Category: San Francisco Giants

McCutchen comes through in the clutch; Giants edge Cardinals 3-2

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Photo credit: @MLBONFOX

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO — Two of the veterans came through when the San Francisco Giants needed it the most, in the late innings versus the St. Louis Cardinals.

Hunter Pence came through in the clutch with a pinch-hit to lead-off the bottom of the seventh inning, and after a Buster Posey intentional walk, Andrew McCutchen singled to right to score Pence to give the Giants a 3-2 victory over the Cardinals before a crowd of 37,996 at AT&T Park on Friday night.

Alen Hanson sent Pence to second with a sacrifice bunt, and then eventual losing pitcher John Brebbla intentionally walked Posey and McCutchen singled to score Pence from second.

The Cardinals took an early 1-0 lead off of Dereck Rodriguez in the top of the second inning, as Kolten Wong double in Paul DeJong. The inning could have been worse for the Giants, but the smart thinking of Brandon Crawford put a stop to that.

Jedd Gyorko hit a triple to right-center, but Rodriguez got DeJong to ground to Crawford, who home to Buster Posey, and who tagged Gyorko out.

The Giants tied up the game in the bottom of the second inning without the benefit of a hit, as both Brandon Crawford and Pablo Sandoval each walked. Joe Panik then lined out to right field that sent Crawford to third base, and with Gorkys Hernandez at the plate, Jon Gant unfurled a wild pitch that allowed Crawford to score the tying run.

Panik’s single snapped a 0-for-16 streak with that single in the bottom of the fourth inning.

Sandoval gave the Giants in the bottom of the sixth inning, as he launched a Gant pitch and put it into the left field bleachers for his seventh home run of the season.

The Cardinals tied up the game in the top of the seventh inning, as after Rodriguez retired the first two batters of the inning, he allowed a single to DeJong and then Wong tripled to right field to tie up the game.

That would be the last pitch that Rodriguez would throw, as Bruce Bochy replaced the rookie with Reyes Moronta, who promptly struck out Bader to end the Cardinals’ threat.

Rodriguez went 6.2 innings, allowing two runs on five hits, walking two and striking out one, but he did not fare in the decision.

Over his last three starts, Rodriguez has an earned run average of 1.35, as he has given up just three earned runs in 20 innings.

Gant went six innings, allowing two runs on five hits, walking three and striking out five for the Cardinals.

Moronta faced just one batter, as he struck out Bader to end the seventh inning and picked up his fifth win of the season.

Brebbla pitched one inning, allowing one run on three hits, walking one and striking out one, as his record fell to 1-2 on the season.

With his scoreless inning in the top of the eighth, Tony Watson became just the third Giants reliever in the San Francisco era to throw 19 or more scoreless at home in a single season.

Watson joins Gary Lavelle, who threw 21 scoreless innings in 1979, and Greg Minton, who threw 27 scoreless innings in 1980.

NOTES: Jeff Samardzija will make his return to the starting rotation on Saturday afternoon, and it will be his ninth start of the season. The Cardinals will send Carlos Martinez to the mound, as he will look for his sixth win of the season.

Panik was forced to leave the game with a strained left groin after he came up limping on a double by a Gorkys Hernandez in the bottom of the fourth inning.

The second baseman will undergo an MRI on Saturday, and it could result in Panik returning to the disabled list for the second time this season.

This is the second of 34 consecutive games for the Giants in the Pacific Time zone. The next game outside of the time zone will take place on August 17, when the Giants open a three-game against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ballpark.

Outfielder Heliot Ramos (World) and Right-Handed Pitcher Shaun Anderson (United States) will represent the Giants in the Futures Game at Nationals Park on July 15 in Washington, D.C.

UP NEXT: The Giants and Cardinals face off again Saturday afternoon at 1:05 pm PDT.

