Category: San Francisco Giants

Marlins’ walk-off sends Giants to third straight loss, 5-4

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Harness

So much for that positive momentum to start off the month of June.

The San Francisco Giants got off to a great start to the month, even getting their record to above .500 at one point. However, that has momentarily disappeared in one week in South Florida.

The Miami Marlins have sent the Giants reeling, as they have now lost three straight games, the latest coming in a dramatic 5-4 loss at Marlins Park on Wednesday.

The Giants led for most of the game, but Miami kept hanging around and kept themselves in the game before eventually overtaking the visiting team in the bottom of the ninth, as Brian Anderson’s sac fly brought in the winning run.

Andrew McCutchen started things off with a two-run homer to straightaway center field, before the Marlins tied the game up in the fourth with a pair of run-scoring singles. From that point on, the two teams traded runs until Miami got the final say in the bottom of the ninth.

Andrew Suarez got the start for the Giants and had a solid performance. He went five innings and gave up a pair of runs on five hits, walking two and striking out three. It was an improvement from his last outing, when he gave up four runs over only 4 1/3 innings at Washington last Friday.

Meanwhile, Caleb Smith went 6 1/3 innings for Miami, surrendering three runs on eight hits, striking out four and not walking a single batter.

Neither pitcher factored in the decision.

McCutchen had two hits, including the opening-inning home run, while Buster Posey cranked out three hits and crossed the plate twice.

The Giants and Marlins will conclude their series on Thursday at 9:10 pm PDT.

MLB The Show podcast with Marko Ukalovic: Can Scherzer and Verlander win the Cy Young?; If Oak A’s and TB Rays don’t get new parks, will they leave town?

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Photo credit: @ESPNStatsInfo

On the MLB The Show podcast with Marko:

#1 The Washington Nationals’ Max Scherzer and the Houston Astros’ Justin Verlander are all up for the Cy Young Awards. What impresses you most about the season that they”re having?

#2 The Oakland A’s and the Tampa Bay Rays are in need of new ball parks and it seems that their having complications of achieving those goals, whether it’s money, environmental impact reports working against them to develop, or being rejected for proposed site locations.

#3 Taking those points into consideration, do you see it possible that the Rays and A’s ownership at some point will realize they are stuck where their at, won’t spend any money at their present locations and just might be forced to sell their ball teams?

#4 Several cities have expressed interest in getting MLB clubs in Portland and Montreal top that list. How much of a possibility is it that these two clubs could move and go to those towns if they can’t get anything going for new stadium in either Oakland or Tampa Bay?

#5 The Giants, after having such huge success with the Philadelphia Phillies last weekend, came into Miami and lost the first two games against the Marlins. Was it a matter of not knowing how to chart the Marlins, was it bad scouting or the Giants were just off balance when they encountered the Fish going into this series?

Marko Ukalovic covers San Francisco Giants baseball feeelance and does the MLB The Show podcasts each Wednesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

San Francisco Giants podcast with Michael Duca and Morris Phillips: Giants drop two straight to last place Marlins; Marlins staffed with lots of unknowns

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Miami Marlins pitcher Trevor Richards pitches during the second inning of a Major League Baseball game against the San Francisco Giants at Marlins Park on Tuesday, June 12, 2018. David Santiago dsantiago@miamiherald.com

On the SF Giants podcast with Michael and Morris:

You could have predicted that the San Francisco Giants would have gone into Miami playing in front of nobody, playing a bunch of guys they’ve never faced before. It seems to be a characteristic of this franchise back to the days of former Giants pitcher Charlie Lea–guys who haven’t beat anybody manage to notch their first Major League wins against the Giants.

It happened with the Miami Marlins starting pitcher Trevor Richards, a 25-year-old right hander. The Marlins were 0-3 coming into the game. Richards walks the first two batters. Obviously, Richards is nervous if he walks the first two guys and gives up a run in the first inning without allowing a hit. Richards goes on to allowing just two hits, struck out three and walked two batters to win the ball game.

Morris and Michael do the SF Giants podcasts weekly at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

Richards allows two hits in Marlins’ 3-1 win over Giants

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Kahn

If you were looking for the San Francisco Giants’ offense, well it disappeared after the first inning against the Miami Marlins.

Trevor Richards went six innings, allowing one run on just two hits, walking two and striking out three and the Marlins defeated the Giants 3-1 at Marlins Park on Tuesday.

