Author: jeremy2878

No 4th of July play for Giants, Cardinals on deck

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Photo credit: @OracleParkSF

By Jeremy Harness

For the first time in a while, the Giants will not play on the 4th of July. However, they will still use this time to get prepared for a big weekend series while riding a wave of momentum.

They are coming off a three-game sweep of the San Diego Padres, and they will now wait for the St., Louis Cardinals to get into town, as the two teams will play a three-game series starting Friday night at Oracle Park.

The series does not pack the same punch that it has in years past – with the Giants still stuck in the National League West basement while the Cardinals hanging on with a 42-42 mark – but because of the sheer history of this pairing, it still carries meaning nonetheless.

Drew Pomeranz will take the ball for the Friday opener against Cardinals righty Dakota Hudson (6-4, 3.40 ERA). Pomeranz has been a mess this season, with a 2-8 record and a 6.25 ERA. However, he momentarily beat that back in his last start, throwing five shutout innings at the Arizona Diamondbacks last Saturday.

Hudson is coming off an outing where he did not make it out of the second inning while giving up seven runs – but amazingly only one of them earned – which included a pair of homers in losing to the same San Diego team the Giants just swept.

However, he was brilliant in the start prior to that, going seven strong and surrendering only a run to the Angels in a 2-1 win.

Madison Bumgarner (5-7, 4.02 ERA) is still wearing a Giants uniform for the time being and has gotten into a nice rhythm lately, will go Saturday night, and he will go up against Miles Mikolas (5-8, 4.34 ERA), who appears to be going in the opposite direction after a hot start.

Bumgarner has gotten the win in each of his past two starts, beating the Colorado Rockies and the Diamondbacks, surrendering three runs in his 13 innings combined.

Mikolas has lost six of his last seven decisions, but he is coming off a decent outing that saw him give up three runs over six innings, although he did not ultimately factor in to the decision.

Coming off a brilliant outing that saw him go eight solid innings in a convincing win over San Diego Monday night, Jeff Samardzija (5-7, 4.32 ERA) will take the hill Sunday for the Giants against Cardinals righty Jack Flaherty (4-5, 4.90 ERA), who is coming off a rather-shaky outing that saw him give up four runs over 4 1/3 innings against Seattle on Tuesday.

Giants complete sweep of Padres with 7-5 win on Wednesday night

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AP photo: San Francisco Giants Evan Longoria takes one deep for a two-run homer in the top of the third inning as the Giants went onto sweep San Diego at Petco Park on Wednesday night.

By Jeremy Harness

Through all of the struggles that they have endured in a year that they have spent the majority of in the division cellar, the Giants still know how to beat the San Diego Padres.

On Wednesday, they used two big run-producing innings to do away with the Padres in a 7-5 win at Petco Park, and thus putting the finishing touches on a three-game sweep.

The night did not get off to a promising start, however. Starter Shaun Anderson gave up the first two runs of the game in the second inning, and then after the Giants regrouped and took the lead in the third, he gave up two more runs in the bottom half.

Anderson lasted only four innings and surrendered those four runs on eight hits – which included a solo homer to Fernando Tatis, Jr. that gave San Diego a 4-3 lead – while walking one batter and striking out three.

The Giants’ offense, however, was able to pick Anderson up. After chasing starter Cal Quantrill from the game after 4 1/3 innings, the Giants teed off on reliever Luis Perdomo in the sixth inning, scoring four runs and taking the lead for good.

They used three RBI doubles as well as a run-scoring single to accomplish this, giving them a 7-4 lead.

The bullpen also had their starter’s back. After Anderson left the game, the Giants’ relievers put up zeroes in four of the final five innings, with the lone hiccup being a solo homer given up by Tony Watson off the bat of Hunter Renfroe in the eighth.

The very next inning, Will Smith came in and did what he has done for the majority of this season. He shut down the San Diego bats and did not allow a single baserunner, and he has now converted all 22 of his save opportunities in 2019.

Giants’ bats go to sleep again in 5-1 loss to D-Backs

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Photo credit: @KNBR

By Jeremy Harness

SAN FRANCISCO – Arizona’s Alex Young looked like an All-Star in his major-league debut Thursday night. But then again, he was pitching against the Giants, who aren’t going to remind anybody of the 1927 Yankees any time soon.

As it was, he started his big-league career with a win, as his Diamondbacks cruised to a 5-1 win over the Giants at Oracle Park. The Giants have now lost four of their last five games, and they have been in last place with no interruption since May 9.

With the exception of one exceptionally-long fly ball in the fourth inning, Young did not run into much difficulty navigating through a punchless Giants lineup that struggled to get the ball out of the infield for most of the night.