San Francisco Giants podcast with Michael Duca: Cueto gets lit up in return; Giants coming off sweep in Colorado and are looking for some knock from the lineup

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abc 7 file photo: San Francisco Giants starter Johnny Cueto who made his return from the DL on Thursday night against the St Louis Cardinals at AT&T Park

On the SF Giants podcast with Miguel:

The San Francisco Giants–coming off a sweep in Colorado–came back to AT&T Park on Thursday night for a 10-game homestand. Michael takes a look how much the team was looking forward to coming back after getting swept in Colorado.

The Giants faced tough pitching from the Rockies. They couldn’t solve starter Tyler Anderson. Anderson went eight innings, two hits, allowed two walks, and nine strikeouts. A great line for a pitcher who kept the Giants off balance.

The Giants’ second baseman Brandon Crawford owns the NL Central. He’s hitting .517 (15-29) against the NL Central pitching. Crawford’s .517 clip is tops for any MLB player against any MLB division.

The Giants’ Derek Rodriguez gets another turn Friday. A great outing last Saturday. going 6.1 innings, five strikeouts, two walks, six hits and 102 pitches. Rodriguez was actually a desperation choice with Jeff Samardjiza and Johnny Cueto on the disabled list. Rodriguez really panned out during Samardjiza and Cueto’s absence for the Giants’ pitching staff.

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

Giants’ Johnny Cueto gets rude awakening from Cardinals, who won 11-2 in a laugher

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Harness

SAN FRANCISCO – Johnny Cueto had such a fantastic start to the 2018 season. The St. Louis Cardinals, however, made it look like it never happened.

Thursday marked starter Cueto’s return to the rotation after missing the previous two months with inflammation in his pitching elbow, and the Cardinals did not welcome him very kindly in a 11-2 drubbing of the Giants at AT&T Park on Thursday night.

It was clear from the outset that Cueto did not have his usual command, and the Cardinals capitalized. They loaded the bases off him in the first inning before they recorded an out. An RBI groundout later, Jedd Gyorko skied one the opposite way into the arcade in right field to give the Cardinals a 4-0 lead.

Although he got out of that inning with no further damage, the Cardinals weren’t done with him. That’s because in the second, Matt Carpenter drilled one into the stands in right-center – the deepest part of the ballpark – to extend the St. Louis lead to five.

“He got himself in trouble there, but after that, it just got better, and that’s encouraging,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “His stuff picked up, his command picked up.

“It got to a point where I thought he was comfortable out there, but we’ll see how he feels tomorrow,” he added. “You have to be encouraged that he got better as he went. He should feel pretty good about this start. Sure, you’d like to take that first inning away, but that counts, too.”

Cueto lasted three more innings and ended up surrendering 10 hits and those five runs. It was a far cry from his performance earlier in the season, as he was 3-0 with an 0.84 ERA – the fourth-lowest ERA through five starts in Giants history – prior to going on the disabled list.

Ty Blach didn’t fare any better. He relieved Cueto in the sixth and was promptly hit with a four-spot. He recorded only two outs before being yanked in favor of Derek Holland, who was moved to the bullpen to make room for Cueto in the rotation.

Meanwhile, the Giants could not get anything going against Cardinals starter Luke Weaver at all. In fact, the Giants didn’t get a single baserunner on. The closest they came was with two out in the fifth inning, when Pablo Sandoval was initially issued a walk before the umpiring crew realized that it was still a full count.

The momentum was short-lived, as three pitches later, Weaver got Sandoval to chase a slider out of the strike zone to end the inning.

Gorkys Hernandez, who is making a serious case for being a National League All-Star, broke up Weaver’s no-hit bid in the sixth, when he legged out an infield single. Two batters later, Weaver made a rare mistake out over the plate, and Alen Hanson sent into the right-field arcade to give the Giants a little bit of life, 9-2.

Those would be the only two hits that the Giants would get from Weaver, who went eight innings and improved his record to 5-7 with a 4.92 ERA, in the best performance of his young career.

The Giants look to bounce back against the Cardinals on Friday night at 7:15 pm PDT.

