Category: San Francisco Giants

Crawford delivers RBI single to lift Giants past Padres 3-2 in extras

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Photo credit: @markopalypse

By Jeremy Kahn

Brandon Crawford came up with the biggest hit of the game when the San Francisco Giants needed it the most in Tuesday’s game against the San Diego Padres.

Crawford hit a seeing eye single to right field in the top of the 10th inning, helping the Giants defeat the Padres 3-2 at Petco Park Tuesday.

Evan Longoria tripled to lead off the inning of losing pitcher Phil Maton, and then Longoria scored on Crawford’s thru the infield.

Tony Watson won for the fourth time this season, as he pitched a perfect ninth inning for the Giants, who have won three games in a row after dropping four in a row.

After striking out all five batters he faced on Monday night, Will Smith came on to pick up his sixth save of the season and the Giants swept the two-game series.

It is totally different story for the Padres, who are 2-9 since the All-Star break, having dropped 14 out of their last 16 games and went 5-20 in the month of July.

Dereck Rodriguez pitched fantastic, as he went seven innings, allowing one run on three hits, walking three and striking out a career-high seven. This was the second time in his 10 Major League starts that Rodriguez pitched seven innings.

Rodriguez gave up the only run that he would allow in the bottom of the first inning, as he gave up a single to Wil Myers and Eric Hosmer hit a RBI double to give the Padres an early 1-0 lead.

Monday Night’s hero Gorkys Hernandez tied up the game in the top of the fourth inning, as he hit a sacrifice fly to score Austin Slater from third base.

Andrew McCutchen gave the Giants the lead in the top of the fifth inning, as he hit an opposite field home run off of Padres starter Clayton Richard.

The Giants loaded the bases in the top of the eighth inning, as Longoria led off the inning with a single, then Nick Hundley followed up with a single of his own and Slater walked to load the bases. Crawford struck out against rookie Robert Stock, who then got Panik to ground into the Fielders’ Choice and got out of the jam, as he got Hernandez to fly out to right field and the Giants came up empty.

Unfortunately, Reyes Moronta was not able to hold to the lead, as he allowed Manuel Margot reach on a Fielders’ Choice that allowed Jose Pirela score the tying run. Pirela walked against Moronta, as he came on to pinch-hit for Stock.

Richard was replaced by Jordan Lyles in the top of the sixth inning, as the usual starter went two innings and struck out two.

The left-handed starter went five innings, allowing two runs on five hits, walked three and struck out one.

NOTES: Panik came off the bench to pinch hit for Hunter Pence in the top of the eighth inning and grounded into a Fielders’ Choice.

UP NEXT: After a day-off on Wednesday, the Giants open a four-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field beginning on Thursday night at 6:40 pm PDT.

Giants’ Madison Bumgarner will take the start in the opener, while Zack Greinke will start for the Diamondbacks.

San Francisco 49ers podcast with David Zizmor: Giants to sell 125 lithos of Dwight Clark and Willie Mays holding their famous catch photos

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Photo credit: 49ers.com

On the SF 49ers podcast with David:

The San Francisco Giants have announced that they will sell a limited amount of autographed lithographs of the late 49ers wide receiver Dwight Clark and former San Francisco Giant legend Willie Mays, who is holding up his photo of making his catch in the 1954 World Series. The lithos are $487 each and there are only 125 available.

The 49ers have three tight ends in camp: George Kittle, Garrett Celek, and Cole Hikutuni. With a limited amount of tight ends in camp, can the 49ers open the season with only three tight ends?

David Zizmor does the 49ers podcasts each Tuesday at http://www.sportsadioservice.com

Where from here?: Giants (54-54) win in extras at San Diego, achieve .500 record for the 19th time in 2018

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Photo courtesy of sbnation.com: San Francisco Giants Gorkys Hernandez admires his 12 inning home run that would be the game winner at Petco Park in San Diego on Monday night

By Morris Phillips

Needing somebody to do something–anything, for goodness sakes–the Giants had the call answered by Gorkys Hernandez on Monday night.

Hernandez’ majestic home run in the 12th inning off San Diego’s Matt Strahm broke a 3-3 tie and propelled the Giants to a 5-3 win over the Padres. The win brought the Giants’ record to 54-54, the 19th time they’ve stood exactly at .500 in 2018.

The Giants took the early lead on Monday with Chase d’Arnaud’s three-run homer off starter Eric Lauer in the second inning. On Twitter, Padres beat writer Dennis Lin astutely pointed out the irony of d’Arnaud’s third home run as a Giant, on the second pitch of his first at-bat against his former team, the Padres. That after D’Arnaud homered once in his 49 career at-bats as a Padre.

