Category: San Francisco Giants

San Francisco Giants podcast with Michael Duca: Giants’ climb to get out of the cellar a long way off

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Photo credit: mccoveychronicles.com

On the Giants podcast with Michael:

#1 The San Francisco Giants’ loss last night represented their fifth loss in six games and they have not been out of the NL West cellar since May.

#2 They faced some solid pitching from the Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Alex Young (1-0, 1.80 ERA) who pitched five innings against the Giants for three hits and five strikeouts holding the Giants to just one run.

#3 Michael talks about putting on a finger on what’s wrong with the Giants hitters. Everyone in the lineup on Thursday night are hitting below .300.

#4 The Giants starter Tyler Beede pitched 5 1/3 for four hits, two earned runs and three strikeouts — a good outing, but the relievers gave up three more runs in the 5-1 loss.

#5 Starting pitchers for Friday night at Oracle Park. For the Diamondbacks, Merrill Kelly (7-7, 3.93 ERA), and for the San Francisco Giants, Shaun Anderson (2-2, 3.94 ERA).

Catch Michael for the Giants podcasts each Friday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

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.

Dahl’s grand slam carries Rockies past Giants, 6-3

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By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO — Given the Colorado Rockies’ history of harvesting sluggers over the last 26 major league seasons, David Dahl’s accomplishment on Wednesday ranks as no small feat.

Dahl’s grand slam off Jeff Samardzija propelled the Rockies in a 6-3 series clinching win as the centerfielder became the first Colorado player to hit a slam in San Francisco.

Not Larry Walker, Todd Helton, Nolan Arenado or the Big Cat, Andres Galarraga, but Dahl, the Rockies’ emerging talent with just over 200 big league contests under his belt.

“Days like today validate what you’re seeing from David,” manager Bud Black said of Dahl. “I think it’s great. I know that his motivation and his desire is to be the best player he can be, and he’s working hard and what I like is he’s doing it on both sides.”

Dahl’s 10th home run of the season wiped out the Giants’ early 2-0 lead, and was largely responsible for pinning a loss on Samardzija, who surrendered five runs on just three hits in five innings. Samardzija followed Drew Pomeranz and Madison Bumgarner on the strikeout parade, fanning six, but he couldn’t get a big out facing Dahl when he needed it.

“A two-run homer and we’re fine there, and the game’s still going our way. But when it’s four it’s unfortunate,” Samardzija said.

The Giants struck for two runs in the first, interrupting a 13-inning scoreless streak, but after Pablo Sandoval’s solo shot off Rockies’ starter German Marquez in the third, the bats went quiet again. The Giants were shutout for the fifth time at home on Monday, and scored just five runs in the series. On Wednesday, when Marquez departed, things really dried up: the Giants managed just one base hit over the final four frames.

Marquez wasn’t particularly sharp, allowing seven hits, two runs and the home run to Sandoval, but he didn’t need to be with Dahl contributing five RBI to the cause, and allowing the Rockies to lead from the third inning on. Marquez picked up his second win this season at Oracle Park, having limited the Giants to one-hit on April 14.

“German was off. It was a combination of not his usual breaking balls and lack of fastball command,” said Black. “He had to work really hard to get through that.”

The Giants tinkered with their lineup–moving Brandon Belt into the leadoff spot, spelling the scuffling Evan Longoria with Sandoval, and giving Buster Posey a day off from his catching duties–but not much of that tinkering took hold after a rare, first inning outburst.

The Giants open a four-game set on Thursday against the Diamondbacks, who just bounced back from the losing a series to the Giants over the weekend by taking two of three from the first-place Dodgers.

Only the Marlins (30-48) have a worse record than the Giants among the 15 National League clubs. The Giants have been particularly deficient at home winning just 16 of their 39 contests so far.

Arizona’s Alex Young will face the Giants’ Tyler Beede in the series opener on Thursday.

Bumgarner looks dominant in Giants’ 4-2 win

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Photo credit: @KNBR

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO — After one of his worst starts of the 2019 season, Madison Bumgarner came back with a vengeance.

In six innings of work, Bumgarner struck out a season-high 11 and added a RBI single, as the San Francisco Giants defeated the Colorado Rockies 4-2.

Bumgarner, who raised his record to 4-7 on the season followed up a terrible start against the Los Angeles Dodgers, where he allowed six runs in 3.2 innings of work.

