getting a little one-sided on the view. That was not a pretty situation out on second base that got escalated because there were two guys that had a lot of passion for the game and played hard. Do you want that to happen? Absolutely not — I don’t want that.”

Banister also doesn’t think Odor should have to temper his emotions and passion in order to please others. “Does he need to walk a fine line, and what do we do, take his personality and passion away from him and now he’s not the same player?” Banister said. “I think he needs to continue to play. It’s how he plays the game  — he plays it hard, he runs hard, he swings the bat, he does things to try and help his team win ball games….I haven’t seen anything that is dirty. If playing hard is offensive, then it’s just offensive.”

Many believe that Bush intentionally hit Bautista to spark the brawl, but Banister once again dispelled the notions that his players were culpable. With a one-run lead and Bautista having logged just two hits that series, Banister thought Bush was just trying to help his team win the game.

“We’re in the business of winning baseball games,” Banister maintained. “We had a one-run lead. We’ve blown quite a few leads late from a shaky bullpen — why would we intentionally put ourselves in that situation? That’s the part of this I don’t understand. We would have been just as happy to move on and win a baseball game — which we did.”

Baseball scripture suggests that players new to the team, like Bush, would do anything to gain the approval of their teammates — especially plunk Bautista. Again, Banister defended his pitcher.

“When you’re on a team you’re part of the team, whether you’re a new guy or a veteran,” Banister said. “Earning your stripes is helping a team win games.”

 

 

 

 

Sharks can’t capitalize on chances in Game 1 loss

Published on by Eric HeLeave a comment

By: Eric He

AP photo: St Louis Blues teammates congratulate goaltender Brian Elliott (1) after game one victory over the San Jose Sharks during Sunday’s Western Conference Final game

The Sharks put the pressure on the Blues in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals in St. Louis, but couldn’t finish on enough scoring chances in a 2-1 loss to start the seven game series.

Jon Lehtera scored the game-winning goal for the Blues midway through the second period, taking advantage of a turnover by Brent Burns in the defensive zone. Lehtera’s slap shot found its way past Martin Jones on a shot the Sharks’ goaltender would like to have back.

Turnovers were the theme of the night for the Sharks, who gifted the Blues several scoring opportunities. But the Sharks still found themselves down by just a goal late in the third. They pulled Jones with over two minutes to play and put a barrage of shots in on Blues’ goaltender Brian Elliot, but could not find the back of the net.

The Sharks never held the lead in the game, falling behind five minutes in on a power play goal by David Backes in the first period. Though, they responded 34 seconds later when Brent Burns’ shot from the point deflected off Joe Pavelski and Tomas Hertl into the net — Hertl was credited with the goal.

San Jose, boasting a dangerous power play, went 0-for-3 on the man advantage in Game 1, thought it outshot St. Louis 32-23.

Still, the Sharks weren’t able to come up with a goal to force overtime and drop the first game of a series for the first time this postseason.

Game 2 will be Tuesday at 5 P.M.

Favorable review helps Giants complete sweep

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By DANIEL DULLUM
Sports Radio Service
Sunday, May 15, 2016

AP photo of San Francisco Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford 35 turning a double play on the force on Arizona Diamondbacks Brandon Drury 27 at Chase Field Sunday

PHOENIX, Arizona – Though it required a little drama, the San Francisco Giants left the Valley of the Sun on Sunday with a four-game sweep under their belts.

A video review of the game’s disputed final play insured that the Giants slipped past Arizona 2-1 and return to first place in the National League West by ½ game over Los Angeles.

When Diamondbacks pinch-hitter Rickie Weeks Jr. hit into a fielder’s choice, the relay throw by Crawford appeared to pull Belt off the bag, initially allowing pinch-runner Ahmed to score what would have been the game-tying run.

“Belt made a heck of a pick on that play and it happened so fast, I think the umpire (Gabe Morales) thought he came off the bag,” Giants Manager Bruce Bochy said. “And we were challenging whether or not (Brandon Drury) was out at second, so there were a lot of challenges going on, including the slide at second.

After a 3-minute, 24-second review, the call was reversed to a 4-6-3 game-ending double play.

