A’s win second consecutive game downing Cleveland 3-2 in a walk-off on Saturday

Published on by Charlie O. MalloneeLeave a comment
CLE 1
Photo/Graphic: @Athletics

By Charlie O. Mallonee

OAKLAND — Don’t look now but the Oakland Athletics are on a roll. After beating the Cleveland Indians 3-2 on Saturday, the A’s have now won two consecutive games. They are 4-1 on this homestand versus teams from Ohio — Cleveland and Cincinnati. The A’s record at the Coliseum has improved to 14-9 for 2019.

This fact may come as a surprise to A’s fans — their team has a 5-4 record in the month of May to date. In what has seemed to be an atmosphere of gloom and doom for the A’s recently, in reality, things have actually have been going fairly well. Oakland is no longer in the cellar in the AL West and are just a 1/2 game out of third place.

The “opener” is back

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Aaron Brooks works against Cleveland Photo: @Athletics

The A’s used Liam Hendricks as an “opener” on Saturday against the Indians. Hendricks pitched one scoreless inning allowing just one hit and striking out one batter. This was the first time Oakland used an “opener” in 2019 while they employed the concept nine times in 2018.

Aaron Brooks took over in the second inning and worked four innings for the A’s. He gave up one run (earned) off four hits. Brooks struck out four Cleveland hitters and walked three. He also allowed one home in the fifth inning to Leonys Martin (6).

Cleveland used just two hurlers

Trevor Bauer made the start for Cleveland and lasted for seven innings. He threw 122 pitches and struck out 10 Oakland batters. Bauer allowed two runs, but neither run was earned. Bauer did not figure into the final decision.

A.J. Cole worked the final 1.1-innings and took the loss.

Cleveland tied it up in the top of the ninth

The A’s held a 2-1 lead as Cleveland came to bat in the top of the ninth inning. Blake Treinen was summoned from the bullpen to close out the game. Well, that is not how things would go for Oakland.

Jordan Luplow led off the inning with a single to left. Mike Freeman laid down a sacrifice bunt that moved Luplow up to second base. Carlos Gonzalez came in as a pinch hitter and struck out swinging. Leonys Martin then hit a single through the hole on the left side of the infield that allowed Luplow to come home and score the tying run.

The A’s walk it off again

With the score tied 2-2, the A’s had the opportunity to end the game in the bottom of the ninth inning. With A.J. Cole on the hill, Matt Olson led off the inning with a walk. Kendrys Morales then singled to center moving Olson up to second base. Stephen Piscotty laid down a sacrifice bunt that moved Olson to third and Morales to second. Ramon Laureano then singled to right field that drove Olson home to score the winning for Oakland.

The A’s are 1-14 when going homerless in a game

Oakland entered the game 0-14 when not hitting a home run a game. The A’s broke that streak today as they beat Cleveland without the aid of a round-tripper. Houston and Seattle have not won a game without hitting a home run.

Chapman loves playing Cleveland

Matt Chapman has reached base safely in his eight career games versus Cleveland. He is batting .483 (14-for-29) with nine runs, five doubles, a triple, three home runs, four RBI, and four walks versus the Northern Ohio team.

Up Next

The three-game series will conclude on Sunday when Cleveland will send Jefry Rodriguez (0-2, 2.41 ERA) to the mound in search of a win. The A’s will call on Daniel Mengden for the first time this season. The righthanded mustached pitcher has been recalled from Triple-A Las Vegas after making six starts in the minors. The first pitch is scheduled for 1:07 PM.

Sharks Beat Blues 6-3 in Game 1 of NHL Western Conference Final

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE — The San Jose Sharks defeated the St. Louis Blues 6-3 Saturday, taking a 1-0 lead in the Western Conference Final series. Timo Meier and Logan Couture created a stir with two goals each, while forwards Joe Pavelski and Kevin Labanc added goals to complete that hefty score. Blues goals came from Joel Edmundson, Ryan O’Reilly and Tyler Bozak. Sharks goaltender Martin Jones made 28 saves for the win, while Jordan Binnington made 19 saves for the Blues.

