San Francisco Giants’ Denard Span (2) is congratulated by Brandon Belt (9) after scoring the winning run in the eleventh inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Pittsburgh, Saturday, July 1, 2017. (AP Photo/Fred Vuich)
By Jeremy Kahn
Ever since Bruce Bochy made his now famous comment about pole vaulting over mouse turds, it seems that the San Francisco Giants have turned a corner.
Denard Span scored on a wild pitch thrown by Daniel Hudson in the top of the 11th inning, as the Giants defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 2-1 at PNC Park.
Hudson’s wild pitch got by Elias Diaz and bounced into the dugout to score Span, as the Giants won their fifth straight after losing seven in a row.
Josh Osich won for the second time this season, while Sam Dyson picked up his first save as a Giant, as he pitched the 11th inning.
The Pirates blew an opportunity to win the game in the top of the ninth inning, as Hunter Strickland walked the bases loaded; however, Strickland struck out Diaz looking to end the inning and the threat. Diaz went 0-for-5 at the plate, with two strikeouts and left eight on base.
Matt Moore went 5.2 innings, allowing one run on four hits and walked four before being replaced by George Kontos with the bases loaded. Kontos responded by striking out Josh Harrison to end the inning.
Josh Bell drove in the only Pirates run of the afternoon in the bottom of the third inning, as his single scored Andrew McCutchen.
NOTES: Jeff Samardzija looks for the sweep on Sunday afternoon, as he takes the mound against Trevor Williams.
Chris Stratton was recalled from Sacramento, and the Giants sent down Dan Slania, who pitched a perfect ninth inning in his major-league debut on Friday night. Stratton will be used primarily out of the bullpen.
Joan Gregorio, who is a top prospect in the Giants farm system, who is currently with the Sacramento Rivercats was suspended for the remainder of the season after testing positive to a Performance Enhancing Drug.
In his first rehab appearance with the Richmond Flying Squirrels, Eduardo Nunez went 1-for-3 at the plate with a double.
San Francisco Giants’ Hunter Pence (8) is greeted by pitching coach Dave Righetti, right, after defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates in a baseball game, Friday, June 30, 2017, in Pittsburgh. The Giants won 13-5. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)
By Jeremy Kahn
Since being swept by the New York Mets just five days ago, the San Francisco Giants have turned over a new leaf in the past four games.
Hunter Pence drove in five runs, while Denard Span went 4-for-5 with four runs scored and the Giants defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 13-5 at PNC Park.
Span led off the game with a home run, as the Giants have won four in a row after losing five in a row.
Joe Panik went 3-for-5 with a run scored and drove in a run, as the Giants first three hitters went a combined 10-for-14.
Despite giving up three runs in the first inning, Johnny Cueto settled down and ended up going five innings to pick-up his sixth win of the season against seven losses.
Entering the top of the fourth inning, the Giants picked up five straight hits and scored three runs to take a 6-4 lead.
The Giants were not done scoring, as they broke the game wide open in the top of the sixth inning, as they scored five runs. Buster Posey and Brandon Belt each hit two-run doubles in the inning. Belt was not done driving in runs, as he hit a solo home run in the top of the eighth inning and ended the game with four runs batted in.
After going hitless in his first 18 at-bats, Ryder Jones finally got that elusive first hit as a big leaguer in the top of the eighth inning.
Dan Slania pitched a perfect ninth inning in his major-league debut. Slania joined the team on Wednesday afternoon after being recalled from Double-A Richmond.
Pirates starting pitcher Gerrit Cole, who happens to be the brother in-law of Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford, pitched 5.1 innings, allowing 10 hits and struck out 10. Cole’s record on the season fell to 6-7.
NOTES: Matt Moore takes the mound for the Giants, while the Pirates will send Chad Kuhl to the mound.
Madison Bumgarner made a rehab start for Triple-A Sacramento. In 3.2 innings of work, Bumgarner gave up four runs and seven hits, striking out one. Bumgarner was injured in a dirt bike accident on April 20 in Colorado.
Eduardo Nunez, who is on the disabled list with a strained hamstring will be sent to Double-A Richmond for a two-game assignment.
AP File Photo San Francisco Giants’ Johnny Cueto against the New York Mets during a baseball game in San Francisco will start against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday June 30th at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, date of photo Saturday, June 24, 2017. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
By Jeremy Harness
It’s almost as if the Giants are telling us not to be so quick to call 2017 a lost season.
That’s because just as they were playing as bad a brand of baseball as they have all season – and it has been pretty bad, mind you – they showed a flash of greatness that has not been seen at all this year.
