That’s Amaury’s Podcast, News and Commentary: A’s tell Yanks what they want for Gray; 110 out of 111 NFLplayers test positive for CTE

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Carolina Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly (59) is carted from the field after sustaining a shoulder injury and a possible concussion in action against the New Orleans Saints Thursday November 17, 2016 in Charlotte, N.C. (Damian Strohmeyer via AP)

On That’s Amaury’s Podcast: Amaury talks about the Oakland A’s Sonny Gray sweepstakes and 110 NFL players have come up positive for CTE

The Oakland A’s have told the New York Yankees what they want in exchange for starter Sonny Gray. The A’s have expressed a deal for some of the young Yankee outfield prospects like the Yankees number 91 overall prospect pick Estevan Florial. The A’s have expressed interest not only for Florial but other Yankee outfield prospects as well.

In the meantime the Washington Nationals have thrown their hat in the Sonny Gray sweepstakes with Nats star pitcher Steven Strausburg injured the Nats are looking to shore up their rotation and have been inquiring about Gray. The A’s have their eye on the Nats outfield prospect no.5 overall pick Victor Robles. The Chicago Cubs also have expressed interest in Gray and the A’s are shopping their outfield prospects.

The NFL was hit by a report that out of 111 deceased NFL players who were checked for CTE concussion syndrome 110 came up positive for the concussion like disease. That’s a 99% positive report that players in the NFL who have played the game will most likely have CTE after their careers are finished. There is no way while the player is alive to check for CTE but this report has many players asking themselves how long do they plan to play pro football.

Amaury has much more on today’s podcast, Amaury is the TV Spanish voice for the Angels, the radio Spanish voice for the A’s, and does News and Commentary each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Kicked when down: Pirates turn to put their imprint on the Giants’ historically poor season

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Pittsburgh Pirates’ Jordy Mercer (10) is congratulated by third base coach Joey Cora (3) after hitting a three-run home run against the San Francisco Giants during the eighth inning of a baseball game in San Francisco, Monday, July 24, 2017. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO–Despite their lowly perch of 24 games below .500, a level near earth’s core, more than 30 games off the pace of the division-leading Dodgers, and with the franchise’s worst-ever record in sight with 62 games remaining until the still-distant finish line, the Giants still haven’t truly hit rock bottom.

That quest resumed in earnest on Monday night.

The Pirates came in smarting from being swept by the Giants in Pittsburgh at the beginning of July, and made their intentions for retribution clear in less than two innings. By that time, the Giants were dizzied, staring at a six-run deficit, and frustrated enough with home plate umpire Chris Conroy that the remainder of Bruce Bochy’s evening was restricted to the clubhouse after a fit of profanities got the manager chased.

And the journey to rock bottom?

Well, that path wound past pinch-hitter Conor Gillaspie’s quiet groundout to second base with the bases loaded in the fourth, and pitching coach Dave Righetti’s ejection in the ninth. Matt Cain’s listless, 11th consecutive start without a win, and the team’s 55th game with three runs of offense or less were low points as well.

“You get six runs down against a guy like (Pirates starter Gerrit) Cole, that’s a big hole to climb out of,” Bochy said after the game while gamely answering all questions without succumbing to reliving the emotion of the frustrating, second inning.

Conroy’s obvious blown call on a 1-0 pitch to Andrew McCutchen with two runners aboard was the start of it, and McCutchen’s three-run homer three pitches later was the beginning of the end. Cain’s snap reaction to the home run came within ear shot of Conroy, and Bochy stepped to the umpire to take the focus off Cain, and the manager paid with his ejection in mere seconds.

Afterwards, Bochy made it clear that it was more than one bad call.

“I think there was some frustration really all night,” he said. “I don’t think (Conroy) had a real good night, to be honest, as far as consistency, but that really had nothing to do with what happened tonight. We gave up three-run homers.”

Jordy Mercer’s three-run homer off Josh Osich in the eighth inning put the Pirates up 9-3 in route to a 10-3 win. The Giants fell to 3-5 on their 10-game home stand with two games remaining, and the Pirates won for the 13th time in their last 17 games to gain traction in the winnable NL Central.

