Category: San Francisco Giants

Photo credit: @NBCSGiants

By Jeremy Harness

The Giants lost in heart-sinking fashion on Thursday, 5-4, to the Boston Red Sox, after a ninth-inning rally that fell just shy that will almost certainly make the plane ride to Atlanta a little less pleasant.

But before sulking in that any deeper, let’s all take a moment to look back on all the good, legendary stuff that went down in these past three games.

First of all, the Giants took two of the three games at historic Fenway Park, a place where the Giants had not won since 1915.

Do the math. That’s 104 years, people!

Mike Yastrzemski, the grandson of Hall of Famer and Red Sox legend Carl Yastrzemski, made his Fenway debut Tuesday night and was given a standing ovation by the Boston faithful, and the magnitude was ramped up when young Yaz blasted one out of the ballpark later in the game.

To cap it all off, Bruce Bochy got the 2,000th win of his managerial career Wednesday night, a career that will land him into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

As we let that sink in for a little bit, fast-forward to Thursday afternoon.

Trailing by a pair in the ninth, the Giants began a rally against Red Sox closer Brandon Workman, which started when Brandon Belt reached base on a throwing error by second baseman Marco Hernandez, who made a nice sliding stop but watched as his routine throw to first pulled Brock Holt off the bag.

The Giants loaded the bases with nobody out, but Brandon Crawford struck out looking, a situation where simply making contact would likely bring in a run. Yastrzemski was then blown away by a Workman fastball, and the rally was suddenly in jeopardy.

Kevin Pillar kept the rally alive by drawing a walk and bringing in a run, and Evan Longoria was able to work a full count. However, Workman then threw perhaps his best pitch of the afternoon, a breaking ball that dove out of the strike zone and enticed Longoria to swing at air, ending the rally and the hope for a sweep.

“(Workman) found a way to get through it,” manager Bruce Bochy said. It’s a tough pitch to lay off for (Longoria), especially after seeing a couple of pretty good fastballs before that.

“We were close to getting a nice sweep here, but we just came up a little short.”

Although the numbers won’t necessarily reflect it, but Madison Bumgarner threw well on Thursday and gave his team a chance to win.

He went five innings and gave up five runs on nine hits, walking two and striking out seven. However, many of the decisive hits were not hit especially hard at all, but rather were bloopers off good pitches that found open spots in the Giants’ defense.

“It’s just unfortunate that that many fell in,” Bumgarner said. “In this case, I just keep making my pitches and trust that that’s not going to continue to happen. I felt that I threw the ball pretty good.”

Photo credit: @NBCSGiants

By Jeremy Harness

The Giants’ playoff hopes may be over, but they are still playing hard and playing good baseball in spurts, and that still makes them interested to watch, even with only a couple of weeks left in the 2019 season.

For the past two nights, they have given it to the Boston Red Sox, a team that is in the thick of the American League playoff race, the latest installment being an 11-3 rout of the Red Sox at Fenway Park Wednesday night.

The Giants jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first three innings, a surge that was spearheaded by Stephen Vogt’s two-run homer in the first inning that sailed over the short wall in right field.

In the sixth and seventh, the Red sox mounted a comeback and cut the lead in half. However, the Giants used the next two innings to blow the game wide open.

They got a pair of runs in the eighth and then erupted for a five-run ninth, during which Mike Yastrzemski, who got a standing ovation from the Boston faithful in his first game at Fenway Park Tuesday night, singled in a run to start the burst.

Vogt had four RBI on Wednesday for the Giants, while Mauricio Dubon knocked in a pair of runs himself, courtesy of a two-run single in the ninth.

Meanwhile, Jeff Samardzija had a solid outing, giving up only a run on two hits, walking only one and striking out a pair of batters, lowering his ERA to 3.64. His Red Sox counterpart, Jhoulys Chacin, however, was not so fortunate. He was chased from the game after only 2 2/3 innings after surrendering four runs on five hits.

Photo credit: bostonglobe.com

By Jeremy Kahn

Mike Yastrzemski was the talk of the town, but it was another first year member of the Orange and Black who came through in the end.

Alex Dickerson hit a sacrifice fly in the top of the 15th inning to score Donovan Solano from third base, helping the San Francisco Giants defeat the Boston Red Sox 6-5 at Fenway Park.

It was the first time in six tries that the Giants won in the 107-year old ballpark, as the Giants were swept in 2007 and 2016, their previous two trips to the oldest ballpark in the major leagues.

Solano hit a ground-rule double that went into stands with one out in the inning, and went to third on a wild pitch by Trevor Kelley.

The win gave Dereck Rodriguez the win, as he went the final two innings to pick-up his sixth win of the season.

Rodriguez was the 13th pitcher of the night, as Logan Webb started this marathon and went five innings, allowing three runs on three hits, walking four and striking out three.

Webb was in line for the win, but Andrew Suarez was unable to hold on to the lead, as he gave up two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning.

After Suarez, the next 11 pitchers went nine innings, allowing one run on six hits, walking six and striking out nine.

Brandon Belt gave the Giants a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, as he hit his 17th home run of the season over the Green Monster.

Yastrzemski gave the Giants a 5-1 lead in the top of the fourth inning, as he hit his 20th home run of the season in front of family and friends.

The Giants retook the lead in the top of the 13th inning, as Kevin Pillar singled to lead off the inning and then Brandon Crawford doubled to score Pillar, but was thrown at third base, when he over slid third base.

Sam Selman was unable to get the save, as he loaded the bases with one out, as he gave up a single to Marco Hernandez, walked Andrew Benintendi and was then replaced by Burch Smith, who gave up a single to Xander Bogaerts. Smith was then replaced by Wandy Peralta, who struck out Rafael Devers for the second out.

Kyle Barraclough was then called on to replace Peralta, but he was unable to close out the game, as he walked Juan Centeno to tie up the game. Barraclough was able to get out of the jam, as he got Brock Holt to end the inning.

NOTES: Both the Giants and Red Sox used a major-league record tying 24 pitchers, including 13 by the Giants, tying a team record.

The Giants did defeat the Red Sox in two games of the 1912 World Series, and also defeated the Boston Braves in the 1914 and 1915 seasons.

Bruce Bochy won his 1,999th game, moving within one of becoming the 11th manager to reach the 2,000-win victory mark.

The Sacramento Rivercats defeated the Columbus Clippers 4-0 in the Triple A National Championship game at AutoZone Park in Memphis, Tennessee.

This was the third time that the Rivercats won the Triple-A National Championship, becoming the first team to three National Championships.

UP NEXT: Jeff Samardzija will take the mound on Wednesday for the Giants, while Jhoulys Chacin will toe the rubber for the Red Sox. Game starts at 4:10 p.m. PT.