Samardzija looks good, despite Giants’ hard-fought 3-2 loss to Cardinals

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Photo credit: @mlbtraderumors

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO — With the exception of one bad inning, it was a sufficient return for Jeff Samardzija to the San Francisco Giants’ starting rotation before game three versus the St. Louis Cardinals.

Carlos Martinez helped out his own cause, as he doubled in the top of the third inning, as the Cardinals defeated the Giants 3-2 before a crowd of 39,606 at AT&T Park on Saturday afternoon.

Martinez’s double scored Kolten Wong, who singled to lead-off the inning, went to second on a Francisco Pena ground out and then scored on the Martinez double.

With the loss, the Giants have lost five out of their last six following the sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks from June 29 to July 1.

During this six game stretch, the Giants are hitting .167, as they are 31-for-186 at the plate against the Colorado Rockies and the Cardinals.

The Cardinals added two runs in the top of the fourth inning, as Dexter Fowler hit a sacrifice fly that scored Marcell Ozuna. After the Ozuna singled with one out in the inning, Paul DeJong then singled Ozuna to third base.

Wong picked up his second hit in as many at-bats, and then Francisco Pena drove in DeJong with a sharp single of his own.

Through the first three games of the series, Wong has multi-hit games in all three games and is batting .500 (6-for-12) with a double, triple and two runs batted in.

Brandon Belt drove in the Giants’ lone run of the afternoon in the bottom of the sixth inning, as he doubled off the right field wall to score Gorkys Hernandez, who led off the inning with a single.

Belt got back in on the act in the bottom of the eighth inning, as he singled off of Cardinals reliever Jordan Hicks, who replaced Martinez in the bottom of the frame.

Alen Hanson singled with one out, went to second on a Hicks wild pitch and then scored on Belt’s third hit in four at-bats.

The 41 runs batted in by Belt lead the team, as he drove in both runs in the one-run loss.

Martinez went seven innings, allowing one run on six hits, while walking no one and striking out three, as he improved to 6-4 on the season.

Samardzija ended up going five innings, allowing three runs on seven hits, walking just one and striking out three, as he fell to 1-5 on the season.

This was the first game all season that the Giants’ top three starters of Madison Bumgarner, Johnny Cueto and Samardzija were active at the same time. Bumgarner missed 60 games, Cueto missed 70 games and Samardzija missed 53 games.

NOTES: Bumgarner will take the mound on Sunday, as the Giants look to salvage the finale and he attempts to raise his record to 2-3 on the season. The Cardinals will look to take the series, as they will send Jack Flaherty to the mound, as he looks to improve to 4-4 on the season.

As expected, Joe Panik was placed on the 10-day disabled list with a left groin strain, and the contract of Chase d’Arnaud was purchased from Triple-A Sacramento.

To make room for d’Arnaud on the 40-man roster, Hunter Strickland was transferred to the 60-day disabled list.

With Samardzija coming off the disabled list, Chris Stratton was optioned to Sacramento. Prior to being optioned to Sacramento, Stratton was 8-6 on the season with a 4.93 earned run average.

Since the 2017 season, the Giants have lost six out of their last eight games against the Cardinals, and have been outscored 48-23 during that stretch.

UP NEXT: The Giants and Cardinals conclude their four-game series on Sunday afternoon at 1:05 pm PDT.

A’s crash and burn in the road opener in Cleveland Friday night, losing 10-4

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CleOlsonHR
Matt Olson hit his 19th home run of 2018 in the second inning Photo: @Athletics

By Charlie O. Mallonee

The Oakland Athletics have feasted on the American League Central Division. One of the reasons the A’s record improved so dramatically in late June and early July was their performance versus the AL Central teams.

On Friday night, it looked like that feast would continue as the A’s jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead on home runs by Dustin Fowler in the first inning and Matt Olson in the second inning. Oakland (48-40) appeared ready to make it a short game for Indians starter Carlos Carrasco.

Cleveland (49-37) had a completely different idea about the game. They put a run up on the board in the bottom of the second which started them on a march to victory. The Indians added three more runs to their total in the home half of the third inning to take a 4-2 lead, and they would never relinquish that lead.

The Indians would score six additional runs while the A’s would add two runs to their total. Cleveland won game one 10-4.