“It started with an inside pitch to Weeks that jammed him, and we did a good job of turning two there,” Bochy said. “That’s not an easy pick for Belt. He completed the play and that was a great way to end the game.”

San Francisco surged ahead 2-1 in the top of the ninth on an RBI single by Brandon Crawford. Hunter Pence led off with a base hit to greet Diamondbacks closer Brad Ziegler (1-2). Brandon Belt followed with a single, and Crawford delivered a base hit to right, allowing Pence to score the go-ahead run from second.

After issuing an intentional walk to Conor Gillespie to load the bases, Trevor Brown hit into a 6-4-3 double play to end the rally.

With one out in the Arizona ninth, San Francisco closer Santiago Casilla issued a walk to Yasmany Tomãs, and his pinch-runner, Ahmed, scampered to third on a single by Drury. That set up the dramatic finish that disappointed many of the 25,007 who saw the game.

“That double play at the end was an easy call,” Bochy said. “It was a double play and we were pretty confident we would win that appeal.

“There was a lot of drama waiting to see what the call was going to be.”

Hunter Strickland (2-0), who retired the two batters he faced in the eighth inning, picked up the win. Casilla earned his ninth save.

“Our pitching has done a great job here against a tough lineup. Our bullpen was great in this series,” Bochy said. “(Arizona) swept us the last time we saw them, so it was good to come here and get four.”

Brown had the only hit off De La Rosa, a solo home run in the fourth inning that gave the Giants an early 1-0 lead. Otherwise, De La Rosa only allowed walks to Brandon Belt, Angel Pagan and Conor Gillespie, with five strikeouts.

“It looked like (De La Rosa) was trying to go away and it ran a little to the middle on him,” Brown said. “I was just trying to be aggressive because he’s a hard thrower. So I looked for a fastball and he left one in the middle of the plate for me.”

Matt Cain had one of his better outings of the season, giving up one run on seven hits with seven strikeouts and four walks. Cain also worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth, and benefitted from the defense turning three double plays behind him – four total.

“Matt’s really gained traction in his last two starts,” Bochy said. “He did a good job today. He had good command, and the run he gave up was a cheap run after a wild pitch. He did a great job of pitching out of trouble with good, quality pitches to get ground balls.”

Though Cain has struggled in his first six starts and hasn’t won a game since July 22, 2015, Bochy feels the veteran righthander is making progress in his last two starts while bouncing back from surgery in February to remove a cyst from his throwing arm.

“His confidence has grown and his stuff is fine,” Bochy said. “His bullpens and warmups have been great. But in the game, things just weren’t going well for him. I think, now, he feels his stuff is fine, he’s healthy, and he’s more settled in.”

Arizona manufactured the tying run in the fourth inning. With one out, Jake Lamb doubled, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on Paul Goldschmidt’s sacrifice fly to center.

The Diamondbacks’ Chris Herrmann – AKA “America’s Backup Catcher” – was in center field instead of behind the plate for De La Rosa. On the game-ending play, he said, “It was a tough way to lose a game. Replay is a part of the game now, so what can you really do? It’s a bad way to go out, and nobody wants to lose a game like that.

“We should have tied the game. They made the call, and there’s nothing we can do.”

GIANT JOTTINGS: After an off-day, the Giants head to San Diego for three games against the Padres. San Diego will face, in order, Madison Bumgarner (4-2), Johnny Cueto (5-1) and Jeff Samardzija (5-2). … RHP George Kontos (right flexor strain) has finished his rehab assignment with Triple-A Sacramento. He’s expected to be activated on Tuesday. On Monday, the Diamondbacks are hosting the New York Yankees and honoring the late baseball legend Joe Garagiola, who passed away in March. Garagiola was a part-time D-Backs television announcer until 2013, and a radio-TV voice of the Yankees from 1965-68. … The D-Backs extended their Triple-A contract with Reno through 2018.

TAGS: San Francisco Giants,Arizona Diamondbacks,Matt Cain,Trevor Brown,Sports Radio Service,Daniel Dullum,

A’s beat Rays 7-6 in comeback victory

Published on by Charlie O. MalloneeLeave a comment
MLB: Oakland Athletics at Tampa Bay Rays
Oakland Athletics third baseman Danny Valencia Photo Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

by Charlie O. Mallonee

The Oakland Athletics (16-22) closed out their nine-game road trip on a high note with a 7-6 win over the Tampa Bay Rays (16-19) on Sunday. The victory also gave the A’s the series win two games to one.