Eduardo Nunez, Buster Posey and Brandon Crawford each had two hits, but none of the three scored a run. Reliever Albert Suarez provided the bright spot with two innings of effective, scoreless relief.

Madison Bumgarner attempts to again capture his first win of the season on Tuesday. Bumgarner will be matched up with Jameson Taillon of the Pirates at 7:15pm.

 

Oakland’s Chris Smith pitches well, gets no run support as A’s lose to Jays 4-2

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Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Chris Smith throws to Toronto Blue Jays’ Russell Martin hits for a home run during first-inning baseball game action in Toronto, Monday, July 24, 2017. (Fred Thornhill/The Canadian Press via AP)

by Jerry Feitelberg

Toronto- The A’s continued their seven-game road trip Monday night in Toronto against the Blue Jays. The A’s, who have not been very good on the road this year, lost to the Jays by a score of 4-2.  The A’s have lost three of the four games played so far on the trip. The A’s starter, Chris Smith, pitched well as he went six innings and allowed three runs and six hits.  Smith was looking for his first win since June 24th, 2008 when he was a member of the Boston Red Sox. The A’s offense, on the other hand, was held to just two hits. Francisco Liriano, pitching on three days rest, baffled the A’s as he went five innings and was touched for a single and a home run. Liriano retired twelve hitters in a row after giving up a run in the first inning. Matt Chapman broke the spell with a home run in the top of the fifth.

The A’s scored a run in the first inning. Liriano walked Rajai Davis and Marcus Semien to put men on at first and second with no out. Jays’ catcher Russell Martin threw out Davis at third base as the A’s attempted a double steal. Former A’s third baseman Josh Donaldson blocked the bag with his knee and Davis, sliding in head first, was easily tagged out. A’s DH, Ryon Healy, singled sharply to left field and the left fielder, Steve Pearce, misplayed the ball for an error. Semien scored on the play. Liriano settled down and went on to retire the next twelve hitters in a row.

The Jays tied the game when Russell Martin blasted his tenth round tripper of the year into the seats in left field in the Jays half of the first inning.

The Blue Jays scored twice in the fourth. Josh Donaldson led off the frame with a double to left-center field. Smith walked the next two hitters Justin Smoak and Tro Tulowitzki. With one out, Ezekiel Carrera singled sharply to center driving in Donaldson. The bases were still loaded. Smith got Kevin Pillar to hit a popup for the second out. Second baseman Ryan Goins singled to drive in Smoak with the Jays third run of the game, and the bases were loaded once more. Smith then retired Joey Bautista 1-3 to end the inning.

In the top of the fifth, with one out, A’s rookie third baseman, Matt Chapman sent and 86 miles per hour changeup way into the stratosphere at the Rogers Centre. It was Chapman’s fifth of the year. Liriano retired the next two hitters and was done for the night. The Jays scored their fourth run of the game in the seventh. Bob Melvin brought in John Axford to pitch. Axford, who has been inconsistent all season, walked Bautista, gave up a single to Martin, and walked Donaldson to load the bases. Melvin yanked him and replaced him with Josh Smith. Smith forced in a run when he walked Smoak. Smith settled down and struck out Pearce and got Tulowitzki to hit into a 5-4=3 double play. Chapman made the fielding play of the game as he dove to stop the ball, got up and spun around as he threw, on one knee, to Jed Lowrie at second. Lowrie made the turn and threw the ball to Alonso at first to complete the double play.

The A’s did not score after the fifth and lost to Toronto 4-2.

Game Notes- Both teams entered the game with a record of 44-54. The A’s are now 44-55, and Toronto improves to 45-54.

The A’s announced that they recalled Josh Smith earlier in the day from Nashville and to make room for him, they sent Matt Olson back to the Triple-A Sounders. Olson has done the NAshville shuffle five times this year.

Chris Smith took the loss for Oakland and is now 0-1 for the year. Liriano improves to 6-5. The Blue Jays bullpen of Joe Biagini, Ryan Tepera, and Roberto Ozuna did not allow a hit in the last four innings of the game. The 22-year old Ozuna, who is from Mexico, recorded his twenty-fifth save of the season.