After the game, Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer was asked about how his team shut down the Blues’ formidable Tarasenko line, just as they had shut down Colorado’s top line in the previous series. DeBoer said:

St. Louis is built a little different. Obviously, they have that line, but I think they also have a couple other lines that are very good too. Their third line might have been their most dangerous line in the last series and I thought was good again tonight, got a goal in the third period. So they’re built differently. I think this is going to be more of a team effort to shut down their group and if we can get the match ups we want, great. If we can’t, the guys out there are going to have to get the job done.

Series predictions have some trends to rely on. By the end of the second round, the Sharks seemed to have shed their habit of giving up a goal in the first minute of the game, and they had scored the most goals in the 2019 playoffs. They had also given up the most third period goals. St. Louis was second in scoring third period goals and had given up 10 fewer goals per game than the Sharks. Both teams have had formidable penalty kills, but less reliable power plays.

The Sharks started the scoring early in the first after taking the puck away from the Blues in the neutral zone. Logan Couture and Gus Nyquist broke away from the Blues defense at the blue line and ended up 2-on-1 against Joel Edmundson. Nyquist passed across and Couture put it away for his 10th of the playoffs. The time of the goal was 3:31.

That first goal ignited the Blues, at least in terms of hits. Sundry contact was ignored by the officials, including a curious pair of hits on Tomas Hertl and an elbow to Timo Meier’s head.

The Blues tied the game with an end-to-end play by Jaden Schwartz at 9:13. Schwartz took Logan Couture down behind the Blues net without any reaction from the officials. He then skated the puck all the way down and shot it off of Joel Edmundson. It was Edmundson’s first of the playoffs. Assists went to Schwartz and Vladimir Tarasenko.

Joe Pavelski got the lead back for the Sharks in a 5-on-3 power play at 11:24. Brent Burns sent the puck to him off to the side of the net. Pavelski stopped the hard pass and shot it. Binnington got his pad in the way and Pavelski had to reach in and give the puck a couple of extra taps to get it over the pad. It was Pavelski’s fourth of the playoffs and his second since returning from injury. Assists went to Burns and Erik Karlsson.

Despite having to kill two penalties, the Blues led the Sharks in shots in the first period, 10-9. The Sharks had the edge in face-offs, winning 59%.

Kevin Labanc added to the Sharks’ tally at 7:41 of the second. He skated in down the left boards then took a hard right at the face-off circle. He took the shot as he exited the circle and the puck went through three skaters. The traffic may have even disguised the fact that Labanc was moving to shoot, so the goaltender had no chance. An assist on Labanc’s fourth of the playoffs went to Joe Thornton.

Ryan O’Reilly scored a tricky goal at 8:58 to make it 3-2. He got control of a sluggish rebound near the blue paint, drew it back until Martin Jones came out for the shot, then went around the goaltender and nudged it over the line. Assists went to David Perron and Sammy Blais. It was O’Reilly’s third of the playoffs.

Timo Meier scored at 10:24 after a beautiful poke check by Logan Couture at the blue line, keeping the puck in. Meier was pursuing the checked skater and was ready to turn and take it back to the net. He avoided the pursuing defensemen and waited until Binnington was down, then, while skating left, reached right to guide the puck around the goalie’s outstretched skate and into the net. Couture got the assist. It was Meier’s fourth of the playoffs.

The Blues got their first power play at 13:23. The Sharks did not let any shots get through but one of the attempts sent Goodrow limping to the bench.

The Sharks added another at 17:34 of the second, this one attributed to Timo Meier. Meier was behind the net and trying to move the puck forward.  Blues defenseman Vince Dunn got in the way. His skate was in the perfect position to redirect the puck in behind his own goaltender. Assists went to Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Gus Nyquist.

The second period shots were again very close, this time 11-9 Sharks. The Sharks won 58% of the second period face-offs.

Their third period scoring success in these playoffs made it all the less surprising when the Blues made it 5-3 at 13:01 of the third.

