Category: San Francisco Giants

Oakland Athletics’ Mark Canha (20) runs the bases after hitting a three run homerun off San Francisco Giants’ Trevor Gott in the ninth inning of a baseball game Saturday, Aug. 15, 2020, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO-Does it bear repeating that the ninth inning for the San Francisco Giants over the first two games of this three-game series have been a nightmare.

Mark Canha hit three-run home run on a 3-2 pitch with two outs in the top of the ninth inning, as the Oakland A’s came back to defeat the Giants 7-6 at Oracle Park.

Canhas home run came off of Trevor Gott, who gave up Stephen Piscottys game-tying grand slam on Friday night that tied up the game.

Gott looked shaky in his 0.2 innings of work, as he gave up a lead-off home run to Sean Murphy on the first pitch, then after Marcus Semien popped out for the first out of the inning, Tony Kemp doubled to centerfield, Gott then retired Matt Chapman on a lineout to Hunter Pence for the second out; however, Matt Olson then walked and then Canha launched his three-run home run that gave the A’s the lead for good.

Darin Ruf, who spent the last few seasons in South Korea, playing in the Korean Baseball Organization, hit a three-run home run off of Burch Smith in the bottom of the seventh inning,

Asides from Ruf, the star of the day was Kevin Gausman, who despite the fact that he did not fare in the decision, pitched a great game.

Gausman went 5.2 innings, allowing three runs on five hits, walked three and struck out a career-high 11 along the way.

The A’s, who scored the final six runs in a memorable 8-7 win on Friday night got to Gausman in the top of the third inning, as Marcus Semien hit a two-run home run to give the A’s a 2-0 lead. Also, scoring on the Semien home run, his second of the season, Vimael Machin, who picked up his first major league hit.

Mike Yastrzemski gave the Giants the lead in the bottom of the third inning in the very unconventional way, as he tripled to right field that scored Austin Slater and Donovan Solano, and Yastrzemski scored, as Semiens throw bounced into the dugout for a throwing error.

Matt Olson, whose last seven hits were all home runs made it 8-for-8, as he homered for the eighth time this season, a solo home run that landed on the netting in straightaway center field.

Solano extended his career-high hitting streak up to 17 games, as he singled in four at-bats in the game and is now batting a robust .433 on the season.

Evan Longoria got the seventh inning rally started, as he doubled to lead off the inning, then Wilmer Flores singled him to third, then after Hunter Pence struck out for the first out of the inning, Ruf planted a Smith pitch into the left field bleachers to give the Giants the lead.

T.J. McFarland struck out the only batter he faced to pick up the win for the A’s, his second win of the season, while Liam Hendricks, despite the fact that he allowed a walk to pinch hitter Alex Dickerson was able to get Dubon to pop out to Kemp for the final out and the A’s won for the second day in a row in dramatic fashion.

NOTES: By allowing four more home runs on the afternoon, the Giants opponents have now hit 36 home runs on the season, the second most in the major leagues behind division rival, the Arizona Diamondbacks, who have allowed 43 coming into the game.

The Giants have now allowed home runs in 18-consecutive games, the longest streak in franchise history, this according to STATS, LLC.

Last night was the Giants’ first loss after leading by five or more runs in the ninth inning or later since June 25, 1929 vs. Brooklyn (led 10-5, lost 12-10 in ten innings). according to Stats, LLC, the Giants had won their last 2,133 games when leading by five-plus runs in the 9th or later before last night, the longest such streak in the modern era.

UP NEXT: Logan Webb will take the mound in the finale of the series on Sunday afternoon, while the As have not yet announced their starter.

San Francisco Giants pitcher Johnny Cueto works against the Oakland Athletics in the first inning of a baseball game Friday, Aug. 14, 2020, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO-This new rule of a runner on second base to begin extra innings is not working out for the San Francisco Giants at home, and it helped the Oakland A’s complete a phenomenal comeback.

Matt Chapman scored on a sacrifice fly from third base off the bat of Mark Canha, as the A’s defeated the Giants 8-7 in 10 innings in the opener of the Bay Bridge Series at Oracle Park.