But as has happened so many times this season, the Giants’ offense took a siesta after d’Arnaud connected, and their early lead evaporated. While the Padres came up with the tying run off reliever Mark Melancon in the eighth, the Giants somehow survived innings six through 10 on one hit, Buster Posey’s infield single in the 10th.

With the game in extras, and the Giants’ offense possibly done for the evening, Hernandez stepped up and seized the game for the visitors, and in doing so seemingly bucked every negative trend the Giants have been forced to bear this season.

GAME NOTES: Johnny Cueto, who had complained recently of discomfort in his elbow, was placed on the 10-day disabled list. Cueto has been on the list twice previously this season, the first time in April, when the issue again was also his elbow. Both Kelby Tomlinson and Joe Panik were recalled from Triple-A Sacramento and were available on Monday. Pablo Sandoval landed on the disabled list, hobbled by a hamstring injury that ended his afternoon prematurely on Sunday against the Brewers.

UP NEXT: The Giants and Padres will close out their series Wednesday afternoon at 1:05 pm PDT.

San Francisco Giants podcast with Morris Phillips: Will Giants deal before deadline? McCutchen, Panik, or Bumgarner are names dropped

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mercurynews.com photo: Madison Bumgarner #40 of the San Francisco Giants pitches against the Milwaukee Brewers in the top of the first inning at AT&T Park on July 27, 2018 in San Francisco, California

On Giants podcast with Morris Phillips:

#1 Will the Giants make any deals? Names that have come up: Andrew McCutchen, Joe Panik and Madison Bumgarner. Will the Giants seek a deal to get some leverage in their chase for a shot at the postseason?

#2 Giants catcher Buster Posey says the Giants are a streaky team. Sometimes, they’ll win eight of 10 and then they’ll win seven of nine. They lost two out of three to the Brewers and they opened up a three-game series in San Diego Monday night.

#3 With a right hamstring injury, Giants pull third baseman Pablo Sandoval, who will be sitting out on the DL just as Evan Longoria comes back to assume his position at third.

#4 Chase d’Arnaud has taken over first base for San Francisco in place of injured Brandon Belt. This is Belt’s third time on the DL this season.

#5 Giants are looking to get some hitting in the San Diego series–something they lacked in the series in Colorado, where they got swept.

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

 

San Francisco Giants podcast with Morris Phillips and Michael Duca: Giants get by Brewers Sunday, but team injuries plague club

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photo from mercurynews.com: Johnny Cueto #47 of the San Francisco Giants pitches against the Milwaukee Brewers in the top of the first inning at AT&T Park on July 28, 2018 in San Francisco, California.

On the SF Giants podcast with Michael and Morris:

San Francisco Giants pitcher Ty Blach got brought up then he was sent down, Giants first baseman Brandon Belt got hurt with bruised knee, Evan Longoria came back to play at third base, pitcher Johnny Cueto came back, but says everytime he throws he’s in a lot of pain and yet it’s still kind of business as usual hovering around .500 relentless mediocrity.

Any good baseball team needs to have someone to have a career year–somebody whose at the forefront of what’s making that baseball team win. For a stretch here, we thought that Belt was that guy, maybe Brandon Crawford was that guy. We haven’t seen any consistency in either one of their seasons to carry it.

You’re trying to establish a credible playoff contending baseball team and you don’t have that one guy whose driving that one thing and that’s the whole disjointed nature of the Giants in 2018. A guy gets hot and now he’s on the DL. A player can do something like a concussion and we haven’t seen outfielder Mac Williamson in since.

Morris and Michael get more into the latest discussion on the Giants listen for more at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Giants avoid Brewers’ sweep with 8-5 victory

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Photo credit: @zesty_mlb

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO — With a chance to complete their first ever four-game sweep of the San Francisco Giants, things were looking bright for the Milwaukee Brewers, that is until the bottom of the third inning.

After taking a quick 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning, Brewers starter Junior Guerra simply fell apart in the bottom of the third inning, as he gave up four runs in the frame that included a bases clearing double off the bat of Buster Posey and the Giants salvaged the finale of the four-game series with an 8-5 victory over the Brewers before a sellout crowd of 41,312 at AT&T Park Sunday afternoon.

 

The double by Posey was the first of four hits on the afternoon for Posey, and it was the first four-hit game for Posey since September 15, 2016 versus the St. Louis Cardinals. Posey also ended the game with three runs batted in, his first since September 29, 2017 versus the San Diego Padres.

The comeback victory for the Giants made a winner out of Andrew Suarez, who went six strong innings, allowing four runs on eight hits, walking just one and striking out four.

