Photo credit: @JClarkNBCS
By Jeremy Kahn
Rhys Hoskins put the icing on the cake for the Philadelphia Phillies in the series and season opener against the San Francisco Giants.
Hoskins hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the fifth inning off of Tyler Beede, helping the Phillies defeat the Giants 4-2 at Citizens Bank Park.
Not only did Hoskins come up the biggest hit of the night, but new Phillies pitcher Drew Smyly was outstanding in his second start for the Phillies.
Smyly gave up one run in six innings in that first start and was just as amazing tonight against the Giants.
The left-hander went seven innings, allowing zero runs, while scattering four hits and struck out five.
The Giants finally got on the board in the top of the eighth inning, as Stephen Vogt and Brandon Belt each pinch-hit home runs off of Phillies reliever Nick Pivetta; however, that was all the offense that the Giants could muster in the series opener.
Phillies closer Hector Neris did not allow a run in the top of the ninth inning, as he picked up his 19th save of the season.
Beede gave up two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, as the Phillies took a 2-0 lead and then was done for the night after Hoskins hit his 23rd home run of the season that also scored Bryce Harper, who walked in the inning.
Maikel Franco got the Phillies on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning, as he drove in J.T. Realmuto and then Adam Haseley singled in Cesar Hernandez to give the Phillies a 2-0 lead.
Beede went five innings, allowing four runs, walking two and striking out four, as he fell to 2-4 on the season.
NOTES: This was the Giants seventh straight loss at Citizens Bank Park, who came into the game winners of 12 out of 15 and 19 out of 24 prior to the loss.
UP NEXT: Jeff Samardzija will take the mound on Wednesday evening for the Giants, while the Phillies will send Vince Velasquez to the hill.
Photo credit: @sfgiants_fanly
By Jeremy Harness
Two weeks ago, the Giants were sure-fire sellers at the trade deadline, as they were in no position co contend and general manager Farhan Zaidi already saying that he plans to rebuild sooner or later.
Now, it appears that the Giants could very well put those rebuilding plans on hold for now, as they have suddenly found themselves in the thick of the National League’s wild-card race following a 17-4 spurt to start the second half of the season.
Zaidi now has a decision to make, and the team’s weekend series against the San Diego Padres will be a very important one, a series that starts Friday night at Petco Park.
Despite the changed state of the team, the Giants could still make the trades that have been widely discussed for most of this season, notable starter Madison Bumgarner and closer Will Smith, and get the rebuilding process off the ground.
On the other hand, they could decide to capitalize on their suddenly-winning ways and add to the roster, and therefore, become buyers at the deadline, which is this Wednesday, if they truly believe that it can make a run in the postseason and make manager Bruce Bochy’s last season a memorable one.
But it appears the moment of truth starts Friday night, when Jeff Samardzija (7-8, 4.08 ERA) takes the hill for the Giants opposite San Diego’s Joey Lucchesi (7-5, 4.27 ERA).
Meanwhile, Bumgarner (5-7, 3.66 ERA) is scheduled to take the ball against Padres righty Chris Paddack (6-5, 2.84 ERA). He has given up nine hits combined in his last six outings, and he has appeared to have flipped the switch and reminded people of the form that saw him carry the Giants to the 2014 World Series crown.
Photo credit: bdtonline.com
By Jerry Feitelberg
OAKLAND — The Oakland A’s returned home Thursday to start a four-game series against their division rival Texas Rangers. The A’s lost four out of seven on the road trip and were hoping to reverse their fortunes at the expense of the Rangers. The A’s started lefty Brett Anderson, and Texas countered with righty Ariel Jurado. The A’s started well as they scored three runs in the first inning and it looked as if they were on their way to a victory. The Rangers’ Jurado composed himself after the dismal start and allowed the A’s just one hit in the next six innings. Brett Anderson pitched well for four innings. He met his Waterloo in the fifth when the Rangers scored five times and took the lead for good. The Rangers scored five more in the sixth and one in the seventh to win 11-3.