The A’s trailed in the game by the score of 7-2 entering the top of the ninth inning, and then began their comeback.

As first baseman Matt Olson continues to hit the ball well, as he launched his seventh home run of the season that landed in the Giants bullpen in the top of the ninth inning off of Trevor Gott.

Things went from great, too good, too bad and then finally to the downright ridiculous within a span of four batters after the Olson home run.

Gott walked Canha, then the bizarre occurred when Grossman reached on a fielders choice, when Flores fielded the ball and threw to Brandon Crawford to get the force out instead of just going over to first for what would have been the second out of the inning. Gott then hit Davis to load the bases, and then with one swing of the bat, the game was all tied up, as Piscotty launched a grand slam that sent the A’s dugout into a frenzy.

That was the second grand slam of the season for Piscotty and like his walk-off grand slam against the Texas Rangers, he is the 14th player in MLB history to hit two grand slams in the ninth inning in the same season and the first A’s player to ever do it (Mike Selleck of A’s PR with that note).

Tyler Rogers replaced Gott, and immediately gave up a single to Sean Murphy and then a double to Marcus Siemen to put runners on second and third with one out. Rogers then struck out Chad Pinder for the second out of the inning, and after an eight pitch at-bat, Rogers struck out Chapman to end the threat.

Johnny Cueto was lights out, as he went seven innings, allowing two runs on just three hits, walked two and struck out five; however, he did not fare in the decision after the As exploded for five runs in the top of the ninth inning to tie up the game.

Evan Longoria got the Giants on the board in the bottom of the first inning, as he took a Jesus Luzardo pitch and put it into the left field bleachers to give the Giants a quick 1-0 lead.

Hunter Pence did even more damage in the bottom of the third inning, as he hit a three-run home run off of Luzardo.

Longoria broke what looked like the game wide open in the bottom of the fourth inning, as he singled to left field that allowed both Chadwick Tromp and Mauricio Dubon to score to give the Giants a six-run lead.

The A’s finally got to Cueto in the top of the seventh inning, as Canha singled to left and then Grossman tripled down the right field to break up the shutout.

With Cueto at exactly 100 pitches, Giants manager Gabe Kapler came out to the mound, but instead of pulling Cueto, he let him stay on the mound to face Kris Davis, who grounded out to Solano to score Grossman from third base, Cueto then got out of the inning, when he got Piscotty to ground out to Dubon for the final out of the inning.

Solano extended his career-high best hitting streak up to 16 games, when singled to lead-off the bottom of the third inning and three batters later, Pence hit his second home run in four days. The Fort Worth, Texas native returned to his home state, and more important to the city where he his major-league career began with the Houston Astros to key a come-from-behind victory that saw the Giants come back from a 6-2 deficit to win 7-6 in 10 innings.

Mike Yastrzemski he hit his fifth home run of the season that landed in the front row of the left field bleachers in the bottom of the eighth inning. With the home run, Yastrzemski raised his batting average from .297 to .307 with one swing of the bat.

NOTES: Longoria’s home run in the bottom of the first inning was the 299th home run of his career, leaving him just one shy of becoming the 149th member of the 300-home run club and would tie Chuck Klein and Justin Upton for 147th place all-time.

That was the 26th home run of Yastrzemskis career in his 145th game, and in comparison, his grandfather Carl, who hit 452 home runs in his career hit his 26th home run in his 245th career, thank you Sarah Langs for that tidbit.

This was the first time that the A’s have won a game after trailing by five runs in the ninth inning since July 15, 1952, when the then Philadelphia A’s defeated the St. Louis Browns (now the Baltimore Orioles) when Eddie Joost hit a walk-off grand slam off of Satchel Paige to win 7-6 at Shibe Park (thank you Dave Feldman).

UP NEXT: Kevin Gausman will start for the Giants on Saturday afternoon, while Sean Manaea will start for the A’s.

