Category: San Francisco Giants

Giants drop series finale against the Padres 8-4

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Photo credit: @KNBR

By Jeremy Harness

Thankfully, there are only a couple of weeks left in a season that has quickly turned dreadful for the Giants.

The latest piece of debauchery was Wednesday night, when the Giants blew a 3-0 lead and ended up with their tails between their legs after an 8-4 loss to the Padres at Petco Park on Wednesday night.

Wednesday actually started off pretty well for the Giants, as starter Chris Stratton cleared the bases in the top of the second inning with a three-run double to give his team a 3-0 lead.

However, that success did not translate to the pitching mound, where it was really needed. The Padres blasted him for five runs in the bottom half of that inning, the big hot coming when Wil Myers hit a two-run homer that sailed over the wall in left-center.

Stratton lasted only three innings and gave up those five runs and six hits, walking one and striking out two.

“He just got out of sync, couldn’t get the ball where he wanted,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “He was missing his spots by a big margin, which is unlike him, especially with the way he’s been throwing the ball.

“I don’t know if running the bases (after the second-inning double) threw him out of sync or what, but he just couldn’t hit his spots.”

Aramis Garcia, who has played catcher in the minor leagues, but has been at first base while Nick Hundley has been behind the plate, narrowed San Diego’s lead in the top of the eighth when he lined a Craig Stammen pitch into the right-field seats.

“He looks comfortable up here (in the majors),” Bochy said. “With Belt down, he’ll get some (playing) time.”

However, Ray Black got into trouble in the bottom half, and when he could not locate his other pitches, Freddy Galvis keyed on his fastball, got one he liked, and sent it over the wall in right-center for a three-run homer that essentially put the game away.

The Giants have a much-needed day off and then they’ll take on the St. Louis Cardinals for a three-game series starting Friday at 5:15 pm PDT.

Headline Sports with London Marq: Garoppolo, 49ers look to avoid the INT Sunday; Halos look to be spoilers as A’s chase Yanks; Raiders drop to 0-2 in close battle with Denver; Quakes make a coaching change; plus more

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On Headline Sports with London:

#1 The A’s battle the LA Angels this week and the Angels want to be spoilers and try and set the A’s chase of the New York Yankees in the AL Wild Card a peg or two.

#2 The Oakland Raiders played a nail-biter on Sunday, but lost to the Denver Broncos just by one point. Derek Carr looked and threw well, but the Raiders tried as hard as they could and lost their second game of the season, dropping them now to 0-2.

#3 With all the losses mounting, the San Jose Earthquakes fired head coach Mikael Stahre and assistant coach Alex de Crook. The Quakes have won only four games this season. When do you think Stahre should have got fired.

#4 The San Francisco Giants, who are a good 12 games out of first place, and their current hosts, the San Diego Padres, who are some 26 games out, will mostly look at their call ups during this series since the playoffs are dimming each day.

#5 The San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo had a rough outing against the Detroit Lions on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium. The Niners had a 17-point lead, but lost it as their lead collapsed to just three points. If it wasn’t for a holding penalty late in the fourth quarter, the Lions would have been in field goal range or at best scoring range after picking off a Garoppolo pass.

London Marq does Headline Sports each Wednesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Shaw helps the Giants to a 5-4 win over the Padres

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Photo credit: @NBCSGiants

By Jeremy Kahn

After dropping 11 in a row, the San Francisco Giants have turned it and got a little streak going on in the better direction against the San Diego Padres.

Chris Shaw hit a two-run single that landed just out of the reach of Hunter Renfroe in left field, as the Giants came back to defeat the Padres 5-4 at Petco Park on Tuesday night.

It was the fourth win in a row for the Giants, who started the month of September by losing a season-high 11 in a row.

The Shaw single scored Nick Hundley, who grounded into a fielder’s choice that sent Evan Longoria to third base on a Cory Spangenberg throwing error. Crawford then hit for Aramis Garcia, and walked to load the bases.

Longoria led off the inning with a sharp single to centerfield off of eventual losing pitcher Craig Stammen.

After the Crawford walk, Hunter Pence ground into a fielder’s choice that saw Longoria get thrown out at the plate by a step, as Stammen threw to Austin Hedges, who barely kept his foot on the plate.

Shaw then gave the Giants the lead for good with his flare down the left field line just out of reach of Renfroe.