Trailing the Rays 6-5 with two out in the top of the ninth inning the Athletics played like a team that refused to lose. With two out, Billy Burns hit a 1-2 pitch into center field for a double. That brought Danny Valencia to the plate. Valencia had already hit two home runs in the game. Valencia hit the first pitch to him from reliever Steve Geltz over the left center field wall for a two-run home and gave the A’s a 7-6 lead.

Oakland closer Ryan Madson came on in the bottom of the ninth and needed just four ptiches to retire the side and preserve the win for the A’s. It was save number 10 of the season for Madson.

This is a significant win for the A’s for three reasons. First, they won a game on day when their pitching ace Sonny Gray did not have a great outing. Second, the A’s had to come from behind to win on Sunday proving to themselves they can fight their way back into games. Third, Oakland won a one-run game. For whatever reason, this is a team that finds itself in one-run games frequently. The Sunday win works as a reminder they can win those close game.

In the batter’s box

Danny Valencia was the man with the bat today for the Athletics. He hit three home runs on Sunday to bring his total to five for the series in Tampa Bay and for the season to date. Valencia drove in five runs and scored three. He hit in the number three spot Sunday as Josh Reddick was given the day off versus a left-handed starter.

Coco Crisp played center field and hit lead off Sunday. Crisp went 3-for-5 with one RBI and one run scored.

With Reddick given the day off, Billy Burns played right field. Burns went 1-for-5 with one run scored. That one hit was the double in the top of the ninth that kept the inning alive for Valencia to hit what became the game-winning home run.

Chris Coghlan was brought in to pinch hit for Tyler Ladendorf in the top the seventh inning. Coghlan took a 0-1 pitch over the left center field wall for his fifth home run of the year.

The A’s scored seven runs on 12 hits while leaving six men on base. They struck out eight times and walked twice.

Brandon Guyer was the leader at the plate for the Rays on Sunday. He had a lead off home run in the bottom of first inning off Sonny Gray to tie the game at 1-1. Guyer came to bat in the bottom of the second with two runners on when the inning was extended by a two-out error. Guyer hit the ball into the left field stands for a three-run home run. Guyer finished with five RBI on the day.

Evan Longoria went 2-for-4 for the game. Longoria hit his seventh home run and a double on Sunday.

The Rays scored six runs on six hits and left four runners on base. Rays batters struck out nine times and walked two times.

On the mound

A’s starter Sonny Gray had another tough outing on Sunday. Gray has not recorded a win in his last four starts. He had a no decision on Sunday. Gray worked 5.2-innings giving up six runs (three earned) on six hits. He struck out four and walked two. Gray gave up three home runs (Guyer 2, Longoria). He threw 99 pitches (67 strikes). Gray’s ERA now stands at 5.84.

The A’s bullpen came in and did the job for their team on Sunday. Ryan Dull relieved Gray in the sixth and worked 1.1-innings. Dull allowed no runs or hits. He struck out four and walked none.

John Axford pitched the eighth inning for Oakland. Axford gave up no runs, no hits, no walks and struck out one. Axford (3-1) is credited with the win as he was pitcher of record when the A’s scored in the top of the ninth.

Ryan Madson threw a perfect ninth inning needing just four pitches to retire the side. Madson now has 10 saves for the A’s.

Defense

The A’s were able to overcome a defensive miscue that took place in the bottom of the second inning. With two out and catcher Hank Conger at bat, the A’s defense went into a shift overloading the infield to the right. Second baseman Tyler Ladendorf was playing in shallow right field. Conger hit the ball to where the second baseman would normally be stationed. Ladendorf charged the ball and was unable to field it. Conger was safe. The next hitter Guyer hit a three-run home run. The error resulted in three unearned runs.

The A’s lead the American League in errors with 28.

Up next

The A’s return home to begin a three-game home series with the Texas Rangers on Monday night. LHP Derek Holland (3-2, 6.09) will start for Texas while the A’s will go with LHP Sean Manaea (0-1, 11.37).