CleTheJac
It was a sellout crowd at Progressive Field in Cleveland Photo: @Indians

This game was about hitting

Cleveland

  • The Indians scored their 10 runs on just 10 hits — that’s efficiency.
  • Cleveland recorded 10 hits and struck out just four times. That is not the norm in the days of teams recording more strikeouts than hits.
  • They scored those 10 runs and had only three batters walk.
  • Cleveland went 4-for-10 with runners in scoring position and left just two runners on base.
  • The Indians scored their 10 runs without hitting a home run. Their key weapon was the two-base hit. They hit three doubles in the game
  • Lindor, Brantley, Ramirez, and Encarnacion all had two-hit games. Ramirez and Encarnacion recorded three RBI each.

Oakland

  • The A’s scored their four runs off 11 hits. Only one Oakland batter walked.
  • The A’s hitters also struck out 11 times for a one hit to one strikeout ratio — not unusual this season but not what any manager wants to see from his team.
  • Mark Canha led the Oakland hitting attack going 3-for-4 with an RBI (33). One of his hits was his 14th double of the season.
  • Fowler, Olson, and Semien all had two-hit nights. Fowler also picked up two RBIs.
  • Oakland went 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base.

It was a night of many pitchers

Indians

  • Carlos Carrasco (9-5) made the start for Cleveland and picked up the win. He worked 5.1-innings giving up three runs (all earned) on seven hits. Carrasco struck out seven A’s and walked none. He did allow two home runs.
  • Cleveland used five relief pitchers. Four of them pitched less than an inning.
  • Dan Otero — who pitched for the A’s for three seasons — pitched the final two innings of the game for the Indians.
  • No save was awarded.

Athletics

  • Paul Blackburn started the game for the A’s and worked 4.0 innings. He gave up six runs (five earned) on seven hits. Blackburn struck three and walked one. He was charged with the loss and his record falls to 2-3.
  • Yusmeiro Petit worked 2.0 innings of no-hit baseball. He walked one and struck out one.
  • Emilio Pagan really struggled as he pitched 0.2 innings allowing four runs (all earned) on just three hits.
  • Santiago Casilla came in to close out the seventh inning for Pagan.
  • Chris Hatcher worked a perfect eighth inning for Oakland against the Indians.

Up next

The A’s and Indians will play game two of the three-game series on Saturday at 1:10 pm PDT. The “ageless one” Edwin Jackson (1-0, 2.13) will start for Oakland and the very tough Corey Kluber (12-4, 2.64) will take the hill for the Indians.

McCutchen comes through in the clutch; Giants edge Cardinals 3-2

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Photo credit: @MLBONFOX

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO — Two of the veterans came through when the San Francisco Giants needed it the most, in the late innings versus the St. Louis Cardinals.

Hunter Pence came through in the clutch with a pinch-hit to lead-off the bottom of the seventh inning, and after a Buster Posey intentional walk, Andrew McCutchen singled to right to score Pence to give the Giants a 3-2 victory over the Cardinals before a crowd of 37,996 at AT&T Park on Friday night.

Alen Hanson sent Pence to second with a sacrifice bunt, and then eventual losing pitcher John Brebbla intentionally walked Posey and McCutchen singled to score Pence from second.

The Cardinals took an early 1-0 lead off of Dereck Rodriguez in the top of the second inning, as Kolten Wong double in Paul DeJong. The inning could have been worse for the Giants, but the smart thinking of Brandon Crawford put a stop to that.

Jedd Gyorko hit a triple to right-center, but Rodriguez got DeJong to ground to Crawford, who home to Buster Posey, and who tagged Gyorko out.

The Giants tied up the game in the bottom of the second inning without the benefit of a hit, as both Brandon Crawford and Pablo Sandoval each walked. Joe Panik then lined out to right field that sent Crawford to third base, and with Gorkys Hernandez at the plate, Jon Gant unfurled a wild pitch that allowed Crawford to score the tying run.

Panik’s single snapped a 0-for-16 streak with that single in the bottom of the fourth inning.

Sandoval gave the Giants in the bottom of the sixth inning, as he launched a Gant pitch and put it into the left field bleachers for his seventh home run of the season.