After several attempts to Jones’ right, the puck got across to the other side where Tyler Bozak was waiting to put it in. It was Bozak’s third of the playoffs. Assists went to Pat Maroon and Vince Dunn.

The Blues pulled their goaltender with 4:39 left in the game. The Sharks had their hands full defending those six skaters, but managed a couple of shots at the empty net. Logan Couture finally got one of them in the net at 17:39. Assists went to Joe Pavelski and Evander Kane.

Fisticuffs followed at the Sharks end. Barclay Goodrow was sent off after intervening in someone else’s dispute, for roughing against Robert Bortuzzo. Goodrow also got a misconduct against Bortuzzo. Bortuzzo was sent off for roughing against Goodrow and received an additional misconduct. They each got five minutes. Brenden Dillon and Oskar Sundqvist got two minutes each for roughing. All of that went down at 17:55.

For a clue to what the Blues will be working on before Game 2, here is what Blues head coach Craig Berube had to say after Game 1:

I thought that third period we got to our game, we were aggressive, we’re on the forecheck, controlled the puck in the offensive zone. We didn’t get there enough tonight. In the first period it was ok, I thought it was a pretty good first period other than the penalties. But second period we just got caught in that three-quarter ice game by them, they did a good job checking, forced some things on us and we got caught in some turnovers and they capitalized on them.

Game 2 will be on Monday in San Jose at the SAP Center at 6:00 PM PT.

Giants fall to Reds 5-4

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Photo credit: @Reds

By: Lewis Rubman

Cincinnati: 5 | 10 | 1
San Francisco: 4 | 9 | 0

By Lewis Rubman

SAN FRANCISCO — Taking the mound against Cincinnati this evening, Jeff Samardzija had, at 3.16, the lowest ERA of any starter on the Giants’ staff. His opponent, Anthony DeScalafani, checked in with a 3.65 ERA. The two right-handed hurlers had identical won-lost records of 2-1. They hadn’t gone up against each other before today, but each had faced the other’s team once this season. On May 5, The Shark gave up five runs in as many innings in a no-decision against the Rhinelanders. The next day, DeScalafani pitched six innings and surrendered six tallies to earn a win over San Francisco.

It didn’t take long for the Reds to get to Samardzja. Nick Senzel led off with a five pitch walk and two pitches later rode home on the slumping Joey Votto’s triple to center field. It looked as though the Giants´ hurler

Would escape further damage when he struck out Eugenio Suárez and Jesse Winker swinging. But then the also slumping Yasiel Puig lined a home run into the left field bleachers and the Redlegs were up 3-0.

The Giants fought back in the bottom of the first with a two out home run to center by Evan Longoria. They threatened further on a two strike single to left center by Pablo Sandoval, the bobblehead honoree of the day. Mac Willliamson moved the Panda up a base with a single to left. But Brandon Crawford grounded out, DeScalafani to Votto at first, to end the inning.

Each pitcher got a hit his first time at bat, DeScalafani, batting in the number eight slot, got a single in the second; his grounder to third killed a bases loaded, two out threat the next inning. Samardzja also got his in the second inning, a single to center that set up a two on, one out chance for the Giants to tie the game, but Panik flew out to right and Vogt grounded out to second.

The Giants did even the score in their half the fourth when, after Crawford and Pillar had singled, Puig tried to make a diving catch of Steven Duggar’s sinking liner to right. The ball rolled towards the fence, and Crawford and Pillar raced home. After Samardzja struck out, Joe Panik’s sac fly to center broke the tie and gave the Giants a 4-3 lead.

Bochy decided that 85 pitches and a one run lead was enough for his starting pitcher, and so he brought in Trevor Gott to take over mound duty at the start of the visitors’ fifth. Eugenio Suárez’s definitive line drive home run to left immediately retied the score.

In keeping with the game’s see-saw nature, manager Dave Bell lifted DeScalafani in favor of Robert Stephenson, who kept San Francisco off the boarded until Josh VanMeter pinch hit for him an inning later. By then, Mark Melançon was on the bump for the Giants.