On Wednesday, the Giants finished off a three-game sweep of the National League West-leading Colorado Rockies, which marked the first time they have swept a team in a series this season.
Prior to that series, the Giants had lost 14 of their past 16 games, losing in every way imaginable.
With that in mind, they still have a very long way to go if they hope to turn this season completely around. The Giants are still stuck in last place in the NL West with a 30-51 record, which puts them four games behind the San Diego Padres, who are plenty used to occupying the division cellar.
The Giants will head to Pittsburgh to take on the Pirates in a three-game series that starts Friday night at PNC Park.
Johnny Cueto (5-7, 4.20 ERA) will go head-to-head with Pittsburgh righty Gerrit Cole (6-6, 4.11 ERA) in the series opener.
Cueto has dropped five of his last six decisions, but he is coming off a solid outing last Friday against the Mets, during which the only run he gave up was a solo home run to Wilmer Flores, while his teammates’ bats went unsurprisingly quiet.
Cole, on the other hand, enters Friday’s matchup on a roll. He has gotten victories in each of his three starts and winning four of his last five. In the three-start win streak, he has given up only a single run in each of those starts, getting wins over Colorado, Milwaukee and St. Louis.
Manager Bruce Bochy #15 of the San Francisco Giants takes the ball from starting pitcher Ty Blach #50 taking him out of the game against the Colorado Rockies in the top of the seventh inning at AT&T Park on June 28, 2017 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
By Morris Phillips
SAN FRANCISCO–Talk about a quick turnaround. Tuesday’s Rockies-Giants’ game ended at midnight with Denard Span’s game-winning hit. Wednesday’s game started at 4:45am.
How in the name of seagull subterfuge is that possible?
Well, the American, big league debut of Jae-Gyun Hwang in a Giants’ uniform was such a big deal, folks in Korea got up before dawn to watch it live.
And they weren’t disappointed.
With his first major league RBI already in his back pocket, Hwang one-upped himself with a tie-breaking home run in the sixth inning of the Giants’ 5-3 win over the Rockies. For the 29-year old rookie, and star player previously in the Korean League, it was a dream-come-true moment, and not just because his ball sailed over the wall.
“I’ve given up a lot back home — whether that’s money, being away from family, my career and everything — just to be here,” Hwang said through his interpreter. “The only reason I did that was because I wanted to realize my childhood dream of playing a game in the big leagues.”
Hwang’s probably set for more than just one game after becoming the 17th Giant to hit a home run as their first big league hit. In addition, Hwang’s a good luck charm for a club that’s been both unlucky and bad. That can’t be disputed after his home run propelled the NL West also-rans to their first series sweep–home or away–of the now half-finished season. Doing it after a 1-12 stretch, and against the Rockies, winners of nine straight against the Giants coming in made it that much more memorable.
“He reached his dream and hits a huge home run. He got a nice beer shower in there,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “It’s a special moment. These are moments you love.”
Giants’ starter Ty Blach did his part in contributing to the feel good moment, by recovering from an early hiccup to pitch into the seventh inning and get the win. Blach was touched by a brilliant piece of hitting, Nolan Arenado’s two-run single in the first, where the notorious Giants’ killer went out of the strike zone to poke a 2-2 pitch into center field. Mike Tauchman’s RBI single in the sixth was the only other blemish for Blach, who allowed seven hits, three walks while striking out six.
Blach took down his hometown team, one start after his disaster versus the Mets, in which he was pulled after pitching just three innings in an 11-4 loss. This time, he was gritty despite constant traffic on the based paths, some of which he contributed to with his throwing error in the first inning.
San Francisco Giants’ Jae-Gyun Hwang, of South Korea, celebrates after hitting a solo home run against the Colorado Rockies during the sixth inning of a baseball game in San Francisco, Wednesday, June 28, 2017. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
By Michael Duca
SAN FRANCISCO–This is kind of how this year has gone things could happen the way you think it will. Then the New York Mets came to AT&T Park last week with no starting pitching with injuries up and down their line up and swept the Giants in three games on their own field. Then the Colorado Rockies come into town fresh off being swept being swept from the Dodgers. Both Giants and Rockies came in the series which opened on Monday with five game losing streaks and you just figure the Rockies are going to have hornets in their pants and set the place on fire.
The Giants stacked a ton of runs in the first game with a 9-2 win on Monday night then came back on Tuesday night with a 4-3 14 inning win due to a Denard Span’s RBI single that scored Gorkys Hernandez for the game winning run. The Giants bullpen on Tuesday also came out and threw something on the order of nine shutout innings for the win.
