Category: San Francisco Giants

San Francisco Giants Mauricio Dubon takes Los Angeles Dodger pitcher Donovan Solano deep for his first homer of the season to help pace the Giants past the Dodgers to force a split going away from Dodger Stadium (NBC Sports photo)

By Jeremy Kahn

After getting shellacked in the first two games of the season, the San Francisco Giants came back to split the series.

Mauricio Dubon singled in the top of the sixth inning to score Donovan Solano, helping the Giants to a 3-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium.

Solano led off the inning with a single off of eventual losing pitcher Brusdar Graterol, then Pablo Sandoval singled Solano to second base.

Adam Kolarek came on to replace Graterol and immediately retired Brandon Crawford for the second out of the inning; however, Dubon then gave the Giants lead for good, as he singled to left field in front of Chris Taylor.

Darin Ruf gave the Giants the lead in the top of the third inning, as he singled to left field to score Dubon from second base.

Once again, like on Saturday afternoon, the Giants immediately gave up the lead and the Dodgers tied it up, when Cody Bellinger singled to right field to score Mookie Betts.

Solano gave the Giants an insurance run in the top of the seventh inning, as he singled to left field to score Ruf.

Seven different Giants pitchers combined on a seven-hitter, as the Giants split the four-game series in Los Angeles.

Drew Smyly got the start for the Giants, as he went 3.1 innings, allowing one run on four hits, walking one and striking out two.

After Smyly, six relievers gave up only three hits, walked two and struck out six, Shawn Anderson went one inning, walking one and struck out two.

Wandy Peralta pitched one strong inning, as he struck out one in his lone inning of work, as he won for the first time this season.

Sam Coonrod, Tyler Rogers and Trevor Gott pitched the final three innings with Gott picking up his second save in as many days, despite allowing a lead-off double to Will Smith; however, Gott was able to get AJ Pollock to fly out to Mike Yastrzemski and then Betts lined out to Dubon and then Gott struck out Max Muncy swinging to end the game.

UP NEXT: After a quick four-game road trip to Los Angeles, the Giants will be off on Monday before opening the 2020 home slate on Tuesday night against the San Diego Padres at Oracle Park.

By Jeremy Kahn

After seeing Will Smith bring the Los Angeles Dodgers within one run, San Francisco Giants reliever Trevor Gott regrouped in a hurry.

Gott was able to get Max Muncy, Mookie Betts and reigning NL MVP Cody Bellinger in succession and the Giants hung on to defeat the Dodgers 5-4 at Dodger Stadium.

Things were looking great for the Giants, especially after being outscored 17-2 in the first two games of the shortened 2020 season.

Darin Ruf got the Giants on the board in the first inning, as he singled in Austin Slater to give them a quick 1-0 lead.

Unfortunately, the lead would not last long, as Justin Turner hit an opposite field double to score Bellinger in the bottom of the first inning.

The Giants would take the lead for good in the top of the second inning, as Dodgers pitcher unleashed a two-out wild pitch that allowed Mike Yastrzemski to score from third base.

Wilmer Flores hit the Giants second home run in as many days, as he launched a Wood offering and planted it into the left field pavilion to extend the Giants lead up to 3-1 in the top of the top of the third inning.

It looked like that Donovan Solano broke the game wide open in the top of the fourth inning, as he lined a two-run double to center field that scored both Jaylin Davis and Tyler Heineman.

After seeing the Giants jump out to a 5-1 lead on them, the Dodgers decided that enough was enough and began to get back into the game slowly but surely.

Solano, who hit a huge two-run double in the top of the fourth inning, made a huge fielding error that opened the flood gates for the Dodgers.

Corey Seager cut the Giants in half, as he slapped a two-run single to right field to score Bellinger and Turner to narrow the lead down to 5-3 entering the ninth inning.

Things did interesting when Smith led off the bottom of the ninth inning off of Gott; however, the right-hander regrouped to get the next three batters out in order to end the game.

Logan Webb made the start for the Giants, as he went the first four innings and due to the fact that he did not go the required five innings, Webb did not get the decision, despite leading when he left the game.

The decision went to left-hander Caleb Baragar, who pitched two strong innings with a strikeout in his major-league debut.

After Baragar threw his two innings, the Giants once again went to the reliever by committee role to close out the game.

Shawn Anderson, Tony Watson, Tyler Rogers and Gott pitched the final three innings to give the Giants their first win of the season.

Wood went three innings, allowing three runs on three hits, walking three and striking out four in his season debut for the Dodgers.

Austin Slater went 0-for-1 with a run scored; however, he did reach three times via the walk against Dodgers pitching.

Thus far thru three games of the season, the Dodgers so-called Killer Bees, of Bellinger and Betts are not getting off to a great start to the abbreviated season, as they are a combined 4-for-29 at the plate.

UP NEXT: Julio Urias will take the mound for the Dodgers in the finale, while the Giants have yet to announce their starter.

Dodgers Max Muncy, #13, celebrates his homers with Cody Bellinger, #35, with an elbow tap during first inning action against the SF Giants at Dodger Stadium Friday, July 24, 2020. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

By Jeremy Kahn

Through the first two games of the Gabe Kapler era as manager of the San Francisco Giants, things are not looking good.

Max Muncy went 3-for-4, including two home runs and the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Giants 9-1 at Dodger Stadium.

Muncy gave the Dodgers a quick 1-0 in the bottom of the first inning, as he took a Tyler Anderson offering and planted it into the right field pavilion.

The seven-time defending division champions did not stop there, as there scored in every inning with the exception of the third inning against Giants pitching.

Anderson lasted 1.2 innings, as he gave two runs and walked three and did not strike out a batter.