The pitchers’ parade continued. Amir Garret for Cincy in the sixth. Reyes Moronta for San Francisco in the seventh. He surrendered a tie-breaking Texas League single to Derek Dietrich that brought Suárez home from third, which he’d reached on a double and a passed ball. David Hernández for the Reds in the seventh, when he struck out the side on 15 pitches, and the eighth, when he also retired the side in order, but fanning only two. Tony Watson for the Giants in the eighth and Wil Smith, who closed the proverbial barn door in the ninth. Raisel Iglesias closed out the contest for Cincinnati with a 1-2-3 ninth, culminating with the strike out of a pinching hitting Brandon Belt.

The evening’s work left Cincinnati with a record of 18-22 and San Francisco with a balance of 16-23. The win went to Amir Garrett (now 2-1) , while the loss was hung on Reyes Moronta (1-3). Raisel Iglesias got the save, his eighth.

The series finale is scheduled for 1:05 pm tomorrow afternoon. Right-hander Tyler Mahle (0-5, 3.69 ERA) will start for Cincinnati. He lost to the A’s on May 7 in spite of having given up only one run in 6 1/3 innings of work because Mike Fiers threw a no-hitter. Madison Bumgarner (2-4, 3.99 ERA) will take the mound for the Giants.

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Liam Hendriks for “openers”

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Photo credit: athleticsnation.com

By: Amaury Pi-Gonzalez

On Saturday, the Oakland Athletics against the visiting Cleveland Indians, started a game with Liam Hendriks, as an “opener” for the first time since October 3, 2018 at Yankee Stadium for the one-game Wild Card elimination game, which the Yankees won 7-2. After Hendriks was slated to open the game and pitch only the first inning, he allowed no runs, walked one and struck out one. A’s manager Bob Melvin followed with a parade of pitchers: Aaron Brooks, Yusmeiro Petit, Lou Trivino and Blake Treinen, who was accredited with the A’s 3-2 win over the Indians.

Thirty years ago, there were 622 complete games in MLB. Last season, just a total of 42 and just 13 pitchers threw for 200-plus innings. That was the way pitching has gone, and with just about every team hitting lots of home runs so far this season, with the exceptions of the Marlins and Giants, pitching is so deluded now, that I would not be surprised “openers” are here to stay.

I know it is the wrong sport, but the great Al Davis used to say “just win baby” and the same thing applies in baseball. Use whatever formula works. Soon the National League will adopt the DH rule. It is inevitable, you know it and everybody knows it. So there are some general changes and regulations that MLB will establish, but there are others that just happen and the “opener” is one of those.

Pitching is becoming a commodity as hard to find as diamonds, the hardest mineral to find on earth. Not many years ago, pitching coaches will tell their starters on the rotation “give me six good innings”.  Today, that is for the “opener” give me one good inning — three outs in the first inning and your are out of the game.

I am not the one who likes to predict the future, but I predict one record that will never be broken is that of Cy Young, who pitched 7,356 innings in 22 seasons. Of course, different eras. Back then, the only count was that of the attendance, but no count of pitches thrown. But that was then and it’s something that we will never see again.

Bob Melvin is one of the best managers in the game. In a perfect world, he would have had at least a semi-set rotation and would have never used the “opener”, but it is not easy to win a game in the majors.

After he retired and did TV commentary, I once asked my all-time favorite manager Sparky Anderson: “In your opinion how many games does a manager win during a season using pure strategy?” He told me: “Maybe 10 to 15 games.” Sparky and many others never had to manage “openers” because a pitcher that begins a game, if not abused in the first inning, is expected to go a long way.

The defensive shift, is slowly changing as hitters are adjusting. but you better get used to the “opener”, and if it becomes a common thing, there will also be a stats for openers and their success. Why not? Baseball is filled with changes. Remember there was no RBI recorded until 1920.

So, the tale of the story, you better get use to “openers”, because they could be as valuable as closers.

Earthquakes lose to Revolution 3-1

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Photo credit: @SJEarthquakes

By: Ana Kieu

The San Jose Earthquakes looked to make it two wins in a row in Gillette Stadium against the New England Revolution on Saturday.