San Francisco Giants’ Denard Span swings for the game winning single off Colorado Rockies’ Chad Qualls in the 14th inning of a baseball game Tuesday, June 27, 2017, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
By Jeremy Kahn
SAN FRANCISCO- Denard Span ended the second longest game of the season for the San Francisco Giants with one swing of the bat.
Span lashed a single into right field that scored Gorkys Hernandez from second base, as the Giants came back to defeat the Colorado Rockies 4-3 before a crowd of 41,331, the 526th consecutive regular season sellout at AT&T Park.
Cory Gearrin pitched the final three innings to even his record at 2-2 on the season, and had a chance to win the game himself; however, he struck out just prior to the Span single.
The Giants was lights out, as they pitched the last eight innings after replacing Matt Cain in the top of the seventh.
The sextet of Steven Okert, George Kontos, Mark Melancon, Josh Osich, Sam Dyson and Gearrin went eight innings, did not allow a run, scattered four hits, walked four and struck out eight.
Hernandez doubled to lead-off the bottom of the 14th inning against Chad Qualls, who was the seventh pitcher of the night for the Rockies.
Cain was looking good, as he entered the sixth inning; however, after a Charlie Blackmon groundout, Cain gave up a single to Raimel Tapia, who promptly stole second with Nolan Arenado at the plate, which looked, especially when Cain walked Arenado intentionally.
Despite the no-decision, Cain looked good, as he went six innings, allowing three runs on six hits, walking three and striking out three.
Unfortunately, on the first pitch to Reynolds after the intentional walk, Reynolds slammed the offering and put it into the left field seats for his 19th home run of the season.
Jeff Hoffman also did not fare in the decision, as he went six and two-third innings, allowing two runs on six hits, while walking three and striking out six.
The Giants took an 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning, as Gorkys Hernandez singled off of Hoffman, then Cain hit a perfect sacrifice bunt and then Denard Span continued his hot hitting, as he singled for the first of his two hits on the night.
Mark Reynolds crushed a Cain offering and put it into the left field sets for his 19th home run of the season.
After Reynolds hit his three-run home run, the Giants clawed their way back into the game, as Brandon Crawford hit a sacrifice fly to score Buster Posey from third base. Posey walked with one out.
With a chance to tie the game or possibly take the lead in the bottom of the seventh inning, Austin Slater hit a pinch-hit single with one out, after Span flew out for the second out of the inning, Joe Panik; however, the inning and the threat ended when Hunter Pence flew out to end the inning.
The Giants tied up the game in the bottom of the eighth inning, as Kelby Tomlinson hit a pinch hit single to drive in Brandon Belt from second base.
Belt on a bizarre fielders’ choice that saw the ball fall just out of the reach of Arenado, but Arenado was able to throw out Posey at second base. Posey led off the inning with a single against Scott Oberg.
Trevor Story saved a big 10th inning for the Rockies, as he was able to snare a Crawford hit ball to start a dazzling double play. Story grabbed the ball, flipped to Alexi Amarista at second, who threw to Reynolds to complete the double play to end the inning.
Amarista moved from right field to second base after D.J. LeMahieu was forced to leave the game with a right groin cramp, and LeMahieu is listed as day-to-day.
NOTES: Ty Blach completes the series and the home stand for the Giants on Wednesday afternoon, as he takes the mound, while the Rockies will go with Kyle Freeland.
SAN FRANCISCO—With the Giants in the wrong part of the tabloids and the standings, someone needed to be a stopper.
Brandon Crawford did just that.
Despite booting an early grounder in the second inning—that ended up going for a hit—Crawford’s slick defensive play steadied the reeling Giants, which had lost 12 of their last 13 games before a 9-2 win Monday night. After the shortstop made a clean diving stop and a quick throw to third to end the second inning, the Giants responded with four runs in the next two frames.
“Hopefully, this did a lot for their confidence and will take a little pressure off,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said after the Giants’ first win in nearly a week. “We need to quit fighting it so much. There’s a lot of talent, and there’s no reason we can’t put consistent runs on the board.”
When Desmond slapped the third inning grounder in the hole with two runners on, the Rockies were threatening with two men on base and down just 1-0. Crawford quickly broke to his right and nabbed it in open space before popping up to connect with third baseman Ryder Jones, in just his third big league game, for the putout.
Crawford said that it was a pretty “heads-up” play by the rookie, even though they had just discussed the possibility of Jones covering the bag for a force play just a day earlier.
“I don’t think I’ve ever made that play going to third base,” Crawford said. “But we talked about it, and he was there.”
