Author: Sports Radio Service

Injuries pile up for Steelers; Raiders Carr throws for two touchdowns in 26-17 win

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Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker TJ Watt (90) gets the swoop down on Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Derek Carr (4) Watt would later leave the game with a injury and watch from the sidelines in the second half at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh on Sun Sep 19, 2021 (AP News photo)

By Rich Perez

The Pittsburgh Steelers (1-1) couldn’t withstand the injuries and fell to the Las Vegas Raiders (2-0) 26-17 at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh. One of the key injuries of the game was when outside linebacker TJ Watt left in the first half and it felt like one of the wheels fell off for the Steelers.

Watt was seen on television standing on the sidelines in the second half with uniform off wearing Steelers cap and garb colecting his thoughts. Watt suffered a groin injury and you could feel the tension at Heinz Field which you could cut the Steel Curtain with a butter knife as any adrenaline the Steelers had left them.

The Steelers were coming off a 26-17 opening week win from last Sun Sep 12th in Buffalo but all that was for not as they couldn’t muster any defense against the Raiders. The Raiders had a 9-6 lead after the first half and outscored the Steelers in the second half 17-10 the Steelers offense just fell flat.

Raider quarterback Derek Carr threw 28-37 for 382 yards and two touchdowns and key for Carr he never threw an interception he got protection all day from his offensive line. Other Steelers injuries cornerback Joe Haden and inside linebacker Devin Bush were inactive also suffering from groin injuries.

Steelers defensive tackle Tyson Alualu is out for the season with a fractured ankle and that didn’t take long as the injury happened during the Raiders first possession. Carr threw for a 61 yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Henry Ruggs. The offensive line protected Carr so well that he had time to drop back and throw to Ruggs at 50 yards for the score.

Carr dropped back to pass 42 times in the game a lot of opportunities and was sacked twice. Watt got to strip sack Carr in the first half before he left with his injury. The Steelers Melvin Ingram also got the other sack. Carr made it look easy in the second half and had no struggles with the Steeler secondary. After suffering multiple injuries the Steelers looked as if all the wind had been taken out of their sails.

Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said the team needs time to grow and next Sunday comes fast after playing a game like they did on Sunday, “Win or lose, we’ve got to grow. We’ve got too many young people, new people in significant roles. They’ve just got to grow in terms of understanding those roles, the details required to win, the skills relative to their position to execute in those critical moments.”

The Raiders will entertain the Miami Dolphins (1-1) who were shut out Sunday by the Buffalo Bills (1-1) 35-0 on their home field in Miami. Kick off at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on Sun Sep 26th is at 1:05 pm.

NCAA Football podcast with Michelle Richardson: Oklahoma holds off Nebraska 23-16; Michigan State blows past Hurricanes; plus more

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Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Spencer Rattler (17) lead the Sooners to a 23-16 win over the Nebraska Cornhuskers 23-16 on Sat Sep 18, 2021 (AP News photo)

On the NCAA Football podcast with Michelle:

#1 Number 3 Oklahoma Sooners defeated the Nebraska Cornhuskers 23-16 on Saturday. The Sooners just got by the Cornhuskers in the first quarter the Sooners outscored the Cornhuskers 7-3 after that the Cornhuskers matched the Sooners in the second quarter a 0-0 shutout, in the third quarter the Sooners outscoring the Cornhuskers 9-6 and in the four quarter a 7-7 score.

#2 Michelle how shocked were you to see #1 Michigan State Spartans defeat #2 Miami Hurricanes 38-17. The Spartans quarterback Payton Thorne was 18-31 for 261 yards and threw a lot of touchdowns four of them in the win.

#3 No.1 Alabama Crimson Tide defeated No.11 the Florida Gators 31-29 in a close contest. The Gators scored six in the fourth quarter but came up short by two to tie it and the Crimson Tide remain perfect at 3-0. Alabama quarterback Bryce Young went 22 for 35 for 233 yards and three touchdowns.