On Tuesday, Texas will send LHP Cole Hamels to the mound to face the A’s LHP Eric Surkamp.

In the finale on Wednesday afternoon, LHP Martin Perez will start for the Rangers while LHP Rich Hill will take the hill for Oakland.

 

 

Sharks and Blues: Western Conference Final Preview

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By Mary Walsh

AP photo: St Louis Blues goalie Brian Elliott stops a shot from the San Jose Sharks Patrick Marleau 12 as Blues defenceman Cotton Parayko 55 watches on Sunday night in the third period

The Western Conference Final is upon us. Past results reveal that the San Jose Sharks and the St. Louis Blues have followed very similar paths to this point, and neither team is a clear choice for favorite. Even intangibles cannot give us a hint. Both San Jose and St. Louis are hungry for success. The Sharks have never made it to the Stanley Cup Final, and the Blues have not been there since 1970. They both unseated recent Cup winners in the first round. They both defeated up and coming teams in the second round, by the a five goal margin, in the seventh game. The likeness is uncanny, and utterly proper. The final teams in the Stanley Cup playoffs should be equals, it is only right that the results be entirely unpredictable. The results of the Stanley Cup Final could be easier to predict, especially with the Eastern teams taking such heavy casualties after just one game. I predict that the Western team will win the Cup, and that team will be from a city named after a saint.

A glance at the current NHL Leaderboard shows three Sharks leading in playoff scoring categories. In points, goals, and assists, Logan Couture, Joe Pavelski and Brent Burns top those charts. Logan Couture is in the top three in all of those categories, while Pavelski and Burns are top five in two. The Blues have two players in each of these categories, with Vladimir Tarasenko listed in the top five in points and goals, Robby Fabbri top ten in points and assists, and David Backes ranked fifth in goals. The teams are pretty close when it comes to high ranking for their top scorers.

Those numbers tell us which players the opponent will zero in on defensively. They also tell us, by omission, which players previous opponents probably spent most of their defensive energy on. For the Sharks, Joe Thornton did not rack up quite as many points as he might be expected to, especially being one of Joe Pavelski’s linemates. Joel Ward fell from fifth to eighth on the team in goals. Tomas Hertl dropped from fourth to ninth on the team in goals. Patrick Marleau should have produced more, especially since he spent so much time not on a line with Couture or Thornton. I say that because he should have been able to slip under the radar of the Kings or the Predators, if the top lines drew top defense away. So either Marleau did get the defensive attention he can deserve, or he just was not playing that well. Either way, he is one who could suddenly start producing in this series.

Even if underproducing players do not break out, how many goal scorers has it taken to get the Sharks this far, compared to the Blues? The Sharks have seven players with three or more goals in these playoffs. Apart from the league leaders mentioned above, the Sharks have four goals from Marleau, three each from Thornton, Chris Tierney, and Joonas Donskoi. Joel Ward, Tomas Hertl and Melker Karlsson have two each. Matt Nieto and Tommy Wingels each have one tally.

For the Blues, eight players have scored three or more goals. Tarasenko has seven, Backes has six, Troy Brouwer has five, Alexander Steen and Patrik Berglund each have four, while Robby Fabbri, Jaden Schwartz and Paul Stasny each have three. Seven more St. Louis skaters have one or two goals. During the regular season, Tarasenko also led his team in goals, and the rest of the top six were essentially the same as they have been in the playoffs: Backes, Brouwer, Fabbri and Steen.

Though none of the Blues defensemen can challenge Brent Burns in the scoring department, St. Louis has gotten more points from their defense than the Sharks have. They have four defensemen with four or more points, Kevin Shattenkirk leading there with ten points. The Sharks have four defensemen with three or more points, Justin Braun and Paul Martin having just three.

The Blues have three more goal scorers than the the Sharks have, but the Sharks have scored .28 more goals per game. The Blues have given up a few more goals (2.43) than the Sharks have (2.33), if you go by games played. One could argue that the Sharks should not have it held against them that they did not give up goals in games they did not play by defeating the Kings so quickly. But since the Blues and the Sharks will play the same number of games in this series, games played is probably a better measure than total goals against.

