Category: Uncategorized

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO-On a night where Bruce Bochy probably wanted to rest the bullpen, Madison Bumgarner helped out.

Bumgarner threw a complete game, striking out 12 and not walking a batter and the San Francisco Giants defeated the Houston Astros 3-1 before a crowd of 42,569, the 381st consecutive sellout at AT&T Park.

After allowing back-to-back singles to start the game, Bumgarner went into a zone and struck out the next seven batters in succession.

The last pitcher to strikeout seven in a row was Jonathan Sanchez, who did it on August 3, 2010 against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field.

Bumgarner tied the San Francisco-era record that was held by Sanchez and Juan Marchial, who did it on September 6, 1964 against the Philadelphia Phillies at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia.

Brandon Belt supplied the offense for the Giants, as he hit two home runs, giving him a career-high tying 17 home runs.

Belt also hit 17 home runs during the 2013 season.

This was the third multi-home run game of Belt’s career and second this season, as he also did it on August 1 against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Park.

As for the Astros, they gave list seven out of their last eight, including four in a row and are now 1-6 on their current road trip that ends on Wednesday.

Scott Kazmir went 5.2 innings, allowing three rubs on five hits, walking two and striking out three.

Kazmir also committed a career-high two errors on the evening, becoming the first Astros pitcher to do that since current Oakland A’s reliever Fernando Abad did it on April 17, 2011 versus the San Diego Padres.

Carlos Perez robbed Matt Duffy of a solo home run in the bottom of the first inning, as he made a leaping catch at the wall in centerfield.

By Jeremy Harness

Angelique Kerber won the fourth tournament of her WTA career on Sunday afternoon, as the German dug down deep and came out victorious at the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford.

Her 6-3, 5-7 and 6-4 win over the Czech Republic’s Karolina Pliskova was the first win for Kerber in two years, and it was sweet redemption for her having lost in heartbreaking fashion in the final match in this tournament just last year.

The two players were dead even in first-serve points won, but Pliskova was victimized by 10 double faults, while Kerber only committed four of them.

Kerber won the first set by breaking Pliskova’s serve three times and taking advantage of four double faults by the Check native. Pliskova, however, rallied to win a hard-fought second set, which had proved throughout this tournament to be a catalyst for victory – just ask Alison Riske, who was beaten by Elina Svitolina in Friday’s quarterfinal match after taking the first set and losing the second set by a similar 7-5 count.

Kerber, on the other hand, would not suffer the same fate. She played the third set with purpose, and while Pliskova committed three double faults, she only committed one of them. She also won 75 percent of her first-serve points and, in the process, broke Pliskova’s serve three times.

In the doubles final, the Chinese duo of Yi-Fan Xu and Saisai Zheng blew out Spaniards Anabel Medina Garrigues and Arantxa Parra Santonja in straight sets, 6-1 and 6-3.

Xu and Zheng overcame three double faults by winning 24 of their 33 first-serve points and saving three of their four break points. Meanwhile, they broke the serve of the Spanish pair five times throughout the match.

The Chinese duo set the tone early in the first set by winning an astounding 10 of 11 first-serve points while breaking the Spanish three times and not committing a single double fault. Things did not change very much in the second set, even though Xu and Zheng did commit three double faults.

They won 63 percent of their first-serve points in the final set while Medina Garrigues and Parra Santonja only won 50 percent of them.

By Jeremy Kahn

Not only did Jake Arrieta pitch a dazzling game for the Chicago Cubs, he came up big at the plate.

Arrieta hit a triple and scored a run in the bottom of the second inning, as the Cubs defeated the San Francisco Giants 2-0 at Wrigley Field.

The right-hander pitched into the eighth inning, as he allowed four hits to the struggling Giants, who have lost four in a row.

It was the first time that the Cubs have swept the Giants in a four-game sweep since 1977.

Kris Bryant and Addison Russell drove in the only runs on the afternoon.

Arrieta pitched 7.2 innings, as he improved to 13-6 on the season.

Jake Peavy pitched five innings, allowing two runs on four hits.

There was a scary moment in the top of the third inning, as Nori Aoki took a 92 mile per hour fastball to the head and left the game following the at-bat.

The Giants loaded the bases with nobody out in the top of the ninth inning, but closer Hector Rondon rebounded to strike out the side to end the game.

By Jeremy Harness

Karolina Pliskova made sure that the United States would not be represented on the court at Stanford come Sunday afternoon.

Pliskova, the fourth-seeded player in the Bank of the West Classic, took down American Varvara Lepchenko in straight sets, 6-2 and 7-5, in Saturday afternoon’s semifinal match.

Lepchenko was not sharp at all throughout the match, and although she was gallant in her effort in the second set, it was not enough as Pliskova punched her ticket into the championship match.

Lepchenko did not do herself any favors in the first set by committing three double faults, and Pliskova took full advantage by breaking her serve twice en route to an easy win in the opening stanza. The Czech also won 73 percent (11 of 15) of her first-serve points and did not commit a single double fault herself, further paving the way.

In the second set, Pliskova pounded four serves by Lepchenko for aces, and she further supplanted herself in the driver’s seat by winning 18 of her 21 first-serve points while also breaking lepchenko’s serve twice more.

Standing in Pliskova’s way of the championship is a Sunday showdown with German Angelique Kerber, who did not show any ill effects of her thrilling quarterfinal win in Friday’s nightcap, downed Ukrainian Elina Svitolina in straight sets, 6-3 and 6-1.

Kerber won 63 percent of her first-serve points throughout the match and used her strong ground game, which was on full display on Friday as well, to quickly gain the advantage.