Michelle’s Final thoughts

Michelle does the NCAA Football podcasts each Sunday night at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Rosario goes cycling in Braves victory 3-0

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Eddie Rosario who hit for the cycle for the Atlanta Braves is jubilant after hitting a triple against the San Francisco Giants in the fifth inning at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Sun Sep 19, 2021 (AP News photo)

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO-Wouldnt you know that it would be a former member of the San Francisco Giants that cost them a big weekend sweep.

Adam Duvall hit a two-run home run off of Anthony DeSclafani in the top of the seventh inning, helping the Atlanta Braves to salvage the finale of the three-game series with a 3-0 victory over the Giants before a crowd of 32,210 at Oracle Park.

Max Fried was absolutely fantastic for the Braves, as he went seven innings, allowing zero runs on three hits, walking just one and striking out five on his way to raising his record to 12-7 on the record and with the win, the Braves will remain in first place over the Philadelphia Phillies.

On the other side of things, the Giants lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers was reduced to one game in the National League with the loss and the Dodgers 8-5 victory over the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ballpark.

It was a huge day for Rosario, who hit for the cycle, as he went 4 for-4 on the afternoon against Giants pitching. Rosario came up in the top of the ninth inning with a chance at the getting the cycle, and got it when he singled off of Kervin Castro. Rosario doubled in the second, tripled in the fifth, homered in the seventh and singled in the ninth to complete only the second cycle since the ballpark opened on April 11, 2000.

This was the fourth cycle of the season in Major League Baseball this season, as Trea Turner, then of the Washington Nationals, Jake Cronenworth of the San Diego Padres and Rosarios teammate Freddie Freeman also hit one and it was the 10th cycle in Braves history.

DeSclafani went the first six innings and was looking fantastic until he gave a double to Austin Riley that Austin Slater brought back into the ballpark like Steven Duggar did with a ball hit by Jorge Soler. In all, DeSclafani went six innings, allowing two runs on six hits, did not walk a batter and struck out six and his record fell to 12-7 on the season.

Immediately following the Duvall home run off of DeSclafani, Zack Littell came on and was greeted rather unceremoniously, as Rosario made it back-to-back home runs to lengthen the Braves lead.

Unfortunately for the Giants, they were unable to get anything going against Fried, who baffled them on all afternoon.

Former Dodgers outfielder and Bay Area Joc Pederson, who went to Palo Alto High School went 2-for-4 with a single and a double.

With a chance to break the game wide open in the top of the eighth inning, after Ozzie Albies and Freddie Freeman each singled off of Jose Alvarez with one out in the inning, Camilio Doval came on and was able to get out of the jam, as he got Riley to fly out to Darin Ruf in left field for the second out of the inning and then Doval struck out Duvall to end the inning.

Former Giants closer Will Smith came on in the bottom of the ninth inning and retired the Giants in order to get his 33rd save.

NOTES: Eric Byrnes came up with the only other cycle in the history of the 21-year old ballpark, when completed the cycle on June 29, 2003 as a member of the Oakland Athletics, when the ballpark was then known as Pacific Bell Park.

Byrnes went 5-for-5 on the afternoon, with a single, two doubles, a triple and a home run in a 5-2 win over the Giants.

Felix Rodriguez gave up the triple that Byrnes needed in the top of the ninth inning to complete the cycle.

UP NEXT: After an off-day on Monday, the Giants will open their final road trip of the regular season, as they head off on a two-city, six-game road trip to San Diego to face the San Diego Padres on Tuesday night, and then head to Colorado to face the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field beginning on Friday night.

San Francisco 49ers podcast with Joe Hawkes: 49ers defense needs to add pressure against Hurts and the run today

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San Francisco 49ers linebacker Demetrius Flannigan-Fowels will need to improve the blocking game as opposed to his blocking in Detroit last week. He and the 49ers take on the Philadelphia Eagles today at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. (file photo from 49ers.com)

On the 49ers podcast with J Hawkes:

#1 Joe, talk about the progress of Brandon Aiyuk who had missed ten days of practice and with Trent Sherfield looking impressive in pre season and opening day last week. Aiyuk is expected to be hard hitting and explosive in his first game back this season in Philadelphia.

#2 Joe, talk about linebacker Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles about his ability to defend the run, being successful in blocks and in zone coverage?

