Category: San Francisco Giants

Giants and Pirates to face off in crucial weekend series starting Thursday night

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By Daniel Dullum

The San Francisco Giants had Wednesday off following their brief interleague series with the Houston Astros, which saw them drop both games and fall below the .500 mark as they struggle to stay in the NL West race.

Up next is the Giants’ four-game series at AT&T Park, hosting the Pirates. Back in May, San Francisco (57-58) dropped two of three to Pittsburgh. The Giants haven’t fared much better at home against the Bucs, dropping 12 of their last 17 games to Pittsburgh.

The Pirates (59-56) come in needed these games as much as the Giants and do so after a 4-3 win Wednesday at Colorado. A hot streak around the All-Star break put Pittsburgh on the fringe of the NL playoff chase, along with Atlanta, Arizona, Colorado, St. Louis, and Washington.

Thursday’s pitching matchup has the Giants’ left-hander Andrew Suarez (4-7) facing Pittsburgh right-hander Ivan Nova (6-6). On Friday, lefty Derek Holland (5-8) goes for San Francisco against the Pirates’ righty Trevor Williams (9-8).

While righty Joe Musgrove is slated to start for Pittsburgh on Saturday, the Giants haven’t announced a probable starter. Dereck Rodriguez is expected to start for the Black and Orange on Sunday.

Saturday’s starter won’t be Jeff Samardzija, who could begin a rehab assignment next week. He’s been on the DL since July 15 with right shoulder inflammation. Johnny Cueto, of course, is out for the season after undergoing Tommy John surgery on August 2. This is worth noting, as both were counted on at the start of the season to avoid this dilemma.

One glaring area the Giants must improve upon, and manager Bruce Bochy has addressed it more than once–clutch hitting. The Giants are hitting .204 with runners in scoring position and two outs this season, lowest in the NL and third-lowest in the Majors, trailing Texas (.189) and Baltimore (.191).

Another area is simply playing better at home. The Giants have won seven of their last eight games at AT&T Park.

Good news is that Evan Longoria continues to swing a hot bat, hitting .359 over a nine-game stretch with six extra-base hits. Andrew McCutchen’s bat has heated up as well of late, hitting .387 with a double, two homers and three RBIs in the eight games going into Tuesday.

Despite taking a precautionary day off (suspected concussion symptoms–passed all testing), Buster Posey is hitting .452 over an eight-game stretch, and .343 over 17 games.

While both teams have a slim shot at the postseason, whoever loses this series is likely out of the 2018 playoff picture for good.

San Francisco Giants podcast with Marko Ukalovic: After running into brick wall Astros, Giants hope to win series with Bucs

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On the Giants podcast with Marko:

The San Francisco Giants know after winning two out of four in Arizona. They’d have their work cut out for them with the Astros dropping in and the Giants got swept in a two-game series losing 2-1 on Tuesday. The Giants’ reliever Will Smith on Monday night gave up a three-run homer to Marwin Gonzalez and Giants reliever Ray Black gave up a home run to the Astros their back to give the Astros a one-run lead.

The Astros own the Giants the sweep on Monday and Tuesday makes it four in a row as Houston beat San Francisco back in May at Minute Maid Park. The Giants’ Chase d’Arnaud got the Giants only run with a single in the second inning to score Brandon Crawford.

The Giants open a four game series with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Starting pitchers for Thursday night at AT&T Park for the Pirates Ivan Nova (6-6) and for the Giants Andrew Saurez (4-7).

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

 

Giants experience another close finish in 2-1 loss to Astros

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By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO — It seems that the San Francisco Giants starters have been snake bitten over the past two games versus the Houston Astros at AT&T Park.

Giants’ closer Will Smith was unable to hold on to a 1-0 lead on Monday night, and then Ray Black did the same in the series finale.

Black gave up his first hit since July 8 to Monday’s hero Marwin Gonzalez and then after striking out Yuli Gurriel, Tyler White hit a Black pitch into the left field seats and the Astros came back for the second straight day to defeat the Giants 2-1 before a sellout crowd of 41,613 at AT&T Park on Tuesday.