It was a memorable night for Richards, who picked up his first major league win in his seventh major league start.

Brandon Crawford drove in the only run of the game in the top of the first inning, as he grounded out to score Joe Panik, who led off the game with a walk against Richards.

Things were looking good for the Giants, as they got both Panik and Buster Posey on via walks versus Stratton, but then Andrew McCutchen struck out and then Crawford grounded out for the second out; however, it scored Panik with what proved to be the only run of the game for the Giants.

It was a tough loss for Chris Stratton, who went seven innings, as he gave up three runs and scattered four hits.

The only bad inning for the Giants was the third inning, as the Marlins scored all of their runs in that frame.

Starlin Castro tied up the game with a single that scored Derek Dietrich, and then JT Riddle hit what proved to be the game-winning runs, as he doubled to right field to score Dietrich and Brian Anderson.

The inning could have gotten worse, but the defensive play of the game was made by Stratton, as he snared a Miguel Rojas line drive that Stratton caught and Stratton then threw to Evan Longoria to get Castro at third base for the final out of the inning.

Following that third inning, that saw the Marlins scored all of their runs, Stratton settled down and retired the final 13 batters he faced.

The Marlins tried to break open the game in the bottom of the eighth inning, as Cory Gearrin came on to replace Stratton; however, Gearrin gave up two hits and that was the end of the night for Gearrin. Will Smith came on to replace Gearrin, and he responded by striking out the side to end the inning

Kyle Barraclough came on in the top of the ninth inning for the second straight night, and for the second game in a row, Barraclough closed out the game and notched his fourth save in six opportunities this season.

NOTES: Andrew Suarez will make his second start on the road trip, and this will be a homecoming for the left-hander, as he went to Christopher Columbus High School in Miami before heading to the University of Miami, where he pitched for the Hurricanes. Suarez, who will have many members of his family and friends in the stands will be opposed by Caleb Smith, who is 5-6 on the season.

Brandon Belt, who underwent an emergency appendectomy on June 2 will join the team in Los Angeles, when the Giants head there to face the Dodgers beginning on Friday night.

Jeff Samardzija is expected to join the Sacramento Rivercats on Friday, and will make a rehab start against the Round Rock Express (Texas Rangers Triple-A team) at Dell Diamond.

UP NEXT: The Giants and Marlins continue their series with Game 3 on Wednesday at 4:10 pm PDT.

Bumgarner gives it up, then gets ejected in frustrating 7-5 loss to the Marlins

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Photo credit: Daniel A. Varela/Miami Herald

By Morris Phillips

Having missed more than a third of the season due to a fluke, broken bone injury, and just eight innings into his return, Madison Bumgarner was in no mood for home plate umpire Jeremie Rehak.

Sure, being resigned to not getting a win in either of his first, two starts had the ultra-intense Bumgarner feeling some type of way. That and Rehak’s confusing strike zone, a game-tying single allowed to Lewis Brinson, and the four-pitch walk issued to Justin Bour prior to Brinson’s hit that had the whole Giants’ bench chirping at Rehak.

Telling Bruce Bochy he was okay during a mound visit after the Bour walk, only to allow the Brinson single, which forced the manager’s hand, ending Bumgarner’s evening was the equivalent of the Giants star’s boiling point.

“That’s why I went out there, to make sure he was fine. He assured me he felt good, then he gave up another hit. I had no choice. It was mounting on him,” Bochy recounted.

So the pitcher had to depart, and a final message had to be sent to Rehak. Bumgarner slyly nodded, Rehak immediately responded, resulting in the first ejection of Bum’s career.

“I could tell he wanted to toss me, and I said, ‘Go ahead.’ I might’ve given him a little encouragement.”

So matter of fact, and subtle, was the moment, Bochy and catcher Nick Hundley standing on the mound awaiting the arrival of reliever Reyes Moronta didn’t know the ejection took place behind them. Bumgarner passed on a reaction, and never broke stride towards the dugout.

“It wasn’t worth going over (and confronting Rehak),” said Bumgarner.

And so went Bum. The Giants, on their way back to .500 for the 15th time this season, would soon follow. Sam Dyson coughed up a tie-breaking, two-run shot to J.T. Realmuto in the seventh, propelling the Marlins to a 7-5 win.

The loss ended the Giants’ run of eight wins in 10 games. The visitors fell to 22-5 when scoring five runs or more. Meanwhile, the lowly Marlins won at Marlins Park for only the 13th time (13-22).