The grinding of teeth as the San Francisco Giants pitcher Caleb Baragar is lifted in the sixth inning of Wednesday night’s game in Houston after the Astros Martin Maldonado tags Baragar with a three run homer. The Giants host the Oakland A’s at Oracle Park in San Francisco tonight (AP photo)

By Jeremy Harness

The Giants just dropped a series to the defending American League champs. Now they have to contend with the hottest team in the game.

The Giants and A’s will now head to Oracle Park to play a three-game series in front of an undisclosed amount of cardboard cutouts and synthetic, non-authentic crowd noise, a series that starts Friday night.

The A’s are sitting atop the American League West with a 13-6 mark, having won 10 of their last 12 games in the process. The momentum really kicked into high gear when they swept the defending American League champion Houston Astros last weekend.

The Giants, on the other hand, are in last place in the National League West with an 8-12 record, and have dropped eight of their last 11 contests. They have lost games in different ways, with subpar defense, bad bullpen and the meager offense that Giants fans have grown used to for the past few years.

They have also been bitten by questionable pitching changes by manager Gabe Kapler, which was the main sticking point of his getting fired by the Philadelphia Phillies last season.

With all of this in mind, things are not looking good for the Giants and their overmatched lineup, and it does not figure to get any better in the foreseeable future.

Frankie Montas will go for the A’s on Friday, and he will go head-up with Giants starter Johnny Cueto, who had a no-hitter against the Los Angeles Dodgers in his most recent outing, which is one positive that the Giants can take into this series.

If there is another for the Giants, A’s outfielder Ramon Laureano is currently appealing a six-game suspension that he drew after his altercation with Astros hitting coach Alex Cintron over the weekend. He could very well miss part of, if not all of, the weekend series.

Houston Astros’ Martin Maldonado hits a three-run home run against the San Francisco Giants during the sixth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2020, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

By Jeremy Harness

The Giants got off to a nice start on Wednesday, but they could not get any further momentum going, and they fell to the Houston Astros, 5-1, at Minute Maid Park.

In the process, they dropped two of the three-game series to the defending American League champions, who have been found to have used different elaborate forms of sign-stealing over the course of at least three years, including the World Series-winning 2017 season.

After Alex Dickerson singled in Mike Yastrzemski to give the Giants a 1-0 lead in the first inning, the Astros, who didn’t need the help of a banging garbage can to tell them what pitch was coming, began to tee off on the Giants’ bullpen starting in the fifth inning.

Houston tied it in the fifth on Alex Bregman’s single off Dereck Rodriguez scored George Springer.

The following inning, the Astros continued to tee off. Carlos Correa, who last week was struck out and then mocked by Dodgers reliever Joe Kelly, which touched off a benches-clearing confrontation (social distancing was not maintained, by the way), scored on a wild pitch to give Houston the lead.

Martin Maldonado quickly followed with a three-run homer off reliever Caleb Baragar to extend the lead to four runs.

The only thing that the Giants did well following the fifth inning was that they did not get into a benches-clearing incident – unlike the Astros and Dodgers last week – to put themselves in danger of contracting COVID-19.

On the other hand, things were so good for the Astros that starting pitcher Zack Greinke called out a pitch he was to throw to Mauricio Dubon – yeah, he actually did that – and Dubon took the gift and promptly flied out to center to end the inning.

San Francisco Giants’ Hunter Pence hits a three-run home run against the Houston Astros during the seventh inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2020, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

By Jeremy Kahn

Coming into the game, Hunter Pence was 2-for-32 on the season, but what a homecoming for the native Texan.

Pence, who grew up in Fort Worth and made his major-league debut for the Houston Astros came back home to haunt his former team, as he picked up two huge hits and the San Francisco Giants came back from a 6-2 deficit to defeat the Astros 7-6 in 10 innings at Minute Maid Park.

Blake Taylor served up a three-run pinch hit home run to Pence that narrowed the lead down to 6-5 in the top of the seventh inning, and then Pence hit an opposite field single that sent Mike Yastrzemski to third base. Yastrzemski walked off of Astros closer Ryan Pressly.

