Category: San Francisco Giants

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

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

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

Published on by moepeaLeave a comment

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

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

Photo credit: @kristadunton

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

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

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

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

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.

Crawford and Pence go deep in the Giants’ 5-3 win over the Rangers

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO — What is that old saying by Baseball Hall of Famer Yogi Berra? “It is like Déjà vu all over again.”

After jumping out to a 4-0 lead after the bottom of the first inning, the San Francisco Giants were forced to hold onto the victory after nearly blowing it in the end and ended up with the 5-3 win over the Texas Rangers before a crowd of 40,287 at AT&T Park on Saturday afternoon.

“It’s really incredible how similar the two games were but we found a way to get the last out today,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “Torture was back.”

Brandon Crawford came up with the big hit in the bottom of the first inning, as he smashed a three-run home run off of Martin Perez. It was the 12th home run of the season for Crawford.

Andrew McCutchen got the ball rolling for the Giants in the bottom of the first inning, as he doubled to left field to lead off the bottom of the first. It was the second straight day that McCutchen came up with an extra base hit to lead off the game.

After the McCutchen double, Brandon Belt then singled and then Evan Longoria drove in the first Giants run of the afternoon, as he hit a sacrifice fly that scored McCutchen from third base. Brandon Belt came up with the heads up play of the game early on, as he went to second on the Longoria sacrifice fly.

Nick Hundley then walked, and then Perez was able to get Austin Slater to line out to Nomar Mazara in right field, and then Crawford launched his home run over the right-center field wall.

Andrew Suarez bounced back from two tough starts, as he went seven strong innings, allowing zero runs on three hits, walked three batter and struck out five on his way to his fifth win of the season.

“This whole week I looked at old video just to see what could get me going again,” Suarez said. “Once I know I’m getting a lot of groundballs I know that’s when I’m in my game.”

Despite allowing those four runs in the bottom of the first inning, Perez ended up pitching a good game, as he allowed four runs on five hits, walking one and striking out four in five innings of work.

After that fateful first inning, where Perez gave up four runs on three hits and walked one, he then settled down, as he allowed two hits and struck out four in his final four innings of work.

Hunter Pence lengthened the Giants lead up to 5-0 in the bottom of the seventh inning, as he hit a pinch-hit home run off of former Giants teammate Matt Moore.

It’s very important to continue to send that message of relentless attack,” Pence said. “Even where we are and as clouded as it may seem, you still never know. When there’s still a chance in this game of baseball, things can get hot in an instant.”

Things began to get interesting in the top of the eighth inning, as after Hunter Strickland was able to get the first two outs of the inning, then it got weird for the second day in a row.

Joey Gallo reached when Slater was unable to close hid glove on the potential third out of the inning, then Shin-Soo Choo singled Gallo to right field and then Rougned Odor launched a three-run home run onto the Arcade to get the Rangers within two runs. Strickland was able to regroup, and get Elvis Andrus to ground out to end the inning.

The ninth inning was no better for the Giants, as closer Will Smith came on for the third straight day and got the first out, but then Jurickson Profar walked and then Robinson Chirinos beat out an infield single and then Smith uncorked a wild pitch that sent the potential tying run into scoring position; however, Smith was able to get Adrian Beltre to strikeout for the second out of the inning.

Smith was unable to end it without some drama, as he walked pinch-hitter Isiah Kiner-Falefa and that was end of the day for Smith.

Mark Melancon came on to end the game, as he pinch-hitter Carlos Perez to fly out to Slater end the game. It was the second save of the season for Melancon, and the first since June 21 against the San Diego Padres.

NOTES: Odor’s home run in the top of the eighth inning was the seventh home run allowed by the Giants bullpen since in the last 10 games.

With the two home runs by Crawford and Pence, this was the first time that the Giants hit more than one home run in a game since June 19 against the Miami Marlins.

That was just the second pinch hit home run of Pence’s career, the only previous one was on June 18, 2017 against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field.

Buster Posey will miss the rest of the season, as he will undergo hip surgery in Colorado on Monday. Posey will miss the next six to eight months.

UP NEXT: The Giants and Rangers conclude their series with a finale on Sunday afternoon at 1:05 pm PDT.