“Any night you get to a tough pitcher like Bumgarner, that’s a good night, especially when we win,” Brinson said.

While Bumgarner’s ejection drew headlines, two other occurences loomed bigger. First, the Marlins overcame the Giants’ 1-0, 4-2 and 5-4 leads, tying or taking the lead each time. They hadn’t overcome three deficits and won since 2010.

That and Realmuto’s homer was a bomb, causing centerfielder Gorkys Hernandez, playing shallow, to run more than 50 feet to the wall in straight away center field only to see the ball fly 15 feet over his head at the warning track. Still, Realmuto wasn’t sure.

“I was running the bases like it wasn’t going to get out because I’ve been fooled in that part of the park many times,” he said.

After creeping over the .500 mark twice previously only to fall below it immediately after, losing the 66th game of the season with their ace on the mound was something the Giants dearly wanted to avoid. Now, winning the next three days in the home park of the NL’s worst team is the new goal.

The Giants’ three rookie starters will get a crack at the Marlins beginning with Chris Stratton facing winless Trevor Richards (0-3, 5.02) on Tuesday. Can’t take anything for granted though: the Giants were 1-5 versus Miami in 2017, and they’ve dropped eight of their last 11 contests at Marlins Park.

San Francisco Giants podcast with Morris Phillips: Crawford has a swing going that would make Rogers Hornsby proud

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sfexaminer.com file photo: Brandon Crawford who went 4-4 on Sunday and just missed the cycle leads the Giants with a .326 average has been a force at the plate

On the Giants podcast with Morris Phillips:

San Francisco Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford is swinging the bat that would make former Major Leaguer Rogers Hornsby proud. Hornsby was a Hall of Fame second baseman and shortstop that hit .350 career from 1915 to 1937. Crawford on Sunday hit .326 for this season.

Not an easy achievement Crawford was able to get his perfect 4-4 on Sunday off Washington Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer is one of the best pitchers in the N.L. Crawford got a first inning single, Crawford also hit for a two-run home run, a double in the sixth, in the fourth at bat Crawford missed the cycle with a double with hit up the left field line.

Giants pitcher Derek Holland went five innings, three hits, walked two, struck out four, Holland is now 4-6. The Giants start a four-game series in Miami Monday night. The Marlins have struggled all season, but Morris gives his take on how he sees this series.

Morris does Giants podcasts twice a week for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

Crawford goes 4-for-4 in Giants’ 2-0 shutout over the Nationals

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Photo credit: @NBCSGiants

By Jeremy Kahn

What a day it was for Brandon Crawford in the series finale for the San Francisco Giants against one of the best pitchers in baseball, Max Scherzer of the Washington Nationals.

Crawford picked up three hits in his three at-bats versus Scherzer, including a two-run home run off of Scherzer in the top of the fourth and the Giants defeated the Nationals 2-0 at Nationals Park on Sunday.

On the afternoon, the hot hitting Crawford ended up going four-for-four, as the Giants took the series two games to one, and more important, took the season series four games to two.

Crawford singled in the top of the first inning, then smashed a two-run home run into the second deck that proved to be the only runs of the game for both teams. Crawford then doubled in the top of the sixth inning, and with a chance for the cycle, Crawford doubled down the left field line to complete his four-hit day.

It was the eighth home run of the season for Crawford, and his 29th and 30 runs batted in on the season.

Crawford, who struggled thru the month of April, as he batted .189 thru the first month of the season, is now hitting .338.

Since May 1, Crawford is hitting .439, as he is 58-for-132 during that stretch. His .338 batting average is just three points behind Freddie Freeman of the Atlanta Braves, who is batting .341.

Derek Holland went the minimum five innings to pick up the victory for the Giants, who are now 2-1 on their three-city, 10 game road trip thru Washington, Miami and Los Angeles.

Holland gave up three hits, walking two and striking out four, as he improved to 4-6 on the season.

Bruce Bochy turned the game over to his bullpen, and they performed in an outstanding manner, as former Nationals closer Mark Melancon pitched the sixth inning, walking one, then Sam Dyson walked and struck out a batter in the seventh inning, then Tony Watson pitched a perfect eighth.

Hunter Strickland came on in the bottom of the ninth, who got Bryce Harper, Anthony Rendon and Matt Adams, who came on to pinch hit for Mark Reynolds to pick up his 13thsave of the season.