#3 Rookie Trey Sermon running back is making his rookie debut on Sunday how big is Sermon with the loss of Raheem Mostert to step up at the running back position.

#4 The 49ers Jeff Kerr was a speculation if he was going to make the 53 man roster coming out of pre season but made the club and battled with the Lions Frank Ragnow last week. This week he takes on the Eagles Jason Kelce. Some of the tackles who struggled against the Lions have been moved to the linebacker position including Kerr. Kerr did have a good game against the Lions.

#5 Joe, the 49ers take on Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles last week Hurts just owned the Atlanta Falcons in Atlanta with a convincing 32-6 win. Hurts under center threw for 27 for 35, 264 yards, and three touchdown. NFL oddsmakers were shocked by the Eagles performance and their home against the 49ers how much work will it take for the 49ers defense to stop Hurts.

Join Joe Hawkes for the 49ers podcasts each Sunday morning at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

A’s Continue To Roll Past Angels 3-1; A’s now 2 games back in AL Wild Card race

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Los Angeles Angels Shohei Ohtani swings for a broken bat single in the seventh inning Oakland A’s catcher Sean Murphy watches at Angels Stadium in Anaheim on Sat Sep 18, 2021 (AP News photo)

A’s Continue To Roll Past Angels

By Barbara Mason

After holding on in a very tight game, the Oakland A’s beat the Los Angels Angels in game one of their three game series 5-4. The bullpen, which has really been struggling, had a great game.

In tonight’s game the A’s had James Kaprielian starting the game and the Angels had Jose Suarez on the mound. His ERA is 3.59 and Kaprielian is a 3.83 ERA. The A’s took game two of the three game series on Saturday night 3-1 at Angels Stadium in Anaheim.

The first inning was a very productive one for the A’s. The one thing that we did not see in last night’s game was the long ball and Matt Olson took care of that in his first at bat. He had a solo home run followed by a Mark Canha walk, a Chad Pinder double and a Matt Chapman double. When the dust had settled the A’s had an early 3-0 lead.

The pitching rose to a new level as both pitchers dismissed batters right and left. Both players had very nice performances through six innings.

Due to pitch count Suarez came out of the game in the sixth inning and was relieved by Oliver Ortega who finished off Oakland in the inning.

After six full innings Oakland held their 3-0 lead. There was not a lot of offense for either team after that first inning.

In a surprising move Deolis Guerra came in to relieve Kaprielian in the bottom of the seventh inning. Kaprielian would have faced Ohtani who had already flied out and struck out. Guerra gave up a hit to Ohtani in the seventh inning in Shohei’s third at bat. An apparent double play was reversed and there were two out and two on in the bottom of the inning for the Angels.

Los Angeles did get one run in the inning after the reversed call. The A’s were a bit unnerved after that call. The entire team had left the field when the double play was called by the ref. They managed to pull it back together allowing the one run and still led 3-1 going into the eighth inning.

In six innings Kaprielian allowed two hits and in one inning Guerra allowed three hits. With 90 pitches it would seem that Kaprielian had one more inning in him. The Oakland bullpen had to get through two more innings for their second win of this series.

It was a very nervous ninth inning with the bases loaded for the Angels. With two outs Josh Harrison would leap up and catch a line drive to end the game. This was a critical catch for the A’s. If Harrison doesn’t make that catch this game is tied so a great game for Oakland.

The A’s will play an afternoon game tomorrow in the final game of the series. First pitch is scheduled for 1:07. Frankie Montas will be on the mound for Oakland and in a surprise Shohei Ohtani has the nod for the Angels. His sore arm has healed in record time and so this will be a great matchup.

Fortinet Championship: McNealy still on top, but he’s got company

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Maverick McNealy finished Sat Sep 18, 2021 two under round of 70 and is -14 and tied with Jim Knous who fired a 65 at the Fortinet Championship at Silverado Springs in Napa (file photo PGA Tour)

FORTINET CHAMPIONSHIP: McNealy still on top, but he’s got company

By Jeremy Harness

NAPA–To keep a lead in the Fortinet Championship, you have to shoot under par, and there’s no question about it.