The hitting starts for Toronto were Ezekiel Carrera, Ryan Goins, and Russell Martin.

After the game, Bob Melvin had this to say about John Axford’s poor outing:” Every now and then he has a good outing. The walks have been killing him. He has a history of throwing the ball over the plate but is having trouble doing that now.”

Game Two of the four-game set will start at 4:05 pm Tuesday night in Toronto. Sonny Gray, who has pitched well his last six outings, will pitch for Oakland. Toronto will counter with Cesar Valdez. Valdez will be making his first start ever for the Blue Jays. He has been used as a reliever for all of the season up until now.

San Francisco Giants podcast with Morris Phillips: After 100 games San Francisco with 62 loses faces an improved Bucs team

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San Francisco Giants manager Bruce Bochy, right, talks with third baseman Eduardo Nunez before a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates in San Francisco, Monday, July 24, 2017. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

On the Giants podcast with Morris Phillips:

1 The Giants played their 100th game Sunday but lost their 62nd game of 2017 at AT&T Park against the San Diego Padres it’s a season that has fans talking about surpassing the 1985 Giants a team that lost 100 games half of those at then windy Candlestick Park that year.

2 On Sunday Giants manager Bruce Bochy was frustrated that the offense couldn’t get anything going scoring runs only in the first and fourth innings

3 The Padres Wil Myers has to enjoy hitting at AT&T Park he delivered on Sunday with a hit, an RBI, has five homers this season more than any Giant player as Nick Hundley and Buster Posey both have two home runs each at AT&T. It doesn’t seem right but Posey has a total of 11 and nine hit in other parks.

4. Giants starter Ty Blach took his sixth loss of the season with a 5-2 loss to the Pads Sunday. Blach pitched seven plus, five runs, eight hits and raised his ERA to 4.5o

5. The Giants open a series against a firey Pittsburgh Pirates team that has lost two straight coming into AT&T Park but had put together some series wins that helped their cause as the Bucs are just three games out of first in the NL Central.  It’s a series that could be a handful for San Francisco.

Morris Phillips does the Giants podcast each Monday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

Quakes trampled in second half, shutout by Sounders at CenturyLink 3-0

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~ Photo credit: Jane Gershovich

~ By Pearl Allison Lo

~ The Seattle Sounders scored three in the second to shut out San Jose 3-0 Sunday despite having less possession. Head coach Chris Leitch said he was frustrated after conceding two straight goals “It’s a game, right? We take chances to go after our goals and we don’t get it. We concede one and then shortly thereafter concede two. And then 10 minutes later off of another set piece. So two set pieces. The second one wasn’t necessarily off of a great play, it was just a mistake on our part. I thought we were moving the ball well in the first half and even parts of the second, but we have to be a little more assertive in that final bit.”

Cristian Roldan scored twice in two minutes starting in the 54th minute. He also led all with five shots and three shots on goal.

Seattle now has scored three goals in each of their last three games as a part of their three game winning streak. The Quakes now have given up at least three goals in their last three games as a part of their there game losing streak. Quakes midfielder Shea Salinas said the possession game was good in the first half but it was the second half that things came unglued, “It’s frustrating. You never want to lose a game. Especially 3-0. I think we ended the first half well with a lot of possession and a few chances. That just didn’t seem to carry over. In the first part of the second half they jumped on us early. Got three goals pretty quickly and then sat back. It was a frustrating 15 minutes there at the start of the second half.”

Kelvin Leerdam scored the Sounders’ third goal in the 65th minute. He also assisted with Roldan’s first goal.

San Jose had all of the game’s three yellow cards in the second, the first one starting a minute after Seattle’s second goal.

Game notes: next play the Colorado Rapids July 29 at 5pm.

 

Three the hard way: Trio of solo shots holds up, A’s avoid the sweep in New York

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Oakland Athletics catcher Bruce Maxwell, left, congratulates Oakland Athletics relief pitcher Santiago Casilla (46) after Casilla earned a save by closing out the ninth inning of a baseball game against the New York Mets, Sunday, July 23, 2017, in New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

By Morris Phillips

You do what you can do, right?