Derek Holland looks his seventh win of the season for the Giants, while Yovani Gallardo tries for his eighth win for the Rangers.

Giants strike first, but end up losing to Rangers 7-6 in 10 innings

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

Photo credit: @SFGiants

By: Ana Kieu

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — The San Francisco Giants had hoped to build their win streak when they returned to AT&T Park, where they welcomed the Texas Rangers for a three-game series that began on Friday night.

Prior to Friday’s game, Dereck Rodriguez, who missed the Giants’ last 10 games with a Grade 1 right hamstring strain, was reinstated from the 10-day DL. Following Thursday’s game, Casey Kelly was optioned to triple-A Sacramento.

Speaking of Dereck, his father Pudge was in attendance to watch his rookie son play like any proud Papa would. And, of course, the Rangers’ Twitter had to sarcastically ask Pudge who he was going to root for tonight.

In case you didn’t know, Pudge played the majority of his MLB career with the Rangers as a catcher from 1991-2002. Pudge was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y. in his first year of eligibility on January 18, 2017. Pudge received 76% of the votes at the time.

Nathan Aung threw out the ceremonial first pitch for the Giants. Aung did a darn good job like when he last threw the first pitch at the Giants vs. Dodgers game at AT&T Park on August 22, 2013.

The Giants got on the board first, thanks to Andrew McCutchen, who hit his 15th home run of the season and 10th career leadoff homer. San Francisco had a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning.

The Giants continued to roll in the bottom of the first. Evan Longoria’s RBI single scored Joe Panik for a 2-0 lead. Then, Brandon Crawford’s sac fly allowed Buster Posey to score for a 3-0 lead. And then Alec Hanson’s sac fly that drove in Brandon Belt for a 4-0 lead.

The Giants led the Rangers 4-0 after the first. Texas had a lot of work to do in order to mount a comeback.

Fast forward to the bottom of the fourth inning, where the Giants continued pouring in the runs. Posey hit a single to score McCutchen for a 5-0 lead. Belt followed up with a single that scored Panik for a 6-0 lead.

The Giants led the Rangers 6-0 after the fourth. The Texas defense hadn’t come up with any answers to suppress the San Francisco offense yet.

After a scoreless sixth inning, the Rangers proceeded to score some runs–one apiece in the seventh and eighth innings and two in the ninth inning, which forced the game into extra innings. The Giants fans were delighted to see some free baseball on a cool, cloudy night…just not the end result.

Rangers’ Robinson Chirinos walked and Jurickson Profar scored to lift the Rangers past the Giants 7-6 in 10 innings.

Notes
This weekend, MLB is celebrating Players Weekend, a joint effort between MLB and the MLBPA. Players will be wearing traditional alternate uniforms with nicknames on the back and a patch on their sleeve to pay tribute to a person or persons who aided their career.

Enter the Catch the Cure Tacoma Sweepstakes by donating at busterstacoma.com. You could win Buster’s Toyota Tacoma!

Up Next
The Giants and Rangers meet again Saturday afternoon at 1:05 pm PDT. Andrew Suarez (4-9, 4.68 ERA) will take the mound for San Francisco, while Texas will counter with Martin Perez (2-5, 6.93 ERA).

San Francisco Giants podcast with Michael Duca: Was Holland’s racial jokes about Japanese on MLB’s “Intentional Talk” at Giants’ massage therapist intentional?

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

photo from sfgate.com: San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Derek Holland (45) sits in the dugout during a baseball game against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park, Sunday, June 10, 2018, in Washington. Holland apologized Thursday over racially insensitive jokes he made in an interview alongside the team’s massage therapist, who is Japanese. 

On the Giants podcast with Miguel:

#1 San Francisco Giants pitcher Derek Holland and Giants massage therapist Haro Ogawa both appeared on MLB Network’s Intentional Talk. On the show, Holland was doing Japanese bows and yelling in pigeon Japanese-mocked accents. Holland later apologized to Ogawa, who is a native from Japan, as well as Giants’ bullpen catcher Taira Uematsu.