The A’s put three on the board in the bottom of the first. A’s leadoff hitter Marcus Semien started the rally with a double to left-center. Matt Chapman worked Rangers’ starter Ariel Jurado for a walk to put men on at second and first with no out. Matt Olson flew out to deep center. Semien tagged and went to third. Canha walked to load the bases. Ramon Laureano followed with a single to drive in Semien and Chapman. Canha went to third. A’s DH Khris Davis drove in Canha with a sac fly to right. The A’s owned an early 3-0 lead.
The Rangers plated five runs in the top of the fifth to take the lead 5-3. Three consecutive singles produced the Rangers first run of the game. Anderson retired Tim Fedorowicz for the first out. The next hitter Shin-Soo Choo singled to load the bases. Rangers’ left fielder Danna Santa doubled down the right-field line to drive in Cabrera and DeShields to tie the game. Choo stopped at third. Elvis Andrus hit a sac fly to right to drive in Choo with the fourth run of the inning. A’s manager Bob Melvin removed Anderson from the game and brought in Yusmeiro Petit to pitch. Petit gave up a single to former San Francisco Giant, Hunter Pence. Santana scored, and the Rangers lead 5-3 midway through the fifth.
The Rangers blew the game open in the top of the sixth. The big blow was Danny Santana’s first career grand slam. The Rangers scored a run earlier in the inning when A’s reliever Lou Trivino hit Logan Forsythe to start the inning, Trivino walked Cabrera. DeShields laid down a bunt for a hit to load the bases with no out. Trivino retired Fedorowicz for the first out. Lefty Wei-Chung Wang was now pitching for Oakland. Choo singled to drive in Forsythe and Santana followed with his big blast. Texas leads 10-3 after six.
The Rangers added a run in the seventh to end the scoring for the night.
Game Notes: With the win, the Texas Rangers improve to 52-51. The A’s drop to 58-46. Oakland remains in second place in the AL West. The A’s would be the number 2 Wild Card if the playoffs were to start today. They trail the Cleveland Indians by 2 1/2 games for the top Wild Card spot. The A’s are a 1/2 game ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays and one game ahead of the Red Sox in the race for the second Wild Card.
The Rangers’ Ariel Jurado was the winning pitcher. He is 6-6 for the season Brett Anderson went 4 2/3 innings and allowed seven hits and five runs. Anderson’s record drops to 9-6.
A’s relievers Lou Trivino, and Wei-Chung Wang had rough outings Thursday night. Trivino went 1/3 of an inning. He hit a batter, then walked a hitter, and gave up a single before being lifted from the game. His line was one hit and three runs. Wang went 1 2/3 innings and gave up four hits and three runs. He threw the pitch to Danny Santana that left the park for Santana’s first career grand slam. Santana finished the night with six RBIs.
The Rangers announced that their slugging first baseman Joey Gallo will be out for at least four weeks. Gallo will be having surgery to repair a broken hamate bone in his right hand.
Time of game was two hours and 45 minutes. 11,854 fans watched the A’s go down to defeat.
Up Next: The A’s will have to regroup Friday night. Players have to have short memories and remind themselves that each game is a new portrait. The A’s will send Daniel Mengden to the hill. Mengden is 5-1 for the year. He will be opposed by Lance Lynn. Lynn has a record of 12-6.
Photo credit: @SFGiants
By Jeremy Kahn
SAN FRANCISCO — Pablo Sandoval sent the San Francisco Giants players and fans into a frenzy with one swing of the bat.
Sandoval hit a pitch barely off the ground and over the left field wall in the bottom of the 13th inning off of Brad Brach, as the Giants defeated the Chicago Cubs 5-4 in 13 innings before a crowd of 39,747 at Oracle Park.
That was two inches off the ground again like the ball he hit down the line yesterday and then to go to the opposite field like that in this ballpark, it’s a testament to the flight of the ball, said Cubs Manager Joe Maddon.
Brach got Buster Posey to strike out for the first out of the inning, and on the first pitch to Sandoval, the Giants won their third straight game.
It was the fifth career walk-off for Sandoval, and his first since August 9, 2018 against the Cubs, when he hit a single to left field.
This was the Giants fifth consecutive win by one run, and they are 24-10 this season in one run games, the best record in the major leagues. They are 10-2 in extra-inning games this season, including 4-0 on this current home stand.
Overall, the Giants have won three in a row, 10 out of their last 11 and 17 out of their last 20 game to move to 52-50 on the season.