Strickland, who in their last meeting hit Harper that led to a bench clearing brawl got Harper to ground out to Crawford for the first out. Rendon then followed it up with a ground ball with a ground ball to Crawford and then Strickland got Adams to strikeout swinging to end the game.

Scherzer went seven innings, allowing two runs, while scattering four hits, walking three and striking out nine, as he saw his record on the season fall to 10-2 and his earned run average increase from 1.95 to 2.00. This was the first loss for Scherzer since April 4, breaking his nine-game winning streak.

NOTES: Madison Bumgarner will make his second start of the season on Monday evening, as the Giants continue their road trip against the Miami Marlins at Marlins Park, who will send Wei-Yen Chen, who is 1-3 with a 5.86 ERA on the season.

In his season debut on Tuesday night, Bumgarner went six innings, allowing two runs, walking no one and struck out three after missing the first two months of the season with a broken left pinkie.

This was the first series win for the Giants against the Nationals in Washington since July 9-11, 2010, the year that the Giants won the first of their three World Championships in a five-year period.

Crawford is the first Giants batter to ever get three hits in the same game off of Scherzer.

UP NEXT: The Giants will head to Miami to take on the Marlins for a four-game set. Game 1 is set for Monday at 4:10 pm PDT.

Harper hits his 19th home run in Nationals’ 7-5 win over Giants

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Photo credit: sports.yahoo.com

By Jeremy Kahn

On the day that the Washington Capitals brought the newly won Stanley Cup to Nationals Park and Alexander Ovechkin threw out the first pitch, it was the Washington Nationals superstar that provided the big blast against the San Francisoo Giants.

Bryce Harper hit his National League-leading 19th home run in the bottom of the fourth inning, as the Nationals defeated the Giants 7-5 in an early Saturday matinee at Nationals Park.

In his first game since being activated from the 60-day disabled list, Adam Eaton scored two runs to help even the weekend series with the Giants.

Eaton, who missed 52 games with a left ankle bruise, was hit by a pitch, as he led off the bottom of the first inning.

Anthony Rendon drove in Eaton with a single that gave the Nationals a quick 1-0 lead, and then in the next inning, he scored again and the Nationals took a 5-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning.

Dereck Rodriguez lasted just 2.2 innings, as he gave up five runs just six days after his first major league start and win over the Philadelphia Phillies at AT&T Park.

Rodriguez, who is the son of Hall of Famer Ivan Rodriguez, pitched in front of his father for the first time as a major leaguer, and will do so again on Thursday, when he pitches in his hometown of Miami against the Marlins.

Nick Hundley got the Giants back in it in the top of the third inning, as he hit a three-run home run off of Gio Gonzalez to get the Giants within 5-3.

The Giants rally continued in the top of the fourth inning, as the Giants loaded the bases and were only able to manage one run, as Andrew McCutchen hit a sacrifice fly.

Gonzalez, who like Rodriguez saw his pitch count elevate and was unable to get out of the fourth inning.

Justin Miller picked up his third win of the season, as he retired all five batters he faced.

Hundley got the Giants within one run in the top of the seventh inning, as he doubled in a run; however, the Nationals put the game away in the bottom of the seventh inning, when Spence Kieboom hit a RBI double of his own.

NOTES: Derek Holland will take the mound in the series finale on Sunday, while the Nationals will send Max Scherzer to the mound, as he looks to improve to 11-1 on the season.

This will be the first time that Holland will face the Nationals in his 10-year career, while Scherzer looks to go to 2-0 against the Giants this season. On April 25, Scherzer went six innings and struck out 10 in a 15-2 victory for the Nationals, as they salvaged the series finale.

Brandon Crawford was out of the lineup for the first time since May 16 against the Cincinnati Reds. Crawford struck out as a pinch hitter in the top of the seventh inning.

Ovechkin’s first pitch to Scherzer went over the pitcher’s head, and the Conn Smythe Award Winner asked for another one and it was granted.

UP NEXT: The Giants and Nats conclude their series on Sunday at 1:05 pm PDT.

Road trip begins on a high note as Giants defeat Nationals 9-5

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Kahn

What a nice start to a three-city, 10 game road trip for the San Francisco Giants against a tough Washington Nationals team.

Andrew McCutchen got the offense going in the first inning, as he hit his third home run of the week that matched his season total and the Giants defeated the Nationals 9-5 at Nationals Park on Friday night.