The A’s don’t score many runs, don’t get a lot of hits, and they don’t do any better when the odds are supposedly stacked in their favor with runners on base poised to score.

For that matter, the A’s strike out too much, commit too many errors, and don’t like facing lefties, National Leaguers, or playing day games. But for the most part, all that stuff is actually part of a different story.

For this story, the A’s needed to overcome their run-scoring limitations and find a way to avoid a sweep at the hands of the Mets on Sunday. And they did just that by relying on something that they do well: hitting home runs with the bases empty.

Oakland got solo shots from Marcus Semien, Khris Davis and the game-winner from Matt Chapman in the seventh to edge the Mets, 3-2 at Citi Field in New York. The A’s avoided the sweep and improved their American League-worst road victory total to 16.

But by winning by the narrowest of margins, the A’s also buried a weekend of demons in which they were narrowly defeated Friday and on Saturday, after their 5-0 lead evaporated in the final, four innings.

“We’ve gotten worn down here a little bit these first two games here where we had some leads and they came back, so it was good the guys kept grinding and kept responding,” manager Bob Melvin admitted.

This time, the A’s worked through an hour-long rain delay, and the loss of 1-0 and 2-1 leads. And with the game on the line, reliever Santiago Casilla retired three of the four Mets he faced to earn his 16th save.

The A’s have battled their youth and inexperience all season as reflected in their below-standard positioning in numerous, statistical categories. But hitting homers is one thing this club does well, hitting 134 of them in 98 games. Mets starter Rafael Montero had to be aware of the A’s proficiency with the long ball coming in, but not overly concerned. Montero had allowed just two home runs in his 45 innings pitched this season.

All that concern for Montero was heightened two batters into Sunday’s game. First, Semien launched Montero’s elevated offering into the left field seats. Then in the fourth, Davis hit his team-leading 28th home run to give the A’s a 2-1 lead. After the first two round trippers, 59 percent (80 of 136) of the A’s homers had come with the bases empty.

“Those home runs, when they occurred, that’s because I kept the ball too high,” Montero conceded.

A’s starter Daniel Gossett came in with just one win on the season–like Montero–but unlike his Mets’ counterpart, he was able to change his storyline on Sunday.  Gossett allowed five hits and two runs in his six innings of work to earn the win. Gossett addressed his won-loss record and his personal safety in the fifth when he stabbed Curtis Granderson’s liner through the box to end the inning.

The A’s open a four-game set in Toronto on Monday night. Chris Smith goes for his first, big league win in a matchup with Francisco Liriano at 4:07pm.

Fourth inning does in Giants; Blach coughs up four runs in 5-2 collapse

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San Francisco Giants pitcher Ty Blach throws against the San Diego Padres during the first inning of a baseball game in San Francisco, Sunday, July 23, 2017. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO-Things were looking for the San Francisco Giants after tying it up in the first inning, but the flood gates in one inning opened and the San Diego Padres took advantage.

The Padres scored four runs on five consecutive hits in the top of the fourth inning on their way to a 5-2 victory over the Giants before a sellout crowd of 41,372 at AT&T Park.

With the loss, and with their record now at 38-62, this is now the worst start in San Francisco Giants history since moving to the Bay Area in 1958.

Ty Blach pitched seven innings, allowing five runs on eight hits, walking just one and striking out five; however, it was that fourth inning that did him in.

Wil Myers came up with the two biggest plays of the afternoon, as he hit his 20th home run in the top of the first inning and began the fourth inning rally that saw the Padres put the game out of reach.

Following the Myers walk, went to third on a Hector Sanchez double and they both scored on a Jabari Blash double. Hector Sanchez then doubled in Blash for the final run of the inning and the game for the Padres, who took three out of four from the Giants.

Buster Posey got the Giants on the board in the bottom of the first inning, as he singled in Denard Span, who led off the inning with a double off of Dinelson Lamet.

After trailing by four runs going into the bottom of the fifth inning, Miguel Gomez doubled with two outs and then Gorkys Hernandez singled him in for the Giants second and final run of the afternoon.

Eduardo Nunez went 3-for-4 at the plate, but his base running end the seventh inning, when he was thrown out at third base after Blash was unable to hold onto the ball hit Brandon Belt for an error; however, Allen Cordoba backed up Blash and threw to Cory Spangenberg to tag out Nunez for the third out.