Ryan Braun gave the Brewers a quick 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning, as he took a Suarez offering to the opposite field for his 11th home run of the season.

Christian Yelich extended his hitting streak up to 13 games, as he singled just two batters prior to the Braun home run.

Following Posey’s bases clearing double that gave the Giants the lead in the bottom of the third inning, Evan Longoria hit a sacrifice fly that scored Posey.

Guerra got the third inning started by getting Alen Hanson to ground out, but Guerra walked the next three batters, including Suarez to load the bases for Posey, who smoked a double to left-center field. Crawford then singled to send Posey to third, and then Longoria hit a sacrifice fly to give the Giants their fourth run of the inning.

Gorkys Hernandez got in on the act in the bottom of the fourth inning, as he took a Guerra pitch and planted it over the center field fence for his 12th home run of the season.

That fourth inning would be it for Guerra, as he allowed five runs on five hits, walking three and striking out and his record on the season fell to 6-7.

Lorenzo Cain got the Brewers within two runs in the top of the fifth inning, as grounded out to second base to score Orlando Arcia, who walked to lead off the inning, but then the Giants would break the game open in the bottom of the fifth.

Posey and Longoria each walked against Matt Albers, and then Pablo Sandoval tripled down the right field line and that was the end of the line for Albers. Dan Jennings came on and Steven Duggar greeted him by lofting a sacrifice fly to centerfield to score Sandoval from third base.

Hernan Perez cut the lead in half in the top of the sixth inning, as he hit eighth home run of the season off of Suarez.

The Brewers kept grinding, as Travis Shaw hit a pinch-hit home run to lead off the top of the seventh inning off of Sam Dyson. Shaw was the first batter that Dyson, and it was the 20th home run of the season for Shaw and his first career pinch-hit home run for Shaw.

The defensive play of the game came in the inning, when Austin Slater, who came on to replace Sandoval leaned into the Brewers dugout to snare a foul ball, then threw to first to Dyson. Originally, first base umpire D.J. Reyburn called Yelich safe; however, after a 1:35 review, the call was reversed and Yelich was called out to end the threat and the inning.

“First, I thought it was in the stands, I knew it was going to be bang-bang, surprised he was over there, dragged the foot and made the play,” said Slater.

Sandoval was forced to leave the game with a strained right hamstring, and will have it looked at by the doctors. Andrew McCutchen was also forced to leave the game with a left foot contusion.

With a chance to get even more runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, the Giants loaded the bases against Brewers reliever Taylor Williams, as Longoria and Slater each singled and Duggar walked to load the bases with nobody out; however, Williams was able to regroup to get Hanson to strikeout, then Hernandez grounded into a force out and then pinch hitter Chase d’Arnaud grounded out to end the inning.

NOTES: Despite the fact that bench coach Hensley Meulens was managing today, the win will add to Bruce Bochy’s grand total and it was win number 1,906 and Bochy passed Hall of Famer Casey Stengel for sole possession of 11th place on the all-time wins’ list.

Bochy was in Cooperstown, N.Y., to show support for Trevor Hoffman, who Bochy managed for 12 years while with the Padres. Another member of the Class of 2018 and Bochy are linked, as former Detroit Tigers shortstop Alan Trammell was on Bochy’s staff in San Diego from 2000-2002.

UP NEXT: Derek Holland will start the road trip on Monday night, as the Giants head out on the road for a two-city, six-game road trip that begins in San Diego against the Padres, who will send Eric Lauer to the mound against the Giants on Monday night at 7:10 pm PDT.

MLB The Show with Daniel Dullum: Trade deadline is here, they’ll be some surprises; A’s still hottest team in MLB, despite losing series in Colorado; plus more

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@Jed_Lowrie photo: Oakland A’s infielder Jed Lowrie takes a leap while playing the hot corner would be a valuable asset to any Major League club for his ability to play many positions on the infield diamond so much so that many clubs have inquired about Lowrie. Will the A’s deal him or hold onto him and contend? Only team vice president Billy Beane and manager Bob Melvin knows.

On the MLB The Show podcast with Daniel Dullum:

1 Wheeling and dealing as non-waiver trade deadline approaches on Tuesday.

2 A’s still baseball’s hottest team, hanging tough in AL Wild Card race. They lost outfielder Chad Pinder on the 10-day DL when he got stitches in his arm after getting into a car accident in downtown Denver on Saturday before the game with the Rockies.