The Cardinals tied up the game in the top of the seventh inning, as after Rodriguez retired the first two batters of the inning, he allowed a single to DeJong and then Wong tripled to right field to tie up the game.

That would be the last pitch that Rodriguez would throw, as Bruce Bochy replaced the rookie with Reyes Moronta, who promptly struck out Bader to end the Cardinals’ threat.

Rodriguez went 6.2 innings, allowing two runs on five hits, walking two and striking out one, but he did not fare in the decision.

Over his last three starts, Rodriguez has an earned run average of 1.35, as he has given up just three earned runs in 20 innings.

Gant went six innings, allowing two runs on five hits, walking three and striking out five for the Cardinals.

Moronta faced just one batter, as he struck out Bader to end the seventh inning and picked up his fifth win of the season.

Brebbla pitched one inning, allowing one run on three hits, walking one and striking out one, as his record fell to 1-2 on the season.

With his scoreless inning in the top of the eighth, Tony Watson became just the third Giants reliever in the San Francisco era to throw 19 or more scoreless at home in a single season.

Watson joins Gary Lavelle, who threw 21 scoreless innings in 1979, and Greg Minton, who threw 27 scoreless innings in 1980.

NOTES: Jeff Samardzija will make his return to the starting rotation on Saturday afternoon, and it will be his ninth start of the season. The Cardinals will send Carlos Martinez to the mound, as he will look for his sixth win of the season.

Panik was forced to leave the game with a strained left groin after he came up limping on a double by a Gorkys Hernandez in the bottom of the fourth inning.

The second baseman will undergo an MRI on Saturday, and it could result in Panik returning to the disabled list for the second time this season.

This is the second of 34 consecutive games for the Giants in the Pacific Time zone. The next game outside of the time zone will take place on August 17, when the Giants open a three-game against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ballpark.

Outfielder Heliot Ramos (World) and Right-Handed Pitcher Shaun Anderson (United States) will represent the Giants in the Futures Game at Nationals Park on July 15 in Washington, D.C.

UP NEXT: The Giants and Cardinals face off again Saturday afternoon at 1:05 pm PDT.

Oakland A’s podcast with Joey Friedman: A’s having best run of the season; Still chipping away at first place–now 8 1/2 back

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Photo credit: @Athletics

On the Oakland A’s podcast with Joey:

The A’s are on a roll, playing their best ball of the season at 8-2. They finished the homestand at 4-1–an improvement over some past homestands they’ve had this year. Friday night, the A’s will start Paul Blackburn (2-2, 6.46 ERA). Blackburn has struggled in some of his outings. A’s pitching coach Scott Emerson said Blackburn has improved in bullpen practices. Last Friday, Blackburn beat Cleveland, going 6.1 innings and didn’t allow a run.

A’s pitcher Edwin Jackson will get the start for Oakland on Saturday his third start of the year. Jackson is throwing well. He’s allowed two or less runs in his last two starts. The A’s are 8 1/2 games out of first place behind the Houston Astros and the Seattle Mariners, who just ended their eight-game win streak, are in second.

Joey Friedman does the A’s podcasts each Friday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

 

That’s Amaury News and Commentary–World Cup 2018: Without México, television ratings suffer in the US

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nbcsports.com photo: Mexico manager Juan Carlos Osorio hit out at the referees after Mexico lost 2-0 to Brazil in their round of 16 clash in Samara on Monday

By Amaury Pi Gonzalez

There is little doubt that when México was eliminated by Brazil’s Neymar who beat the “Tricolor” 2-0 on Monday on July 2nd, especially in the United States. Telemundo felt like a meteor falling on planet Earth. Sad for México who opened their World Cup participation with a win over the last champion, Germany. During their match against Brazil, México caused problem to Neymar’s squad very early, but at the end, the best team won. The coach for the Mexican team was totally frustrated and blamed the loss of México on the referees, which is as absurd of a statement I can remember during a World Cup.

Fox and FS1 also suffered from the very beginning of this tournament as the U.S. were not there. The 48 group stage telecast on Fox and FS1 averaged 2.069 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. This was down 42% from the 3.54 million average on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC four years ago. For U.S. audiences, that was already a bad start and now after México was eliminated, only a small portion of the real Fútbol aficionados are watching all the way to July 15th when a new champion will be crowned.