Lamet pitched 6.2 innings, allowing two runs on eight hits, walking just one and striking out seven.

NOTES: Matt Cain looks for his fourth win of the season, as the Giants begin a three-game series on Monday night against the Pittsburgh Pirates, who will send Gerrit Cole to the mound

In their only three meetings on the season, the Giants swept a three-game series from the Pirates from June 30-July 2, 2017 at PNC Park.

Saturday was the Giants 15th extra inning game of the season, the most by any team in the major leagues and their 10 wins are also the most of any team.

MLB Podcast with Daniel Dullum: Gray trade rumors say the bidding is fierce; Panda could be up as soon as two weeks or as late as Sept call ups

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AP File Photo: Boston Red Sox’s Pablo Sandoval in action during a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Wednesday, June 14, 2017, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Derik Hamilton)

On the MLB Podcast with Daniel:

1.Reports: A’s have established price for Sonny Gray in talks with Yankees, Astros, more.

2. Panda’s possible return to Giants after working out in San Jose and then to Triple A Sacramento

3 Diamondbacks open Friday’s game against Washington with three consecutive homers

4 Surging Pirates rock the Rockies 13-5 Friday

5 Yoenis Cespedes hints toward ending his career with Oakland 6 Giants’ Michael Moore still dealing with concussion issues, future cloudy

Categories MLB

Flores hits a walk-off home run to give the Mets a 6-5 win over the Athletics

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by Charlie O. Mallonee

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The Oakland Athletics have the worst road record (15-31) in the major leagues. It is one of the main reasons they are mired in last place in the American League West and are about to dismantle their team to begin a major rebuilding process.

On Saturday night after jumping out to a 5-0 lead over the New York Mets, the A’s allowed the Metropolitans to claw their way back into the game. The Mets tied the game at 5-5 in the bottom of the eighth inning when Lucas Duda hit a single off Daniel Coulombe that drove Travis d’Arnaud home from second base.

In the bottom of the ninth with two out and the bases empty, Wilmer Flores hit the 1-0 pitch from A’s reliever Simon Castro into the first row of seats in left field to give the Mets a 6-5 win. It was the ninth home run of the season for Flores and the second consecutive win for the Mets (45-50) over the Athletics (43-54).

In the batter’s box

Oakland

  • Matt Joyce put the A’s on the board in the first inning when he hit the 0-1 pitch from Zack Wheeler over the center field fence for his 13th home run of the year. Joyce now has 39 RBI for the season.
  • Matt Chapman showed off his power hitting by putting a Wheeler pitch into the second deck in left field for his third home run of the year. Chapman also had a sacrifice fly in the game to give him two RBI. He has seven RBI since joining the A’s.
  • Catcher Bruce Maxwell hit an RBI-double.
  • The A’s scored five runs on 10 hits and left nine runners on base. They were 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position.

NYM

  • Flores — who is one of the Mets that does not appear to be on the trading block — went 2-for-5 including that game winning walk-off home run. Flores also hit his 13th double of the year in the game and scored two runs.
  • Jose Reyes hit his sixth triple of the season and also scored a run while going 2-for-4 for New York.
  • Jay Bruce hit a two-run home run in the sixth inning. It was his 25th home run and it raised his RBI total to 65. Bruce is one the Mets who is expected to be with another team by the July 31 trade deadline.
  • Travis d’Arnaud made it safely to base four times in the game. He went 3-for-3 with a walk. d’Arnaud scored a run and added an RBI.
  • The Mets scored six runs on 14 hits. They left eight men on base and were 3-for-10 with runners in scoring position.

On the hill

Athletics

  • Starter Sean Manaea pitched well through the first five innings but ran into some real problems in the sixth inning when he gave up four earned-runs. Manaea worked 5.2-innings giving up four runs (all earned) on 10 hits. He struck out two and walked one while allowing one home run. Manaea did not figure in the final decision.
  • The A’s relief corps was roughed up in the game. Hendriks gave up two runs, Coulombe was charged with a blown save and Simon Castro took the loss for giving up the game winning home run to Flores.
  • Newcomer Blake Treinen was credited with a hold.