Stanford alum Maverick McNealy, Friday’s leader, finished Saturday’s third round with a two-under round of 70, and predictably, others have caught up by going even lower. He is currently tied for the lead with Jim Knous, who fired a 65 to get into a tie with McNealy at 14-under overall.

He had his struggles on Friday on his back nine, and it continued in to the front nine on Saturday, as he dropped four shots en route to shooting two-over after nine.

However, he steadied himself on the back side, making birdie at the par-4 13th before closing things out with three birdies in a row, and now he’s only 18 holes away from his first PGA Tour win.

“It was a crazy day, I’m not going to lie, that front nine got going pretty quick,” McNealy said. “(I) hit it in a few funny spots. We were on the clock, I think, on, I want to say, the ninth hole, and it was just pretty hectic.

“I just started seeing the lines with the putter. I felt like I could make everything from 40 feet and in. I made the putt on 13, almost made a 40-footer on 14, left it on the edge on 15 from 30 feet and then hit great putts on 16, 17, 18. It took a lot of pressure off my chip on 18. I just thought all I want to do is stick this on the green to give my putter another chance.”

While McNealy finished second at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am earlier this year and has been in the mix on several other occasions, the same cannot be said for Knous. The 31-year-old did not make a single cut in 2021 and has had only one top-10 finish in his career, when he was tied for 10th in this event two years ago.

Their starts were polar opposites as well, as Knous birdied the par-3 second before running off five straight birdies at holes five through nine. He cooled off a bit on the back nine but got things back on track with a pair of birdies on the last three holes to card a seven-under round of 65.

What makes things more impressive for Knous is that he only hit 5 of his 14 fairways and only 11 of 18 greens on Saturday. He has improved his scrambling – getting up and down to save at least a par when not hitting the green – each day and was perfect in that category in the third round.

He is currently fifth in total putting and fifth in scrambling, despite being tied for 100th in the field in driving distance and tied for 74th in greens in regulation.

“It was a great day, putter got hot there late on the back nine, on the front nine, stayed hot pretty much most of the round,” said Knous, who has one more event left on a medical extension and has generally struggled to keep his PGA Tour card. “Especially a nice putt on the last, that was a bonus. Just played solid, just stayed patient, kind of let the course come to me. When it gets firm and fast like that, just got to be patient.”

Another guy in the mix is Max Homa, a Cal alum who won the Genesis Invitational earlier this year, but is probably more known for his legendary roasts of other golf swings – pros and amateurs alike – on social media.

A native of Southern California, Homa enters the final round only two shots back after going seven-under on Saturday. He had an up-and-down front nine but got very hot on the back nine, playing the final nine holes bogey-free with six birdies and closing out his day with three in a row.

“The crowd was awesome,” Homa said. “There were people out there with — obviously mostly Phil (Mickelson) fans, but I had a few in the Cal gear and a couple guys wearing shirts, so it was awesome. Really fun coming to California for me, I have great support out here. And getting to play with Phil, too, you know you’re going to get a big buzz, so it makes everything more fun.”

Vanderbilt no match for Stanford in 41-23 win

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Stanford Cardinal quarterback Tanner McKee prepares to throw downfield to a receiver against the Vanderbilt Commodores on Sat Sep 18, 2021 in Nashville (AP News photo)

By Jerry Feitelberg

Stanford Cardinal (2-1) quarterback Tanner McKee scored three touchdowns one of the touchdowns McKee ran in for a keeper as Stanford defeated Vanderbilt Commodores (1-2) 41-23. McKee was 19-29 for 218 yards and threw for two touchdowns.

The Cardinal concludes their three game road trip as they prepare to host the UCLA Bruins. Home field for Vanderbilt has not been the friendly confines the loss to Stanford on Saturday is Vanderbilt’s eighth consecutive hone loss. The last time they won a home game was way back on Nov 23, 2019 some four months before the Covid 19 epidemic kicked in.

The second quarter the Cardinal’s Jimmy Wyrick intercepted Vanderbilt quarterback Ken Seal’s pass that gave the Cardinal good field position as McKee handedd off to running back Brycen Tremayne who ran it for a touchdown with 40 seconds to spare in the first half of the game.