3 Matt Cain, Ryan Vogelsong, and Brian Wilson newest additions to Giants’ Wall of Fame.

4 Andre Ethier retires; Matt Holliday returns to Rox with minor league deal.

5 RIP Tony Cloninger – good hitting pitcher for Braves, Reds, and Cardinals.

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

Chacin dominates Giants in Brewers’ 7-1 win

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO — Johnny Cueto does not look right on the mound, and his latest outing proved that theory.

Cueto lasted just four innings, allowing four runs on eight hits, not walking a batter or striking out a batter and the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the San Francisco Giants 7-1 before a crowd of 40,735 at AT&T Park Saturday night.

“It is hard to get to get loose,” said Cueto. “I am going to meet with the doctors tomorrow,” Cueto added.

On the night, Cueto threw 61 pitches, his fewest in a game since June 28, 2013, while pitching for the Cincinnati Reds against the Texas Rangers at The Ballpark in Arlington.

It was just the fourth time in Cueto’s career that he failed to strikeout a batter, the last time was on July 4, 2011 for the Reds against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium.

This was the fourth straight loss for the Giants, who have also lost eight out of their last 10 and are 2-6 since the All-Star Break.

Jhoulys Chacin was absolutely fantastic for the Brewers, as he went seven innings, allowing just one run on three hits, walking one and striking out six on his way to improving his record up to 10-3 on the season.

After allowing a single to Lorenzo Cain in the top of the first inning, Cueto was able to get of the jam, but the second inning was a totally different story.

Cueto allowed a one-out double to Eric Thames, and then he scored with the next batter, as Eric Kratz singled for what would be the only run that the Brewers would need on the evening.

Christian Yelich drove in two runs on a single that scored Kratz and Orlando Arcia, who entered the game with a .193 average, but 2-for-2 in his two at-bats versus Cueto.

Arcia picked up his second hit of the night in the top of the fourth inning, as he drove in Thames, who singled with one out in the inning,

The Brewers broke the game wide open in the top of the fifth inning, as reliever Ty Blach gave up four straight hits, including a solo home run by Yelich, and then Jesus Aguilar got in on the act, as he drove in newly-acquired Mike Moustakas, who picked up the third of four hits in the inning.

In his Brewers debut, Moustakas went 1-for-5 with a single in the top of the fifth inning off of Blach.

Yelich extended his hitting streak up to 12 games, as he went 2-for-5 on the night, including his 15th home run of the season in the top of the fifth inning.

Nick Hundley broke up Chacin’s no-hit bid and shutout with one swing of the bat in the bottom of the sixth inning, as he hit his ninth home run of the season.

Ray Black replaced Blach with one out in the top of the eighth inning, after Blach allowed a base hit to Kratz that came after Thames reached on a fielding error by Pablo Sandoval at first base.

Black uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Thames to score from third base after he stole third base.

Not only was Chacin great on the mound, but Cain was fantastic at the plate, as he went 4-for-5 on the evening. This was the second four-hit game for Cain this week, as he also picked up four hits in a game on Tuesday night against the Washington Nationals and it is the 14th four-hit game of Cain’s career.

NOTES: The Brewers last swept the Giants from April 16-18, 2013 in a three-game series at Miller Park in Milwaukee.

This is the Brewers first series win against the Giants at AT&T Park since September 17-19, 2010, when they took out two out of three from the Giants.

Giants Manager Bruce Bochy will miss Sunday’s game, as he will be in Cooperstown, New York, as he shows support for his former closer with the San Diego Padres, Trevor Hoffman.

Bochy also is connected to another inductee, as former Detroit Tigers shortstop Alan Trammell coached on Bochy’s staff with the Padres from 2000-2002.

Bench Coach Hensley Meulens will manage the team in Bochy’s absence. Bochy is expected to rejoin the team when they begin their brief two-game series against the Padres on Monday night at Petco Park.

UP NEXT: The Giants hope to avoid a sweep by the Brewers Sunday afternoon at 1:05 pm PDT.

Andrew Suarez will take the mound in the series and homestand finale on Sunday, while the Brewers will send Junior Guerra to the hill, as they look for their first ever four-game series sweep over the Giants.

MLB The Show podcast with Matt Harrington: Would Giants really deal Bumgarner?; Will A’s start to cool off after loss in Colorado?; plus more news

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Photo credit: @MLB_News247

On the MLB The Show podcast with Matt:

#1 The San Francisco Giants have dropped three straight games. There’s been talk about dealing their ace pitcher Madison Bumgarne. Would any kind of move of Bumgarner be surprising?

#2 It was going to happen sooner or later. The Oakland A’s, who had won 27 out 34 games prior to Friday night, snapped their six-game winning streak. Could they start to cool off?