“He’s shown that ability so many times to come off a bad start and put it behind him and wash it off and bounce back,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “He did that tonight. What a great game he threw.”

Bumgarner did not give up a hit until Ian Desmond hit a solo home run in the top of the fourth inning, as he stopped a streak of retiring 10 in a row.

The Rockies also scored in the top of the sixth inning, as left fielder Alex Dickerson lost the ball in the lights that allowed Charlie Blackmon score on a double by David Dahl that cut the Giants lead down to one run.

“I’ve been getting caught just pitching to just one side pretty much every pitch,” Bumgarner said. “These guys are too good to do that to. The plate is small enough as it is so you better use the whole thing.”

In six innings of work, Bumgarner gave up two runs on three hits and three walks along with 11 strikeouts. It was the first double-digit strikeout game for Bumgarner since April 2, 2017 against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field.

Donovan Solano picked up a single of his own in the bottom of the fourth inning, and then Bumgarner came up with one of his own to lengthen the Giants lead up to 3-1.
This was the first appearance for Chi Chi Gonzalez in the majors since the 2016 season, and he got off to a great start, as he struck out the side in the top of the first inning. In all, Gonzalez gave up three runs on six hits in five innings of work.

Tyler Austin put the finishing touches on the scoring in the bottom of the seventh inning, as he hit a pinch-hit home run.

It was the seventh home run of the season for Austin and his second pinch-hit home run for him this season.

The bullpen trio of Sam Dyson, Tony Watson and Will Smith pitched a perfect three innings, following up Derek Hollands three innings of perfect work on Monday night.
Smith pitched the ninth inning to notch his 21st save in 21 chances this season.

NOTES: Bumgarners 11 strikeouts moved him past Matt Cain for third place in San Francisco Giants history.

Brandon Belt batted leadoff for just the second time in his major-league career, and he struck out on three pitches in his first at-bat against Gonzalez.

“It didn’t look too smart the first at-bat,” Bochy said. “I told him, `You’re supposed to make me look good, but three pitches and you sit down.’ He laughed.”

UP NEXT: Jeff Samardzija takes the mound for the Giants on Wednesday afternoon, while the Rockies will counter with German Marquez.

Not Here, Not Now: Scuffling Giants don’t get a reprieve against the Rockies’ Gray

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By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO–The consensus: yeah, the Giants’ offense is struggling, but Jon Gray was on top of his game Monday at Oracle Park.

Gray, a familiar face starting for the eighth time against the Giants since 2015, won for the first time against San Francisco, pitching shutout baseball for six innings in the Rockies 2-0 win.

And it wasn’t how Gray did it, it was when he did it. Three of his six strikeouts came in the fifth and sixth innings with a runner in scoring position, and with all of his arsenal working at that point, the hitters–Alex Dickerson, Mike Yastrzemski and Evan Longoria–were left looking foolish.

Opportunities for the Giants to get back into what was a two-run ballgame throughout, appeared and vanished so quickly, the home crowd had little time to gasp, groan or fuss.

“His fastball had a bit more life, carry and location to it than he’s shown the last few starts,” Colorado manager Bud Black said. “Then he started landing the curveball later in the game.”

Gray was 0-3 with a 5.18 ERA against the Giants coming in, but he wasn’t that guy on Monday. He started fast–striking out Yastrzemski and Buster Posey in the first–and finished faster. As the game progressed, Gray maintained the life on his fastball, while not missing on his slider, which confused the Giants’ hitters by consistently arriving at the plate 8 mph slower than his heater. All three of his final strikeout victims swung and missed at the slider to conclude their at-bat, but they also whiffed on it earlier in their at-bats as well.

“I have so much confidence in (my slider) right now. I feel like I can throw it in any count, any time, and use it as a put-away pitch,” Gray said.

Drew Pomeranz was similarly effective for the Giants, striking out a career-best 11 batters in just five innings of work, but his one mistake–a home run allowed to David Dahl–was a familiar one. Pomeranz has given up 15 home runs in his 15 starts this season, already a career-high for him.

Still, Pomeranz needed to pitch better given his 2-7 record and 7.09 ERA coming in, and he did that by pitching effectively up in the zone, and displaying good, late movement on his heater with the exception of the pitch to Dahl. The score ended the evening for Pomeranz prematurely with manager Bruce Bochy needing a pinch-hitter to maximize a rally in the fifth.

