Category: San Francisco Giants

Goodbye, San Francisco: Yankees acquire Andrew McCutchen in a trade

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Photo credit: @Cut4

By: Ana Kieu

Well, Andrew McCutchen’s tenure as a San Francisco Giant didn’t last long. McCutchen, a five-time MLB All-Star from 2011-15, was acquired by the New York Yankees in a rather unexpected trade Thursday night.

The Yankees agreed to a trade with the Giants. As a result, New York will send Abiatal Avelino (infielder) and another Minor Leaguer to San Francisco for the Giants’ regular right field, according to multiple reports.

McCutchen is batting .255 with 15 homers, 55 RBIs and 13 stolen bases in 130 games this season. The 31-year-old was a longtime face of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ franchise, and now, he’s on his way to the Big Apple.

McCutchen will likely help the Yankees boost their outfield production as they’re currently waiting for Aaron Judge, a Linden, Calif. native, to make his much-anticipated return from his right wrist injury. The Yankees’ move will also likely give the team a brand-new player an additional player to spell out Giancarlo Stanton, who has played in 83 consecutive games. In addition, Yankees manager Aaron Boone will receive more flexibility when it comes to the DH slot.

The only negative is that McCutchen hasn’t been an MLB All-Star since 2015, so we may have to see how everything works out.

Giants to host Mets for three-game series starting Friday night

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By: Ana Kieu

The Giants have been pretty darn good as of late. But let’s not forget that the Giants struggled in Flushing against the Mets in Citi Field and merely got out of the Big Apple with a 3-1 win to halt what could’ve been the Mets’ three-game sweep at home.

This weekend, San Francisco will host New York for a three-game series before embarking on a six-game road trip starting in Coors Field with the Rockies and then Miller Park with the Brewers. That’s quite a lot of airfare miles, but you gotta do what you gotta do, right?

The Giants, however, must avoid looking down on the Mets. Why’s that? The Mets are cellar-dwellers just like the Giants, so they can possibly play spoilers like they did with the Nationals and Phillies.

In other news, the Giants’ Twitter retweeted a tweet from Baseball Hall that announced an “On This Day in 1965” on Wednesday, writing that Willie Mays set a record with his 17th homer in the month of August in the Giants’ 8-3 win over the Mets. Coincidence, much?

The Giants’ Twitter also announced that on Tuesday that more than 50 volunteers from CarMax, the Giants and the American Red Cross put together 500 kits for aid in disaster relief efforts. Lou Seal and Chase d’Arnaud were also there. You can help by going on redcross.org/Giants.

And, if you have some extra bucks to spend, you can book your next three-day stay in San Francisco with Hilton–the official hotel partner of the Giants’ 60th anniversary season–and you’ll save 50% off on Sunday night stays.

The Giants host the Mets at AT&T Park for game one on Friday night at 7:15 pm PDT. You can watch the game on NSBA and SNY.

Duggar news, Godley’s baffling pitches put Giants’ offense in a tough spot in 3-1 loss to the Diamondbacks

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By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO — The news regarding Steven Duggar’s shoulder injury didn’t help the Giants’ offense on Wednesday, and Zack Godley’s curveballs made things even more unbearable.

And, of course, the first-place Diamondbacks were in no mood to be swept in San Francisco.

The result was a much-needed win for Arizona, ahead of their big weekend with the Dodgers, and a damaging loss 3-1 for the Giants, who needed to find a way to sweep to maintain a presence in the NL West race. The D-Backs’ win puts them a half-game ahead of Colorado, a full game ahead of the Dodgers with the Giants under .500 and seven games back.

“You close out a series the way we did after losing the first two,” Arizona manager Torrie Lovullo said. “You get on a flight, you turn the page and you start to get that good feeling about where we’re going and what we have to do. L.A. is going to present a big challenge.”

All of the excitement derived from the win, easily translated to the upcoming series against the Dodgers for Arizona. For the Giants, the numbing news regarding Duggar was far less negotiable, and took its toll on Bruce Bochy’s lineup first off as the rookie centerfielder had taken residence at the top of the order in recent days and showed that he belonged. In his absence, Andrew McCutchen batted leadoff with Panik second, and that combo–with two knocks–provided almost all of the team’s output. The pair got no help, as McCutchen delivered the team’s only run scoring hit off reliever Archie Bradley after Godley departed.