Mets

  • Starter Zack Wheeler gave up five runs (all earned) on seven hits in 5.0-innings of work. He struck out six and walked four batters while giving up two home runs. He did not figure into the final decision.
  • The trio of Mets relievers — Smoker, Edgin and Robles — did not give up a run to the A’s in the final four innings of the game.
  • Hansel Robles (6-1) was the pitcher of record when Flores hit the game-winning home run in the bottom of the ninth and he was credited with the win.

Up next

The A’s and Mets will meet on Sunday for the third and final game of the series. Oakland will send RHP Daniel Gossett (1-5, 5.79 ERA) to the mound to face RHP Rafael Montero (1-6, 5.40 ERA) who will start for the Mets. Game time is 10:10 a.m. PDT.

Walk off single for Hundley wins it for SF in extras 5-4

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San Francisco Giants catcher Nick Hundley celebrates after making the game winning hit in the twelfth inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres, Saturday, July 22, 2017, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO-Nick Hundley came up with the biggest hit of the afternoon for the San Francisco Giants.

Hundley hit a single over the head of Jabari Blash in left field to score Kelby Tomlinson from second base, as the Giants came back from a 4-1 deficit to defeat the San Diego Padres 5-4 before a crowd of 40,936 at AT&T Park.

The win by the Giants came just one night/morning after a hard fought 11-9 loss in 11 innings to the Padres.

After the bullpen was unable to hold down the fort on Friday night/Saturday morning, all the pitchers came up with great outings on Saturday afternoon.

Matt Moore went a solid six innings, allowing four runs on seven hits, not walking a batter and striking out seven before turning it over to the bullpen.

As for the bullpen, they were absolutely outstanding, as they went six innings and allowed just one hit, a walk and a hit batter. The quartet of Albert Suarez, Sam Dyson, Hunter Strickland and Josh Osich struck out six.

The Giants struck first in the bottom of the third inning, as Joe Panik singled in Gorkys Hernandez, who singled with one out in the inning.

Unfortunately, that would not be the lead for long, as the Padres stormed back to score four runs in the top of the fourth inning to take a 4-1 lead over the slumping Giants.

Wil Myers hit his second home run in as many days, as he took a Moore offering and came up with his 19th home run of the season, but that was not even biggest hit of the inning for the Padres.

Pitcher Luis Perdomo came up with the biggest hit of the inning for the Padres, as he lashed a two-run triple over the head of Hernandez in center field that Matt Szczur and Luis Torrens. It was a Torrens single that gave the Padres a 2-1 prior to the Perdomo triple.

It was the third triple of the season for Perdomo, and he is the first pitcher since Dontrelle Willis in 2007 to have three triples in a single season. The three triples by Perdomo in a single season are the most by a Padres pitcher in team history.

That three run by the Padres was shot-lived as well, as the Giants scored three runs of their own in the bottom of the fourth inning to tie up the game.

Hunter Pence got the rally started, as he reached on a fielding error by Allen Cordoba, then after a ground out that sent Pence to second, Orlando Calixte singled in Pence. Moore then helped out own cause, as he singled to left field. After a Hernandez walk to load the bases, Eduardo Nunez singled to right field to score Calixte and Moore to tie up the game.

Despite the fact that both the Padres and the Giants were able to get their lead off runners on base in the bottom of the 10th inning, both teams were able to get out of the jam and the game went on to the 11th inning.

NOTES: Ty Blach takes the mound in the series finale for the Giants, as he looks for his seventh win of the season, while the Padres will send Dinelson Lamet to the mound, as he looks to even his record at 4-4.

The Giants made some big corresponding moves on the afternoon, as they recalled right-handed pitcher Albert Suarez and Calixte from Sacramento, while they optioned Stephen Okert and Jae-Gyun Hwang to Sacramento.

Former Giants third baseman and 2012 World Series Most Valuable Player Pablo Sandoval signed a minor-league contract with the team, and will report to Single-A San Jose, where he will play tonight.

Sandoval was designated for assignment by the Boston Red Sox last week, and was released by the team on Wednesday.