The last time that the Giants won 17 out of 20 was from July 25 until August 16, 2001.
Sam Coonrod pitched a perfect 13th inning to pick-up his first win of his major-league career. Coonrod struck out Javier Baez and Kris Bryant before getting Anthony Rizzo to ground out to Joe Panik for the final out of the inning.
Things were looking good for the Giants, as they entered the top of the eighth inning with a slim 4-3 lead and the bullpen in full force.
Unfortunately, that was not the case, as Kris Bryant doubled, then went to third on a Rizzo groundout back to Reyes Moronta and after a walk to Peninsula native Daniel DeScalso, Tony Watson gave up the game-tying single to Jason Heyward. Watson was able to regroup and struck out Robel Garcia to end the threat.
I thought we battled back in the eighth inning. Anytime you play that long and hang in there I mean it’s nice to see nobody give up and still go out there and compete. It just wasn’t our night tonight, said Bryant.
Madison Bumgarner went seven innings, allowing three runs on six hits, walking just one and striking out seven, but he did not fare in the decision.
The Cubs took the lead in the top of the first inning, as Baez doubled off of Bumgarner, then Bryant singled in Baez; however, the inning ended when Pablo Sandoval, who was playing in the shift near second base, made a great play to on a ball hit by Rizzo, as he tagged Bryant and threw to Brandon Belt to complete the double play.
That was the lead until the bottom of the second inning, as the Giants tied up the game, as Alex Dickerson doubled to lead off the inning and then slid away from the throw by Kyle Schwarber to the plate on a Yastrzemski sacrifice fly.
Unfortunately, the tie would not last long, as the Cubs retook the lead in the top of the third inning, as Bryant singled to score Baez, who singled and then stole second and third.
Dickerson got the rally started, as he hit a solo home run to left field to tie up the game, then Brandon Crawford singled, which was followed by a Mike Yastrzemski walk and then Kevin Pillar hit a Yu Darvish offering to the left-center field power alley to give the Giants the lead.
Darvish went six innings, allowing four runs on six hits, walking just one and striking out six, as like Bumgarner, he did not fare in the decision. He also saw his 13.0 inning scoreless streak come to an end in the bottom of the second inning, and the four runs allowed marked his first runs since July 3 against the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park.
NOTES: The last time that the Giants picked up four walk-off wins in a six-game span was in the year that they moved to San Francisco in 1958. During that season, the Giants defeated the Milwaukee Braves, the Cincinnati Reds and the St. Louis Cardinals from July 5-13, 1958.
Rizzo went 0-for-5 on the night, as his 13-game hitting streak came to an end.
UP NEXT: Tyler Beede closes out the home stand on Wednesday afternoon, as he looks for his fourth win of the season for the Giants. Jon Lester will take the Oracle Park mound for the Cubs, as he looks to get his 10th win of the season.
Photo credit: @Athletics
By Jerry Feitelberg
OAKLAND — The A’s continued their winning ways as they won their fifth in a row to down the Seattle Mariners 9-2 at the Oakland Coliseum on Tuesday night.
This was the 14th game of the season between the two teams. Even though the Mariners entered the game with a record of 39-58, they held a 7-6 advantage over the A’s. The M’s sent lefty Marco Gonzalez to the hill to stop the A’s. Gonzalez had beaten the A’s three times this year and was hoping to win his fourth. The A’s Daniel Mengden was given the task of slowing down the Seattle offense.
Seattle took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the second when catcher Omar Narvaez led off the inning with a solo homer. It was his 15th of the year and the third in his last two games against the A’s. Narvaez has taken over as the guy that loves to kill the A’s. Mitch Haniger had that role, but he is on the injured list.
The A’s plated two runs in the bottom of the third. With one out, Josh Phegley singled. Marcus Semien doubled to put men on at second and third. Matt Chapman singled to drive them in to put the A’s ahead 2-1.
The A’s put three on the board in the fifth. Gonzalez retired the first two A’s hitters he faced. With a 3-2 count on Marcus Semien, Gonzalez threw a pitch that appeared to be strike three. Home plate umpire Brian O’Nora took a step back and looked as if he was going to call Semien out on strikes. He didn’t, and Semien had a free pass. The Matts, Chapman, and Olson, went back-to-back to put the A’s ahead 5-1. For Chapman, it was his 22nd of the year. For Olson, it was his 20th.