With a pair of runners aboard, Panik then struck out to end the eighth, and the three final Giants hitters would strike out in the ninth.

Dereck Rodriguez was off his game Wednesday, allowing five hits, four walks and three runs. Steven Souza took a rare turn as leadoff man in Lovullo’s lineup and produced, with a double, home run and two runs batted in.

“I did everything that I could on my part, but if somebody goes down, it’s always that,” Rodriguez said referencing Duggar’s likely season-ending injury. “He’ll be stronger when he gets back.”

The Giants have Thursday off, then spend the weekend hosting the Mets with former Giant Zack Wheeler scheduled to face Andrew Suarez on Friday night at 7:15 pm PDT.

San Francisco Giants podcast with Marko Ukalovic: After losing Posey, team rallies around to battle D-Backs; McCutchen looks to stay in S.F.

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Photo credit: @Deadseriousness

On the Giants podcast with Marko:

#1 Buster Posey is done for the rest of 2018 due to hip surgery. Was his demise the key turning point where oddsmakers said the Giants’ season is pretty much done?

#2 Jeff Samardjiza looks like he could have surgery. He tried to rehab and tried throwing off flat ground, but he is being checked by an orthopedic surgeon. This is the second surgeon as he’s seeking a second opinion.

#3 The Giants in the Diamondbacks series starting Monday night have been getting some good pitching with Chris Stratton, who started, and the game ended up in a 2-0 shutout. Tuesday’s game was a 0-0 pitchers duel for most of the way between the Diamondbacks Andrew Chafin and the Giants Sam Dyson which San Francisco won 1-0.

#4 During their skid, the Giants seriously considered dealing outfielder Andrew McCutchen in their last trip to Cincinnati once that got out–the New York Yankees, Oakland A’s and St. Louis Cardinals were said to take an interest. The waiver talk has simmered down and the Giants have looked good during the current series in Arizona.

#5 Talk a little bit about Aramis Garcia and his role backing up catcher Nick Hundley. Giants’ catching instructor Bill Hayes has some high hopes for Garcia when he gets in the lineup.

Marko Ukalovic does the Giants podcasts each Wednesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Hernandez saves the day with a walkoff; Giants shutout the D-Backs 1-0

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO — When the San Francisco Giants needed the biggest hit of the game, they turned to the spark plug of the first half, Gorkys Hernandez.

After sitting on the bench for eight and a half innings, Hernandez hit a single to left field in the bottom of the ninth inning and the Giants defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks 1-0 before a crowd of 37,276 at AT&T Park on Tuesday night.

With the victory, the Giants are now six games behind the D-Backs, who are now with the Colorado Rockies atop the National League West, while the reigning National League Champion Los Angeles Dodgers are a game behind.

This was the first walk-off hit of Hernandez’s career, as the Giants have won four in a row and six out of their last nine since being swept by the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ballpark from August 17-19.

As for the first-place D-Backs, this was their fourth loss in their last five games and it was seventh time this season that they have been shutout.

The Giants have held the D-Backs scoreless over the past 23 innings, as the D-Backs last scored in the bottom of the fifth inning of the series finale on August 5.

Steven Duggar came up huge on both the offensive and the defensive sides of the diamond in the shutout win for the Giants.

After Austin Slater grounded out for the first out of the inning, Duggar drew a walk against losing pitcher Brad Ziegler. Then Nick Hundley singled to left field, and Duggar rounded second and was heading to third before putting on the breaks and slid back into second.

It was on that play where Duggar slid into second that showed everyone why the Giants called him up to be their everyday center fielder, as he jammed his shoulder into the ground and after stretching for the training staff, Bruce Bochy and others, Duggar did a few stretches and stayed in the game. Alen Hanson was announced as a pinch hitter, but Torey Lovullo countered with left-hander Jake Diekman and Hernandez was called onto pinch-hit and he came up with the biggest hit of the night to win the game for the Giants.