Following the Pence single, Darin Ruf singled to left field to easily score Yastrzemski from third base.

With a runner on second base to open the top of the 10th inning, another Giants veteran in Brandon Crawford singled to score Wilmer Flores.

It was a tough night for Giants starter Tyler Anderson, as he went five innings, allowing four runs on five hits, walking three and striking out two.

Once again, the Giants bullpen came up huge in the long run, as they went five innings, allowing two runs on five hits, all by Rico Garcia in the bottom of the sixth inning, as it looked like the Astros broke the game wide open; however, that was not the case in the end.

Wandy Peralta, Shawn Anderson, Trevor Gott and Tyler Rogers went the final 4.1 innings, allowing all zeroes and three strikeouts, including the final two by Rogers that ended the game.

Gott picked up his third win of the season, as the Giants evened up the three-game series against the Astros.

With George Springer on second base to start the bottom of the 10th inning, Rogers was forced to face the heart of the Astros; however, he was up to the task, as he got Yuli Gurriel to ground out to Mauricio Dubon and Springer moved up to third base. Rogers then was able to get Carlos Correa on a 2-2 pitch, and then Kyle Rogers was called out on strikes to give Rogers his first career save.

Wilmer Flores gave the Giants a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning, as he hit his first home run of the season.

Alex Bregman hit a solo home run for the Astros, and it was the 29th home runs allowed by the team this season. It was the 15th consecutive game that the Giants allowed a home run, breaking the record for most consecutive games allowing a home run.

UP NEXT: Trevor Cahill will make his Giants debut on Wednesday, as he takes the mound in the finale, while the Astros will send Zack Greinke to the hill.

Los Angeles Dodgers’ A.J. Pollock, left, hits a three-run home run as San Francisco Giants relief pitcher Tyler Rogers, right, watches along with catcher Tyler Heineman, second from right, and home plate umpire Adam Hamari during the seventh inning of a baseball game Sunday, Aug. 9, 2020, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

By Jeremy Kahn

Two bad pitches by relievers for the San Francisco Giants gave the game and the series to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

AJ Pollock hit a three-run home run off of Tyler Rogers in the bottom of the seventh inning, as the Dodgers would go on to defeat the Giants 6-2 at Dodger Stadium.

Cody Bellinger hit a single off of starter Kevin Gausman with one out in the inning and then Justin Turner picked up a single off of Rogers. After Rogers struck out max Muncy for the second out of the inning, and then Pollock put a 3-2 offering from Rogers and put it into the left field pavilion.

Just one inning later, Mookie Betts put the game out of reach, as he launched a three-run home run of his own.

Will Smith picked up a leadoff walk and then Enrique Hernandez doubled off of Caleb Baragar, and then Betts picked up his first hit in four at-bats, when took a Baragar pitch and put into the left field pavilion just like Pollocks.

Jake McGee struck out one in his only inning of work to pick up his first win of the season for the Dodgers.

Mike Yastrzemski picked up the Giants first hit of the afternoon, as he singled to center field off of Walker Buehler that scored both Pablo Sandoval and Austin Slater from second and third respectively. Sandoval walked and then Buehler hit Slater, and then after a wild pitch by Buehler, Yastrzemski broke the scoreless tie with a single to centerfield.

Donovan Solano, who leads the major leagues in hitting, extended his hitting streak up to a career-high 14 games, when he singled in the top of the eighth.

Solano is hitting .455 on the season, as he attempts to become the first player since Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox in 1941 to finish the season with over a .400 batting average. That season, Williams, a native of San Diego finished the season with a .406 batting average and won the American League Most Valuable Player Award over San Francisco native Joe DiMaggio of the New York Yankees, who set a major-league record by hitting in 56 consecutive games.

Gausman went 6.1 innings, allowing just one run on three hits, not walking a batter and struck out six, as he did not fare in the decision.

NOTES: Right-handed pitcher Jordan Humphreys was placed on the restricted list for personal reasons and left-hander pitcher Jarlin Garcia was reinstated 60-day injured list.