The Commodores were forced to punt on a first and three and the Cardinal’s Casey Filkins returned the punt to the Vanderbilt 22 yard line. The Commodores had to move back further after an illegal formation play was called the ball was spotted on the 17 and Stanford kicker Joshua Karty hit a 35 yard field goal and the Cardinal took a 27-14 halftime lead into the dressing room.

The second half the Cardinal scored twice in the third quarter at 11:18 wide receiver Jay Symonds caught a five yard pass from McKee and at 1:44 left in the game EJ Smith carried for one yard to score making it 41-17. For Symonds 2 receptions 31 yards, and one touchdown. For Smith five carries, 26 yards and one touchdown.

The Cardinal host the UCLA Bruins this Sat Sep 25th at Stanford Stadium for the home opener kick off is 3:00 PM PDT.

Earthquakes three unanswered goals top Austin FC in 4-3 comeback win

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Austin FC goalie Austin Stuver gathers his thoughts after surrendering three unanswered goals to the San Jose Earthquakes at Q2 Stadium in Austin on Sat Sep 18, 2021 (AP News photo)

by Marko Ukalovic

AUSTIN, Texas—Minus their head coach, the San Jose Earthquakes flipped the script on their opponent just three days later after blowing a lead in the second half.

Down by a two-goal margin, the Quakes scored three unanswered goals in the second half for a 4-3 comeback victory over the expansion Austin FC on Saturday evening at Q2 Stadium.

San Jose are now 2-2-1 in their last five games. Austin FC have lost their last five matches in a row. With the win, the Quakes jumped from 11th to ninth place in the Western Conference. They sit just three points out of the seventh and final playoff spot with 30 points.

It was San Jose’s first win over the new expansion team. They are 1-0-1 in two matches this season against Austin FC.

Austin FC (5-16-4-19 points) didn’t look like the worst team in MLS as they jumped out of the gate early with the match’s first goal six minutes into the match.

Sebastian Driussi cleaned up a rebound off a header by Moussa Djitte that Quakes goalie JT Marcinkowski saved but wasn’t able to keep the ball out of Driussi’s reach as the center forward buried the ball into the back of the net for his third goal of the season.

San Jose (7-9-9-30 points) answered back in the 17th minute off a corner kick. Carlos Fierro centered the ball back to the middle where a running Marco Lopez from 12 yards outs powered in a header past the reach of Austin FC goalie Brad Stuver for his first goal of the season.

Austin FC played aggressive and attacked the Quakes as they scored two goals in the final 10 minutes of the first half.

A nice give and go between Alexander Ring and Daniel Pereira led to Ring finding Jon Gallagher all alone on the right side as the midfielder tapped home the ball into an empty net for his third goal of the season in the 35th minute.

Right before halftime Ring capitalized on the Quakes relaxed defense. He received the ball just into the attacking zone when he dribbled in and fired a shot from 25 yards out into the lower left corner of the net beating Marcinkowski for his fourth goal of the season.

San Jose, who were without head coach Matias Almeyda as he was serving a one-game suspension for un-sportsman like conduct he directed toward the officials in the match against Real Salt Lake, responded with a bang once the whistle blew to begin the second half.

Lopez serviced a ball from the left sideline into the middle where Benji Kikanovic made a brilliant one-time touch pass to the left to free Espinoza, who got behind the Austin FC defense before he fired a right-footed shot past Stuver into the lower right corner for his third goal of the season in the 49th minute.

The Quakes received a break when Ring was whistled for hand ball inside the box after a VAR review, resulting in a penalty kick for the visiting team in the 56th minute.

Two minutes later, Chofis, who had a hatrick in his last match, converted the penalty with a left-footed shot just inside the right post for his team leading ninth goal of the season.

Chofis wasn’t done, as he answered the bell again just five minutes later to give the Quakes their first lead of the match in the 63rd minute. A bouncing ball found Chofis in the attacking zone. He fired a shot from long range that Stuver punched back out. Chofis picked up his own rebound between three Austin FC defenders, faked a move right then went left before lasering in a shot past Stuver for his 10th goal of the season.