Duggar came up huge on defense in the top of the eighth inning, as he cut off a ball hit by David Peralta, threw to Brandon Crawford, who in turn, threw to Hundley to get Nick Ahmed at the plate after he went through the stop sign of third base coach Tony Perezchica.

Madison Bumgarner was sharp once again, as he went seven innings, allowing just four hits, walking four and striking out five, as he did not fare in the decision.

Bumgarner got into jams in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings, but it was vintage Bumgarner and he got out of all the jams unscathed.

Ketel Marte led off the top of the fifth inning with a double, but then Bumgarner regrouped to get Jeff Mathis and Clay Buchholz, but then John Jay walked and then A.J. Pollock flew out to Duggar in center for the final out of the inning.

Things got real dicey in the top of the sixth inning, as Bumgarner gave up a base hit to Paul Goldschmidt off the left field wall that kept Goldschmidt at first base and then walked Eduardo Escobar. Bumgarner got Steven Souza for the first out, but then Ahmed singled to load the bases.

Evan Longoria made a heads up on a Marte hit ball, as he threw to Hundley for the second out of the inning and the inning nearly came out of control, as Brandon Belt snared the Hundley throw before it went into the outfield to give the D-Backs the lead. Bumgarner then got out of the jam, as he got Mathis to fly out to Duggar to end the inning.

Once again, things got a little hairy in the top of the seventh inning, as Bumgarner fanned Buchholz for the second time, but then Slater lost the ball in the lights for a three-base error that allowed Jay to get to third base. Pollock then walked, but Goldschmidt, who just feasts on Giants pitching, was not able to get the run across, as he popped out to Joe Panik for the second out of the inning and then Escobar grounded out to Panik to end the seventh inning and yet another escape for the Giants and Bumgarner.

Buchholz also went seven innings, allowing just five hits, walking two and striking out three, as like Bumgarner, he did not fare in the decision.

It was a tough start to the night for Panik, as he grounded into a double play just moments after it looked like Andrew McCutchen stole second base in the bottom of the first inning, but Panik fouled the Buchholz pitch back to the screen.

Two innings later, Panik hit a ball to centerfield that sent McCutchen to third base and it looked like Panik got into second safely; however, Lovullo challenged the call and after a nearly two-minute review, the call was reversed and Panik was called out to end the inning.

NOTES: This was the Giants’ 12th shutout of the season, and their sixth at home.

It was the third time this season that they have shutout their opponents in back-to-back games, as they shutout the Los Angeles Dodgers in the first two games of the season, then the Philadelphia Phillies on June 1-2 and now the D-Backs.

This was the ninth walk-off win of the season for the Giants, and the first since Buster Posey singled in the bottom of the 13th inning to defeat the Chicago Cubs on July 11.

UP NEXT: The Giants and D-Backs close out their series with a Wednesday night finale at 7:15 pm PDT.

Dereck Rodriguez looks for his seventh win of the season on Wednesday night, as he takes the hill in the series and season finale against the D-Backs, who will send 13-game winner Zack Godley to the mound.

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary podcast: Astros’ rally boots A’s out of the park 11-4; Pale Hose gets season-high fourth consecutive win over Yanks; plus more

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Photo credit: @Astros

On That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary podcast:

#1 The Houston Astros got seven hits and three consecutive doubles off A’s starter Brett Anderson. A’s relievers Lou Trivino and Emilio Pagan gave up three home runs in the 11-4 win. Are the Astros back?

#2 The White Sox are red-hot. Well, at least for now. They just matched their season-high for consecutive wins with four straight and got pitching help from Carlos Rodon, who had 18 pitches and five for strikes. The Yankees have been struggling at the plate as they lost to the Sox.

#3 Anthony Rizzo had a night for the Cubs with a home run and hitting his 1,000th career double. The Cubs’ Ben Zobrist got a go-ahead double as the Cubs defeated the New York Mets 7-4 at Wrigley Field.