The win by the Astros gave them the season sweep four games to zero, as they also swept the Giants in May at Minute Maid Park.

This was the seventh loss in the last eight home games for the Giants, who are now 32-24 at AT&T Park this season.

One pitch prior to the White home run, Black threw a 96-mph high and tight, but then White hit the next pitch clocked at 99-mph into the seats.

Madison Bumgarner went seven innings, allowing zero runs on five hits, while walking three and striking out seven.

Chase d’Arnaud supplied the only offense that Bumgarner would get, as he lashed an opposite field single to right field to score Brandon Crawford from second base in the bottom of the second inning. Crawford led off the inning with a long double, and was able to score the early run, as he made a great headfirst slide around Astros catcher Max Stassi.

The day did not end well for d’Arnaud, as he was forced to leave the game in the bottom of the fourth inning, as he took a foul ball off the knee. d’Arnaud attempted to stay in the game, but the pain in his left leg was too painful, and Alen Hanson came to bat for d’Arnaud and struck out; however, the at-bat was charged to d’Arnaud instead of Hanson.

d’Arnaud suffered a left knee contusion on the foul ball, and Hanson eventually replaced d’Arnaud at second base.

Dallas Keuchel went six innings, allowing just one run on three hits, walked two and struck out five, as he did not fare in the decision.

The defensive plays of the game came in the top of the sixth inning, as White tripled to lead off the inning, but then on a ground ball hit by Josh Reddick down to Buster Posey at first base, Posey threw home to get White at the plate for the first out of the inning.

With Max Stassi at the plate, Reddick went to second on a Bumgarner wild pitch and then stole third base and then the bigger play than the force out at home came when Bumgarner’s pitch got away from Nick Hundley, but he was able to regroup and throw to Bumgarner, who tagged Reddick for the third out of the inning.

NOTES: Despite the fact that the Giants are one game under the .500 mark, they have spent 67 days either one game below .500, even at .500, or one game over .500, the most by any team in the major leagues this season. This is the third most days by the team since they moved to San Francisco in 1958, this according to STATS, LLC., and it is the most by the team since they spent 81 days hovering around that mark in 2006.

White’s home run was the 106th allowed by Giants’ pitchers, the second fewest of any team this season, with 44 coming at AT&T Park. The Cardinals’ pitching staff have allowed the fewest with 102 home runs.

The Giants’ first-round pick in the 2018 Amateur Draft, Joey Bart was named the Northwest League Player of the Month for July, as he hit .333 and led the NWL with nine home runs and 24 RBIs. Bart also picked up 18 extra base hits, 65 total bases, a slugging percentage of .747, an on-base percentage of 1.126 and also added a 10-game hitting streak from July 8-19.

This was the first time that the Giants lost consecutive games to the Astros since May 14 and 15, 2008.

Bumgarner allowed two triples for the first time in his career. Josh Reddick was the first left-handed batter to get a triple off of Bumgarner since Ender Inciarte of the Atlanta Braves on August 28, 2016.

UP NEXT: After a much-needed day off on Wednesday, the Giants begin a four-game series with the Pittsburgh Pirates, as Giants’ Andrew Suarez will take the mound in the opener and the Pirates will send Ivan Nova to the hill. Game one is set for Thursday at 7:15 pm PDT.

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary podcast: A’s proving to be buyers, getting Kelly and Fiers; Halos’ Trout out day-to-day with wrist injury; Willie Mac takes the plunge at 80

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

On That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary:

#1 The Oakland A’s are loading up proving that their buyers and they’re trying to seal the deal for the post season as they acquired pitchers from the Washington Nationals, Sean Kelly, and from the Detroit Tigers, Mike Fiers, this past week.

#2 The Los Angeles Angels’ outfielder Mike Trout is suffering from a right wrist contusion after an awkward slide last Wednesday to avoid a tag from the Tampa Bay Rays’ third baseman Matt Duffy. Trout will be day-to-day, according to Angels’ manager Mike Scioscia.

