Category: MLB

San Diego Padres Eric Hosmer makes it into first coasting as San Francisco Giants first baseman Wilmer Flores can’t find the handle on the ball as Giants pitcher John Brebbia watches the play unfold at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Sun May 22, 2022 (AP News photo)

San Diego. 10. 17. 0

San Francisco. 1. 4. 1

Sunday May 22, 2022

By Lewis Rubman

SAN FRANCISCO–Hoping to salvage one game of what had been ahard fought three game series against the San Diego Padres, the 22-17 San Francisco Giants sent veteran left hander Alex Wood (3-2,3.93) to battle against the 26-14 friars.

When the game was over, the Giants stood at 22-18, the Padres at 27-14, and Wood at 3-3, 4.82. He had lasted a scant three innings plus and was charged with five runs on eight hits and two walks. He threw 73 pitches, 50 of which were strikes. Of course, every batted ball from a weak foul through a home run counts as a strike. But he did strike out four opponents.

The Giants’ starter, who features a four seamer, change up, curve, and slider, was matched against fellow southpaw MacKenzie Gore (2-1,2.17 at game time), the third overall pick in the 2017 draft, This was the first time he pitched against an NL West rival.

He threw three shutout innings against the Phillies last Tuesday, the first and only time he pitched out of the bullpen in his professional career. He has the same inventory of deliveries as Wood, although he uses them in a different order of frequency.

The San Diego prospect left, assured of his third victory, after six brilliant innings in which he surrendered one run, earned, on three hits a walk, striking out a half a dozen Giants. He threw 90 pitches, 54 for strikes and reduced his ERA to 2.06.

Before the game, the Giants announced that they had placed Brandon Belt on the 10 day injured list effective May 19 as a result of the inflammation of his right knee.They recalled third baseman Kevin Padlo from the PCL, where he was hitting a combined .238 for Tacoma and Sacramento.

The visitors jumped out to an early lead. The Manny You Love to Hate laced into Wood’s first pitch to him, a sinker, for a one out double to left center and came around to score on Jurickson Profar’s infield single and Wil Myers’ single to left.

They doubled down on that one run in the second on a leadoff double by Ha-Seong Kim, a double to left center by Austin Nola, and Jake Cronenworth’s sac fly to center.

Wood managed to hold the Padres to a single in the third, but he couldn’t resist their onslaught in the fourth. Nola led off with a full count walk and moved up to second on Azocar’s single to center.

After smacking a splash foul, Jake Cronenworth brought Nola home with a single to center that moved Azocar to third and ended the day for Wood. Mashing Manny greeted John Brebbia, Wood’s successor, with a double that would have been a single if Darin Ruf hadn’t attempted a diving catch in left.

That brought in both runners, and it was 5-0, Pads. Profar grounded out to third, and Hosmer hit an in offensive grounder to first that Flores bobbled for an error.

San Diego’s first sacker advanced to second on a passed ball. Both he and Machado then crossed the plate on Myers’ rule book double to left. At last, Nola, who had walked to start the inning, struck out to end it.

The long wait in the dugout for the top of the fourth to end seemed to affect pitching. He walked Ruf on four pitches, and Yaztremski drove an 87 mph slider against the wall in right center for a double, sending Ruf to third. He scored on Flores’s sac fly to right.

It took only three pitches for Gore to fan Longoria, so when Azocar corralled Crawford’s drive in the deepest part of centerfield, it was the third out and the end of the Giants’ micro rally.

Jack Littell, replacing Brebbia in the fifth, became the third San Francisco hurler to be scored upon. He managed to retire the first two men he faced, but the third was Machado, who bettered his earlier double by a base with a triple to right center. He waltzed home on Profar’s single to right, and San Diego was up 8-1.

One inning later, and Littell still was on the mound. Myers hit a grounder to short that ate up Crawford and wound up as a single in left center. Then Luke Voit lifted a fly to left. Ruf went back for it, then came in for it, then looked at loss, and finally picked it up after it fell for a single that allowed Myers to score the Pad’s ninth run.

Voit went to third on Kim’ double to left and took San Diego’s run total into double digits on Azocar’s RBI groundout to short.

It was the turn of Mauricio Llovera, starting the seventh, to be bedeviled by Machado, who lashed a ground ball at Crawford, who once again was just a fraction of a second late in gathering in the ball, which skipped by him into left center field while Manny motored into second with a leg double. But Llovera held firm and escaped unscored upon.

Craig Stammen relieved Gore in the seventh and set San Francisco down in order. Luis Gonzalez in a reprise of his performance against Albert Pujols pulled a Pablo, and pitched a perfect top of the eighth.