“I just was thinking attack. I didn’t want to walk guys, even though I did walk a couple guys,” Pomeranz said. “Some of the other guys had three-pitch strikeouts so it kind of helped balance it out.”

In conclusion, the Giants’ offense just didn’t respond. After a disappointing end on Sunday, in which they went hitless in the final, four innings of tie ballgame, losing 3-2 to the Diamondbacks in 10 innings, they managed just six hits on Monday.

And the clutch hitting was non-existent: the Giants are 0 for 12 with runners in scoring position over their last two games. They were shut out for the ninth time this season, and the fifth at Oracle Park.

The Giants, losers of five of their last seven, will have Madison Bumgarner on the mound Tuesday.

San Francisco Giants podcast with Morris Phillips: Dickerson and Anderson have great series, but Giants can’t overcome D-Backs

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photo from sfgate.com: San Francisco Giants pitcher Shaun Anderson throws against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the first inning during a baseball game, Sunday, June 23, 2019, in Phoenix.

On the Giants podcast with Morris:

#1 How impressive was the Giants outfielder Alex Dickerson in the Arizona Diamondbacks series? He was collecting the hits in his first series with the team.

#2 Shaun Anderson, the Giants pitcher, has had himself a great year so far. Who can forget his first game at Oracle Park getting two hits to help his own cause and winning, and on Sunday, no exception again — pitching in a 3-2 loss, but a good outing getting six innings in five hits and two runs while striking out two.

#3 Anderson said during the game manager Bruce Bochy could have pinched hit for him, but kept him out there and he got that quality start.

#4 Critics have said the Giants have the worst lineup in the franchise’s history? No one is hitting .300 or above at this stage of the season.

#5 The Colorado Rockies come to Oracle Park tonight and will start Jon Gray (7-5) against the Giants’ Drew Pomeranz (2-7).

Morris Phillips does the Giants podcasts each Monday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

Locastro’s RBI single in 10th helps Snakes sink Giants 3-2

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sfgate.com: Arizona Diamondbacks’ Tim Locastro hits an RBI single against the San Francisco Giants in the third inning during a baseball game, Sunday, June 23, 2019, in Phoenix.

By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Sunday, June 23, 2019

PHOENIX — After losing six games in a row, the Arizona Diamondbacks were ready to celebrate something.

Centerfielder Tim Locastro lit the fuse for the occasion with a 10th inning walk-off run-scoring single that gave the D-Backs a 3-2 NL West win over the San Francisco Giants Sunday before 25,071 at Chase Field.

As soon as Locastro’s drive shot past Giants third baseman Evan Longoria, the Diamondback dugout emptied onto the field.

“Those are the things you look for as a team, when you finally have something good happen,” Arizona Manager Torey Lovullo said. “We’ve been coming in here talking about losing baseball games, and that’s hard. It’s tough on the team and tough on everyone.

“But you have to find a way to keep grinding. That showed the personality of this team.”

The Diamondbacks loaded the bases against San Francisco reliever Mark Melancon (3-2) before Locastro delivered his game-winner. After Christian Walker led off the Arizona 10th with a single, he was erased at second when Nick Ahmed hit into a fielder’s choice. Pinch-hitter Jarrod Dyson walked and Carson Kelly was intentionally walked.

Ahmed scored the winning run from third on Locastro’s drive over the third base bag.

‘With one out, I’m just trying to get the ball to the outfield,” Locastro said. “Actually, I knew that (Melancon’s) tendency is to come in a little bit, so I was looking in there and got one over the third baseman’s head.

“As soon as I hit it, I saw (Longoria) jump up for it. As soon as I saw it drop, I gave it a fist pump and knew we had the win. I was very excited.”

“It didn’t surprise me that (Dyson) drew that walk,’ Lovullo said. “He was fighting off pitches and that was a key moment of the game. It’s built because of Christian Walker having a good at-bat and getting on base.”

Arizona took a 1-0 lead in the third when Caleb Joseph drew a one-out walk and scored on Locastro’s base hit.

The Giants tied the game at 1-1 in the top of the fourth. Evan Longoria led off with a single, moved to third on Brandon Belt’s double and scored on an infield groundout by Stephen Vogt.

The Diamondbacks regained the lead at 2-1 in the bottom of the fourth. With one out, Adam Jones reached on a strike three wild pitch, moved to third on Eduardo Escobar’s single and scored on a base hit by Christian Walker.