“The guy threw a lot of cutters, mixed it up,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “We couldn’t do much with him.

“(But) we’ve got to swing the bats. Three hits, very little action out there, it’s hard to win a game like that.”

He went five innings and surrendered only a run on three hits, walking and striking out five, throwing only 74 pitches in the process. His only real hiccup was a home run off the bat of Brandon Belt. From that point on, the Giants only got only runner past second base.

Giants starter Tyler Beede (1-3, 6.96 ERA) held his own and even traded zeroes with Young for the first three innings.

“He threw well, he did a nice job out there,” Bochy said. “He threw more strikes, looked more in control. He probably could have kept going, but I had Reyes (Moronta) fresh (in the bullpen). He looked much better in commanding the strike zone and staying in his delivery, and hitting his spots a lot better.”

However, he ran into some trouble to start the fourth, as he walked Ketel Marte, who will be starting for the National League at second base in this year’s All-Star Game, and then watched as David Peralta’s hot grounder up the middle skip off shortstop Brandon Crawford’s glove and bounce into shallow left-center for a double.

With runners on second and third with only one out, Christian Walker’s grounder to second scored Ketel Marte and gave Arizona a 1-0 lead, but Beede escaped the inning without any further damage.

The lead didn’t last very long. Belt led off the bottom half and took Young deep, his solo homer sailing just over the reach of center fielder Jarrod Dyson and tying the game.

However, the Diamondbacks just as quickly found themselves back in the lead. Beede made a mistake in location, and Nick Ahmed made him pay with a solo shot that went screaming down the tunnel past the left-field wall.

Beede gave up only those two runs on four hits over 5 1/3 innings, walking three and striking out another three. Those numbers typically stand a good chance to translate to a win. However, with a lineup that the Giants trot out these days, that’s nowhere close to a sure thing.

“It’s going to be up to us to put some runs on the board,” Bochy said. “Our margin of error is so small because we just don’t score a lot of runs, and one little mistake, it seems like it cost us.”

Two innings later, the door was effectively slammed shut on the Giants’ evening, when Carson Kelly’s smashed one over the wall in left-center off reliever Trevor Gott to give Arizona a 4-1 lead.

Giants’ epic comeback gets cut short by Dodgers

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Harness

Thursday night’s game at Dodger Stadium got off to a rather-funny start but finished in thrilling fashion indeed.

After some major-league trolling of Giants starter Madison Bumgarner by the Dodgers – more on that later – the Dodgers jumped out to a 6-0 lead, and it appeared to be a carbon copy of what the previous two games looked like.

The Giants, however, mounted a tremendous comeback in the last three innings but came up painfully short in a 9-8 loss that wrapped up a four-game series in Southern California that saw the Giants win only the opening contest.

They put four runs on the board in the top of the ninth and even had the tying run on second base with nobody out against closer Kenley Jansen.

That was when a bit of controversy took shape. Tyler Austin laid down a nice bunt down the first-base line, and first baseman Cody Bellinger whipped around and fired to third to nab Stephen Vogt. However, the play was reviewed, and replays appeared to show Vogt’s foot reaching third as the ball hit third baseman Justin Turner’s glove.

However, Vogt was ruled out, and the played a huge role down the stretch. The next batter, Buster Posey, hit a sharp liner that center fielder Alex Verdugo ran down near the warning track, and the runners were forced to retreat back to first and second, respectively.

Had Vogt been ruled safe, he would have likely tagged up from third and tied the game. As it stood, Brandon Belt’s liner to right found Kyle Garlick’s glove and ended the game.

Thursday night marked Bumgarner’s first start in Los Angeles since his blowup at Max Muncy after the latter touched him up for a home run at Oracle Park last week, and the Dodgers were clearly ready for him.

As Muncy stepped up to the plate against Bumgarner, the team was happy to show on its jumbotron screen in center field that the last time he had faced the left-hander resulted in a 426-foot shot that is now 25 feet under water in McCovey Cove.

The Dodgers’ PA staff went on to play “Under The Sea,” which was a hit song on the soundtrack of “The Little Mermaid,” before playing Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the Water.”

Muncy continued his ownage of Bumgarner, as he singled in a run in the first inning to give the Dodgers a 1-0 lead.

Pomeranz continues miserable season, gets pounded by LA, 9-2

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Photo credit: mercurynews.com

By Jeremy Harness

Drew Pomeranz’s Wednesday night got off to a bad start, and it continued to get worse as the night progressed.