The A’s scored one on the sixth. Ramon Laureano doubled with one out. Laureano took off for third. Gonzalez threw behind him to second baseman Dee Gordon. Gordon’s throw to Kyle Seager was not on the mark and sailed past Seager. That miscue allowed Laureano to score. The error was the 96th of the year for the M’s They have committed more errors than any other team in baseball this year.
In the seventh, Semien doubled when his blooper to right field fell in safely as three Mariners had a chance to make the putout. Chappie doubled to drive in Semien. Chappie has five RBIs in the game. The onslaught continued as Oakland scored two more in the eighth. Singles by Laureano and Pinder put men on at first and second. The runners advanced on a wild pitch, and both scored on Phegley’s single.
With two out in the ninth and Blake Treinen pitching, Omar Narvaez continued his hot-hitting against the A’s when he homered again. Treinen retired the next batter to end the game.
Game Notes: With the win, the A’s improve to 54-41. They have won five in a row, 13 out of the last 16, and 18 out of the previous 23. The A’s are tied with Cleveland for the second Wild Card slot and trail the Tampa Bay Rays by one game for the first slot. They also gained a game on the AL West leader Houston Astros and now trail them by 4 1/2 games.
Daniel Mengden won his fourth game in a row and is now 5-1 for the year. Mengden has not walked a batter in his last three starts.
Asked what his secret to success was, Mengden replied: “Keep them off balance and go from there.”
Mengden threw strikes on the first pitch to 16 of the 25 hitters he faced. He went 7 innings and allowed four hits and one run. The only mistake he made was the gopher ball that he served to Omar Narvaez. Gonzalez went six innings and allowed seven hits and six runs. He is 10-8 for the year.
Matt Chapman hit his 22nd dinger and has knocked in 59 so far. Matt Olson hit his 20th and has an 11-game hitting streak going.
Umpire Brian O’Nura left the game after the end of the fifth inning. He had been complaining of blurred vision to the trainers, and after missing the call, he went to the trainer’s room for treatment. Jame Hoye took over calling balls and strikes.
Time of game was two hours and 44 minutes and 18,718 fans watched the A’s win again.
Up Next: The A’s sent J.B. Wendelken to Las Vegas to make room for Homer Bailey who was acquired in a trade with the Kansas City Royals on Sunday. Bailey will make his A’s debut Wednesday afternoon against the Mariners at 12:37 pm.
Photo credit: @SFGiants
By Jeremy Kahn
Buster Posey came up with the biggest hit of the night when the San Francisco Giants needed it the most.
Posey launched a grand slam off the scoreboard in left-center field, helping the Giants to a 10-7 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park.
The grand slam by Posey was the fifth of his career, and it was set up after Joe Panik led off the inning with a single, Mike Yastrzemski walked and Brandon Belt singled. Posey took the first pitch he saw from Matt Albers over the wall.
Will Smith blew his first save of the season in the bottom of the ninth inning, as he gave up a leadoff triple to Christian Yelich and then two batters later, Mike Moustakas tied up the game, when grounded out to Joe Panik.
Brandon Crawford gave the Giants the lead in the top of the ninth inning, as he hit a solo home run off of Brewers closer Josh Hader and it was the second home run in as many innings that Hader surrendered.
Tyler Austin tied up the game in the top of the eighth inning, as he hit a solo home run to right field.
The Brewers took the lead in the bottom of the sixth inning, as Ryan Braun doubled Yasmani Grandal and Moustakas to tie up the game and then took the lead when Eric Thames singled in Braun.
Evan Longoria hit a two-run home run in the top of the sixth inning to give them their first lead of the game that scored Posey.
Austin Slater tied up the game in the top of the fifth inning, as he an opposite field home run that scored Kevin Pillar in front of Slater.
Keston Hiura gave the Brewers the lead in the bottom of the second inning, as he singled off of Giants starter Shaun Anderson.
Thames doubled in Braun in the bottom of the fourth inning to give the Brewers a 2-0 lead and then one-half inning later, Slater tied it up.
Anderson went five innings, allowing four runs on six hits, walking three and striking out eight, as he did not fare in the decision.