#3 The Los Angeles Dodgers continued to roll on Friday. Starter Clayton Kershaw allowed one run and struckout eight in seven-plus innings, Kershaw also helped his own cause with a single and an RBI.

#4 The St. Louis Cardinals handed the Chicago Cubs a 5-2 loss at Busch Memorial Stadium on Friday. The Cards’ Paul DeJong had three hits and three RBIs.

#5 The Cleveland Indians continues to roll with a 8-3 win over the Detroit Tigers. Cleveland’s Francisco Lindor hit two home runs out of the four homers Cleveland would get on Friday night.

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

 

Brewers hand Giants third straight loss in 3-1 road win

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO — It was a pitchers’ duel between Chase Anderson and Madison Bumgarner in the second game of the four-game series between the San Francisco Giants and the Milwaukee Brewers.

Orlando Arcia broke a 1-1 tie in the top of the seventh inning, when he grounded out to Evan Longoria that enabled Hernan Perez to score from third base and the Brewers would go on to defeat the Giants 3-1 before a crowd of 40,414 at AT&T Park on Friday night.

Perez led off the inning with a walk-off of Madison Bumgarner, was then sacrificed to second by Manny Pina, then with Arcia at the plate, Perez stole third, and then scored on the Arcia groundball.

Since returning from the All-Star Break, the Giants have lost five of their first seven games, while the Brewers have won five out of their first eight games out of the gate after the All-Star Break.

With the loss, the Giants are under. 500 for the first time since June 22, when they lost to the San Diego Padres 6-2 and were 38-39.

This was the seventh loss in the last eight losses for the Giants, where they have been leading or tied at the end of the sixth inning or later.

“Gotta find a way to win a ballgame,” said manager Bruce Bochy. “Still believe we are going to get this thing going.”

Brandon Crawford got the Giants on the board in the bottom of the second inning, as he doubled off the right field wall to score Buster Posey, who doubled to lead off the inning against Anderson.

That would be the score all the way to the top of the sixth inning, when Bumgarner allowed an infield single to Keon Broxton, then Christian Yelich walked and then both advanced an additional 90 feet on a groundout by Jesus Aguilar. Broxton scored the tying run when Ryan Braun hit a ground ball to Alen Hanson at second base, Bumgarner was able to get out of the jam without any more damage, when he got Tyler Saladino to fly out to Gorkys Hernandez to end the inning.

The Brewers extended their lead up to 3-1 in the top of the eighth inning, as Yelich doubled with one out, then two batters, Ryan Braun drove in Yelich with a single.

“Just trying to keep runs off the board,” said Bumgarner.

Yelich extended his hitting streak up to 11 games, and now has a hit in 16 of his last 17 games.

Anderson ended up going six innings, allowing just one run, while scattering four hits, walking no one and striking out three.

Despite being on the losing end of things, Bumgarner pitched a great game, as he went eight innings, allowing three runs, allowing seven hits, while walking just one and striking out five.

“Felt good, command was good,” said Bumgarner.

Bumgarner saw his four-game winning streak against the Brewers come to an end, as he is now 7-3 all-time versus them.

Newly acquired Joakim Soria replaced Anderson in the bottom of the seventh inning, and the former Chicago White Sox reliever got Crawford to ground out to lead off the inning. However, Longoria walked with one out. Soria was then able to get Pablo Sandoval to ground into an inning-ending double play to end the mini threat.

Jeremy Jeffress struck out the first two batters he faced in the bottom of the eighth inning, but then Jeffress gave up back-to-back singles to Steven Duggar and Hanson, before walking Andrew McCutchen on four consecutive to load the bases for Posey. Jeffress was able to get out of the jam, as he got Posey to ground out Saladino at third base to end the inning.

NOTES: Prior to the game, Matt Cain, Ryan Vogelsong and Brian Wilson will be inducted into the Giants’ Wall of Fame on 2nd St. The ceremonies will begin at 2:00 p.m. and conclude at approximately 2:45 p.m.

Joe Panik continues his rehab assignment with the Sacramento Rivercats, as he went 1-for-3 and played seven innings.

Mike Moustakas was acquired by the Brewers from the Kansas City Royals in exchange for outfield prospect Brett Phillips and reliever Jorge Perez.

The Royals were rained out against the New York Yankees on Friday night, and Moustakas should arrive prior to the start of the game.

UP NEXT: The Giants and Brewers will meet again for game three of the series Saturday night at 6:05 pm PDT.

Johnny Cueto looks to get the Giants back into the winning column on Saturday night, as he takes the mound against Jhoulys Chacin for the Brewers.