Chris Taylor touched the left-hander up for a three-run homer in the bottom of the first inning to give the Dodgers an early lead, and LA would only add to it in the next few innings during a 9-2 victory over the Giants at Dodger Stadium.

The very next inning, Kyle Garlick took Pomeranz deep for a solo shot, and the Dodgers got two more runs on and RBI single and a run-scoring sac fly in the third, which gave them a 6-0 lead, a hole the Giants could not get out of.

The Giants tried to make a game out of it, as Tyler Austin and Mike Yastrzemski both went deep – in the fourth and sixth innings – but they were mere solo homers and did not put a dent into what had been a commanding lead.

Pomeranz only lasted 4 1/3 innings on Wednesday, giving up seven runs on nine hits, walking one and striking out four and serving up those three home-run balls. The subpar outing – which have been plenty for Pomeranz this season – boosted his ERA to 7.09 after only three months.

Aside from the two homers by Yastrzemski and Austin, the Giants’ bats fell into their customary deep sleep, despite starter Rich Hill having to leave the game after the first inning with discomfort in his pitching forearm. He is scheduled for an MRI on Thursday and has been subsequently placed on the injured list.

The Giants managed just two more hits against a slew of Dodgers relievers, and no Giant got any more than one. After a promising four-game winning streak, the Giants have fallen back into their losing ways, and they now sit in the NL West cellar with a 31-41 mark, 17 ½ games out of first place.

Giants hope to extend streak this weekend

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Harness

The Giants are riding a rare wave of momentum as they head into a key weekend series against a top-flight opponent.

After dispatching of the San Diego Padres in a two-game sweep at Oracle Park, the Giants will face the Milwaukee Brewers, who made it all the way to the National League Championship Series a year ago.

The Brewers are at the top of the NL Central with a 39-29 mark and have a reigning league MVP in Christian Yelich, and he appears to be on track to win the award again.

Yelich is on a torrid pace once again this season, as he currently has 25 home runs and has driven in 54 runs, to go along with a gaudy .345 batting average. Mike Moustakas isn’t too far behind Yelich in the stats category, as he has 21 homers as well as 45 RBI.

Milwaukee will send a hot hand to the mound Friday night, as Zach Davies (7-0, 2.41 ERA) will take the ball against Giants lefty Drew Pomeranz (1-6, 7.16 ERA), who is not so hot.

On Saturday, Madison Bumgarner (3-6, 3.83 ERA), who suffered a hard-luck 1-0 loss to the Dodgers Sunday afternoon and did not fish the ball out of McCovey Cove like Max Muncy instructed him to after he took hilarious exception to Muncy’s low-key celebration of the solo homer he hit off Bumgarner, will take the ball against Milwaukee’s Jimmy Nelson (0-1, 12.00 ERA).

Jeff Samardzija (3-5, 3.72 ERA) will be on the mound for Sunday’s series finale against Brewers righty Chase Anderson (3-1, 3.80 ERA).

Giants break skid with 3-1 win over Marlins

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Harness

The Giants snapped a seven-game losing streak Thursday afternoon, when they downed the Miami Marlins, 3-1, at Marlins Park.

In the process, they salvaged the finale of a three-game series.

Tyler Beede had a solid outing for the Giants, as he went six innings and surrendered only a run on five hits. He walked three and struck out four, but he did not factor in the decision. Instead, Reyes Moronta, who pitched a scoreless seventh during which he gave up only a walk, picked up his second win of the season.

In fact, as well as he pitched, Beede would have stood to take the loss, as he left the game trailing 1-0. However, Mike Yastrzemski, Hall of Famer Carl’s grandson, tied the game at 1-1 by bringing home Brandon Crawford with a single in the top of the seventh.

One inning later, Crawford himself drove in a pair of runs with a ground-rule double, as he drove home Buster Posey and Brandon Belt. On the down side, Crawford was the only Giant who had more than one hit on Thursday.

For the Marlins, starter Sandy Alcantara shut out the Giants for six innings, as he surrendered only a pair of hits as well as five walks. He, like Beede, ended up with a no-decision.

Like the Giants, Miami only had one player who had more than one hit, as Garrett Cooper had a pair of singles.

Marlins hold on, keep sad-sack Giants sinking

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Photo credit: artesianews.com

By Jeremy Harness

Twenty-two years ago, the Giants and the then-Florida Marlins went toe-to-toe in the National League Division Series, a series that saw the Marlins move on and eventually win the World Series.

Fast forward to 2019, and now the two teams are battling it out as two of the worst teams in baseball.

The Marlins technically have the inferior record at 19-34, but based on how the two teams have played the past two days, that is hard to believe. Miami downed the 21-33 Giants by a score of 4-2 Wednesday night at Marlins Park, less than 24 hours after the Marlins bombed them, 11-2.

