Category: San Francisco Giants

Photo credit: @Athletics

By Jeremy Kahn

OAKLAND — Jonathan Lucroy ended the game with one swing of the bat when the Oakland A’s needed it the most.

Lucroy hit a walk-off single in the bottom of the 11th inning, helping the A’s to a 4-3 victory over the San Francisco Giants before a sellout crowd of 56,310 at the Coliseum on Saturday night.

“Hard fought game,” said manager Bruce Bochy.

It was the second walk-off of the season for Lucroy, with his first coming on June 17 against the Los Angeles Angels and it was the seventh game-ending RBI of Lucroy’s career.

Things looked bleak for the Giants in the top of the ninth inning, as A’s closer Blake Treinen came to close it out; however, a funny thing happened on the way to the game ending.

Treinen was able to retire Buster Posey and Pablo Sandoval, but then Alen Hanson reached on a wild pitch after he struck out with the game on the line.

Hunter Pence then tied up the game with a double down the right field line that easily scored the speedy Hanson from first base.

A’s manager Bob Melvin came out to argue that the Pence ball was interfered with in the bullpen area; however, after a 1:18 review, the play stood and the game was tied.

“It is a ground-rule, and Hanson scored easily,” said Bochy.

The A’s loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth inning, as Tony Watson gave up back-to-back singles to Matt Olson and Matt Chapman and then Reyes Moronta came on to replace Watson.

Moronta then got Chad Pinder to sacrifice Olson and Chapman to second and third, and then after an intentional walk to pinch hitter Nick Martini, Moronta then got Marcus Semien to ground into an inning-ending double play.

Andrew McCutchen drew walk against Treinen in the top of the 10th inning with one out, but Treinen struck out both Brandon Crawford and Buster Posey to end the inning.

Madison Bumgarner gave up four walks and a base hit in the bottom of the fifth inning that gave the A’s a 3-1 lead on the Giants.

Olson led off the fifth with a single, then Chapman, Chad Pinder, Josh Phegley and Marcus Siemen all walked against Bumgarner and that was the end of the night for the left-hander.

“First four innings, I was cruising and then in the fifth, I could not find the corner,” said Bumgarner.

Phegley’s walk tied up the game, then Semien’s walk gave the A’s lead for the first time and after Bumgarner was lifted for Sam Dyson, Mark Canha grounded into a double play that scored Pinder with the final run of the inning.

“Dyson kept it close for us,” said Bochy, as the reliever went two innings, and allowed a walk and a strikeout before being replaced by Ray Black in the top of the seventh inning.

The combined five walks in the fifth inning are the most in an inning for the Giants since they walked five in the bottom of the fourth inning against the Cincinnati Reds on July 3, 2007 at Great American Ballpark. Barry Zito allowed the five walks in that fourth inning, a game that the Giants would lose 7-3 to the Reds.

Bumgarner went just four innings, allowing three runs on two hits, walking six and striking out and he did not fare in the decision. The streak of 89 consecutive starts that Bumgarner went at least five innings came to an end, the 89 consecutive starts were a major league high.

The six walks by Bumgarner were a career-high, as he gave up five walks four times in his career, with the last time coming against the Milwaukee Brewers on April 4, 2016 at Miller Park.

Brandon Belt returned from the paternity list after the birth of his son August (Augie), and hit his 14th home run of the season in the top of the fourth inning to give the Giants a 1-0 lead.

The Belt home run was the first hit that the Giants got off of Trevor Cahill on the evening, and was just the second runner that Cahill allowed to reach prior to the sixth inning, which was the end of the line for Cahill.

In all, Cahill went 5.2 innings, allowing just one run on two hits, but he did not fare in the decision.

Cahill got into a jam in the top of the sixth inning, as he gave up a leadoff single to Hunter Pence, then Cahill regrouped to strikeout both Gorkys Hernandez and Steven Duggar consecutively. Unfortunately, Cahill then walked to load the bases and Cahill’s night was done and Ryan Buchter came on to replace Cahill.

Buchter then was able to get Crawford to strikeout to end the inning and the threat for the Giants.

Crawford made the defensive play of the game in the bottom of the sixth inning, as he ran from his position at shortstop to make a running catch off of foul ball from Olson. Pablo Sandoval was in the shift, and nowhere near third base and Crawford reached out to make the running catch in the Coliseum’s very deep foul territory.