#4 Turning to football since it’s the last week of preseason football. The NFL has a strict rule they already enforced several times during this preseason about lowering the helmet. The lowering of the helmet is considered a weapon in the NFL and players who lower their helmets will get hit with a 15-yard penalty and up to a suspension and fines.

#5 Jemele Hill, a former ESPN host from the talk show His and Hers, was fired and got a buyout from reports up to $6 million and is not allowed to talk about the buyout. Hill had talked about President Trump, racism, and political issues on her Twitter account and was told by ESPN not speak about politics. Hill was suspended once and then a second time after talking politics again. ESPN said that on-air talent will stick to talking sports and leave politics out of it.

Amaury Pi-Gonzalez does News and Commentary each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Playing Spoiler: Giants, Stratton make life difficult for the Diamondbacks in 2-0 shutout

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By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO — Chris Stratton’s storyline ran hot in April, May and the first half of June, and just that quickly, times changed.

Dereck Rodriguez and Andrew Suarez raised their profiles and became the story, Stratton didn’t pitch as well, and with the 28-year old showing wear and tear, the Giants pushed the reset button.

Stratton was demoted on August 3rd and of course, in San Francisco and other major league outposts, we didn’t hear much else. But Stratton’s story and his breakout season wasn’t quite finished.

The Diamondbacks got introduced to Stratton a year ago. On Monday, the NL West leaders and the crowd at AT&T Park were reintroduced to the Giants’ first round pick in the 2012 draft with his eye-catching display.

In his best start of the season, Stratton shut down the D-Backs, going in eight innings in a 2-0 Giants’ win. It marked Stratton’s ninth win of the year, and the lengthiest outing of his big league career.

“He was really good,” manager Bruce Bochy said of Stratton. “Really good with his command and all his pitches: curveball, slider, change, really spotted his fastball well, and we needed it, their guy threw well.”

Of all the statements made about Stratton Monday, the fact that his performance rivaled Arizona starter Patrick Corbin’s outing spoke volumes. Corbin was dominant, shutting down the Giants without a peep outside of the 3-1 pitch thrown to Steven Duggar in the second inning that exited the park in a hurry.

“It might have been off the plate, but a really good swing there to put some runs on,” Corbin said. “It was still early in the game there (and) it felt like just put up some zeros and just tonight their guy pitched a little better than me.”

Outside of that pitch, Corbin allowed three other hits, struck out nine and walked one in seven innings. And whike it felt as if Arizona would support Corbin’s brilliance, it never happened. The D-Backs went quietly, managing just a pair of ninth inning walks after John Jay tripled with two outs in the fifth.

The Giants and D-Backs continue their series Wednesday night at 7:15 pm PDT.

San Francisco Giants podcast with Morris Phillips and Michael Duca: Giants get third consecutive win, beat first place D-Backs to start the home cooking 2-0

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On the Giants podcast with Michael and Morris:

On the homestand, the San Francisco Giants took two out of three from the Texas Rangers and entertained the Arizona Diamondbacks, who are in first place as they come into town a game ahead of Colorado and 2 1/2 ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers. The one thing the Diamondbacks didn’t expect was to get shutout by Giants starter Chris Stratton Monday night.

The Giants rested a few regulars Monday night in anticipation of facing the Dodgers this weekend, but Stratton was in control. He pitched great going eight innings, five hits, no runs, no walks and six strikeouts. Three straight wins for the Giants having been more than four games under.

Catch Michael and Morris on the Giants podcasts each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

San Francisco Giants podcast with Morris Phillips: Lots of catching up to do if SF plans to get back into the playoff hunt

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Photo credit: @bcraw35

On the Giants podcast with Morris:

#1 The Giants, who are eight games behind Arizona, seven back of Colorado, and five and half back of Los Angeles in the NL West. They are eight games out for second in the NL Wild Card race.

#2 The Giants got a 3-1 win behind the pitching of Derek Holland (7-8), who went six plus, one run, three hits, three walks, and four strikeouts against the Texas Rangers on Sunday at AT&T Park.

#3 The Giants’ Aramis Garcia will be catcher Nick Hundley’s backup. Garcia came up from the minors Sunday and is working with catching instructor Bill Hayes whose getting him prepared when he gets in his first game.