#3 Former San Francisco Giant first baseman and Hall of Fame legend Willie McCovey got married for the second time–his first marriage in the 1960s–with his longtime girlfriend Estela last week. McCovey had a great career and he was the other fence buster with his former teammate Willie Mays during the great ’60s.

#4 The Chicago Cubs’ Javier Baez hit a curve ball in the sixth inning in Monday night’s game against the Kansas City Royals for his 25th home run of the season. Baez now has three home runs in his last four games.

#5 The Houston Astros are on pace to win 100 games as they came back in the top of the ninth down 1-0 and got a three-run home run from Marwin Gonzalez for the 3-1 win at AT&T Park over the San Francisco Giants. There are three teams in MLB on the 100-win pace: the Boston Red Sox (113 wins), the New York Yankees (100 wins), and the Astros (101 wins).

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Oakland A’s Spanish play-by-play announcer, the vice president of the MLB Hispanic Heritage Museum Hall of Fame, and does News and Commentary each Tuesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

One Bad Pitch: Giants come within one out of big win over World Champion Astros only to lose heartbreaker 3-1

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By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO–Big league baseball comes with the caveat that there can be some major league disappointments. The Giants, closer Will Smith and rookie starter Dereck Rodriguez suffered through an especially tough outcome on Monday night.

With the Giants and Rodriguez one out away from a wholely satisfying 1-0 victory, Smith surrendered a three-run home run to Houston’s Marwin Gonzalez that sent the Giants to a 3-1 loss. The Giants fell back to .500 (57-57) for the 21st time, and failed to close the gap between themselves and the division-leading Diamondbacks and Dodgers.

Rodriguez put the Giants in an advantageous spot, pitching seven innings of shutout baseball without the benefit of his best stuff. Backed by Brandon Crawford’s two-strike, two-out home run in the sixth, and Reyes Moronta’s perfect eighth inning, the Giants were in line for a fourth, 1-0 win of the season.

Rodriguez, the minor league free agent who signed with the Giants in November only to propel himself to be MLB’s top rookie starting pitcher this season, kept the Astros scoreless by relying heavily on his cutter and two-seam fastball in the absence of his good blazer, he said. Rodriguez threw seven innings, his second, consecutive start of that length, allowing three hits, no runs while striking out seven.

“When I’m out there it’s just me, Buster (Posey) and the hitter, whoever’s hitting, so I think that’s what’s helped me get to the point where I’m at, my concentration when I’m in the game,” he said.

But while Rodriguez cruised, the Giants’ hitters had their hands full with Charlie Morton, a pitcher with a decade of experience facing San Francisco hitters, and a trio of dominating performances, including two at AT&T Park.

Morton went seven innings, struck out eight, and was only dented by an off-speed pitch to Crawford that was off the plate, but waist high.

Morton controlled the rest of the Giants’ lineup, allowing harmless base hits to Evan Longoria and Joe Panik.

Smith fell into trouble prior to allowing the home run to Gonzalez, walking Alex Bregman, and Yuli Gurriel. There’s no security blanket for closers, and Smith probably needed one when facing Gonzalez.

“I felt fine,” Smith said. “Just lost control of the fastball tonight.”

Houston overcame the absence of sluggers Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa and George Springer, and Brian McCann in the win. They welcomed Roberto Osuna, the flamethrower acquired in a trade with the Blue Jays despite his pending charges regarding domestic violence. Osuna pitched a perfect, eighth inning.

The Astros and Giants conclude their brief series Tuesday afternoon with Dallas Kuechel facing Madison Bumgarner at 12:45pm.