In the bottom of the 11thinning, Crawford made another great defensive play, as he slid to catch an Olson fly ball that would have easily fallen in for an easy double for Olson with one out.

As fate would have it, Will Smith then gave up back-to-back singles to Chapman and Pinder and then Lucroy ended it with a single.

Pence got the Giants within one in the top of the seventh inning, as he singled up the middle to score Posey easily from third base.

The Pence single came off of Leo Trivino, after he replaced Buchter with one out in the inning after Hanson hit a single that sent Posey to third base.

All in all, Pence went 3-for-5 at the plate, including that double in the top of the ninth inning that tied up the game.

“Nice game by Hunter,” said Bochy.

Trivino was able to get out of the jam, as he struck out Hernandez and then was able to get Duggar to ground out to Jed Lowrie at second base to end the inning.

Treinen came on in the top of the ninth inning, and was unable to pick-up his 25thsave in 28 opportunities. In all, Treinen threw 44 pitches, the most by the reliever since April 18 against the Chicago White Sox and it was the sixth time in his career that he threw 40 or more pitches in a game in his career that spans 254 games.

NOTES: Ryder Jones was optioned back to Sacramento after Belt was activated from the Paternity List to the game.

Belt’s newborn’s full name is August “Augie” Kyle Belt, and he joins older brother Grayson, who will be four years old in August.

The baby is named after Belt’s former head coach at the University of Texas, the late Augie Garrido, whom Belt played for in 2008 and 2009.

Garrido, who passed away in March of 2018 was the winningest coach in NCAA Baseball history until current Florida State Head Coach Mike Martin passed him. The veteran coach led both Cal State Fullerton and Texas to the College World Series 15 times, winning five of them for the Titans and Longhorns.

The 56,310 in attendance broke the record of 55,989 that packed the Coliseum on June 26, 2004, when the A’s’ defeated the Giants 8-7 in 10 innings, when Marco Scutaro singled in Bobby Kielty. Octavio Dotel picked the win for the A’s, while Jim Brower took the loss for the Giants. This was also the largest crowd in the Major Leagues during the 2018 season.

UP NEXT: The Giants and A’s will meet again Sunday afternoon at 1:05 pm PDT.

Johnny Cueto looks for his fourth win on Sunday afternoon, as he takes the mound for the Giants in the last regular season meeting against the A’s this year. Sean Manaea will go for the A’s, as he looks for his 10th win of the season.

Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Kahn

OAKLAND — In his first ever appearance against the Oakland A’s, Dereck Rodriguez showed one of the hottest teams in baseball that he is for real.

Ryder Jones hit a solo home run off of Edwin Jackson leading off the top of the fifth inning, helping the San Francisco Giants to a 5-1 victory over the Oakland A’s before a sellout crowd of 45,606 at the Coliseum on Friday night.

Jones, called up from Sacramento to take the place of Brandon Belt, who was placed on the paternity list, as his wife Haylee gave birth to their second child, a boy named August Kyle. It is the second boy, as Haylee gave birth to a baby boy during the 2014 World Series Championship season.

Andrew McCutchen came up huge for the Giants both offensively and defensively, as he broke up Jackson’s no-hit bid by doubling in the top of the fourth inning with one out. McCutchen then scored the tying run, as Buster Posey singled into shallow center field, two batters later.

McCutchen made two great catches in the outfield, as he robbed Matt Chapman of potential extra bases to end the fourth inning and did it again in the bottom of the fifth inning, as he robbed Jonathan Lucroy of an extra base hit.

Pablo Sandoval extended the Giants lead up to 3-1 in the top of the seventh inning as he took a Jackson offering and put it into the right field seats to extend the Giants lead.

Rodriguez pitched a great game for the Giants, as he went 6.1 innings, allowing one run, on three hits, walking no one and striking out five.

“It started with Rodríguez, what another nice job he did,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “A nice job pitching, got us into the seventh there and really had all of his pitches going again.”

After hitting his second batter of the night, Rodriguez was able to Matt Chapman to fly out to McCutchen in right field and that was the end of the night for Rodriguez.

Reyes Moronta came on to replace Rodriguez, and he got Mark Canha to pop out to Sandoval and then Dustin Fowler grounded out to Alen Hanson to end the inning and the threat.

“We know, it’s a group of guys that have been around for a while and we’ve got to get these guys some run support,” Posey said.