He then hit a one out single in the home half of the inning. The Padres managed one hit, a Cronenworth two bagger off the right field wall in the ninth, but González closed out his line with two scoreless innings.

Steven Wilson set the Giants down 1-2-3 to close out the dismal game and series.

The NL East leading Mets come to town tomorrow to test the meddle of the faltering orange and gold. Game time is 6:45. David Peterson (1-0,1.89) will throw for the New Yorkers, and Alex Cobb (3-1,5.61) will take the mound for the Giants.

San Diego Padres reliever Joe Musgrove delivers to the San Francisco Giants in the bottom of the first inning at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Sat May 21, 2022 (AP News photo)

San Diego. 2. 6. 0

San Francisco. 1. 6. 1

Saturday May 5, 2022

By Lewis Rubman

SAN FRANCISCO–Last night’s battle royale at Oracle Park served as a reminder of the wisdom of America’s vernacular philosopher, Lawrence P. Berra, whose First Law of Epistemology was “It ain’t over til it’s over.”

It began again this afternoon with San Francisco’s left handed hurler Carlos Rodón on the mound with a record of 4-2,3.49) and the Giants in third place in their division with a record of 22-16.

The Giants’ starter was throwing to Michel Papierski the 26 year old catcher they had picked up in the trade that sent Mauricio Dubón to Houston, who was brought up today and was making his major league debut. Rodón breezed past his first two batters.

Then Jurickson Profar checked his swing and sent an inoffensive bounding ball to first, where yesterday´s hero, Darin Ruf, a last minute substitute of the injured Brandon Belt, bobbled the ball, enabling the Padre’s weak hitting clean up and designated hitter to reach base on an error.

Two full count walks later, the bases were jammed with San Diegans. Rodón escaped scoreless when Austin Nola flew out to right.

San Diego’s stellar starter, Joe Musgrove, who began the day at 4-0,2.20 for the 24-14 Padres, also had two out trouble in the first. He yielded a double down the right field line to number three hitter, Mike Yastremski before retiring the side.

When the din of battle had subsided, the Giants had come out on the short end of another one run contest, losing this one 2-1 to the surging friars. Rodón was charged with the loss, and Musgrove credited for the win.

The Manny You Love to Hate put the Pads ahead 1-0 in the third with a towering 425 foot blast that just squeaked over the center field fence. At least some of the blow’s power was due to the 98 mph at which Rodón had thrown his pitch.

The teams traded zeroes for another two and a half innings until a visibly tired Rodón, who had entered the frame with a pitch count of 86, yielded another run in the sixth. Luke Voit led off with a double to left. He advanced a base on Nola’s single to center.

Ha-Seong Kim flew out to right, and runners held. Trent Grisham’s sacrifice bunt to second brought Voit in with the etally that doubled San Diego’s lead.

Crawford’s throw to first on José Azocar’s grounder to short just barely beat the Pads’ left fielder to first, a call that was challenged by the visitors but confirmed by New York, ending the threat.

San Francisco threatened in their half of the sixth. Tommy LaStella sent a ball on one hop into the left centerfield stands for an automatic double. He held his ground when Flores grounded out to short. Yaz walked. And then The Curse of the Lead Off Double struck. Ruf ground into a 6-4-3 twin killing.

Rodón didn’t come out for the Padres’ seventh, relieved by Jarlín García, who held them scoreless on a hit and a walk in his one inning of work. The starting southpaw had pitched well in his six innings of work and might have pitched even better if Ruf´s error hadn’t extended his pitch count in the first.

He ended up having yielded two runs, both earned, on five hits and four walks while striking out six. He threw an even hundred pitches, 68 for strikes, and reduced his ERA a smidgen to 3.43.

The Giants presented a whole new battery in the top of the eighth. Joey Bart was behind the plate, and Domenic Leone was on the mound.

Musgrave lasted seven scoreless innings, in which he gave up four hits and three walks, striking out four. Like Rodón, he threw an even hundred pitches. 64 of his were strikes.

Musgrave’s replacement, Robert Suárez, gave back half of the Padres´ lead. Flores tore into his cut fastball, driving it 386 feet into left field for a solo blast with one down, his. fourth roundtripper of ´22.

José Alvarez pitched to three batters in the top of the ninth, retiring Grisham easily, but walking Azocar and plunking Cronenworth. Mauricio Llovera was given the unenviable task of dealing with Menacing Manny Machado with two on and one out.

Llovera got the National League’s leading hitter to pop out to short, bringing up Profar and his .217 BA. He walked on four pitches, loading the bases. The Giants’ reliever rose to the occasion, striking Myers out looking at a 2-2 sinker.