My Memories of the 2007 Futures Game

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Photo credit: commons.wikimedia.org

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO — It is hard to believe that it has been nearly 11 years since AT&T Park hosted their only All-Star Game.

Yes, it will be best remembered for Ichiro Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners hitting the inside-the-park home run, as the American League defeated the National League 5-3 before a crowd of 43,965 at AT&T Park.

Just two days prior to the Midsummer Classic, the Minor Leaguers were on Center Stage, or the baseball field, as they showed off their skills under San Francisco Giants legend Orlando Cepeda and Dave Winfield, who was born on the same day (October 3, 1951) that Bobby Thomson hit “The Shot Heard Round the World” home run off of Ralph Branca to give the New York Giants a 5-3 victory over the Brooklyn Dodgers that propelled the Giants to the World Series, where they lost to the New York Yankees.

There were some notable players on the field on that Sunday afternoon in July of 2007 that have made a big splash on the game since then.

Joey Votto, who would go onto win a National Most Valuable Player Award for the Cincinnati Reds, hit a home run for the World Team off of future Boston Red Sox pitcher Clay Buchholz, as the World team defeated the U.S. team 7-2.

Clayton Kershaw, a multi-time Cy Young Award winner for the Los Angeles Dodgers gave up a home run to James Van Ostrand to give the World team a commanding 6-2 lead in the top of the seventh inning.

“I took a good swing and got a good pitch to hit,” Votto said. “It was a fun day. I had a good time. I just had an awesome timeplaying with all these guys. I love playing with these guys. Playing against the U.S. team was just fun. Great stadium and thefans were awesome.”

Justin Upton put the U.S. on the board, as he hit a solo home run off of Faustino De Los Santos in the bottom of the third inning.

Jacoby Ellsbury, who played in six games for the Boston Red Sox prior to getting sent to the minors on the Friday prior to the game replaced Cameron Maybin of the Detroit Tigers, who was unable to play due to an injury.

“It’s been a crazy week,” Ellsbury said. “It means a lot tome to play with these guys. There are a lot of guys who will be inthe big leagues in the near future.”

There were players with Giants ties then and now, as current Giants third baseman Evan Longoria played for the U.S. team, as he represented the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and outfielder Gorkys Hernandez played for the World team, as he was a member of the Detroit Tigers organization and was later named the Midwest League Most Valuable Player, while playing for the West Michigan Whitecaps.

Both Brian Bocock and Henry Sosa played in the game, as they represented the Giants’ organization. Bocock and Sosa played for San Jose that season.

ESPN.com contributed to this story.

San Francisco Giants podcast with Michael Duca and Morris Phillips: After sweeping Arizona, Giants get swept by Colorado

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

On the SF Giants podcast with Michael and Morris:

The Giants, who swept the Arizona Diamondbacks on this road trip, and who would have thought that would happen? In the month of June, the Giants were on the biggest rollercoaster there is and they swept the D-Backs and Giants’ pitcher Dereck Rodriguez has pitched great 3-1 with a 3.16 ERA and it’s not a place a Giants baseball team go to win a series, let alone swept a series.

Then, the Giants went to Denver and dropped the first two games to the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field and it was kind of surprising fashion that they got five hits each night. That’s not going to be enough hits. The Giants get a home run and then it’s just four hits for the rest of the ballgame.

You saw those gaps in the lineups–guys were going O-fors. It’s the biggest mystery going why a veteran baseball team can’t win road games to be this poor on the road and lose 8-1 on Tuesday night. It’s a head scratcher.

There’s much more Michael and Morris podcast on the Giants each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

San Francisco Giants’ Wednesday game wrap: Iannetta’s HR sinks Giants 1-0

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Harness

There were fireworks going off all around the country on the 4th of July, to celebrate this nation’s independence.

However, none of the fireworks came from the Giants’ bats, and they sure weren’t free Wednesday night, as Tyler Anderson stifled the Giants in a 1-0 loss to the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field, completing a three-game sweep at the hands of their National League West rivals.