Kevin Gausman went four innings, allowing three runs (two of them earned) and gave up six hits, while walking one and striking out two.

Cory Seager also picked up three hits in four at-bats for the Dodgers, who have outscored the 17-2 thru the first two games of the season.

Ross Stripling looked to be in mid-season, despite the fact that it was his first start of the season, as he went seven innings, scattering four hits, not walking a batter and striking out one.

Jaylin Davis came up with the lone bright spot of the night, as he launched an opposite field home run in the top of the third inning off of Stripling.

The Giants defense picked up four errors on the evening, including the second error in as many days by Wlimer Flores.

There was a scary scene in the bottom of the fifth inning, as Chris Taylor reached on a throwing error by Flores and as Taylor was running down the line, he ran smack dab into the backside of Pablo Sandoval and crashed to the Dodger Stadium turf. Taylor, who looked like he was a running back for the Los Angeles Rams and Sandoval was a linebacker for the San Francisco 49ers got up and stayed in the game.

UP NEXT: Left-hander Alex Wood will take the mound for the Dodgers on Saturday afternoon, while the Giants have yet to announce a starter.

San Francisco Giants’ Tyler Heineman, second from left, dives back to third before being tagged out by Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner after he was caught between third and home during the fifth inning of an opening day baseball game, Thursday, July 23, 2020, in Los Angeles. Mark J. Terrill/AP

By Jeremy Harness

The Giants hung in there with the heavy favorite Los Angeles Dodgers for six innings, but the Dodgers broke it open in the sixth and kept pouring it on.

Los Angeles came away with an 8-1 win over the Giants, in a season opener that, frankly, had the feel of a glorified scrimmage, despite the cutouts dispersed in the lower as well as the upper deck to go along with fake crowd noise.

But again, beggars can’t be choosers, and at least this was live baseball that one did not have to wake up in the middle of the night to watch, as was the case with the Korea Baseball Organization.

Speaking of the KBO, it was announced that the league will begin to allow fans into the ballparks starting Sunday, after months of playing games with no fans, giving hope that MLB will able to move on from the without-fans phase sooner rather than later.

As for the game, Clayton Kershaw, was scheduled to be the Dodgers’ starter on Thursday, but he suffered from back tightness that forced him out of action, as he was replaced by rookie Dustin May.

The Giants had a real opportunity in the third inning, loading the bases with nobody out. However, the Giants only were able to get one run across, via sac fly by Pablo Sandoval.

The Dodgers tied the game in the fourth when Kike Hernandez knocked in Corey Seager, and then dropped a five-spot on the Giants three innings later. Hernandez added a two-run homer in the eighth to cap off the scoring.

The starters held their own, as Johnny Cueto gave up only a run on five hits over four innings, and May surrendered only a run on seven hits over 4 1/3 innings.

By Jeremy Harness

So many questions, so few answers. And a lot of these questions, frankly, have nothing to do with baseball.

How much longer will players be forced to play inside empty ballparks, with the exception of a few employees, cutouts and teddy bears?

The Giants and A’s played a two-game home-and-home exhibition series earlier this week, and the two teams went about this issue in slightly-different ways. The first few rows of seats behind the plate at Oakland Coliseum were filled with said cutouts, which supposedly could give a pitcher a certain sense of support but seemingly have no other purpose.

Oracle Park, on the other hand, did not have any of that, instead relying on the regular public-address announcer as well as fake crowd noise that all teams are employing, to give the impression that these games – and this season – are, but in reality are anything but.

Normal.

Who will emerge with the tightest mask game?

Wearing a mask over the nose and mouth while in an active sports competition is a concept that not everyone has warmed up to – a local driving range just this week made wearing masks mandatory while hitting golf balls – but expect it to be a thing throughout the coming weeks and months.

Only a portion of players wore masks during MLB’s exhibition series, aka Summer Camp, but that number is expected to grow as well. And just like shoes – or any other part of clothing, really – masks come in different forms and can be certainly be used as a fashion statement or to get a certain message across. Which brings us to our next question.

How many players will choose to kneel for the national anthem?

In 2016, 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick famously started kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality toward African Americans, and was soon joined by fellow NFL players such as his teammate, safety Eric Reid, as well as safety Malcolm Jenkins.

The next year, A’s catcher Bruce Maxwell became the first MLB player to kneel. Fast forward three years, and following the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor that involved law enforcement and the ensuing re-emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement, the number of players has increased considerably. Giants manager Gabe Kapler as well as three Giants players and a pair of coaches knelt during the national anthem during the recent Giants-A’s exhibition games.

This has also occurred around the league, as Joey Votto was among a number of Cincinnati Reds players to take a knee. Even though the silent protests did not catch on in baseball back in 2017 when Maxwell broke the mold, this has certainly gained momentum, as has the movement in general.

Last but not least, will even this abbreviated season be cut short once more should the COVID-19 pandemic spike to the point where mass shutdowns are to occur?

This has obviously been the most unprecedented, uncertain four-month span of our generation, so to expect anything different for this upcoming baseball season would be absurd. There have been recent spikes in COVID-19 cases, particularly in California, and there is no guarantee that there will not be any roadblocks that arise during this shortened season.

Just like with anything regarding everyday life, we have to take a wait-and-see approach. With that, the Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers will convene inside a mostly-empty Dodger Stadium on Thursday to begin a season that was nearly scrapped entirely amid wrangling between the league’s owners and the MLBPA.

With all the questions that are out there, at least one can be answered at this point: There will be baseball to be played, and watched, around the country, and that’s a good start to possibly getting back to the place that we had known for so long but has since been taken from us.

Normal.