One win certainly won’t do much to help the club climb back from a 23.5 game hole in the NL West, but it’s certainly a start. Despite having nearly the same lineup that went to the NLDS last season, San Francisco has the worst offensive numbers in franchise history in term since 1902—one year after the assembly line was invented—San Francisco will need more than just one 14-hit, 9-run effort to get back on track.
“I don’t think we’ve forgotten about it (how to hit well),” Crawford said. “It’s just been awhile since we’ve all come together at the same time and contributed together.”
Cover image: June 26, 2017: San Francisco Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford (35) fielding a ground ball hit by the Rockies’ Trevor Story, during a MLB baseball game between the Colorado Rockies and the San Francisco Giants on LGBT Night at AT&T Park in San Francisco, California. Valerie Shoaps/CSM (Cal Sports Media via AP Images)
San Francisco Giants’ Buster Posey follows through as he drives in a run with a double against the Colorado Rockies during the first inning of a baseball game, Monday, June 26, 2017, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
By Morris Phillips
Ease up on dissension stories, put a noose on the negativity, look no further for factions and infighting. If only for a night, the focus fell on the diamond, as the Giants became winners again.
Jeff Samardzija pitched into the seventh inning, and four Giants produced multi-hit games in a 9-2 rout of the Rockies, ending the team’s woeful stretch of 12 losses in 13 games. The win also snapped a streak of nine, consecutive losses to the Rockies, the longest such streak of Giants’ losses in the nearly 25 seasons of meetings between the two clubs.
Manager Bruce Bochy stuck with his most veteran lineup Monday, and was rewarded with three-hit games from Buster Posey and Hunter Pence, while Denard Span and Joe Panik each had a pair of hits at the top the lineup. The Giants scored in three of the first four innings off German Marquez, who failed to win for a third, consecutive start.
Samardzija again pitched well enough to win, but this time, he did win. The Shark tamed the same lineup that was unforgiving in Denver on June 16, when Samardzija allowed a season-worst eight runs and 11 hits. This time, with all his pitches working, the righthander cruised through the first six innings before adversity struck in the seventh. Still, his two runs and six hits allowed performance was enough to get the decision, and avoid a major league-worst tenth loss.
“We have a hard time scoring runs for him, but tonight he got rewarded for a great effort,” manager Bruce Bochy said.
Samardzija continued to be stingy with opposing hitters, by striking out five and walking none. That extends a streak of 12 starts in which he’s struck out 82 batters while walking just four. But he’s only 3-5 in that stretch, another example of how hard wins, and run support, have been to come by for a club that’s 23 1/2 games behind the Dodgers.. after gaining ground on Monday.
“Obviously we’re trying to score runs for him,” Brandon Crawford said. “At times, we try too hard, we’re pressing.”
Samardzija’s received the third worst support in the big leagues this season, barely three runs per game on average, but he hasn’t dwelled on it, in part due to previous experience. In 2014, as a member of the Cubs, he went the first 10 starts of the season without a win, despite pitching deep into all 10 starts, and compiling a miniscule 1.46 ERA.
“Even when it’s not going well, you go out and give it all you got,” he said.
Monday’s win came on the heels of a story written by Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal that depicted the Giants as a divided clubhouse, in part due to disagreement over pre-game stretching routines that conflict with new closer Mark Melancon’s preferred, pre-night game routine. Add Rosenthal’s contention that the Giants lack fiery personalties, leaving them cemented in a lethargy of losing, and you have something to talk about.
A bewildered Bochy did just that before Monday’s game.
“It’s pole vaulting over mouse turds, to be honest,” he said, when told of Rosenthal’s finer points.
Are the Giants a happy family then, despite losing at a record pace in a season they were built to compete for a fourth World Championship?
Probably not, but they do cut an unique swath across the greater canvas of losing. For one, big contracts are hard to move, and the Giants have a bunch of them. With the trade deadline roughly six weeks away, a market flooded with sellers won’t dislodge a gaggle of buyers. Only the most, desirable contracts will move, and the deals signed by Johnny Cueto, Hunter Pence and Brandon Belt, for examples, are expensive, complicated and downright undesirable.
Also, the Giants’ front office stubbornly has backed away from trade talks–for now–in hopes that some of the underperformers can turn it around. They can’t move everyone, and the majority of their roster wasn’t considered washed up until things collectively went south just two months ago.
For example, would you consider moving arbitration-eligible Joe Panik, a year after he was widely thought to be ascending to league batting champion status? Panik will be just 27 on Opening Day 2018, and he’s showing signs of progress after two, injury-marred seasons.
On Tuesday, Matt Cain gets the start for the Giants, Jeff Hoffman goes for the Rockies at 7:15pm.