The Sharks’ 30.9% power play is the best among teams in the final four. The Blues are right behind them with a 27.5% success rate. The Sharks’ penalty kill is a couple of ranking spots higher than the Blues, with San Jose at 82.3% and St. Louis at 79.5%. Either of those special team rankings could be reversed in the course of a single game, so again the teams are darn close.

The Blues gave up more shots (31.3) per game than the Sharks did (28.5) , but not many more. The Blues played Chicago and Dallas, while the Sharks played Los Angeles and Nashville. The habits of their respective opponents may have skewed those figures. During the regular season games, the Sharks consistently outshot the Blues, but usually by a fairly small margin.

In the playoffs, faceoff win percentages are be heavily influenced by the opponent, but it is still worth looking at. The Blues have been better at 50.7 % than the Sharks at 46.2%. Both teams were better during the regular season, but the Blues were a little better there too at 51.3% to the Sharks’ 50.7%. Thornton and Hertl are the only Sharks who have won better than 50% of their faceoffs in the first two rounds, and Hertl has only taken 20 draws. For the Blues, Paul Stastny, David Backes and Jori Lehtera took the lion’s share of faceoffs in both the regular season and the playoffs, and all three are over 50%. Paul Stastny won an impressive 59% of his draws in the first two rounds.

Could it come down to goaltending? Brian Elliott gives the Blues and edge in save percentage (.929-.918), Jones has the edge in goals against average (2.16-2.29), and they each have one shutout. Elliott is the more seasoned starter, but he has never gotten so far in the playoffs. Jones has seen his team win a Cup, but was only there as a backup. Both teams have above-average backups, but only the Blues’ Jake Allen saw any ice time in the first two rounds. Again, and again and again, the Sharks and the Blues look so close on paper that neither clearly has an edge.

The victor will be the team that bests their best first.

NHL Stanley Cup Playoff podcast with Daniel Dullum: Sharks Pavelski key reason why their here; Bolts goalie back up Vasilevsky holds Pens

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AP photo: Tampa Bay Lighting goalie Andre Vasilevsky

On the NHL Stanley Cup Playoff podcast with Daniel the San Jose Sharks and the St Louis Blues face off for game one on Sunday and  Daniel says yes this one could go six to seven games. For the Sharks captain Joe Pavelski has scored a NHL post season leading nine goals and has been the key reason why the Sharks have been in the thick of these playoffs look for them to make a lot of noise going into Western Conference Finals.

In the NHL Eastern Conference Finals the Tampa Lighting will be playing game two without their starting goaltender Ben Bishop who suffered a leg injury in game one against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Bishop is hoping to rehab quickly so he can get right back into action. In the meantime the Bolts back up goalie Andre Vasilevsky stepped up in game one after Bishop left and made 25 saves against the great offensive talents of the Penguins shooters Sid Crosby, Kris Letang, and Marc Andre Fluery.

Daniel reviews the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs next week on the podcast at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

 

Rays’ Andriese shuts down the A’s in complete game, two-hit shutout

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Andriese showered

By Morris Phillips

Enough of I-95 South for Matt Andriese.

The Rays’ reliever/starter who has bounced between Triple-A Durham and Tampa the last two seasons, pitched a complete game shutout in a 6-0 win over the A’s Saturday night, just six days after he stymied the Angels in his 2016 big league debut.

Suddenly, but deservedly, Andriese would appear to have a spot in the Rays’ rotation as the No. 5 starter going forward. His quality pitches that stopped the A’s on just two hits clearly said as much.

“When I got called up for my last start, I told myself I want to be here for good,” Andriese said. “I’ve been taking that mentality and building off that each outing.”

Andriese threw 106 pitches, 78 for strikes, didn’t walk anybody, struck out five, allowing base hits to Matt McBride in the third, and Danny Valencia in the seventh. After Valencia’s hit, Andriese induced Stephen Vogt to hit into an inning-ending double play.

“He’s got some deception, a good curveball, a good cutter to both sides of the plate, a good changeup,” manager Bob Melvin said. “Fastball gets on you a little bit.”

The A’s fell to 2-6 on a three-city road trip that can’t end soon enough. At 15-21, the A’s are a half-game removed from last place in the AL West, a spot that they will no doubt be motivated to avoid in the final game of the trip Sunday morning.