It was a season-high eight strikeouts for Anderson, who struck out Yelich on three different occasions.
Brewers starter Chase Anderson left with the lead, as he also went five innings, allowing two runs on three hits and striking out five.
Hiura drove in the final run of the game in the bottom of the 10th inning, as he hit his eighth home run of the season off of Mark Melancon.
Despite blowing his first save of the season, Smith ended up picking up his second win of the season.
NOTES: This was the first time that the Giants hit more than four home runs since April 23, 2014 against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field, when they hit six.
UP NEXT: Madison Bumgarner makes his return to the mound, as he is ready to pitch after leaving Sundays game at Oracle Park, when he was smacked on the elbow on a Jose Martinez liner.
Zach Davies will take the mound for the Brewers, as he makes his second start of the season against the Giants. Davies lost to the Giants on June 14 at Oracle Park, and is 0-2 with a 2.81 ERA in his three career starts.
Photo credit: @OracleParkSF
By Jeremy Harness
For the first time in a while, the Giants will not play on the 4th of July. However, they will still use this time to get prepared for a big weekend series while riding a wave of momentum.
They are coming off a three-game sweep of the San Diego Padres, and they will now wait for the St., Louis Cardinals to get into town, as the two teams will play a three-game series starting Friday night at Oracle Park.
The series does not pack the same punch that it has in years past – with the Giants still stuck in the National League West basement while the Cardinals hanging on with a 42-42 mark – but because of the sheer history of this pairing, it still carries meaning nonetheless.
Drew Pomeranz will take the ball for the Friday opener against Cardinals righty Dakota Hudson (6-4, 3.40 ERA). Pomeranz has been a mess this season, with a 2-8 record and a 6.25 ERA. However, he momentarily beat that back in his last start, throwing five shutout innings at the Arizona Diamondbacks last Saturday.
Hudson is coming off an outing where he did not make it out of the second inning while giving up seven runs – but amazingly only one of them earned – which included a pair of homers in losing to the same San Diego team the Giants just swept.
However, he was brilliant in the start prior to that, going seven strong and surrendering only a run to the Angels in a 2-1 win.
Madison Bumgarner (5-7, 4.02 ERA) is still wearing a Giants uniform for the time being and has gotten into a nice rhythm lately, will go Saturday night, and he will go up against Miles Mikolas (5-8, 4.34 ERA), who appears to be going in the opposite direction after a hot start.
Bumgarner has gotten the win in each of his past two starts, beating the Colorado Rockies and the Diamondbacks, surrendering three runs in his 13 innings combined.
Mikolas has lost six of his last seven decisions, but he is coming off a decent outing that saw him give up three runs over six innings, although he did not ultimately factor in to the decision.
Coming off a brilliant outing that saw him go eight solid innings in a convincing win over San Diego Monday night, Jeff Samardzija (5-7, 4.32 ERA) will take the hill Sunday for the Giants against Cardinals righty Jack Flaherty (4-5, 4.90 ERA), who is coming off a rather-shaky outing that saw him give up four runs over 4 1/3 innings against Seattle on Tuesday.
by Marko Ukalovic and London Marq
STANFORD, Calif- The San Jose Earthquakes put on a show in front of a record setting crowd in defeating the Los Angeles Galaxy 3-0 in the first round of the annual California Classico on Saturday evening at Stanford Stadium.
With the win, San Jose is currently on a six game unbeaten streak (5-0-1) and for the moment jumped ahead of Minnesota FC and the Houson Dynamo for fifth place in the Western Conference with 25 points. Los Angeles is still in second place with 31 points.
It didn’t take long for San Jose (7-6-5) to draw first blood and send the 50,850 in attendance, the most to ever attend a Classico game, into a frenzy. In the 11th minute, Jackson Yueill’s free kick from 30 yards out found Magnus Eriksson. He fed a pass over to Vako who took one dribble to the right and fired a shot past Galaxy goalkeeper (and former Quake) David Bingham into the far left corner for his fourth goal of the season and third in the past two games.
The Quakes controlled the play from the beginning and all the way up to the end of the first half despite the possession being even at 50%. They had six shots on goal compared to only two for the Galaxy.