The Quakes’ starting lineup featured Daniel Vega, Nick Lima, Florian Jungwirth, Harold Cummings, Tommy Thompson, Anibal Godoy, Jackson Yueill, Eric Calvillo, Magnus Eriksson, Shea Salinas, and Danny Hoesen.

Shea Salinas made his 250th Quakes appearance. Salinas currently serves as the Quakes captain. Former Quakes captain Chris Wondolowski, one of the Quakes’ highest-paid players, was benched in favor of Salinas.

The Revolution got on the board first. Juan Agudelo scored the game’s first goal in the 18th minute.

The Revolution doubled their lead in the 29th minute. Cristian Penilla struck the game’s second goal from the spot.

Shortly after, the officials called a penalty on Harold Cummings, who allegedly grabbed Teal Bunbury by his upper body, including his head and neck area to hold him. The penalty went to video review and the call stood.

The Quakes trailed 2-0 at the end of the first half. The Quakes were well-aware that they had a lot of work to do in the second half.

The Quakes’ first substitution occurred in the 46th minute. Vako entered the game to replace Eric Calvillo.

The Quakes’ second substitution occurred in the 61st minute. Chris Wondolowski entered the game to replace Harold Cummings. As a result, Wondolowski made his 300th career appearance and opened up the Wondo Watch.

Siad Haji made his first ever Quakes appearance in the 67th minute. However, the Quakes’ decision to put the Somali American midfielder, who was born in Kakuma, Kenya, into the game failed to produce results as the Revolution tripled their lead in the 68th minute. Carles Gil scored the game’s third goal.

The Quakes scored a late goal in the 88th minute. Vako recorded the game’s fourth goal to end a possible shutout by the Revolution. Moreover, Vako put together a classy finish to represent San Jose in a positive manner.

It wasn’t the Quakes’ night in New England. San Jose lost by a final of 3-1.

The Quakes return home to host the Chicago Fire for Quakes Hall of Fame Night on Saturday, May 18 at 12:30 pm.

NHL Stanley Cup Eastern Conference Finals podcast with Matt Harrington: Bruins with 1-0 series lead, host Hurricanes for Game 2 Sunday night

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Photo credit: @BDCBruins

On the NHL Stanley Cup Eastern Conference Finals:

#1 Six games in the second round of the playoffs, the Boston Bruins won four of out those six games to defeat the  Columbus Blue Jackets. Was this a series that the Bruins from the start an indicator that they would win?

#2 The third round began on Thursday night with the Bruins taking Game 1 of the series against the visiting Carolina Hurricanes 5-3. The Bruins scored early and held the lead. Does scoring early for the B’s often means big problems to their opponents?

#3 The Bruins got two power plays within 28 seconds. Marcus Johansson and Patrice Bergeron scored power play goals.

#4 Bruins forward Charlie Wagner, who contributed with a goal himself, said that the power plays no doubt have made the difference in the B’s Game 1 win by two goals.

#5 Boston’s famous sports bar and grill near TD Waterhouse Garden named Hurricanes had to think of a way to fix their name as the Bruins were facing off against the Hurricanes. The bar cleverly came up with a banner that read “Beat the” over the Hurricanes sign above the restaurant awning.

Matt Harrington does the NHL Stanley Cup Eastern Conference Playoffs podcast each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

NHL Stanley Cup Western Conference Finals podcast with Len Shapiro: Sharks-Blues meet for the sixth time for the Conference Finals

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Photo credit: @Str8ToTheBanc

On the NHL Stanley Cup Western Conference Finals podcast with Len:

#1 This is going to be the sixth time that the San Jose Sharks and St. Louis Blues have met in the Western Conference Finals. In those six meetings, the Sharks have won three of those series.

#2 The Sharks in 2016 played their only Stanley Cup Finals and lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Are the Sharks a different team this season after facing elimination to the Vegas Golden Knights and taking out the Colorado Avalanche in seven games? Is this team more on a mission then that 2016 team?