Taylor Rogers came in to close for the Padres. The Giants countered by calling on the right handed Austin Slater to hit for left handed Pederson against the southpaw.

He singled to right. Crawford then lined out to right. Kim made a gorgeously acrobatic play at second to force Slater out on Estrada’s ground ball, buthis throw to first arrived too late to double up the speedy San Francisco second sacker.

All that stood between the Giants and defeat was Luis González. He took a called third strike.

The Giants will try to salvage at least one victory in this series in a game that will start tomorrow at 1:05. San Diego will start MacKenzie Gore (2-1,2.17) against the Giants’ Alex Wood (3-2,3.93)

Jurickson Profar (#10) of the San Diego Padres takes off for first after connecting for an RBI single in the top of the 10th inning against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park in San Francisco (AP News photo)

By Jerry Feitelberg

SAN FRANCISCO–A fan threw a beer bottle and another threw a baseball towards leftfield at Oracle Park in San Francisco in the bottom of the third inning during Friday’s game between the visiting San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants and that was enough for the Padres Jurickson Profar who was a target by one of the bad aimed fans.

Profar said after the near miss that Giants fans are “the worst in the league.” Profar exchanged words with fans in the bottom of the third inning after he threw a ball into the third base stands after warming up in the outfield. Profar faked throwing the ball for a souvenir into the left field stands and then turned and tossed it into the third base stands. A fan threw the ball back onto the field.

Fans in leftfield took exception with the verbal exchange and the faking of the souvenir toss and decided to do a little tossing themselves throwing a beer bottle and a baseball at the Padres leftfielder. Profar at that point talked to crew chief umpire Ted Barrett who came out to leftfield to see what was going on as Profar was pointing to the leftfield stands.

Fans started booing when Profar picked up one of the tossed balls and Barrett picked up the other. Profar said he tried to throw it to a Padres fan but a Giants fan intercepted the throw and threw the ball at Profar nearly beaning the Padre outfielder. Profar said the then threw the ball back in the stands then one fan threw a beer bottle at Profar.

Profar said after the game that the fans can talk all they want but when they start throwing things that’s a different thing. It didn’t end there Profar had an silver aluminum beer bottle thrown at him in the bottle of the seventh inning. Profar said he was pretty mad and that he could get a concussion if a beer bottle was to hit him in the back of the head.

Profar said that nobody from security came into the left field stands to stop the beer bottle throwing and after teammate Manny Machado talked to Barrett and a security guard on the field. Rightfielder Wil Myers said about the tough crowd that it’s a tough place but Oracle Park is a nice environment.

Barrett was informed before Saturday’s game that extra police and security will watching for fans tossing anything on the field. Profar was not positioned in the outfield to start Saturday’s game but was in the line up as the designated hitter.

Jurickson a former Oakland A’s player from across the bay played for Oakland for one season in 2019. In spite of that the fans attitude is he’s wearing the wrong uniform and fans at Oracle are viewing the Padres as a rival team.

Jerry Feitelberg is a baseball staff writer for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

San Diego Padres starter Sean Manaea delivers a pitch to the San Francisco Giants line up in the bottom of the first inning at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Fri May 20, 2022 (AP News photo)

San Diego. 8 11. 0

San Francisco 7. 10. 0.

10 innings

Friday May 20, 2022

By Lewis Rubman

SAN FRANCISCO–It was welcome back to the bay night for ex Athletics on the San Diego Padres this evening. Sean Manaea, once the ace of Oakland´s rotation, the southpaw slider specialist from Samoa who no hit the then powerful Red Sox in 2018 started for the Pads, backed up by erstwhile teammate Jurickson Profar, playing left and batting clean up.

Manager Bob Melvin´s return was particularly gratifying since it marked his first game at the helm since his recovery from prostate surgery earlier this month. One time Oakland outfielder Ryan Christenson had been running the team in the skipper´s absence.

Manaea came into the game with a 2-3,3.77 record and had lost his only other start against San Francisco, which came on April 13. He pitched well in that game, allowing both of the Giants’ runs, which were earned, in six innings of work. The Padres had to come back twice from behind to capture the lead and got it for keeps in the top of the 10th inning for a one run 8-7 win at Oracle Park.

Friday night Manaea left without a decision, having surrendered four runs, all earned, in another six inning stint. He threw 96 pitches, 66 of which qualified as strikes, surrendering five hits, two of them home runs. His strikeout total was five, against two walks.

The Giants sent Jakob Juris, another pitcher who seldom throws fast balls from the mound. Juris had been up and down between Sacramento and San Francisco, as had Luis González, who was brought back to the big team when the Giants put LaMonte Wade, Jr., on the 10 day IL with an inflamed left knee.