 

 

San Francisco Giants podcast with Morris Phillips: Coming off a split with the Diamondbacks, the chase is on for first place as Giants open series with Astros at AT&T tonight

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photo by mercurynews.com: Giants third baseman Evan Longoria (10) gets a pat on the helmet from his teammates on Sunday at Chase Field after hitting the go ahead home run in the eventual win for San Francisco 3-2 over the Arizona Diamondbacks

On the San Francisco Giants podcast with Morris:

The Giants come back tonight at AT&T Park after winning five out seven games. In Arizona, they got a split against the Arizona Diamondbacks, so keeping pace to climb in the standings continues in their chase to catch the two first place teams the D-backs and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Big fly helps the Giants get the win in Arizona on Sunday as Giants’ third baseman Evan Longoria hit an eighth inning home run to break a 2-2 deadlock for the 3-2 win. The Giants’ first baseman Buster Posey returned after passing concussion tests and played at first on Sunday. Posey will be assuming his catching duties during this current homestand.

The Giants open against a tough customer, the Houston Astros, on Monday night. The Astros can hear the Oakland A’s footsteps as the A’s are now just four games behind the Astros in the AL West standings. So the Astros will be battling to keep pace as well as the Giants, who are in the hunt for first place.

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

Longoria, bullpen lifts Giants past D-backs 3-2 to earn series split

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By Daniel Dullum

PHOENIX, Ariz. – Evan Longoria’s tie-breaking solo home run in the top of the eighth inning lifted the San Francisco Giants to a 3-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field Sunday, salvaging a split of the four-game weekend series.

While San Francisco remains five games back in the NL West race, Arizona fell into a tie with the Los Angeles Dodgers for first place. The Colorado Rockies are in third place, two games behind.

The win gives the Giants a 4-2 road trip mark as they head home to host the Houston Astros in a two-game interleague series starting Monday.

“It was a well-pitched game by us,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “(Derek) Holland did a great job, the bullpen did a great job, and it made for a good road trip. It’s been a while for us to have some success on the road.”

Longoria was 3-for-4 with two runs scored and a double while extending his hitting streak to eight games. Andrew McCutchen was 1-for-2 with two walks.

“Cutch had a great series, Buster is swinging the bat well,” Bochy said. “That’s what it’s going to take. We scored enough runs, but (D-Backs starter Robbie Ray) was tough too. We found a way to get some runs.”

On Longoria’s recent success, Bochy said, “He seems more balanced up there. It looks like he’s seeing the ball well. … He’s a good hitter and it’s good to see him come back off the rehab and find his swing.”

The reconstituted bullpen got the job done for San Francisco. Ray Black (1-0) threw a 1-2-3 seventh and picked up the win. Tony Watson and Sam Dyson each logged a scoreless inning, and closer Will Smith struck out two of the three hitters he faced in the ninth to earn his seventh save.

“(The bullpen) all did a great job,” Bochy said. “Dyson came in with a tough situation and found a way to get out of it. Our pitching was there and we needed it.”

“We were sitting pretty good with the bullpen today. Those guys got some needed rest after getting worked pretty hard in that San Diego series. They were all fresh.

With one out in the eighth, Longoria sent a 2-ball, 2-strike delivery from Archie Bradley (3-3) over the left-center field fence near the 413-foot marker for his 12th home run of the season, breaking the 2-2 deadlock.

In the bottom of the eighth, the D-backs loaded the bases on a single by pinch-hitter Daniel Descalso, a walk to Paul Goldschmidt and Steven Souza was hit by Dyson pitch. With two out, Ketel Marte flied out to left, ending the D-Backs’ rally.

Steven Souza’s third home run of the season opened the scoring for Arizona in the second inning. San Francisco tied the game at 1-1 in the third when Andrew McCutchen singled with two out and scored on Evan Longoria’s single to center.

Arizona took a 2-1 lead in the fourth when Eduardo Escobar hit a leadoff double and scored on Marte’s base hit. But the Giants tied the game at 2-2 in the sixth when Longoria doubled and scored when Nick Hundley tried to stretch a single and was thrown out at second.

Both starters went 5 1/3 innings. The Giants’ Derek Holland struck out six, walked two and gave up two earned runs on three hits in 5 1/3 innings. Robbie Ray struck out eight and walked four while giving up seven hits.