#2 The team issued a rather terse and deservedly so statement, “The Giants were disappointed to learn of the Derek Holland’s behavior on Intentional Talk. We do not condone that type of behavior nor does it reflect our organizational values. Derek has taken full responsibility for his actions and has made a public apology.”

#3 We asked Michael what this will do for Holland’s future on the team as the Giants returned home after concluding a four-game series against the Mets in New York on Thursday.

#4 Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner is still perfect in New York at 6-0. He picked up a Thursday matinee victory over the New York Mets 3-1. Bumgarner passed former Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum on the Giants wins list with 109.

#5 The Giants open a series tonight against the Texas Rangers at AT&T Park. The Rangers are also coming off a win over the red-hot A’s 4-2 on Wednesday.

Michael Duca does the Giants podcasts each Friday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

MadBum gets Giants out of New York with a split following 3-1 win over Mets

Published on by jeremy2878Leave a comment

Photo credit: @MLB_News247

By Jeremy Harness

The San Francisco Giants desperately needed to get a win to get out of town and capture some momentum, and Madison Bumgarner made sure they got that against the New York Mets.

The Giants’ big lefty took the ball Thursday afternoon and threw eight solid innings at the Mets, and as a result, the Giants came away from New York with a 3-1 win at Citi Field, and the two teams ended up splitting the four-game series.

Bumgarner surrendered a single run on five hits, striking out eight and not walking a single batter. Not only did Bumgarner get it done on the mound, but he also helped his own cause at the plate, as his double in the fourth inning gave the Giants a 2-0 lead and gave the team the momentum that they sorely needed and would not relinquish.

However, the double almost did not happen, and maybe it should not have happened, either. That’s because the batter before Bumgarner, catcher Nick Hundley, took a ball that looked like it should have been a third strike that would have ended the inning.

Hundley ended up coaxing a walk out of Mets starter Jacob DeGrom, who saw his record drop to 8-8 after giving up a pair of runs on four hits, walking four and striking out 10.

The Mets put some major heat on Bumgarner in the seventh inning, after Todd Frazier led off the inning with a solo homer, and then used a hit batsman and a single to put runners on first and second with nobody out.

However, Bumgarner got out of the jam flawlessly, as he forced Kevin Plawecki into a double play before striking out Michael Conforto to keep the Giants up one run.

The Giants got that run right back in the eighth, when Evan Longoria tattooed an inside fastball and sent into the left-field seats to increase the lead to 3-1.

The Giants return home to AT&T Park to host the Rangers for a three-game series starting Friday night at 7:15 pm PDT.

Giants keep yucking it up on road trip as they lose to Mets 5-3

Published on by jeremy2878Leave a comment

Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Harness

The San Francisco Giants appear to be running out of gas at the wrong time. They were swept this past weekend in Cincinnati, and things are not looking very good against a team that they are clearly better than in the New York Mets. They committed a couple of costly errors and gave up more than their fair share of home runs in a 5-3 loss at Citi Field Wednesday night.

The Giants have dropped two of the first three of this four-game series to the Mets.

Starter Casey Kelly surrendered a pair of solo homers while closer Hunter Strickland gave up one of his own, and as a result, the Giants have slid all the way to 9 ½ games back of the National League West lead, as they now sport a 62-66 record.

The Mets got two of those longballs in the first inning to shoot out to a 3-0 lead, and the Giants could not recover from that.

Kelly gave up four runs–two of those earned because of the two errors the Giants made during the course of the game–on seven hits over six innings. He struck out four hitters while not walking anyone, but the two homers proved to be his undoing.

Meanwhile, Noah Syndergaard was solid over six innings, as he gave up a pair of runs on five hits, striking out six while walking only one. In the process, he ran his season record to 9-3.

Austin Slater and Joe Panik each had a pair of hits for the Giants apiece, with Slater hitting a solo homer in the seventh to narrow the Mets’ lead to only a run.

Things seem to be getting worse for the Giants off the field as well. Catcher Buster Posey, who went 0-for-4 on Wednesday and now has a batting average of .284, is reportedly heading toward having hip surgery that would put an end to his season.

The Giants and Mets wrap up their four-game series Thursday at 10:10 am PDT.