#3 Sharks captain Joe Pavelski contributed to the cause with a goal after coming back from a critical concussion in Game 7 of the first round. How much did Pavelski inspire this team?

#4 In postseason play, the Sharks forwards Logan Couture and Tomas Hertl are in a two-way tie for second in NHL playoffs for scoring. Defensemen Brent Burns and Hertl have nine goals and 14 points so no doubt the Sharks are getting some offensive support.

#5 The Sharks open up the best of seven Saturday night at SAP Center in San Jose for Games 1 and 2. Len sets this series up for us.

Len is covering the NHL Western Conference Finals podcasts Saturdays at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Remembering former San Jose State football head coach Dick Tomey (1938-2019)

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Photo credit: sjsuspartans.com

By: Ana Kieu

If you’re a longtime San Jose State Spartans football fan, you’d be well-aware of the former football head coach Dick Tomey. Tomey died of lung cancer on Saturday at the age of 80. Tomey was born in Bloomington, Indiana on June 20, 1983.

Tomey wasn’t only a coach, but also a mentor, friend and former football player. Tomey played college football at DePauw University from 1957 to 1960.

Here’s the official press release:

When Dick Tomey was named San Jose State University’s football head coach on December 29, 2004, he described himself as a “competitor.”

“I believe San Jose State University can be successful in college football. I always felt San Jose State had tremendous possibilities. The opportunity to be the head coach is really appealing and compelling,” he said upon taking the job.

In recent months, Mr. Tomey competed against lung cancer until the evening of May 10 at age 80.

“Coach Tomey was a legend. He had the unique ability to reach into your soul and get the best out of you. He was different. He loved the game of football. But it was more about the players, the coaches, the families, the TEAM. You knew he sincerely cared about the men that played and coached for him,” said San Jose State football head coach Brent Brennan, one of Mr. Tomey’s many coaching protegees.

“It’s rare when someone you work for mentors and teaches you everyday, even when you’re done working for them, but Coach Tomey is that for me. His impact is incredibly far reaching. I will miss him everyday. I love you Coach Tomey.”

His professional life as a football coach dated back to 1962 when he was a graduate assistant coach at Miami University of Ohio for eventual Big Ten Conference head coaches Johnny Pont, later of Indiana and Northwestern, and Glenn “Bo” Schembechler, who would go to fame at Michigan. There would be stops as an assistant coach at Northern Illinois, Davidson, Kansas and UCLA. While at UCLA, he worked for San Jose State grad and later Rose Bowl and Super Bowl winning head coach Dick Vermeil. Later in his career, he also would serve as an assistant at Texas, the San Francisco 49ers and at Hawaii, where he was the head coach from 1977 to 1986.

Mr. Tomey also had college football head coaching opportunities at the University of Arizona (1987 to 2000) and San Jose State University (2005-09). His head coaching record was 183-145-7. After the 2018 season, he still ranked in top-50 for Football Bowl Subdivision head coaches for most games coached (19th, 335 games coached) and games won (39th with 183).

Mr. Tomey took eight teams to bowl games, seven at Arizona and the 2006 Spartans to a New Mexico Bowl victory. He was a two-time conference “Coach of the Year” – 1981, the Western Athletic Conference Coach of the Year with Hawaii and 1992, the Pac-10 Coach of the Year with Arizona.

He was most proud of being a FBS head coach to win nine games in a season at each one of his three schools and for a lineage of head coaches and assistant coaches. Current head coaches Brent Brennan of San Jose State and Dino Babers at Syracuse, and former head coaches Rich Ellerson, June Jones, Pat Hill, Tom Williams and Ron McBride are among that group.

Mr. Tomey would be known as a turnaround specialist taking Hawaii, Arizona, and San Jose State to unprecedented success on and off the field. In each case, his organizational and people skills and knowledge of college football were invaluable.

“He was a ‘beacon’ for me and countless others. I turned to him often for his counsel, guidance and support. Spartans everywhere are grieving his passing as we reflect on how blessed we were to know him. Our warmest thoughts and prayers to Nanci and his entire family,” said San Jose State University athletics director Marie Tuite.