Brandon Guyer’s single preceded Brad Miller’s two-run homer off A’s starter Kendall Graveman in the third giving the Rays all the offense they would need. Graveman lost his fourth consecutive start, allowing six hits and four runs before Melvin lifted him in the sixth. At 1-5, Graveman’s up-and-down, brief history as a starter in Oakland, has been mostly down in 2016.

For Graveman, however, there was a silver lining.

“I wanted to get the shape of my pitches back,” the pitcher said. “We worked really hard this week to really get back on top of the baseball and get that sink, and it showed up.”

Graveman utlitized his sinker to induce groundballs on roughly half of the 17 outs he recorded. But he walked three, and only struck out one, while four of the six hits he allowed went for extra bases.

The A’s close the trip with Sonny Gray on the mound in a matchup with Tampa’s Matt Moore. Gray’s due for a bounce back, he’s seen his ERA soar in losing each of his three previous starts.

Posey, Pence power Giants past D-Backs

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By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Saturday, May 14, 2016

photo credit: USA Today

San Francisco’s bats woke up in style on Saturday at Chase Field in Phoenix. Buster Posey hit a two-run double in the ninth inning, Hunter Pence hit his 200th career home run, and the Giants defeated Arizona 5-3.

Giants starter Jake Peavy threw six quality innings, but Hunter Strickland (1-0) got the win in relief. Cory Gearrin earned his first save.

The loss went to Diamondbacks reliever Daniel Hudson (1-1).

Hot-hitting Jean Segura had an RBI groundout, and pinch-hitter Phil Gosselin tied the game with a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning off Strickland. Slumping Paul Goldschmidt scored on the sac fly after ending an 0-11 stretch with a base hit.

In the San Francisco ninth, the Giants loaded the bases against Hudson, setting the table for Posey’s ground-rule double into the pool area.

Denard Span had four of the Giants’ 12 hits.

MLB Podcast with Matt Harrington: Valencia returns after two games off with two home runs

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AP photo: Oakland A’s Danny Valencia hits one of two home runs in Friday night’s game vs. the Tampa Bay Rays this one in the sixth at Tropicana Field

On the MLB podcast Matt takes a look at the San Francisco Giants Joe Panik who hit a homer in each of the two games Thursday and Friday against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Panik home runs gave the Giants and starting pitcher Jeff Samardzija a nice cushion in the 5-2 victory at Chase Field. Samardzija gave up two runs, eight hits and 112 pitches and had command over most of his pitches.

The Oakland A’s snapped their five game losing streak with a win over the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field getting offensive production from Danny Valencia who was out with an injury on Tuesday and Wednesday the A’s had a day off on Thursday. Valencia made up for lost time with two home runs on Friday night. Also teammates Khris Davis and Marcus Semien both had a home run a piece.

Matt Harrington does the MLB podcast each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

Panik’s homer, Samardzija’s pitching sparks Giants

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By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Friday, May 13, 2016

AP photo: San Francisco Giant Joe Panik (center)  at Chase Field on Friday night hits a three run homer in the sixth inning is greeted at the plate by Denard Span 2 and Angel Pagan (right)

PHOENIX–Joe Panik homered for the second consecutive game for San Francisco on Friday. This time, it was a three-run blast that gave the Giants a 3-1 win over Arizona.

Panik’s home run gave starter Jeff Samardzija all the offense he would need. Samardzija did his part, scattering eight hits while throwing 112 pitches to improve to 5-2. The Giants’ top three pitchers – Samardzija, Johnny Cueto and Madison Bumgarner – are a combined 14-5 this season.

Diamondbacks starter Shelby Miller continued his struggles. He held San Francisco scoreless through the first five innings, but allowed Panik’s home run in the sixth.

Arizona took a 1-0 lead in the fifth on Miller’s first career triple, followed by an RBI single from Jean Segura.

After Josh Osich got the first out in the ninth, Santiago Casilla struck out the next two hitters for his eighth save in 11 opportunities.

San Francisco won despite the D-Backs turning five double plays. On a positive note, outfielder Angel Pagan returned to the Giants lineup after missing 11 games with a strained hamstring.