Pence gave the Giants the lead in the top of the second inning, as his two-run home run gave the Giants a 2-1 lead. He also added a run-scoring double in the top of the fourth inning that once again gave the Giants a one-run lead at 4-3.

Franmil Reyes gave the Padres the lead in the bottom of the fifth inning just out of the reach of Shaw, who claimed possible fan interference. The umpires went to video review, and the home run stood.

It was the second and third runs batted in of the night for Reyes, who also drove in a run on a single in the bottom of the third inning. Renfroe got the Padres on the board in the bottom of the first inning, as he drove in a run on a double.

Sam Dyson pitched one inning to get his fourth win of the season for the Giants, and Will Smith finished it up for his team-leading 14th save of the season.

Derek Holland pitched five innings, allowing four runs on five hits, walking two and striking out six.

East Bay native Joey Luchessi also pitched five innings for the Padres, as he gave up three runs on seven hits, walking just one and striking out eight.

UP NEXT: The Giants and Padres will wrap up their series with a finale Wednesday night at 6:10 pm PDT.

Chris Stratton will go to the mound for the Giants, as they look for a sweep. Stratton coming off his first career shutout on Friday night, as the Giants stopped their 11-game losing streak with a 2-0 victory over the Colorado Rockies at AT&T Park. Robbie Erlin goes for the Padres, as he looks to stop a career-high tying four-game losing streak.

San Francisco Giants podcast with Marko Ukalovic: Giants take second game of three game set from Padres using regulars and second stringers

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On the San Francisco Giants podcast with Marko:

#1 How much playing time do you expect Giants manager Bruce Bochy to give his call ups and reserves seeing the Giants’ postseason hopes fading?

#2 Bochy in the series has played it competitive winning on Monday night in San Diego 4-2 and using a lot of his regulars and second string bench and bullpen core.

#3 On Tuesday night at Petco the Giants just got by the Padres 5-4 to take a 2-0 lead in the series down 4-3 the Giants made hay in the Petco Park evening coming back to score two runs off Padres reliever Craig Stammen in the eighth.

#4 The Giants conclude this three-game series with the Padres on Wednesday night. The Giants will be looking to get a sweep and after suffering an 11-game losing steak that ended Friday. The Giants now have won four of their last five games.

#5 The Giants next opponent will be at Busch Stadium in St. Louis to open a three-game series with the Cardinals. The Giants will try and play spoilers in this one as the Cardinals are just 2 1/2 games behind Milwaukee in the NL Wild Card race.

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

Crawford breaks out, Giants put the squeeze on the Padres in 4-2 win

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By Morris Phillips

The Giants aren’t dead yet. That’s the proper diagnosis after the club won three of four contests following a first ever in San Francisco 11-game losing streak. And they’ve been down right stingy in the process.

Andrew Suarez pitched into the eighth inning–the longest outing of his career–allowing two runs and the Giants won the series opener in San Diego, 4-2. The Giants followed consecutive shutouts over the weekend by allowing three runs on Sunday, and just two runs on Monday. Suarez embodied the team’s renewed enthusiasm by storming off the mound when pulled by manager Bruce Bochy four outs prior to the job’s completion.

“I thought I showed him up,” Suarez said of Bochy’s appearance. “He said it was fine. He liked that I was being competitive.”

Suarez allowed four hits and three walks, two runs and did so in an economical 87 pitches. A trio of relievers finished the job with Will Smith earning his 13th save.

Brandon Crawford and Evan Longoria hit home runs to help the Giants overcome an early 1-0 deficit. Chris Shaw had three his and Aramis Garcia singled home a run in his first start at first base.

The Padres lost for the 91st time this season, matching their 2017 loss total with 11 games remaining. The Padres have four 90-loss seasons in their last eight. The Giants continue to harbor slim hopes that they can avoid a losing season by winning out.

 

 

San Francisco Giants podcast with Morris Phillips: After taking two from Rockies, Giants could go into their call ups against Padres tonight

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On the Giants podcast with Morris:

#1 The Giants opened their series with the visiting Colorado Rockies on Friday and after losing 11 straight games the Giants had had enough and won their first two games on shutouts.

#2 Thanks to the Giants’ handy work, the Rockies were bumped from first-place, proving the Giants can hang with the Rockies.

#3 The Rockies did everything they could to prevent the Giants from winning with a 3-2 victory. Rockies pitcher Antonio Senzatela hit a two-run RBI single to help his cause.