“This is a tight race and we have to get things going,” Holland said. “It’s a great division and this is going to be a great race.

“But we really have to focus on ourselves. We’re playing great ball right now and keep playing our game every day from here on out.”

GIANTS JOTTINGS: The Athletic reports that the Astros will be without Jose Altuve, who will not be activated from the 10-day disabled list (sore right knee). … Attendance on Sunday was 27,884.

UP NEXT: The Giants will return home to host the Astros Monday night at 7:15 pm PDT.

San Francisco will start right-hander Dereck Rodriguez (5-1, 2.59) against Houston’s Charlie Morton (12-2, 2.90) on Monday, and left-hander Madison Bumgarner (4-4, 2.97) on Tuesday against Astros lefty Dallas Keuchel (9-9, 3.61).

San Francisco Giants podcast with Daniel Dullum: Giants’ injuries mounting, key players missing; Angels’ manager Scioscia to retire after 19 years; A’s win streak hits at 5 games

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On the MLB The Show podcast with Daniel:

1 Giants try to salvage final game of series vs. Diamondbacks. Buster Posey passes concussion test and was back in the Giants’ lineup on Sunday. Giants have mounting injuries to key players.

2 Angels’ manager Mike Scioscia will review stepping down after 19 years at the helm.

3 A’s rookie Ramon Laureano is the hero in Friday’s 13-inning win over Detroit. Swingin’ A’s keep rolling.

4 Astros’ All-Star Alex Bregman rips President Trump over LeBron James’ tweet.

5 Mets offers its fans free therapy to cope with team’s woes.

Daniel Dullum does it all–reporter covering Giants baseball in Arizona and does the MLB podcast each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

Ahmed homers twice as D-backs pound Giants 9-3

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By: Daniel Dullum

PHOENIX, Ariz. – In the midst of a career year, Arizona Diamondbacks shortstop Nick Ahmed went yard twice versus the San Francisco Giants on Saturday, sparking the D-backs to a 9-3 win over the Giants at Chase Field.

“I don’t know the percentages, but I think a team is more likely to win when it scores first,” Ahmed said. “We just try to jump out, attack early, and we’ve done a good job of that lately.”

Ahmed was 3-for-3 with a walk, three runs scored, and four runs batted in. Steven Souza added a double, triple and three RBIs, and Ketel Marte hit his 10th home run of the season as part of Arizona’s 12-hit attack.

On his newfound power stroke, Ahmed said, “I always knew I had it in there. It’s just taken a little bit longer than some other guys to pull it out. It’s a matter of putting myself in a good position to see the ball really well and use my athleticism to attack the pitches I want to swing at.”

The D-backs’ second straight win over the Giants moved kept them in first place in the National League West race, ½ game ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Fourth-place San Francisco fell to .500 and trail Arizona by six games.

Clay Buchholz (5-1) struck out eight and walked two while giving up two earned runs on seven hits over six innings.

“After the first inning, I felt really good with the mix,” Buchholz said. “I ran into a long inning in the second and gave up the solo homers, but I was able to keep them off the bases after that.”

The D-backs jumped on Giants’ starter Andrew Suarez (4-7) early and often, sending eight hitters to the plate while building a 5-0 first-inning lead. The big hit came with two outs when Souza tripled down the right-field line, driving in David Peralta (who singled) and Paul Goldschmidt (who walked).

Ahmed followed with a single to drive in Souza, and Marte completed the damage with a two-run home run to left-center.

“(Suarez’s) stuff is really good. I think it’s his command more than anything,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “He was a little off, and you look at his ball-strike ratio early, he just wasn’t sharp.

“We gave up a lot of runs with two outs and it became an uphill climb for the guys,” Bochy continued. “We just needed that one hit to keep it moving. We had a lot of good at-bats with deep counts, but we just can’t get that one more hit to keep it going.”