At Hawaii (1977-1986), he was the first coach to lead the Rainbows to a top-20 national ranking. Home attendance more than doubled from his first season to his final one in 1986. When he moved on to the University of Arizona as the Wildcats’ head coach in 1987, his Hawaii teams manufactured a 63-46-3 win-loss record that included eight winning seasons.

The University of Arizona (1987-2000) was next. There were seven bowl game appearances with four bowl victories and the 1993 and 1998 teams that won at least 10 games. Prior to his arrival, the Wildcats won one bowl game in 85 seasons. Arizona was the only program to beat national powerhouses Mimai (Fla.) and Nebraska in the decade of the 1990’s.

“Not only was it (Arizona) the most enjoyable five years of my life, Coach Tomey helped me grow into the man I am today,” said former University of Arizona defensive lineman and New England Patriots All-Pro linebacker Tedy Bruschi.

After 14 seasons at Arizona and one-season stints with the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League in 2002 and the University of Texas for the 2004 season, Mr. Tomey accepted the San Jose State football head coaching position.

“He’s the type of guy who can help you through hard times and really wants to make you win,” said former San Jose State quarterback Adam Tafralis.

The 2006 Spartans finished with a 9-4 win-loss record, were invited to play in a post-season bowl game for the first time in 16 seasons and won the inaugural New Mexico Bowl over host University of New Mexico.

More importantly, Mr. Tomey provided the necessary leadership and vision to significantly overhaul the academic deficiencies that plagued the San Jose State football program at the time he became head coach. San Jose State became the model institution among NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) for academic reform.

“I’ve been fortunate to have three head coaching jobs in the highest level of college football. The one here at San Jose State may be the most rewarding. We’ve come so far and accomplished so much in five years. Terrific young men took a leap of faith when we started in 2005 and put the program back on a sturdy foundation for future San Jose State teams,” Mr. Tomey said in his 2009 retirement announcement as the Spartans’ head coach.

In appreciation for his continued athletics program involvement and impact, the Dick Tomey Class Act Award is presented each spring at the SAMMY awards sponsored by the San Jose State Student-Athletes Success Services (SASS) unit.

Richard Hastings Tomey was born on June 20, 1938 in Bloomington, Ind. Mr. Tomey graduated from DePauw University in 1960 where he played football and baseball.

In addition to his coaching accomplishments, he is a past president of the American Football Coaches Association (2009), was inducted in the DePauw University Hall of Fame in 1994 and a 1999 recipient of a “Provost Award” as the University of Arizona ‘s “Outstanding Teacher” – the first coach in the school’s history to be so honored by the university’s faculty.

A Celebration of Life will be announced at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, the Dick Tomey Legacy Fund has been established through the Positive Coaching Alliance (501c3). 100% of these funds will go directly to providing scholarships and programming for underserved youth in the markets where Dick spent the majority of his years in the community as the Head Football Coach.

Visit www.positivecoach.org/TomeyFund to designate the Hawaii, Arizona or Bay Area chapter as the beneficiary to the Dick Tomey Legacy Fund.

Chapman’s First Walk-Off Homer Gives A’s 4-3 Win Over Tribe

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Photo credit: @Athletics

By Matthew Harrington

OAKLAND–The Oakland Athletics walked off 4-3 against the Cleveland Indians, thanks to Matt Chapman’s first career walk-off home run in the bottom of the 12th inning at the Coliseum on Friday night.

The game was back-and-forth with both the A’s and Indians trading leads. Joakim Soria (1-2, 4.66 ERA) picked up the win after pitching two lights-out innings with three strikeouts while Brad Hand (2-2, 1.62 ERA) wound up the loser after the first batter he faced, Chapman, took him deep over the left field wall.

Until Chapman came to the plate to start the bottom of the 12th inning, neither team had so much as a baserunner in extras. Chapman worked a 2-0 count against Hand, but the Indians closer pumped two strikes over the plate that Chapman looked at. Hand missed badly with the 2-2 slider, then delivered a slider over the heart of the plate that Chapman bounced on for the walkoff and a double-digit (10) season homer total.