#4 The Giants cut the lead to just a run when Joe Panik scored in the eighth inning, but the Giants could tie it up and get the sweep.

#5 The Giants open up a three-game series in San Diego tonight. The Giants in this series most likely will give their callup a look as both the Padres and Giants are most likely not going to make the postseason.

Listen to the Giants podcasts each Monday with Morris at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Giants lose to Rockies 3-2 in Sunday matinee finale

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By: London Marq

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — It was a sunny and pristine mid-September afternoon at AT&T Park right by the Bay as the San Francisco Giants hosted the Colorado Rockies in the final matchup of a three-game series. Entering the game, the Giants sat 12 games back of the NL West-leading Dodgers, but have proved resilient against the Rockies, winning the first two games of the series to threaten the sweep. The Rockies sit in second place in the NL West and are competing with Wild Card Spot with the St. Louis Cardinals. The Rockies came into game three of this series looking to steal one back on the road and stay in playoff contention.

Determined not let the Giants play spoiler for the third time in a row, the Rockies were constantly swinging the bats. Giants’ rookie pitcher Dereck Rodriguez made it through the first inning unscathed, but with one out in the second inning, Rockies outfielder Carlos Gonzalez reaches first base on an error. That was followed by Ian Desmond getting a single and Iannetta being walked. With the bases loaded, the Rockies’ pitcher Antonio Senzatela came to the plate and helped his own cause with a liner into left field, allowing Gonzalez and Desmond to score. A few batters later, still with only one out in the inning LeMahieu hit a sac-fly to center and Iannetta tagged up and scored.  The Giants eventually escaped the jam–down 3-0.

The score remained stagnant until the sixth when the Giants manufactured a run off two hits and a walk to bring Panik around to score and bring the score to 3-1 to end the sixth.

The Giants continued to push in the eighth inning when Panik would round the bases again to decrease the Rockies’ advantage to just one. The late game heroics gave the Giants a chance in the ninth, but the Rockies shut the door to show why they are in playoff contention. They got the win, 3-2.

The Giants, despite being well out of contention, prove that they can play competitive baseball. With rumors swirling, that manager Bruce Bochy may not be re-signed next season, series like this may go a long way to dispel such rumors.

The Giants will play three more series this season. Two of those series will be the Cardinals and Dodgers, both of whom are playoff contenders. The Giants will look to finish 2018 strong, play some spoilers, and get some quality wins before the offseason.

MLB The Show with Daniel Dullum: Pennant races tightened up; Cleveland clinched AL Central; Phillies used 21 players to beat Marlins; plus more

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On the MLB The Show podcast with Daniel:

1 Pennant race status as of Sunday.

2 Cleveland beat Detroit 15-0 to clinch AL Central.

3 September baseball: Phillies use 21 players in come-from-behind win over Marlins.

4 Giants, Mad Bum knock Rox out of first in NL West.

5 Report: Nashville drops A’s as Triple-A affiliate for 2019.

Daniel Dullum does the MLB The Show podcast each Sunday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Giants knock the Rockies out of first place with second straight shutout 3-0

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By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO — If you ever thought that the San Francisco Giants would help out the Los Angeles Dodgers, you would be not dreaming.

Austin Slater hit a ground ball for on out in the bottom of the second to score Brandon Crawford from third base, as the Giants defeated the Rockies 3-0 before 38,204 at AT&T Park on Saturday.

This was the second win in a row for the Giants, after they dropped a season-high 11 straight to begin the month of September, and this is the first time that they won back-to-back games since winning four in a row from August 25-28.

Coupled with the Dodgers’ 17-4 rout of the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium, the longtime rival of the Giants is now in first place in the National League West and the Rockies fall into the second Wild Card Spot.

Madison Bumgarner went six innings, allowing no runs on five hits, walking one and striking out two and won for the sixth time this season.

Dating back to his start against the Houston Astros, Bumgarner has thrown 20 consecutive scoreless innings.

“Finish strong and competitive,” said Bumgarner.

Bumgarner was forced to leave the start tonight, despite throwing just 64 pitches, as he suffered tension in his right side.

“Little tightness in his side,” said manager Bruce Bochy.

Hunter Pence added a second run in that bottom of the second inning, as he singled to center field to score Nick Hundley.

As would have it, Bumgarner scored the final run of the game for the Giants, as he scored on a wild pitch thrown by German Marquez with Hundley at the plate in the bottom of the third inning.