In a roller coaster of a game, the Padres defeated the Giants in 10 innings.

San Francisco took an early lead in the second on a lead off single by Wilmer Flores, followed by ex-Athletic Tommy LaStella’s foul out to first.

A single by Thairo Estrada and a walk to Brandon Crawford loaded the bases and set the stage for Curt Casali’s sacrifice fly to right. But that was all the scoring the Giants could muster. González fanned to end the inning.

The Padres jumped ahead while it still was daylight. Ha-Seong Kim led off the top of the third with a liner that bounced through Juris’s legs and off Estrada’s glove at second for a single. After Trent Grisham forced Kim at second, Jorge Alfaro bounced a drive down the left field line for a double that brought Grisham home with the tying run.

Jake Cronenworth promptly made the score 3-1 with a 348 foot blast to right for his third round tripper of the season. It came off a slow slider.

San Diego padded its lead before the frame was over. Machado, the Manny you love to hate, singled to right and advanced to third when Eric Hosmer grounded out to short. He then scored on a wild pitch.

Ruff’s second four bagger of the year, with Slater on board in the Giants’ third, took a Manaea sinker 391 feet deep into left and brought the home team closer to the visitors, reducing their advantage to 4-3.

Ruf came through again to tie the game at four with another home run to left. This one went 381 feet and came off a change up.

Thanks to some spiffy fielding by Estrada, Juris got through the sixth frame unscathed and left the game in favor of John Brebbia. All four of the runs the Giants’ starter had allowed were earned. They came on seven hits, one of which went the distance. He didn’t walk anyone but did unleash a costly wild pitch. His pitch count was 76, 52 considered strikes.

Nabil Crismatt relieved Manaea to start the seventh. Curt Casali drove a hanging curve deep to left center field where Profar corralled it at the wall. González proceeded to smack a four seamer to the same field for a two bagger.

Mike Yastrzemski pinch hit for Slater and flew out to right, bringing up Ruf. Could he do it again? San Diego had learned its lesson, and Ruf walked on five pitches. Evan Longoria grounded out to end the threat, leaving the score knotted at four.

It fell to Tyler Rogers to pitch the Padres’ eighth. He almost made it through scoreless, but Will Myers jumped on a 2-2 72 mph slider with runners on second and third for a two run double to right that gave the Friars a 6-4 lead.

Crismatt got two quick outs in the bottom of the eighth but surrendered a double to deep right to Estrada, which ended Crismatt’s tenure on the mound. Lefty Tim Hill came in and retired Crawford on a fly to right.

Zack LIttell started the top of the ninth for the orange and black. He sandwiched a walk to Grisham between strikeouts of Kim and Alfaro and then turned the ball over to José Alvarez to face the top of the Padres order. He only had to face Cronenworth, who sent Yaztremski to the wall to catch his inning-ending fly to center.

Luis García took the mound when the Giants came up for their last turn at bat; it was his first save opportunity of the season. He struck out Joey Bart, who had replaced Casali behind the plate in the top of the inning, and González. Yastrzemski kept the Giants´hopes alive with a single to short, bringing Ruf to the plate once more at a critical juncture.

He took two balls and a strike, then a third ball. Then he swung and missed. He took a fourth ball, putting the potential tying run on base and the potential winning run at the plate. Joc Pederson was announced as a pinch hitter for Longoria. He worked a full count.

He walked, and the bases were loaded for Flores, who blooped a broken single over short tied the score and sent Pederson to second. Now it was up to LaStella. But he went down swinging, the game went into the tenth, and Camilo Doval came in to pitch

Cronenworth was the zombie runner He wasn’t for long; Machado brought him home with a double to center on Doval’s second offering.

He moved onto third when Hosmer grounded out to second and scored when Profar’s liner bounced off Doval’s foot and into right field. Once more, the Giants were down by two.

Robert Suárez came in and attempted to earn the save. Estrada’s ground out to second moved zombie runner LaStella to third.

Crawford, 0 for 3 for the night and hitting .217, singled him home. Bart then struck out for the second time and the second out. Luis González grounded to short and was thrown out on a close play that sealed the Giants´ fate.

García was the winning pitcher. His record now is 2-2,3.77. The loss went to Doval, his second against no wins, raised his ERA to 2.70. Suárez earned the save, his first.

The Giants will try to wreak revenge Saturday afternoon, when they will send Carlos Rodón (4-2,3.49) against Joe Musgrove (4-0,2.20) in the second game of this three game set, scheduled to start at 1:05.