Kevin Pillar tied the game at 2-2 with his 10th home run of the season to lead off the Giants seventh, hastening Merrill Kelly’s departure. He worked six-plus innings, struck out nine, walked two, and gave up two earned runs on four hits.

The D-Backs bullpen — Andrew Chafin, Yoan Lopez, Greg Holland and winning pitcher Matt Andriese (4-4) held San Francisco scoreless in the final four innings, with a combined three strikeouts and no walks or hits.

“It was pretty bad to give up that leadoff homer to Pillar. It would have been liked getting out of there with a lead, but the guys did a great job of picking me up and getting a huge victory,” Merritt Kelly said. “Hopefully, we’ve got some good energy going.”

Giants starter Shaun Anderson threw a strong six innings, giving up two runs on five hits with two strikeouts and one walk. Relievers Reyes Moronta and Sam Dyson held the Snakes scoreless and hitless in their combined three innings.

“We just couldn’t get anything going with the bats,” Giants Manager Bruce Bochy said. ‘They got the big hit, we didn’t. That’s the difference in the game.”

Lovullo said that Ketel Marte was not available for today’s game, even going into extra innings. Marte had been listed as day-to-day after suffering a left groin cramp on Friday.

“There was a minimal risk, but we held him back today. (Marte) will be out there when we play the Dodgers.”

Locastro added, “Now we have to get on a streak and that’s the goal moving forward.”

The Giants return home to host Colorado Monday through Wednesday. Lefthander Drew Pomeranz (2-7, 7.09 ERA) faces the Rockies’ Jon Gray (7-5, 4.18 ERA) in Monday’s series opener. San Francisco’s probables for Tuesday and Wednesday are Madison Bumgarner (3-7, 4.28 ERA) and Jeff Samardzija (4-6, 4.23 ERA).

TAGS: Tim Locastro, Arizona Diamondbacks, San Francisco Giants, MLB

Dickerson continues hitting spree, Giants edge Snakes 7-4

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By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Saturday, June 22, 2019

PHOENIX — For the second night in a row, the kids are getting it done for the San Francisco Giants.

Outfielder Alex Dickerson picked up where he left off on Friday, and Mike Yastrzemski homered in the ninth, leading the Giants to their second win in the three-game NL West series against Arizona on Saturday, downing the Diamondbacks 7-4.

Dickerson drove in three runs with a pair of doubles, and Yastrzemski, grandson of Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski, hit his fifth home run of the season, a two-run shot in the top of the ninth.

“I like his approach,’ Giants Manager Bruce Bochy said of Dickerson. “He doesn’t chase pitches, he’s disciplined up there. Sometimes, a guy just needs another chance, especially with him and what he’s dealt with.

“He’s always shown he can hit, but he’s always had to deal with the injuries. Hopefully he’ll stay healthy.”

After Giants starter Tyler Beede struggled through the first four innings,
Trevor Gott (4-0) picked up the win in relief. Gott, Mark Melancon, Sam Dyson, and Tony Watson combined to hold the D-backs scoreless over four innings, and Will Smith threw a perfect ninth to earn his 20th save.

“I’ve said it before, they’re so reliable and have so much confidence,” Beede said. ‘We needed them for five innings and that was huge. They picked me up in the fifth, then hand the ball to the next guy and let him do his job. It was a super impressive night for the bullpen and a great team win.”

Dickerson, Kevin Pillar and Brandon Crawford each had two hits in the Giants’ 10-hit attack.

Arizona jumped on Beede for three runs in the first inning. RBI singles by Adam Jones and Christian Walker drove in two; the third run came on a double steal — Walker took second while Edurardo Escobar (who walked) stole home from third.

The Giants bounced back with two runs in the top of the second off losing pitcher Zack Godley (3-5) on a run-scoring double by Dickerson, followed by an RBI single by Crawford.

San Francisco surged ahead to stay at 5-3 with a three-run rally in the third. A two-RBI double by Dickerson, again followed by a run-scoring single by Crawford, were the key blows.

David Peralta led off the Diamondbacks third with a base hit and scored when Escobar hit into a fielder’s choice, pulling Arizona to within 5-4.

The weekend series concludes on Sunday afternoon with a pitching matchup of righthanders — Shaun Anderson (2-2, 4.08) for the Giants and Merrill Kelly (7-7, 3.99) for the D-Backs.