Frankie Montas was scheduled to pick up the win, pitching six innings with seven strikeouts to only one walk with the A’s ahead 3-2. He gave up two runs, an RBI double for Jake Bauers and a fielder’s choice in the top of the second, but Lou Trivino blew the save to tie the game 3-3 on Francisco Lindor’s sacrifice fly in the top of the seventh.

The A’s scored two runs off opener Cody Anderson, plating a run in the bottom of the first on a wild pitch, then tying the game in the bottom of the second on a Josh Phegley single. Ramon Laureano took a low and away slider from Neil Ramirez out of the park in the bottom of the sixth, his fourth homer of the season to give the A’s a 3-2 lead at the time and allow Montas to come out of the game ahead at the time.

Reds shutout Giants 7-0

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Photo credit: @Reds

By: Lewis Rubman

Cincinnati: 7 | 9 | 0
San Francisco: 0 | 4 | 2

SAN FRANCISCO — At game time, the Giants and Reds looked pretty evenly matched. Both teams were last in their divisions, with almost identical won-lost records of 16-22 for Cincinnati and 16-21 for San Francisco. Although the Giants took three of the four games in Cincinnati, they outscored the Reds 31-30.

On the mound for the Queen City was right-handed Luis Castillo, the NL Pitcher of the Month for April, sporting a 3-1, 1.97 ERA for the season. About the only blemish on Castillo’s performance was his loss to the Giants on May 5, when he gave up four runs (all earned) in seven innings.

Facing Castillo was the promising Dereck Rodríguez, off to a disappointing start of 3-4, 5.75 ERA. The Reds were responsible for much of that ugly statistic, having scored eight earned runs in the five innings he pitched in Cincinnati on May 4. In that short span, Rodríguez surrendered four home runs.

Rodríguez flinched first, in the top of the second when, with one out, Tyler Austin muffed Derek Dietrich’s fly ball to left and José Iglesias followed up with a single to the same field. Castillo, batting in the eighth slot, failed to advance the runners when he popped a bunt attempt that was caught by Stephen Vogt, who came so close to doubling Iglesias at first that it took a replay to declare him safe. Tucker Barnhart rose to the occasion and singled Dietrich home. Nick Senzel brought in Iglesias and Barnhard with a double to deep center that Stephen Duggar couldn’t hold on to after colliding with the fence at the 399 foot sign. Senzel, in turn, scored on Eugenio Suárez’s Mark Ellis double down the left field line. On a score card, none of the four runs was earned, but it’s hard to say.

Rodríguez held the Red Legs scoreless for the next three frames before being lifted for a pinch hitter in the bottom of the fifth. He left after having thrown 85 pitches, walking four, striking out two, and surrendering five hits, as well as the four unearned runs we’ve already noted.

Zach Duke relieved Castillo to start the seventh. Cincinnati’s ace had thrown 103 pitches, of which 62 were strikes, over six scoreless innings. He allowed two hits and five bases on balls, striking out 11, almost two an inning. His replacement, Zach Duke, wasn’t as effective, giving up a two out leg double to Joe Panik, followed by a single to the red-hot Stephen Vogt. At this point, the versatile Michael Lorenzen entered the game and retired the side, getting Evan Longoria to force Vogt out at second.

Meanwhile, Nick Vincent and Sam Dyson kept the Reds off the board through the eighth. But Travis Bergen, who started the ninth inning was’t effective. After allowing a one out walk to Joey Votto, he was the victim of a Texas League single to right by Suárez. Jesse Winker moved each of them up a base on a swinging bunt to Vogt. Yasiel Puig and followed with a two RBI single.

All the Giants could muster in their half of the ninth was a walk by Panik.

Castillo got the win, Rodríguez was handed the loss.

Tomorrow evening at 6:05 pm, Cincinnati’s Anthony DiSciafani (2-1, 3.65 ERA) will duel the Giants’ Jeff Samardzija (2-1, 3.16 ERA). The game will also feature a Let Pablo Pitch bobblehead give away. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.