AP File Photo: San Francisco Giants’ physical therapist Tony Reale, left, works with pitcher Madison Bumgarner in the right field of Wrigley Field before a baseball game between the Chicago Cubs and Giants Thursday, May 25, 2017, in Chicago. Bumgarner, has been on the disabled list since suffering a sprained AC joint in his pitching shoulder along with bruised ribs after a dirt bike accident earlier this season. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
By Morris Phillips and Michael Duca
SAN FRANCISCO– San Francisco Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner in rehab is expected back in two weeks. Bumgarner worked in rehab in two contests he’s gone three innings, thrown 33 pitches in three contests. He’s one of the best pitchers of our generation on a team that’s 24 games under .500. Bumgarner’s contract is coming up after this season and for all those reasons he needs to be back and on the field be healthy and that he’s got his act together. It looks like these rehabs are about to end and he’s ready to come back to the big club and pitch.
In his Major League career obviously he provides the opportunity for a jump start for a team that’s struggling if nothing else. Bumgarner can provide a kick start. Bumgarner’s injury was just one of a lot things that have gone wrong for San Francisco. A lot of players haven’t played well. It didn’t hurt but it didn’t help things when he got hurt. Obviously they need him, he’s obviously someone they looked to.
The Giants and Rockies opened a series on Monday night at AT&T Park both clubs bring a five game loss streak into the contest Morris and Michael cover the preview of this series.
New York Mets’ Rene Rivera, right, is met at the plate by teammate Curtis Granderson after hitting a solo home run against the San Francisco Giants during the fourth inning of a baseball game Sunday, June 25, 2017, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
By Jeremy Kahn
SAN FRANCISCO-It seems that the New York Mets have the San Francisco Giants number just eight months after the two teams met in the Wild Card game.
Rene Rivera hit two solo home runs, helping the Mets to a 8-2 victory over the Giants to complete the three-game sweep before a crowd of 41,137, the 524th consecutive regular season sellout at AT&T Park.
The Giants have now lost five in a row and have been swept six times during the 2017 season.
This is the first time that the Mets have swept the Giants at AT&T Park since July 8-10, 2013, and this is the second sweep by the Mets this season. They also swept the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park from April 10-12.
Rafael Montero pitched 5.2 strong innings, allowing just one run on five hits, while walking two and striking out seven on his way to his first win of the season against four losses.
With the five wins over the Giants during the 2017 season, this is the third time since the 2000 season that the Mets defeated the Giants five times in the same season. During the 2008 season, the Mets won five out of six and then during the 2009 season, the Mets won five out of eight.
The two home runs by Rivera, one by Jay Bruce and one by Curtis Granderson broke the team record for most home runs in a month in team history. The previous record was 45 set during the month of August-2016.
Seven different Mets players picked up two hits each, as the Mets pounded out 14 hits in the game.
During the three-game sweep by the Mets, they scored 24 runs on 44 hits and hit seven home runs.
Matt Moore lasted just 4.1 innings, allowing five runs on seven hits, while walking three and striking out five, as his record on the season is now 3-8.
Granderson got the Mets on the board in the top of the first inning, as he walked against Moore, went to second on a Moore wild pitch, then advanced an additional 90 feet on a fly ball by Asdrubal Cabrera and then scored on a Bruce groundout.
Lucas Duda picked up two hits on the afternoon, including a RBI double that scored Wilmer Flores to give the Mets a commanding 5-1 in the top of the fifth inning. Duda was also on base after he hit a single off of Moore prior to Rivera’s first home run in the top of the second inning.
This was the first multi-home run game of Rivera’s career, and the 15th multi-home run game of the season for the Mets, while the Giants as a team, only have two on the season. Madison Bumgarner hit two home runs against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on Opening day (April 2) and then five days later (April 7), Brandon Belt hit two home runs against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park.
Buster Posey drove in the both runs on the afternoon for the Giants, as he hit a sacrifice fly that scored Denard Span and then hit a ground ball to Cabrera that scored Conor Gillaspie from third base.
Hunter Strickland pitched the ninth inning for the Giants, and allowed a home run to Granderson.
Bruce hit his 20th home run in the top of the eighth inning, it is the ninth time in Bruce’s career that he hit 20 or more home runs in a single season.
NOTES: Jeff Samardzija looks to get the Giants back into the win column on Monday night, as he takes the mound in the opener of the three-game series against the Colorado Rockies, while German Marquez takes the mound for the Rockies.
Strickland is back with the team after sitting out the last six games due to the suspension he received from major league baseball after hitting Washington Nationals right fielder Bryce Harper with a pitch on May 29.
Austin Slater was forced to leave the game with a tight right hip flexor.