As for Sunday’s matchup, Kerber and Pliskova have faced each other five times before, with Kerber holding a 3-2 advantage. Pliskova has won two of the past three head-to-head matches, but Kerber won the last one in June, to win the AEGON Birmingham Classic title.

By Jeremy Kahn

The resurgence of the Chicago Cubs this season is because of the emergence of four rookies on the club.

Rookie sensation Kris Bryant hit a home run, Addison Russell picked up his second career three-hit game, Friday’s hero Kyle Schwarber picked up two hits and finally Jorge Soler extended his hitting streak to eight games as the Cubs defeated the San Francisco Giants 8-6 at Wrigley Field. This was the third straight win for the Cubs, and also they have nine out of their last 10.

Bryant also drove in three runs, and Russell picked up a huge run-scoring single in a three-run eighth inning, as the Cubs are now on the verge of a huge four-game series sweep of the defending World Champions.

It was the first home run for the sensational third baseman since July 27 against the Colorado Rockies.

Brandon Belt hit a two-run home run for the Giants, while Hunter Pence added two hits and score two runs for the struggling Giants, who have three in a row and five out of their last seven and are 3-6 on the 10-game road trip that ends on Sunday.

Both Nori Aoki and Angel Pagan picked up run-scoring singles in the top of the ninth inning, but Justin Grimm was able to get Matt Duffy to ground out to end the game.

By Jeremy Kahn

Kyle Schwarber continues to hit the ball well, so Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon keeps sending him out there.

Schwarber picked up two hits and drove in two runs, as the Cubs defeated the San Francisco Giants 7-3 at Wrigley Field for their eighth win in their last nine games.

With the victory, the Cubs lengthen their lead in that second wild card spot to 1.5 games over the defending World Champion Giants. The Cubs are now 12 games over the .500 mark with a 60-48 record, the first time that they have been 12 games over .500 since they won the Central Division in 2008.

Dexter Fowler picked up three hits including a home run for the Cubs.

Jorge Soler added two hits with a single and a double, while Chris Coghlan also picked up two hits.

Jon Lester went seven innings, allowing two runs on six hits, while walking two and striking out three.

Ryan Vogelsong, starting in place of the injured Mike Leake lasted just four innings, allowing three runs on six hits.

Leake, who was acquired from the Cincinnati Reds at the trading deadline was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a tight hamstring.

Nori Aoki hit a home run for the Giants, but it was not enough and the Giants fall to 3-5 on their 10-game road trip.

By Jeremy Harness

STANFORD – And then there was one.

Varvara Lepchenko, fresh off of her upset of top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki the previous evening, kept rolling along Friday night in a 6-7, 6-2 and 6-3 runaway win over Mona Barthel in their quarterfinal match to stand as the only American remaining in this Bank of the West Classic.

This marks the second straight semifinal appearance in this tournament for Lepchenko, who was born in Croatia but moved to the U.S. when she was 15 and got her American citizenship 10 years later.

“I’ve done very well here before, so I felt confident coming in here,” Lepchenko said. “I love playing in California.

“I definitely feel the appreciation from the fans playing in tournaments in the United States.”

While Barthel was very inconsistent with her serve – the German had six aces but counteracted that with six double faults – Lepchenko focused on keeping the ball in play and relying on her ground game to get ahead in the match and stay there.

Lepchenko went to the net more often and put the pressure on Barthel, who showed her wear by committing 31 unforced errors on Friday to Lepchenko’s 19.

“My focus was not there (in the first set),” she said. “I tried to loosen up in the second set, and I think it worked out for me.”

She battled with pneumonia earlier in the year and said that she starting feeling like she was in better playing shape during the AEGON Eastbourne International, the week before Wimbledon, which was held in late June. She said that after Wimbledon, she began working primarily on improving her fitness, and she attributed that to her continued success this week.

” I worked very hard to get ready for the hard-court season, and it’s starting to pay off now,” she said. “It gives you confidence that you can find your way throughout the match. I realized that, hey, I’ve got that base now, so I should be able to do this.”

She will face Karolina Pliskova, who downed Ajla Tomljanovic in straight sets, 6-2 and 6-4, earlier in the afternoon, Saturday at 12pm PST.

Pliskova was dominant in every phase of the game, particularly in the first-serve category. She won 82 percent of her first-serve points – while Tomljanovic won only 58 percent – while also saving all six of her break points.

Besides Lepchenko, the other American in the quarterfinal round was Alison Riske, but she would join Lepchenko into the semis. She took the first set of her quarterfinal match against Ukrainian Elina Svitolina but dropped a hard-fought second set, 7-5, to extend the match.

From there, Svitolina shut the lights out on Riske by a 6-1 count, using three aces in the set as well as an edge in first-serve points to her advantage.

Svitolina now has a Saturday date (4pm PST, to be exact) with Angelique Kerber, who won an absolute thriller in Friday’s nightcap over Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska, 4-6, 6-4 and 6-4, in a match that lasted almost two-and-a-half hours.

Kerber dropped the first set and was down in both the second and third sets before rallying to win both of them, getting huge points when she needed them and responding to Radwanska’s clever ground game with some crafty shots of her own.

In the final set, Kerber trailed 4-3 but held serve to tie things up, and with the game tied at 30-30, Radwanska double-faulted to give Kerber the advantage. Kerber won the ensuing point to get a crucial serve break and take the 5-4 lead before holding serve to close out Radwanska and move on.

Kerber came away victorious despite the fact that she was beaten in two crucial statistical categories: Radwanska won 11 more points at the net while committing 32 unforced errors to Radwanska’s 28.