Anderson (6-3) went eight innings and surrendered only two hits while allowing only two walks against nine strikeouts.

Andrew Suarez (3-5) was not that bad, either. In fact, he surrendered five hits and struck out six batters while not walking anyone while going seven strong innings. It was his best outing of the season.

However, one mistake in the seventh inning proved to be his undoing. Chris Iannetta laid into a wayward pitch from Suarez and sent it over the left-field wall, hugging the foul pole in the process.

The umpiring crew reviewed the home run, but the visual evidence was too great, and the home run was upheld. The Giants could not recover from the blow and could not solve Anderson, and although they got a hot off him, could not break through against closer Wade Davis, who collected his 25th save of the year.

The Giants will not lick their wounds and come home to face the St. Louis Cardinals for a four-game series at AT&T Park.

San Francisco Giants podcast with Marko Ukalovic: Giants face tough pitching; Rockies could put it to bed for a sweep

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

On the SF Giants podcast with Marko:

The Giants dropped their second game to the Colorado Rockies in the series 8-1 on Tuesday night. The Giants were dominated by Rockies pitcher Antonio Senzatela, who went seven innings, no runs, three hits, no walks and four strikeouts. The Rockies’ Charles Blackmon had three hits and a triple, Trevor Story hit a triple, Nolan Arenado hit his 22nd home run and the Rockies have won five of their last six games.

Giants pitcher Chris Stratton was rocked for eight runs, 11 hits, in 5.2 innings of work. Game three is tonight at Coors Field as the Giants try to avoid the sweep in Colorado.

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

Senzatela, Rockies rocks Giants 8-1

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Photo credit: @NBCSGiants

By Jeremy Kahn

It seems that the San Francisco Giants have found a new House of Horror, and it is Coors Field, the home of the Colorado Rockies.

Antonio Senzatela, who was recalled earlier in the day from Triple-A Albuquerque to replace the struggling Jon Gray, went seven innings, allowing no runs on just three hits, not walking a batter and striking out four and the Rockies defeated the Giants 8-1 at Coors Field.

Going back to September 7, 2016, the Rockies are now 14-2 versus the Giants at Coors Field, a winning percentage of .875.

Charlie Blackmon was the hitting star of the night for the Rockies, as he picked up three hits and his first home run since June 20.

Trevor Story drove in a run with a triple, while Nolan Arenado hit his National League-leading 22nd home run, as the Rockies have won five out of their last six games.

It was not a good night for Chris Stratton, as the right-hander went just 5.2 innings, allowing eight runs on 11 hits.

Alen Hanson drove in the lone Giants run, as he singled in the top of the eighth inning off of Mike Dunn that scored Austin Jackson, who singled with one out in the inning.

Blackmon got the Rockies going in the bottom of the first inning, as hit a 416-foot home run with one out in the frame.

Following the Blackmon home run, Arenado singled and then after a lineout by Carlos Gonzalez for the second out of the inning, Story singled and then Gerardo Parra singled in Arenado with the Rockies second run of the inning.

It looked like Stratton was going to settle down, as he retired the next six batters in a row, but then Gonzalez singled and then Story tripled to right field.

Arenado broke the game wide open in the bottom of the fifth inning, as he hit a smashed a three-run home run to centerfield to give the Rockies a 6-0 lead.

NOTES: Andrew Suarez looks to end the road trip on a high note, as he takes the mound on Wednesday afternoon, while the Rockies will send Tyler Anderson to the mound, as they look for the sweep.

Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija will rejoin the starting rotation for the Giants this weekend, as the Giants open a 10-game home stand against the St. Louis Cardinals beginning on Thursday night. Cueto is currently on the 60-day disabled list, retroactive to April 29 with a sprained right elbow, will start on Thursday. Samardzija will start on Saturday after he was forced to a game against the Rockies with tightness in his right shoulder on May 30 after just one inning.

Derek Holland was the odd man out of the starting rotation, as he will be sent to the bullpen.