The Giants used the long ball to cut into the D-backs’ lead. Andrew McCutchen homered to left to lead off the third, and Steven Duggar’s first career home run pulled San Francisco to within 5-2 with one out in the fourth.

The Giants’ fourth-inning threat continued with two out when McCutchen singled and went to third on Hernandez’s double. But Evan Longoria struck out.

The D-backs added three more runs in the fifth inning on an RBI double by Souza and Ahmed’s 15th home run of the season, a two-run shot that extended Arizona’s lead to 8-2. Ahmed closed out Arizona’s scoring with a solo homer off Giants reliever Derek Law – his 16th – to lead off the eighth.

McCutchen, 5-for-5 with a double and home run, tacked on the Giants’ final run with an RBI single in the ninth.

The Giants did get some good news regarding Buster Posey. The veteran catcher took Saturday off and, according to Bochy, would play Sunday at first base. Posey left Friday’s game in the third inning after experiencing concussion symptoms.

“Buster is fine,” Bochy said. “He’s penciled in for first base on Sunday.”

Probable pitchers for the series finale on Sunday involve a pair of lefthanders – Derek Holland (5-8, 3.90) for San Francisco and Robbie Ray (3-2, 5.05) for the Diamondbacks.

GIANTS JOTTINGS: Prior to Saturday’s game, the Giants called up RHP Pierce Johnson and RHP Derek Law from Triple-A Sacramento while optioning INF Kelby Tomlinson and RHP Chris Stratton (Friday night’s starter) to the River Cats. … Arizona won a video replay challenge in the third inning when San Francisco’s Gorkys Hernandez was initially ruled safe on a wide throw from 3B Ketel Marte. The call was overturned and ruled that 1B Paul Goldschmidt applied a sweep tag before Hernandez reached the bag. Time of the review was 52 seconds. … Prior to the game, the Diamondbacks announced their 20th anniversary team: Manager – Bob Brenley, 1B – Paul Goldschmidt, 2B – Jay Bell, SS – Tony Womack, 3B – Matt Williams, OF – Luis Gonzalez, Steve Finley and A.J. Pollock, C – Miguel Montero, SP – Randy Johnson, Brandon Webb, Curt Schilling, Patrick Corbin and Zack Grienke, RP – Jose Valverde and Brad Ziegler. … Attendance was 38,033.

UP NEXT: The Giants and D-backs will conclude their series Sunday afternoon at 1:10 pm PDT.

MLB The Show podcast with Matt Harrington: How bad is Posey’s concussion?; Have the Mariners derailed?; Astros edge Dodgers Friday in World Series reunion

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Photo credit: @NBCSAuthentic

On the MLB The Show podcast with Matt:

#1 Talk about taking one for the team on Friday night! San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey took one for the team as the Arizona Diamondbacks Paul Goldschmidt hit a foul tip right into Posey’s mask. It rung Posey’s head so much that he had to be helped to the dugout by the trainer. Posey might be in his closing days as a catcher.

#2 The Seattle Mariners have completely derailed! They lost their fourth straight game and dropped the first two games of this four game series with the Toronto Blue Jays 7-2. The M’s are now 1 1/2 games back of the A’s for the AL Wild Card race.

#3 The Houston Astros and the Los Angeles Dodgers had a 2017 World Series reunion with the Astros taking the first game of the series 2-1 on Friday night. The Astros’ starter Justin Verlander struck out 14 hitters to keep the Dodgers under control.

#4 The Chicago Cubs continued their winning ways with a one-run win over the San Diego Padres 5-4. The Cubs are holding onto first place in the NL Central with a one-game lead over the Milwaukee Brewers. The Cubs’ Javier Baez hit his 23rd home run of the season, tying Baez’ all time best for homers.

#5 The Oakland A’s Ramon Laureano got a walkoff base hit that won it for the A’s in 13 innings as the A’s shutout the Detroit Tigers 1-0. The A’s continued to pour it on being the hottest team in baseball. The A’s are only five games back in the AL West of the Atlanta Braves.

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