During the 1994 USA World Cup, Edson Arantes do Nascimiento, better known as Pelé, told me during an exclusive interview I did with him for Telemundo Network, “El fútbol será grande aqui en los Estados Unidos de America y será un gran deporte, seguido por todo el público una vez tengan una selección dentro de la Copa Mundial, que pueda luchar y llegar lejos.”

Translation: “Fútbol here in the United States of America will be a great sport and followed by the people once the U.S. had a good team inside the World Cup and a good team that can go far.”

From the very beginning, this 2018 Russia World Cup was a disadvantage to the television networks carrying this event here in the U.S. At the end, it proved to be a double whammy for a lack of audience. First, no U.S. representation, then on July 2nd, México was eliminated. Mexican-born residents are by far the largest audience on Spanish television here in the U.S. and the elimination of México was the biggest story for the ratings this year on Telemundo, who also owns the rights to Copa America.

Telemundo Deportes has acquired U.S. Spanish language rights for next year’s Copa America in Brazil. The Copa America 2019 is about the championship of South America, and will include invited guests Japan and Qatar and will be played from June 14th to July 7th. This year’s World Cup was the first time that Telemundo had the rights to all its games. Univisión usually dominated that production in the past. Telemundo is part of Comcast’s Corporation/NBC Universal Incorporated.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Oakland A’s play-by-play Spanish radio talent and does News and Commentary at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

San Francisco Giants podcast with Michael Duca: Cueto gets lit up in return; Giants coming off sweep in Colorado and are looking for some knock from the lineup

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abc 7 file photo: San Francisco Giants starter Johnny Cueto who made his return from the DL on Thursday night against the St Louis Cardinals at AT&T Park

On the SF Giants podcast with Miguel:

The San Francisco Giants–coming off a sweep in Colorado–came back to AT&T Park on Thursday night for a 10-game homestand. Michael takes a look how much the team was looking forward to coming back after getting swept in Colorado.

The Giants faced tough pitching from the Rockies. They couldn’t solve starter Tyler Anderson. Anderson went eight innings, two hits, allowed two walks, and nine strikeouts. A great line for a pitcher who kept the Giants off balance.

The Giants’ second baseman Brandon Crawford owns the NL Central. He’s hitting .517 (15-29) against the NL Central pitching. Crawford’s .517 clip is tops for any MLB player against any MLB division.

The Giants’ Derek Rodriguez gets another turn Friday. A great outing last Saturday. going 6.1 innings, five strikeouts, two walks, six hits and 102 pitches. Rodriguez was actually a desperation choice with Jeff Samardjiza and Johnny Cueto on the disabled list. Rodriguez really panned out during Samardjiza and Cueto’s absence for the Giants’ pitching staff.

Michael Duca does the SF Giants podcasts each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Wilson, McBride combine for 52 in 84-80 win over Chicago

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20180705 - A'ja Wilson - Kayla McBride 01

Just over halfway through their inaugural season, the Aces have found a solid offensive 1-2 punch.

Kayla McBride scored 28 points while rookie A’ja Wilson dropped 24 in an 84-80 win over the Chicago Sky at the Mandalay Bay Events Center on Thursday night.

“We rode our two big horses with McBride and Wilson, but scratched out a win,” said head coach Bill Laimbeer. “We got big rebounds when we had to and we’ll take the home win.”

Laimbeer believes that the two have elevated their play as the season progressed.

They (Wilson and McBride) are counted on to do the bulk of our scoring and everybody in the league knows it,” said Laimbeer. “Teams are trying to set defenses to stop them but they’re just playing at all-star caliber right now.”

Wilson and McBride have established a chemistry together that is now showing on the court.

“We work well off each other and they’re double-teaming if they’re trapping in the post,” said Wilson. “I know that I can trust the fact that I can kick it out to her and she’ll knock down the open shot. I think she feels the same way.”

With the win, the Aces improved to 7-12 on the season and moved into ninth place in the WNBA standings.

“I thought that was a very important win for us, we have an outside chance at a playoff berth down the road if we continue to be competitive and win games,” said Laimbeer.  “They’re growing and they’re hungry and they want that playoff chance, so I told them they had to win this game and they did.”