UP NEXT: The Giants and Rockies conclude their series on Wednesday at 5:10 pm PDT.

Rockie Reception: Coors Field, Colorado get the best of the Giants again in 5-2 win

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By Morris Phillips

Only four hits after the first pitch of the ballgame? Not enough.

A critical, throwing error allowing the go-ahead run to score? One too many.

And Mad Bum extending his scoreless inning streak to 22 innings? Needed to be 23.

Once again, the Giants found Coors Field to be a demanding place, and the Rockies a confounding opponent in their series opening, 5-2 loss in Denver. Madison Bumgarner pitched six, scoreless innings only to run into trouble in the seventh. When the first three batters in the inning singled to load the bases, Bum was gone. The Giants 2-0 lead would be the next thing to disappear on a night when the game time temperature topped 90 degrees.

Rookie reliever Reyes Moronta walked the first batter he faced–slugger Nolan Arenado–trimming the Giants lead to 2-1. A run-scoring, double play ball came next, then Brandon Crawford’s throwing error on a routine grounder to short gave Colorado the lead.

Crawford fielded a ground ball off the bat of Ian Desmond, but threw too casually and errantly to Brandon Belt at first.

“I gave it about an 80-percent throw,” said Crawford. “One-hopper, I had time.”

“It’s about winning games while we’re out there,” Bumgarner said. “That was a tough loss. Everything was going our way early on and didn’t go our way late.”

The Giants three-game win streak was snapped with the loss, and their tenuous grip on second place in the NL West was lost as the Dodgers moved ahead the Giants by beating the Pirates, 17-1. More telling was the Giants blowing an another opportunity to win with Bumgarner starting.  They fell to 2-4 in their ace’s six starts this season, hardly the mid-season boost they were looking for.

Prior to the seventh inning, Bumgarner hadn’t allowed a run since June 16 at Los Angeles.

Gorkys Hernandez homered on the game’s first pitch off Kyle Freeland, but the Rockies and Freeland grew stinger as the game progressed. Buster Posey delivered an RBI double in the third, and that was it. With Freeland and two relievers dealing, the Giants were limited to a pair of hits the rest of the way.

The Rockies added on in the eighth as Ty Blach allowed two runs on three hits without recording an out.

The Giants swept Arizona over the weekend to get as close to the division leaders as they’ve been in months. But the Rockies envisioned themselves in the equation as well, but they slumped in June, and not played as well at home as they have on the road.

After Monday’s win, the Rockies are just 16-22 at Coors Field, but they’ve won 12 of their last 14 against the Giants in Denver.

Chris Stratton gets the ball for the Giants looking for his ninth win on Tuesday in a matchup with Anthony Senzatela, the pitcher who replaced the struggling Jon Gray in the Colorado rotation.

San Francisco Giants podcast with Morris Phillips: Giants getting plenty of key hits; Offense improves as SF gets six RBIs in Sunday’s finale

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sfexaminer.com file photo: San Francisco Giants lead off hitter Gorkys Hernandez had a great month of June and is in the running to make the All Star team. Hernandez who fouled a ball off his shin in Arizona will sit out tonight’s game in Colorado. The injury is day to day.

On the SF Giants podcast with Morris:

The Giants closing in on first place–now 2.5 games back after sweeping the Arizona Diamondbacks over the weekend. In Sunday’s game the Giants got six key RBIs to overcome the Diamondbacks in a 9-6 victory for the sweep. Their key hitting from Hunter Pence, Nick Hundley, Joe Panik, Bradon Crawford, Andrew McCutchen, and Gorkys Hernandez these are the players who piled it on in the series.

Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner wants to hit each time he gets a chance to come to the plate. Bumgarner leads all active pitchers with the most home runs career with 17.  Mad Bum, who never said it, but wouldn’t mind if MLB never uses the universal designated hitter.

The Giants open up a three-game series in Colorado tonight. Bumgarner (1-2) will match up against the Rockies Freeman (7-6). Can the Giants have the same success at Coors Field like they had in Arizona?

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