GIANTS JOTTINGS: Arizona INF Domingo Leyba made his MLB debut Saturday and got a pinch-hit single in his first at-bat. Leyba came to the D-Backs in 2014 along with P Robbie Ray for SS Didi Gregorius. Diamondbacks P Zach Grienke made his seventh career pinch-hitting appearance in the fourth inning, striking out for Arizona starter Zack Godley. … Eduardo Escobar’s steal of home was the first for a Diamondback since Paul Goldschmidt did it in 2017. … On Friday, San Francisco OF Alex Dickerson joined an elite group who, in the last 30 years, picked up six runs batted in playing in their first game with their new team. Elias Sports Bureau reports the others are Sam Horn (Baltimore, 1990), Darrin Jackson (Minnesota, 1997), Calvin Pikering (Kansas City, 2004), and Starlin Castro (Chi. Cubs, 2010). … Dickerson is also the third Giant ever to hit a grand slam in his first game with the club in New York or San Francisco, joining Bobby Bonds (1968) and Brandon Crawford (2011). … The Giants are in the midst of playing 20 games in 20 days; their next day off is July 4. … Saturday’s attendance — 32,082.

TAGS: San Francisco Giants,Alex Dickerson,Arizona Diamondbacks,Mike Yastrzemski,Brandon Crawford

MLB podcast with Matt Harrington: Was Montas success related to PED use?; Could MLB’s high number of HRs have something to do with substance abuse?

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nytimes.com photo: Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred talked about the Tampa Bay Rays splitting time between playing in Tampa Bay and Montreal

On the MLB podcast with Matt:

#1 Oakland A’s pitcher Frankie Montas (9-2 ERA 2.70) has had an outstanding season, he had everything working for him and that was just the thing when he tested positive for performance enhancers. Was his great season lent to his use of PEDs?

#2 MLB has a high number of home runs this season so far, the last time you saw home runs majestically fall into the bleachers like this season was when former St Louis Cardinal Mark McGwire and former Chicago Cub Sammy Sosa were playing. Does this draw suspicions about how this has come about?

#3 MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred is considering moving a team to either Montreal or Portland. The topic of the Tampa Bay Rays who are drawing poorly and need a new stadium will be playing half there games in Montreal and in St Petersburg. Other cities vying for an MLB team are Portland, Charlotte, Nashville, and Las Vegas.

#4 A new Oakland A’s stadium hangs in the balance in downtown Oakland, the Oakland City Council have said they have lots of questions regarding financing the stadium and other environmental issues if by happenstance the city council thumbs down a new stadium for the A’s at Jack London Square the A’s also could be moving to another city on that list.

#5 San Francisco Giant Alex Dickerson who hit a grand slam against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on Friday night fused a huge win for San Francisco 11-6. The Giants with the win snapped their four game losing streak.

Matt Harrington does the MLB podcasts each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Dickerson makes smashing Giants debut in 11-5 rout of Diamondbacks

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Photo credit: @NBCSGiants

By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Friday, June 21, 2019

PHOENIX — Just up from Triple-A Sacramento, outfielder Alex Dickerson had little sleep, but wasted little time making an impact on the San Francisco Giants lineup.

In his first game as a Giant, Dickerson cranked a grand slam and a bases-loaded triple, leading San Francisco to an 11-5 NL West win over the Arizona Diamondbacks Friday at Chase Field.

“It was a good feeling,” Dickerson said. “I didn’t get the barrel on the ball the whole time I was there (with San Diego). It’s good to come back, get a good pitch to hit.”

“It’s a long day. I got more sleep for this one than I did in my callups back when I was a rookie. I felt real good the whole day, very well rested. Just added a little travel to it to try and play a baseball game.”

Giants manager Bruce Bochy said, “Wasn’t that impressive? What a day, and what a lift for us. We’re coming off some tough games and looking for some offense early, and he and Pillar, what a show those two put on.”

“(Dickerson) is strong. He’s got a quick bat and it’s good to have him up here to give him a chance.”

“You can’t have a better debut than that.”

Dickerson started the season with San Diego, which designated him for assignment earlier this month after he hit .158 in 12 games. The Padres traded him to San Francisco for prospect Franklin Van Gurp.