#4 Giants’ pitcher Jeff Samardzija couldn’t make the come back as he’s been plagued by shoulder pain and is scheduled to meet with Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Tim McAdams. No confirmation if Samardzija will have surgery.

#5 The Giants will open a three-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks tonight at AT&T Park. The Giants will need to start winning series or sweeping series in order to make up lost ground and to get back into the postseason hunt.

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

Holland beats his former team–Rangers–for the first time, 3-1

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO — Derek Holland faced his former team in the Texas Rangers for just the third time in his career, but it was a rookie that came up with the biggest hit of the game.

Steven Duggar hit a two-run triple that helped the San Francisco Giants defeat the Rangers 3-1 before a crowd of 39,260 at AT&T Park on Sunday afternoon.

Duggar’s triple off of Yovani Gallardo scored Hunter Pence and Nick Hundley with what proved to be the winning margin, as the Giants took two of three in a rematch of the 2010 World Series.

That triple was the first of Duggar’s career.

Gallardo got the first two batters out in that fateful fourth inning, but Pence singled and then Hundley walked before Duggar launched a Gallardo pitch into Triples Alley to give the Giants the lead for good.

Holland went 6.1 innings, allowing one run on three hits, while walking three and striking out four, as he won for the seventh time on the season.

This was the first career win for Holland against the team that drafted him in the 25th round of the 2006 Major League Draft. Holland played his first eight seasons with the Rangers, where he went 62-50 with a 4.35 earned run average in 179 games (158 starts).

The 158 starts by Holland with the Rangers is the eighth-most in Rangers history, and his 62 wins are the ninth-most.

Evan Longoria got the Giants going in the bottom of the first inning, as he tripled to the appropriately named ‘Triples Alley,” and then Brandon Belt singled to score Longoria. As for Longoria, that was his third triple of the season, the most for him since the 2013 season, when he also hit three.

The Rangers tied it up in the top of the third inning, as Elvis Andrus hit a double to left field that Hunter Pence bobbled in left field to allow Rougned Odor to score the tying run for the Rangers.

Following the Andrus double that tied up the game, Brandon Crawford came up with the defensive play of the game, as Adrian Beltre hit a ball into the hole that looked like it was going into left field; however, Crawford dove for the ball, got up and was able to throw out Beltre to keep the score tied at one. Not only did Crawford make another fantastic play, but Brandon Belt dug the ball out of the dirt for the final out of the inning that kept Andrus from scoring the potential go-ahead run.

That was the only hit that Holland would allow until he gave up two in the top of the seventh inning.

Duggar gave the Giants the lead for good in the bottom of the fourth inning, as his triple scored the eventual winning runs for the Giants.

Holland got into a bit of a jam in that seventh inning, as he gave up two hits in the top of the seventh inning; however, both Joey Gallo and Isiah Kiner-Falefa were stranded at third base, when Tony Watson struck out Robinson Chirinos and then got Odor out on an attempted bunt to end the inning.

Without the services of usual closer Will Smith, Mark Melancon came on to finish the game, and despite the fact that he gave up a pinch-hit single to Shin-Soo Choo with one out in the top of the ninth inning, Melancon was able to get the last two batters for his third save of the season.

NOTES: Buster Posey will undergo season-ending hip surgery on Monday in Vail, Colorado to repair a damaged labrum and remove bone spurs in his right hip.

Posey was placed on the 10-day disabled list, and to replace Posey on the roster will be Aramis Garcia, who was recalled from Triple-A Sacramento.

This was the first time that Melancon picked up back-to-back saves in consecutive games since May 19 and 20, 2017 against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium.

By winning the series finale against the Rangers, the Giants won their 65th game of the season, surpassing their total of 64 from just one year ago.

UP NEXT: The Giants host the Arizona Diamondbacks for a three-game series starting Monday night at 7:15 pm PDT.

Giants’ Chris Stratton will look for his ninth win of the season on Monday night, as he takes the mound against Patrick Corbin of the D-Backs, who is looking for his 11th win of the season for the Diamondbacks.