The bullpen trio of Moronta, Mark Melancon and Tony Watson allowed no runs, one hit, one walk and no strikeouts in 2.2 innings of work.

The A’s got to Rodriguez in the bottom of the second inning, as Khris Davis doubled to lead off the inning, after Olson flew out for the first out of the inning to send Davis to third base, then Chapman was hit by a pitch. Canha then hit a sacrifice fly to Gorkys Hernandez in left field to score Davis with the A’s first run of the evening.

“After I signed with the Giants in the offseason, I felt like it was a fresh start and I wanted to make a good impression,” Rodríguez said.

Jackson also went 6.1 innings, allowing three runs on four hits, walking one and striking out six.

McCutchen drove in the fourth run of the evening for the Giants, as he hit a sacrifice fly in the top of the eighth inning off of former Giants reliever Yusmeiro Petit.

The Giants got the eighth inning rally started in the top of the inning, as Gorkys Hernandez led off the inning with a single, then Steven Duggar singled for the first time tonight, following a Alen Hanson sacrifice bunt back to Petit, McCutchen’s sacrifice fly to Fowler, easily scored Hernandez.

Brandon Crawford got in on the act, as he singled to right field to score Duggar from third base to put the game away.

Sandoval just missed his second home run in the top of the ninth inning, as he hit a double high off the wall in the left-center field.

NOTES: The two home runs by the Giants tonight bring their total for the month up to eight. It was the third home run of the month for Sandoval, two for Chase d’Arnaud, and for Hernandez, Hanson and Jones.

This was the A’s first sellout of the season, as they drew a season-high in the opener of the three-game series.

Evan Longoria began his rehab assignment with the Sacramento Rivercats, as they traveled to El Paso to face the Chihuahuas. Longoria went 2-for-3 with a run scored and a RBI before being replaced by Myles Schroder at third base.

McCutchen ended the game with eight putouts, the most in a nine-inning game by a Giants right fielder since Randy Winn ended with eight on April 7, 2006 against the Atlanta Braves.

It was the sixth time in McCutchen’s career that he ended a game with eight-or-more putouts in the same game. McCutchen’s career high is nine, that he did twice with the Pittsburgh Pirates on June 19, 2014 versus the Cincinnati Reds at PNC Park and on May 11, 2015 on the road versus the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.

With his run-scoring single in the top of the third inning that scored McCutchen, Posey extended his hitting streak at the Coliseum up to seven games.

Jeff Samardzija, currently on the disabled list underwent an MRI on Monday and also received a PRP (Platelet-Rich Plasma) injection on Monday as well.

“We’re just trying to avoid those flare ups that we’ve had all year,” Samardzija said. “I guess there’s good news and bad news and the bad news is that we’re back here where we’re at. But the good news is after doing this once or twice, we’ve got a really good plan moving forward.”

Samardzija is on the disabled list for the third time this season with inflammation in his pitching shoulder.

“This team has put me in the situation to have the ability to come back and wait until I’m 100 percent with how great the young kids have been pitching,” Samardzija said.

UP NEXT: The Giants and A’s will continue the Bay Bridge Series Saturday night at 6:05 pm PT.

Madison Bumgarner will make his ninth start of the season, on Saturday evening, as he looks for his fourth win of the season. Trevor Cahill will take the mound for the A’s, as he looks for his second win of the season.

Photo credit: @KPODFM

By Jeremy Harness

The Giants are in the thick of things in the National league playoff race, and that they have a good chance to make it back to the postseason for the first time in two years.

But they have two things immediately standing in their way.

The Oakland A’s will be waiting for them on Friday when the regular season resumes, and that just like the Giants, they are making a huge resurgence, and they also have a chance to make the playoffs, for the first time in four years.

Dereck Rodriguez will take the hill in Friday’s opener at the Oakland Coliseum, and the rookie has made a huge impression on the Giants’ brass and stands a great chance to be a fixture in the starting rotation for years to come.

Madison Bumgarner, who is still making his way back to his form after missing the first two months of the season with a fracture in his pitching hand.

Johnny Cueto, who has missed significant time with an injury to his pitching elbow, will take the ball Sunday afternoon. The A’s, on the other hand, have not announced their starters for this weekend’s series.

The Giants are four games back of the division lead at this point, while the A’s are eight games back of the American League West-leading Houston Astros and are three games behind the second-place Seattle Mariners.