Choifis has been played like a man possessed in the past two matches with five goals.

“”I am very happy for him,” said Almeyda about his foward’s recent success. “There was great sacrifice in getting him to San Jose and reaching the level he is currently at after going a year and a half without playing. He changed the way he trains and lives football, including his professionalism and calmness. When I see him progressing in the sport, it makes me very pleased because he is progressing in life, and no one talks about that.”

Ring received his second yellow card of the match and an automatic red card when he made a hard tackle foul on Eric Remedi in the 65th minute. Ring will be suspended for the next match.

Despite being down a man for the final 35, plus nine minutes of stoppage time, Austin FC controlled the play of the rest of the match with numerous scoring chances and corner kicks in the final 15 minutes of play. However, the Quakes defense anchored down led by saves from Marcinkowksi to escape the Lone Star state with three points in the end.

“Resiliency is a great word,” said Marcinkowski when being asked how the team have been resilient this season. “I think it’s something we always talk about in our locker room. The belief and fight and just the will to win. I think we’ve been in so many close games this year and I think we’ve been a little bit hesitant or have been missing the final pass or final goal, or final save from me. I think we showed tonight that we can do it and have nine games left to show it and show the rest of the league that we’re a team to really watch out for.”

Marcinkowski finished the match with seven saves on 10 shot on target to earn his seventh win of the season. Stuver made four saves on eight shots in the losing effort.

GAME NOTES: Each team conceded eight corner kicks to each other.

The Quakes are now unbeaten in eight consecutive road matches, the longest such run in club history (2003).

San Jose’s last two matches have resulted in 14 total goals (for and against), the most in consecutive matches in club history.

Lopez now has three goals in his MLS career. His goal also marks the first goal against Austin FC in Earthquakes history.

Fierro’s assist on Lopez’s goal, marked his third assist of the season and 10th of his MLS career.

Chofis became the first Quakes player to score 5+ goals in a two-game span since Chris Wondolowski tallied six from May 18, 2019 (4) to May 26, 2019 (2).

Kikanovic’s assist on Espinoza’s goal, marked his first assist of the season and of his MLS career. The match also marked his second MLS start.

Defender Tommy Thompson started and played 68 minutes. It marked his first appearance since June 22.

UP NEXT: San Jose returns home to host LAFC on Saturday 9/25 at 7:00pm at Pal Pay Park.

Casali drives in both runs in Giants win 2-0

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San Francisco Giants hitter Curt Casali swings for a two RBI single as Atlanta Braves catcher Travis d’Arnau looks on in the fourth inning at Oracle Park in San Francisco Sat Sep 18, 2021 (AP News photo)

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO-Alex Wood made his return to the starting rotation, but his return was a short one.

Wood, who was reinstated from the injured list prior to the game went only three innings, allowing zero runs on zero hits, walking no one, striking out four and hit by a batter and the San Francisco Giants defeated the Atlanta Braves 2-0 before a crowd of 32,058 at Oracle Park.

With the victory, the Giants maintained their two-game lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers, who defeated the Cincinnati Reds 5-1 earlier on Saturday at Great American Ballpark.

On the other side of things, this was the fourth loss in a row for the Braves and their lead in the National League East now stands at one game over the Philadelphia Phillies, who have won four in a row.

The Giants finally got to Charlie Morton in the bottom of the fourth inning, Curt Casali hit a two-run single to right field that scored both LaMonte Wade, Jr., and Brandon Crawford with what proved to be the only runs of the game.

Wade, Jr., walked to lead off the inning, then Crawford singled to right field to send Wade, Jr., down to second base. The duo then advanced an additional 90 feet, when Mike Yastrzemski dropped down a perfect sacrifice bunt that he nearly beat out and then Casali hit the two-run single.

Once again, the Giants bullpen was dazzling in relief of Wood, as the combination of Zach Littell, Jay Jackson, Jarlin Garcia, Jose Alvarez, Tyler Rogers and Dominic Leone combined to go the final five innings, allowing zero runs on five hits, walking three and striking out five.