The Aces trail the Atlanta Dream by 2.5 games and the Dallas Wings by three games, as the top eight teams in the league make the playoffs.

The Aces will next play the Connecticut Sun on Saturday at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.

Las Vegas Aces – http://aces.wnba.com

Game Notes:

  • A’ja Wilson scored in double figures (24) for the 19th straight game.
  • Carolyn Swords pulled down a career-high 12 rebounds.
  • Moriah Jefferson played her first game at home, coming off a knee injury.
  • 4,699 Aces fans were in attendance.

Game Starters:

F – 22 A’ja Wilson
F – 1 Tamera Young
C – 3 Kelsey Bone
G – 21 Kayla McBride
G – 10 Kelsey Plum

Giants’ Johnny Cueto gets rude awakening from Cardinals, who won 11-2 in a laugher

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Harness

SAN FRANCISCO – Johnny Cueto had such a fantastic start to the 2018 season. The St. Louis Cardinals, however, made it look like it never happened.

Thursday marked starter Cueto’s return to the rotation after missing the previous two months with inflammation in his pitching elbow, and the Cardinals did not welcome him very kindly in a 11-2 drubbing of the Giants at AT&T Park on Thursday night.

It was clear from the outset that Cueto did not have his usual command, and the Cardinals capitalized. They loaded the bases off him in the first inning before they recorded an out. An RBI groundout later, Jedd Gyorko skied one the opposite way into the arcade in right field to give the Cardinals a 4-0 lead.

Although he got out of that inning with no further damage, the Cardinals weren’t done with him. That’s because in the second, Matt Carpenter drilled one into the stands in right-center – the deepest part of the ballpark – to extend the St. Louis lead to five.

“He got himself in trouble there, but after that, it just got better, and that’s encouraging,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “His stuff picked up, his command picked up.

“It got to a point where I thought he was comfortable out there, but we’ll see how he feels tomorrow,” he added. “You have to be encouraged that he got better as he went. He should feel pretty good about this start. Sure, you’d like to take that first inning away, but that counts, too.”

Cueto lasted three more innings and ended up surrendering 10 hits and those five runs. It was a far cry from his performance earlier in the season, as he was 3-0 with an 0.84 ERA – the fourth-lowest ERA through five starts in Giants history – prior to going on the disabled list.

Ty Blach didn’t fare any better. He relieved Cueto in the sixth and was promptly hit with a four-spot. He recorded only two outs before being yanked in favor of Derek Holland, who was moved to the bullpen to make room for Cueto in the rotation.

Meanwhile, the Giants could not get anything going against Cardinals starter Luke Weaver at all. In fact, the Giants didn’t get a single baserunner on. The closest they came was with two out in the fifth inning, when Pablo Sandoval was initially issued a walk before the umpiring crew realized that it was still a full count.

The momentum was short-lived, as three pitches later, Weaver got Sandoval to chase a slider out of the strike zone to end the inning.

Gorkys Hernandez, who is making a serious case for being a National League All-Star, broke up Weaver’s no-hit bid in the sixth, when he legged out an infield single. Two batters later, Weaver made a rare mistake out over the plate, and Alen Hanson sent into the right-field arcade to give the Giants a little bit of life, 9-2.

Those would be the only two hits that the Giants would get from Weaver, who went eight innings and improved his record to 5-7 with a 4.92 ERA, in the best performance of his young career.

The Giants look to bounce back against the Cardinals on Friday night at 7:15 pm PDT.

Heat beat the Kings 86-76 in the final game of the California Classic

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kings-heat
Things got rough under the basket in the Heat vs Kings game Photo: Charlie O. Mallonee

The Heat handed the Kings their second loss in the California Classic 86-76. Sacramento tried to close the gap late in the fourth quarter, but their effort was too little too late.

Three things we learned in this game:

Here some of the key stats for the Kings:

Here are some numbers on the Heat’s winning performance:

Coach Lewis’ thoughts on the game:

MB3FIVE meets with the media after the game:

Up next for the Kings

The Kings will practice on Friday and then travel to Las Vegas to get ready for the Summer League Tournament. Sacramento will play its first game on Saturday afternoon at 4:30 pm PDT when they will face the Phoenix Suns. That game can be seen on ESPN.