The Giants may have three World Series banners floating around Oracle Park, but they sure have been hanging a lot of L’s these days.

Wednesday was the seventh straight loss for the Giants, and despite winning three World Series in five years, they stand a chance of finishing the decade with a losing record. Depending on who you talk to, that fact is either very funny or tragic indeed.

After Miami took the early lead with a run in the third, Brandon Belt’s solo home run tied the game in the fourth. The Marlins then scored three unanswered runs over the next four innings, and the Giants could not recover.

Madison Bumgarner had a solid outing, going six innings and gave up only a pair of runs on six hits, walking one and striking out four. However, his record fell to 3-5, as he was the victim of the Giants’ miserable offense, which is statistically one of the worst in the majors.

To pour a little more salt into the wound, former Giants closer Sergio Romo, who had a big hand in the World Series run and put the finishing touches on the 2012 Fall Classic, nailed down the save for the Marlins, although he did surrender a run on two hits in the process.

Despite all of this, there is some good news, in that you don’t have to look very far to find a good baseball team, and the tickets are more than half the price. The A’s have recently gone on a 10-game winning streak and are heading toward the top of the American League standings.

To add to the good cheer, the Golden State Warriors are heading to their fifth consecutive NBA Finals, a series that starts Thursday night in Toronto against the Raptors.

Giants head down to the desert to take on the D-backs

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Harness

For what it’s worth, the Giants have won two of their last three games, and they will take that bit of momentum with them as they head to Arizona.

There they will play a three-game weekend series with the Arizona Diamondbacks, which starts Friday night at Chase Field.

While the Diamondbacks are in the middle of the pack, the Giants now sit in the National League West cellar, two games behind the four-place Colorado Rockies, as well as 9 ½ games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers for the division’s top spot.

The Giants will attempt to make up some ground in the division starting Friday night, as another guy trying to get things back on track, Jeff Samardzija (2-1, 3.51 ERA), takes the hill against Arizona righty Merrill Kelly (3-4, 4.70 ERA).

Samardzija appeared to be on the right path after shutting out the Dodgers over five solid innings while giving up only a pair of hits on Apr. 29. However, since then, he has had a pair of subpar outings – both against the Cincinnati Reds – giving up four runs and three runs over five and four innings, respectively.

Meanwhile, he gave up a season-high three home runs in a no-decision effort at Cincinnati on May 5.

Kelly has lost his last two outings, but his most recent defeat was more of a hard-luck one than anything else. He went seven strong and gave up three runs in a 6-4 loss to the Atlanta Braves last Saturday. It was major bounce-back from his previous start, during which he was bombed by the Tampa Bay Rays, giving up seven runs and going only four runs.

Madison Bumgarner (2-4, 4.04 ERA) is another looking to get some kind of consistency, and he will go on Saturday opposite Diamondbacks righty Zack Godley (1-3, 7.65 ERA).

He has gone seven innings twice – his season debut March 28 and then on Apr. 13 – but has not gone past six since, and he has yet to string together solid outings. Meanwhile, Godley has gone between starting and going to the bullpen, even picking up a save last Wednesday against Tampa Bay. In his previous outing on Tuesday, he went two innings and gave up three runs on three hits in a loss to Pittsburgh.

Giants fight through snow, but comeback falls just short in 12-11 loss to Rox

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Harness

The old saying is that “April showers bring May flowers.” Well, it’s the month of May and it was snowing in Denver Thursday afternoon.

In fact, the first-pitch temperature was a chilly 39 degrees, and the Colorado Rockies used that to their advantage in the early going, knocking around Derek Holland for seven runs in the first two innings, an explosion that was highlighted when Nolan Arenado and Mark Reynolds hit back-to-back homers off Holland on consecutive pitches in the midst of a snow flurry.

The Giants, however, came back valiantly to make it a two-run game after the fourth inning and then tied it in the sixth on Tyler Austin’s three-run homer off Colorado reliever Bryan Shaw.

Colorado, however, pushed the lead back to three when it scored a trio of runs in the bottom of the sixth.

That lead would stand until the top of the ninth, when the Giants made one last stand, and they came within a batter of tying the game. Brandon Crawford knocked in Kevin Pillar with a double, and then Crawford himself was singled in by Joe Panik to bring the Giants to within a run.

However, the rally was ended when Steven Vogt struck out, and the Giants fell 12-11 to end the road trip on a sour note.

The Giants will now head home to face the Cincinnati Reds for a three-game weekend series that starts Friday night at Oracle Park.