Category: San Francisco Giants

Dodgers’ duo of Hernandez and Kemp top Giants again 3-1

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Photo credit: @LosAngeles_NC

By Jeremy Kahn

Once again, the long ball was the difference in the game between the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Kike’ Hernandez hit a two-run home run off of Madison Bumgarner in the bottom of the fifth inning, helping the Dodgers to a 3-1 victory over the Giants at Dodger Stadium on Sunday night.

The home run by Hernandez helped Alex Wood to his second win of the season, as the left-hander went 5.2 innings, allowing just one run on five hits, while walking two and striking out two.

The win gave the series to the Dodgers for the first time this season, and the season series between the longtime rivals is 6-6.

The two teams will not face each other until a three-game series at Dodger Stadium beginning on August 13, and the Dodgers will not face the Giants at AT&T Park until the last three games of the season from September 28-30.

Hernandez’s home run was the ninth extra base hit in 33 at-bats in his career against Bumgarner, including four home runs.

Bumgarner went six innings allowing three runs on five hits, walking four and striking out three, as he lost for the second time in his three starts this season after recovering from a broken left pinkie that he suffered in his final start of spring training against the Kansas City Royals.

Bumgarner also gave up a solo home run to Matt Kemp in the bottom of the first inning, as the Dodgers jumped out to an early 1-0 lead.

This was the second game in a row that Hernandez and Kemp each hit home runs for the Dodgers, who are 21-6 since May 17 and two games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League West.

Alen Hanson drove in the only Giants run in the game, as he hit a sacrifice fly that scored Mac Williamson in the top of the fifth inning.

Williamson broke up Wood’s no-hit bid in the top of the fifth inning, as he led off the inning with a left. Joe Panik then singled to center that sent Williamson to third, after Bumgarner struck out for the first out of the inning, Hanson hit a sacrifice fly to Kemp in left field that easily scored Williamson from third base.

That would be the score for a half-inning, as Hernandez hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the fifth inning that sent the Giants to their fifth loss in their last six games.

Following the Hernandez home run, Justin Turner then hit a ground rule double to right-center field, then Kemp walked; however, Bumgarner was able to stop the bleeding, when he got Yaisel Puig to ground into a force play that ended the inning.

The Giants tried to get a rally started in the top of the ninth inning, as Buster Posey reached on a throwing error by Turner against Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen. After a strikeout to Brandon Crawford the first out of the inning, Jansen walked Williamson, then Joe Panik grounded out to Cody Bellinger that advanced Posey to third and Williamson; however, Jansen was able to get pinch-hitter Pablo Sandoval to pop out to Turner for the final out of the game.

Jansen picked up his 17th save of the season, as the Dodgers have won five in a row.

It was another frustrating night on the mound for Bumgarner, as he was not able to get the calls from home plate umpire Dan Bellino.

NOTES: Chris Stratton looks to salvage the series finale for the Giants, as he takes the mound, while the Dodgers will send Caleb Ferguson, as the rookie still looks for his first major league win.

Brandon Belt, who missed the last two weeks after an emergency appendectomy was activated from the disabled list.

To make room for Belt, Pierce Johnson was optioned to Sacramento.

Evan Longoria will have surgery that will insert a pin into his left hand, and the third baseman is expected to miss anywhere from six to eight weeks; however, Longoria is hoping to return after the All-Star Break, when the Giants open a three-game series against the Oakland A’s at the Coliseum on July 20.

Johnny Cueto will throw a live batting practice when the Giants return to San Francisco on Monday, when they open a three-game series against the Miami Marlins at AT&T Park.

Jeff Samardzija pitched three innings for the Sacramento Rivercats against the Red Rock Express at Dell Diamond, and Samardzija could be back soon, according to manager Bruce Bochy.

UP NEXT: The Giants and Dodgers will conclude their rivalry series on Sunday afternoon at 1:10 pm PDT on NSBA and SNLA.

MLB The Show podcast with Charlie O: From Oak to Ok–A’s Murray will rejoin A’s next year; Giants looking to get tracked with road win tonight

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photo from normantranscript.com: The Oakland A’s Kyler Murrray joined the A’s for workouts on Saturday at the Coliseum. Murray signed with the A’s to play on the club next season as he will join the Oklahoma Sooners as quarterback in August for the 2018 NCAA season

On the MLB The Show podcast with Charlie O:

Today’s opponent for the Oakland A’s, the Los Angeles Angels, came in Friday night with a five-game losing streak, which they ended and the A’s extended their four-game losing streak to four in the loss to the Angels.

The A’s will try and reboot and get game two of this home three game series today at the Coliseum today. The A’s got a little pick me up when Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Kyler Murray was selected and worked out with the team over the weekend. Murray said he would quarterback at Oklahoma and after football season Murray will be back swinging the bats for the A’s for spring training in February.

Murray has a deal worth over $4 million with Oakland and his contract allows him to play football and go to school at Oklahoma which would be during August through early January.

San Francisco Giants update: The San Francisco Giants’ road problems continue after they dropped the opener of their three-game series with the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night 3-2 at Dodger Stadium. The Giants are suffering on offense and couldn’t rally on Friday night.

The Dodgers are fighting to get into first place and they know the Giants are in a world of pain, losing four of their last five games, and are out their All-Star caliber players: pitcher Johnny Cueto and third baseman Evan Longoria with injuries.

The Giants were missing Brandon Belt due to an appendix surgery. Belt is scheduled to be suited up at Dodgers Stadium tonight and he was on a roll before he had to have the surgery. Belt made a fast recovery and is anxious to start swinging the bats.