“This means a lot, but at the same time, it’s back to business,” Dickerson said. “I want to show that this is the level I want to be at, and it really is business at this point. There’s a little bit of emotion there, but in time, you put that behind you and just be a baseball player.”

The hitting exploits of Dickerson and Kevin Pillar (two-run home run, four RBIs) helped Jeff Samardzija (4-6) grind through six innings to get the win. Samardzija gave up five earned runs on nine hits, struck out five and walked one, but never surrendered the lead.

“There’s mixed emotions about tonight as a whole, but when your teammates pick you up and give you 11 runs, it makes it a whole lot easier to swallow,” Samardzija said. “There was some good and some bad. I was just a little more upset in general with being a little erratic and not very consistent, but I battled and we move on to the next one.”

Dickerson was 3-for-5 with six runs batted in, and fell a double short of hitting for the cycle.

“Pillar set me up great with good a-b’s in front of me, which gave me good pitches to hit,” Dickerson said. “He always had the pitchers on the ropes, and I told myself ‘It’s time to do some damage.'”

“That was impressive,” Samardzija said of Dickerson. “He came in off the bus and went out there and almost hit for the cycle! He had a lot to do with the run support, and he was fun to watch.”

Trailing by six in the bottom of the ninth, the Diamondbacks loaded the bases on Carson Kelly’s double, a walk to Jarrod Dyson and Ildemaro Vargas reached on an infield error.

That prompted a pitching change for the Giants, as closer Will Smith entered the contest. Smith struck out David Peralta and Adam Jones to kill the rally in a non-save situation.

Diamondbacks starter Taylor Clarke (1-3) gave up six earned runs on seven hits in three-plus innings.

San Francisco started the scoring in the top of the second on Kevin Pillar’s ninth home run of the season. Pillar’s drive to left-center drove in Stephen Vogt, who led off the inning with a double.

The Giants extended their lead to 6-0 when Dickerson delivered his first home run of the season, and his second career grand slam.

Arizona found the scoreboard in the third on Ketel Marte’s RBI single, driving in Jerrod Dyson, who reached on a one-out single. Marte limped into first and left the game, replaced by pinch-runner Ildemaro Vargas.

San Francisco loaded the bases when Pablo Sandoval was hit by a pitch, and Clarke issued walks to Brandon Belt and Pillar. Dickerson’s slam landed above the 413-foot mark in right-center.

The Diamondbacks cut San Francisco’s lead to 6-3 in the fourth on Nick Ahmed’s two-run home run, his sixth of the season. Christian Walker led off the inning with a base hit and scored on Ahmed’s opposite-field shot to right-center.

Carson Kelly followed with a double, was sacrificed to third by Clarke, and scored on a base hit by Vargas, cutting the Snakes’ deficit to 6-4. Peralta singled to right, and Adam Jones followed with an RBI single, making it 6-5.

Jones was initially ruled thrown out at second trying to stretch his hit into a double. After a video review, the call on the field was upheld.

San Francisco used a four-run rally in the seventh to build a 10-5 lead. The big hit was Dickerson’s bases-clearing triple. The Giants scored once more in the ninth on Vogt’s RBI double, his second two-bagger of the night, scoring Belt from first.

In the Diamondbacks first, Samardzija allowed a one-out triple to Ketel Marte, followed by a walk to David Peralta. But he struck out Adam Jones and retired Eduardo Escobar on a comebacker to work out of trouble.

“I thought Shark pitched without his best stuff,” Bochy said. “He had tough luck early with some ground balls that got through. But really, the one inning (the fourth) is where he had a hiccup. They got back in the game, but he went back out there and gave us two solid innings, which you want to see.”

On Saturday night, right-hander Tyler Beede (1-2, 6.67 ERA) starts for the Giants. The Diamondbacks have yet to name their starter.

GIANTS JOTTINGS: Diamondbacks 2B Ketel Marte left the game with a left groin cramp and is listed as day-to-day. … The video review on Diamondbacks’ Adam Jones’ RBI single and throw out was 1:57. … Before the game, the Giants announced they claimed OF Joey Rickard off waivers from Baltimore. To make room for Rickard on the 40-man roster, San Francisco RHP Nick Vincent was transferred from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list, and will be optioned to Triple-A Sacramento. … Attendance was announced at 29,312.

TAGS: San Francisco Giants, Arizona Diamondbacks, Alex Dickerson, Jeff Samardzija, Kevin Pillar,