The Giants acquired outfielder Luis Basabe and he will report to the teams alternate site in Sacramento. Former Oakland As pitcher Trevor Cahill was called up to the taxi squad, while Andrew Suarez was sent to Sacramento and Abiatal Avelino was designated for assignment.

UP NEXT: Lance McCullers, Jr. will open the three-game series for the Houston Astros on Monday night, while the Giants have yet to announce a starter.

San Francisco Giants’ Austin Slater, left, runs to first base as he hits a solo home run while Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw, center, and catcher Austin Barnes, right, watch during the third inning of a baseball game Saturday, Aug. 8, 2020, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

By Jeremy Kahn

Austin Slater joined an exclusive club in Game Two of the three-game series between the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Slater became only the seventh player to hit two home runs in the same game versus Kershaw in the same game, as the Giants hung on to defeat the Dodgers 5-4 at Dodger Stadium.

Leading off the top of the third inning, Slater hit a solo home run over the center field wall to give the Giants a 1-0 lead and then two batters later, Mike Yastrzemski made it 2-0, as he hit a home run into the right field bleachers.

Just two innings later in the top of the fifth inning, Slater did it again, as he launched his second home run of the game and the season to give the Giants a 3-0 lead.

After Donovan Solano doubled to left field, Yastrzemski made it 4-0, as he doubled off of Kershaw and that was the end of the night for Kershaw.

Johnny Cueto was cruising into the bottom of the sixth inning, as he was throwing a no-hiter; however, he it was gone after the first batter of the inning after a weird play in the outfield.

Enrique Hernandez hit a fly ball to left field that should have been an easy out for Hunter Pence, but Pence lost the ball in the lights and Hernandez ended up on third base with a triple. Immediately after the Hernandez triple, Austin Barnes grounded to shortstop that allowed Hernandez to score from third base.

Both Joc Pederson and Cody Bellinger walked, but inside of pulling Cueto, who was limping from an apparent leg injury, Giants manager Gabe Kapler allowed Cueto to stay in the game and face nemesis Justin Turner, who took the right-hander deep to cut the Giants down to 5-4 and that was the end of the line for Cueto, who was replaced by Tony Watson, who got Max Muncy to pop out to Chadwick Tromp.

In all, Cueto was fantastic, as he went five and two-thirds innings, allowing four runs on just two hits, walking three and striking out three to pick up his first win of the season.

On the other side of things, Kershaw went 4.1 innings, allowing four runs on seven hits, walking one and striking out six.

This was the second shortest start in Kershaws career against the Giants, a team that he was 23-12 with a 1.74 earned run average in his career. It was also the first time that he ever allowed three home runs to the Giants in the same game in 49 starts.

Trevor Gott walked one in the bottom of the ninth inning, but was able to get the final out for his fourth save of the season.

The quartet of Slater, Solano, Yastrzemski and Evan Longoria, the first four batters of the Giants lineup went a combined 9-for-19 with three home runs and four batted in.

Once again, the Giants bullpen was outstanding, as Watson, Trevor Rogers and Gott went the final 3.1 innings, allowing just a walk and strikeout, as the Giants put an end to their two-game losing streak.

NOTES: Cueto was forced to leave the game with blister on his toe, and Jeff Samardzija will not throw for seven to 10 days due to inflammation to his rotator cuff and will return to the Bay Area, when the Giants head to Houston.

With the two home runs versus Kershaw, Slater joined Adam Dunn of the Washington Nationals on (August 6, 2010), Carlos Gonzalez of the Colorado Rockies (May 2, 2012), Jayson Werth (July 21, 2013), for the Nationals, Jay Bruce (September 8, 2013) of the Cincinnati Reds, Jose Reyes of the New York Mets (June 19, 2017) and Bo Bichette of the Toronto Blue Jays (August 20, 2019).

UP NEXT: Kevin Gausman will start the finale for the Giants, as he looks for his first win of the season, while Walker Buehler will take the ball for the Dodgers.

BaseballReference.Com contributed to this report