“It was a great spectacle”, said Quakes head coach Matias Almeyda, coaching in his first Cali Classico. “It’s always important to win. We know we have to keep on this path. We have improved and we should keep on improving.”
Los Angeles (10-7-1) was finally able to get a couple of scoring chances near the end of the first 45 minutes. Dave Romney’s shot from 10 yards out was saved by Quakes goalkeeper Daniel Vega in the 38th minute. Galaxy leading goal scorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s header off a set piece from 6 yards out was also thrawted away by Vega.
“We had a few good chances”, said Galaxy midfielder Perry Kitchen. “But the broke us on the counter twice.”
The Quakes back line did well to collapse in the middle of the box to keep Ibrahimovic and the rest of the Galaxy’s offense from creating quality chances.
San Jose put the game away in the 83rd minute as Vako led a counter attack. He crossed the ball going from left to right over to Shea Salians, who entered as a substitute in the 75th minute, and he rifled a shot into the upper left corner to beat Bingham for his fifth goal of the season.
“I’ve just been blessed to be put in good situations in this game”, said Salians who played his first game back from an injury. “It’s always fun to play well and score in front of 50,000 people. I think we could’ve scored more goals. It was a good game for us.”
San Jose added on another goal just two minutes later in the 85th minute when Tommy Thompson carried the ball in from the right slot, dribbled around a Galaxy defender and then fired a shot that deflected off a Galaxy defender into the back of the net for an own goal that gave the Quakes a commanding 3-0 lead.
“I told him (Almeyda) ‘quiero esta en la concha’ I want to be on the field”, said Thompson regarding how he has been able to adapt to switching to play as a defender. “If one of the best coaches in the world says you can play this position, in your mind you gotta think I can play this position as well. It’s been new for me but it’s been a special year for me as well.”
Vega was huge in the net stopping all five shots on goal for his second consecutive shutout in just three days.
GAME NOTES: Los Angeles midfielder Flavio Alvarez was issued a yellow card in the 67th minute for an illegal tackle attempt.
Salians was isssued a yellow card for taking off his jersey in his post goal celebration.
Since 2003 San Jose is now 13-8-3 at home versus Los Angeles.
UP NEXT: The Quakes take on Minnesota FC on Wednesday 7/3 at 5:00pm at Allianz Field.
Photo credit: @SFGiants
By Jeremy Harness
Thursday night’s game at Dodger Stadium got off to a rather-funny start but finished in thrilling fashion indeed.
After some major-league trolling of Giants starter Madison Bumgarner by the Dodgers – more on that later – the Dodgers jumped out to a 6-0 lead, and it appeared to be a carbon copy of what the previous two games looked like.
The Giants, however, mounted a tremendous comeback in the last three innings but came up painfully short in a 9-8 loss that wrapped up a four-game series in Southern California that saw the Giants win only the opening contest.
They put four runs on the board in the top of the ninth and even had the tying run on second base with nobody out against closer Kenley Jansen.
That was when a bit of controversy took shape. Tyler Austin laid down a nice bunt down the first-base line, and first baseman Cody Bellinger whipped around and fired to third to nab Stephen Vogt. However, the play was reviewed, and replays appeared to show Vogt’s foot reaching third as the ball hit third baseman Justin Turner’s glove.
However, Vogt was ruled out, and the played a huge role down the stretch. The next batter, Buster Posey, hit a sharp liner that center fielder Alex Verdugo ran down near the warning track, and the runners were forced to retreat back to first and second, respectively.
Had Vogt been ruled safe, he would have likely tagged up from third and tied the game. As it stood, Brandon Belt’s liner to right found Kyle Garlick’s glove and ended the game.
Thursday night marked Bumgarner’s first start in Los Angeles since his blowup at Max Muncy after the latter touched him up for a home run at Oracle Park last week, and the Dodgers were clearly ready for him.
As Muncy stepped up to the plate against Bumgarner, the team was happy to show on its jumbotron screen in center field that the last time he had faced the left-hander resulted in a 426-foot shot that is now 25 feet under water in McCovey Cove.
The Dodgers’ PA staff went on to play “Under The Sea,” which was a hit song on the soundtrack of “The Little Mermaid,” before playing Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the Water.”
Muncy continued his ownage of Bumgarner, as he singled in a run in the first inning to give the Dodgers a 1-0 lead.
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