Morton went the first five for the Braves, as he allowed two runs on four hits, three walks and struck out three.

It looked like the Braves took a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning, as Jorge Soler it looked like he hit his 24th home run of the season; however, Steven Duggar robbed him of the home run, when he brought the ball back into play and it was called a double off of Littell, who then gave up a single to Freddie Freeman.

Littell was able to get out of the inning unscathed, as he struck out Austin Riley on a foul tip that was reviewed and confirmed after 67 seconds to be the third strike, then Littell struck out both Adam Duvall and Travis dArnaud to get out of the jam.

With the Giants scoring the two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, it gave the win to Littell and he raised his record to 4-0 on the season and Leone, who came on to close the game picked up his second save of the season.

NOTES: Wood was reinstated, as he started the game for the Giants, to make room for Wood, Sammy Long was optioned to Sacramento and Chadwick Tromp was designated for assignment.

The Giants home run streak came to a halt at 12 consecutive games (26 home runs overall) and this was the longest streak by the team since they hit home runs in 13 straight games from June 25-July 12 of 2019 and hit 25 home runs during the streak.

When Donovan Solano hit his pinch-hit home run in the bottom of the ninth inning on Friday night, it was the 16th pinch-hit home run of the season for the team and are one shy of the Major-League record set by the St. Louis Cardinals in 2017, when they hit 17.

The Giants record of 97-52 thru 149 games is the best by the team since they moved to California in 1958, passing both the 1962 and 1993 team that was 93-56 thru 149 games.

This was the 1,250th win by the Giants over the Braves all-time and have lost 1,097 times and tied 26 times.

UP NEXT: Anthony DeSclafani goes to the mound for the Giants, as they look for the sweep and DeSclafani goes for his 13th win of the season, while the Braves will send Max Fried to the hill, as he looks for his 12th win of the season.

It’s a shootout Cal bests Sacramento State 42-30

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Cal Bears quarterback Chase Garbers passes against the Sacramento State Hornets at Cal Memorial Stadium during the home opener at UC Berkeley on Sat Sep 18, 2021 (AP News photo)

By Morris Phillips and Michael Duca

Cal Bears quarterback Chase Garbers lead Cal to the Bears first victory of 2021 with a convincing 42-30 win over the visiting Sacramento State Hornets at Cal Memorial Stadium. Garbers had himself an afternoon throwing 22-34 for 288 yards and two touchdowns. The Bears offense dominated in the first half 21-6 and the Hornets made it interesting in the second half outscoring the Bears 24-21 but the Bears hung on for the 12 point win.

The Bears Nikko Remiglio returned a second half kick off for a touchdown. Bears head coach Justin Wilcox said that winning in college football is not an easy task and he’s not taking the Bears first win of the season for granted, “You never minimize a win. It’s hard winning in college football, regardless of who you’re playing. … It’s good to get a win. But we all know that we need to be much, much better.” said Wilcox.

The Bears upon returning back to Berkeley and a full season schedule wanted to avoid going 0-3 for the first time since 2001 and in the abbreviated season of six games in 2020 the Bears lost the first three games of the season.

The Bears offense has improved over the last two games, Garbers didn’t waste anytime contributing to getting the Bears on the scoreboard on the first two drives Garbers gave to Bears running back Damien Moore who carried twice for four yard touchdowns. Moore had 87 yards in Saturday’s game.

Cal wide receiver Jeremiah Hunter caught a Garbers pass for a 45 yard touchdown. Hunter would come away with five receptions for 78 yards and the one touchdown. The Bears Trevon Clark scored a 12 yard touchdown in the third quarter and carried for a 16 yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.

“Each and every week we have gotten better, we have taken steps forward. As the season goes on and weeks go on, we’ll keep taking that next step.” said Garbers. Remiglio’s kickoff return to open the second half a 99 yard return really set the tone and the Bears confidence carried the rest of the game.

It’s off to Seattle and the Washington Huskies next Sat Sep 26th the Huskies got a huge win this Saturday against the Arkansas Redwolves 52-3. Huskies quarterback Dylan Morris went 23-39, 367 yards and two touchdowns against Arkansas.