Charlie O does the A’s podcasts weekly and is filling in for Matt Harrington on the MLB podcast today at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Hernandez and Kemp homer in Dodgers’ 3-2 win over Giants

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Photo credit: @kikehndez

By Jeremy Kahn

After a 16-inning game in the finale of their four-game series against the Miami Marlins, the San Francisco Giants took a cross country flight, while their opponent, the Los Angeles Dodgers were on a day off.

Enrique Hernandez hit a home run off of Derek Holland in the bottom of the first inning, helping the Dodgers to a 3-2 victory over the Giants at Dodger Stadium on Friday night.

Matt Kemp hit a towering home run to straightaway center field off of Holland that gave the Dodgers a 2-0 lead, but it was a Yasmani Grandal fly ball to center field that was the key point to the game.

Grandal’s fly ball was dropped by Austin Jackson and then Yasiel Puig doubled to right-center field with what proved to be the game-winning run.

Pablo Sandoval cut the Dodgers lead down to 3-2 in the top of the seventh inning, as he hit a two-run home run off of Dodgers starter Ross Stripling that landed in the Dodgers’ bullpen.

Unfortunately, the Giants could not get any closer, as Josh Fields, Scott Alexander got the Giants out in the top of the seventh inning and eighth inning, before turning to closer Kenley Jansen, who retired the Giants in order to pick-up his 16thsave of the season.

Stripling went 6.1 innings, allowing two runs on four hits, not walking a batter and striking out six, as he improved his record on the season up to 6-1.

Holland went five innings, allowing three runs (two of them earned), while walking two and striking out seven, as his record fell to 4-7 on the season.

Pierce Johnson, called up earlier in the day, pitched two innings, allowing one hit and walking one. Will Smith continued pitching great, as he went one inning and struck out one.

NOTES: Madison Bumgarner will make his third start of the season, as he still looks for that elusive first win of the season, while the Dodgers will counter with Alex Wood, who is currently 1-5 on the season after going 16-3 in helping the Dodgers to their first World Series appearance since 1988.

Evan Longoria was placed on the 10-day disabled list with a broken left hand. Longoria broke the fifth metacarpal (pinkie) after he was hit by a pitch by Dan Straliy in the top of the fourth inning of Thursday’s 6-3 victory over the Marlins at Marlins Park.

The Longoria injury is the exact same injury that Bumgarner is just coming back from after missing nearly the first two months of the season.

UP NEXT: The Giants and Dodgers face off on Saturday at 5:15 pm PDT on FOX.

San Francisco Giants podcast with Michael Duca: Longoria expected to be out for 3 weeks after hit with 89 MPH fastball in hand

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Photo credit: @GiantsExtra

On the SF Giants podcast with Michael:

The San Francisco Giants’ Evan Longoria broke his hand during an at-bat against the Miami Marlins in game four on Thursday afternoon in Miami. Longoria will be out for an estimated three weeks and could be back by early July.

Longoria got hit in the back of the hand by an 89 MPH fast ball in the fourth inning. He realized after getting hit by the pitch that he couldn’t play or use the hand afterwards. Pablo Sandoval said Longoria is a great teammate, a great hitter, and Sandoval said he hopes his recovery is quick so that he could help the club in the postseason.

The Marlins almost swept the Giants, but Giant starter Ty Blach pitch 6 2/3 innings of shutout ball and the Giants wound up beating the Marlins 6-3 in 16 innings. Longoria was hitting .246, 10 home runs, 34 RBIs and committed 11 errors.

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

Giants win marathon game over Marlins 6-3, but lose Longoria

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Harness

Thursday afternoon’s game at Marlins Park looked eerily similar to the one played the day before.

The San Francisco Giants jumped out to an early lead, only to watch the Miami Marlins rally in the late innings and tie the game in the bottom of the ninth. This time, however, the Giants did not succumb , and as a result, they were able to salvage the final contest of a four-game series, outlasting the Marlins, 6-3, in 16 innings.

After the Marlins tied it up off closer Hunter Strickland, the Giants called on usual starter Ty Blach to come in and save the bullpen, and he more than held up his end of the bargain. He went 6 2/3 innings and kept Miami off the scoreboard for the rest of the game.

He got the well-earned win when Pablo Sandoval singled in a pair of runs in the top of the 16th inning while Gorkys Hernandez threw in some insurance with a sac fly to give the Giants a 6-3 lead.

Sam Dyson was able to nail down the final out to earn his first save of the season.

For the second straight game, Andrew McCutchen launched a two-run homer in the first inning to give the Giants an early 2-0 lead, this time off Marlins starter Dan Straily.

Mac Williamson added a solo homer in the second, but the Marlins, as was the case on Wednesday, were able to make their way back into the game and make things mighty interesting.

The Marlins chipped away at the lead, starting with a solo homer by J.T Riddle in the fifth. Bryan Holaday’s run scoring single in the seventh made it a one-run game, and lewis Brinson’s sac fly in the ninth tied it.

McCutchen had three hits for the Giants and boosted his batting average to .267 in the process, while Alen Hanson also had three hits. Henson took over at third for Even Longoria, who was hit on the left hand with a pitch in the fourth inning.

Longoria is reported to have fractured the fifth metacarpal of his left hand, the same injury that Madison Bumgarner suffered in spring training. A decision regarding possible surgery is expected within the next few days, but he is expected to miss considerable time, likely the same amount of time that Bumgarner did, in the neighborhood of six to eight weeks.

The Giants take on the Dodgers in Los Angeles for a three-game set that starts on Friday night at 7:10 pm PDT.

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.