Marquez also went six innings, allowing three runs on seven hits, walking one and striking out four, as he saw his record fall to 12-10 on the season.

Both teams were warned by Raymond DeJesus in the bottom of the third inning, after Marquez hit Evan Longoria, which came after Bumgarner hit D.J. LeMahieu in the top of the third inning. Marquez hit Slater on top of the helmet in the bottom of the sixth inning.

The top five hitters in their lineup all got hits, but they could not muster a run against the Giants for the second consecutive game. Those five hitters went a combined 5-for-17 against Bumgarner, Tony Watson, Mark Melancon and Will Smith.

The bullpen trio of Watson, Melancon and Smith went three innings, allowing two hits, not walking a batter and struck out five. Smith notched his 12th save of the season.

By being shut out on back-to-back evenings, the last time that the Rockies scored a run was in the bottom of the seventh inning of their 10-3 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks at Coors Field, a span of 19 innings. In that inning against the Diamondbacks, the Rockies scored five runs to put the game away.

NOTES: This was the 15th shutout of the season for the Giants, and it was the fourth time this season that have they have thrown back-to-back shutouts. They also did it on March and 30 against the Los Angeles Dodgers, June 1 and 2 versus the Philadelphia Phillies and on August 27 and 28 against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The Rockies have lost 11 out of their last 14 at AT&T Park.

This is the first time all season that the Rockies have been shutout in back-to-back games.

UP NEXT: The Giants and Rockies wrap up their series with a finale Sunday afternoon at 1:05 pm PDT.

Giants rookie Dereck Rodriguez closes out the homestand on Sunday, as he takes the mound in search of his seventh win of the season, while Antonio Senzatela looks for his fifth win of the season for the Rockies.

Stratton throws first career shutout; Giants shutout Rockies 2-0 to snap losing skid

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Photo credit: @SportingGreenSF

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO — Despite the fact that they are most likely out of the playoff race, the San Francisco Giants can still play spoiler against the Colorado Rockies.

Chris Stratton threw a complete game, allowing zero runs on just two hits, walking two and striking out seven. The Giants put a stop to their longest losing streak since 1951 with a 2-0 victory over the Rockies before a crowd of 37,800 at AT&T Park Friday night.

This was the first career shutout for Stratton, the first shutout of the season for the Giants, and just the 18th complete game shutout this season.

The 11-game losing streak that the Giants put a halt to was the longest in the National League this season, and ties the Detroit Tigers for the longest in the Major Leagues this season.

With the victory, the Giants defeated the Rockies for the first time since June 28, a span of seven games.

This is the ninth straight that the Giants’ offense have scored three runs or less in a game, the last time that they scored more than three in a game was on September 3, when they scored eight in a 9-8 loss to the Rockies at Coors Field.

Stratton got all the offensive help he needed in the bottom of the second inning, Austin Slater singled in Nick Hundley and Joe Panik, who both singled in front of Slater. The two got into scoring position when Rockies starter Tyler Anderson unleashed the first of his two wild pitches in the inning.

With the victory, Stratton won for the 10th time this season, and also got some big time from his defense, as Gregor Blanco made a leaping catch of a Nolan Arenado hit in the top of the sixth inning that robbed Arenado of extra bases. Brandon Crawford also snared a Trevor Story ball that would have gone for a single.

Stratton also helped himself at the plate, as he lashed a single off of Anderson in that two-run second inning that saw the Giants score the only runs of the game. The right-hander is first Giants pitcher since 2016, when Johnny Cueto won 18, Madison Bumgarner won 15 and Jeff Samardzija won 12, as the Giants made to the National League Division Series, where they lost to the eventual World Champion Chicago Cubs in four games.

Brandon Belt left the game after the bottom of the seventh inning due to right knee soreness.

NOTES: When the Giants lost those 12 straight in 1951, they did it from April 19-29 and a month after the losing streak ended, a 20-year old outfielder was called up to the team on May 25, his name was Willie Howard Mays, Jr.

The Giants lost 13 in a row from August 9-20, 1944, their longest losing streak since 1908.

During the month of September, the Giants have scored a total of 28 runs, an average of 2.33 a game.

Samardzija threw the last Giants shutout on August 28, 2017 against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park.

UP NEXT: Madison Bumgarner takes the mound on Saturday night at 6:05 pm PDT, as he looks for his sixth win of the season, while German Marquez will head to the hill for the Rockies in search for his 13th win of the season.