Andrew Suarez did not go the minimum five innings, as he was pulled from the game with one out in the bottom of the fifth inning after the Nationals cut the Giants once 6-2 lead down to 6-4.

Suarez went 4.1 innings, allowing four runs on six hits, walking one and striking out five, before way to Reyes Moronta.

The Giants extended the lead to 3-0 in the top of the second inning, as Alen Hanson continues his hot hitting since coming off the disabled list, as he singled to right field that scored Pablo Sandoval. Hunter Pence then extended the lead, as he doubled in Hanson.

Nationals starter Stephen Strasburg lasted just two innings before he was forced to leave the game with inflammation in his shoulder, and will undergo an MRI on Saturday. Strasburg gave up three runs on five hits, walking no one and striking out two, as he fell to 6-6 on the season.

Gorkys Hernandez continues his hot hitting, as he hit a two-run two run home run in the top of the fourth inning that gave the Giants a 5-0 lead.

The Nationals finally got on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning, as Suarez gave up a two-run home run to Juan Soto that landed in the Giants bullpen just out of the reach of Pence, who attempted to make a home run saving catch.

Brandon Crawford remains hot, as he doubled to left field that scored McCutchen to give the Giants a 6-2 lead in the top of the fifth inning.

Wilmer Difo began the Nationals comeback in the bottom of the fifth inning, as he singled to lead off the inning against Suarez. After Pedro Severino flew out for the first out of the inning, Adrian Sanchez singled and then Trea Turner walked to load the bases for Bryce Harper, who was the tying run.

Harper singled to right field to score both Difo and Sanchez, which marked the end of the night for Suarez.

Reyes Moronta replaced Suarez, and was able to get Anthony Rendon to fly out to Hernandez in centerfield and then Mark Reynolds fouled out to Hanson at third base to end the threat. That was it for Moronta, who picked up his second win of the season.

Matt Adams got the Nationals within one run in the bottom of the sixth inning, as he singled off of former Nationals reliever Mark Melancon.

The Giants broke the game wide open in the top of the seventh inning, as Sandoval singled in Joe Panik, who doubled to right field to lead off the inning. Following the Panik double, Buster Posey singled and then after McCutchen made the first out of the inning, Crawford was hit by a pitch that loaded the bases.

Sandoval then followed Crawford to the plate, and singled to centerfield to score Panik from third base. Evan Longoria, who did not start, came off the bench to pinch hit for Hanson and hit a sacrifice fly that scored Posey and then Hunter Pence put the finishing touches on the scoring, when singled to right field to score Crawford.

NOTES: Dereck Rodriguez will make his second major league start on Saturday, as he takes on Gio Gonzalez.

Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija both threw in the bullpen prior to the game. Samardzija, who is out with right shoulder tightness will throw one more bullpen session and then throw to hitters or make a rehab start. Cueto is likely to throw two more bullpen sessions and then a batting practice before returning from inflammation in his right elbow.

UP NEXT: The Giants and Nationals meet again Saturday at 9:05 am PDT.

Surging Giants face tough road test

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Harness

The Giants had a fantastic first week of June, and they have used that momentum to get themselves right back into the National League West race.

Now comes the hard part.

The Giants have won five of their last six games, all of them played inside of AT&T Park, and as a direct result, the Giants are back to .500 and are only 1 ½ games behind the NL West-leading Arizona Diamondbacks, the team they just took two of three from this week.

Now the Giants will hit the road for a 10-day trip that starts tomorrow in Washington, a city that is buzzing from the NHL’s Capitals winning the Stanley Cup on Thursday. Meanwhile, its baseball team, the Nationals, isn’t playing too bad, either.

The Nationals currently own a 35-25 record and are in a tie atop the National League East with the Atlanta Braves. They have won seven of their last 10 games, but those three losses came against the Braves in a four-game series played last week. They rebounded nicely, however, by sweeping the Tampa Bay Rays in a two-game series.

The Giants will start the series on Friday at Nationals Park with Andrew Suarez (2-4) on the mound against Washington righty Stephen Strasburg (6-5).

Dereck Rodriguez (1-0) picked up his first major-league win on Sunday, giving up a single run to the Phillies in a 6-1 victory, but he will have a daunting task on Saturday when he goes up against Nationals left-hander Gio Gonzalez (6-2).

To cap off the series, southpaw Derek Holland (3-6) will most certainly have his hands full as he faces righty Max Scherzer (10-1).