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San Francisco Giants relief pitcher George Kontos stands on the mound as seagulls fly over AT&T Park in the 11th inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres Friday, July 21, 2017, in San Francisco. San Diego won the game 12-9. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO-Matt Szczur entered the game in the fifth inning, and he came up with the biggest hit of the night in extra innings.

Szczur picked up his fourth hit of the game in the top of the 11th inning, helping the San Diego Padres to a 12-9 victory over the San Francisco Giants before a sellout crowd of 41,145 at AT&T Park.

Szczur’s base hit off of losing pitcher George Kontos scored Hunter Renfoe from third base after Renfroe led off the inning with a single against Kontos. Erick Aybar then walked, and the two advanced an additional 90 feet on a Luis Torrens sacrifice bunt.

Aybar scored the Padres second run of the inning on a Jose Pirela single and that was the end of the night for Kontos.

Szczur scored the third Padres run of the inning, as Carlos Asuaje singled for the fourth time on the evening.

All the scoring began in the game by the Giants in the bottom of the first inning.

The Giants scoring began in the bottom of the first inning, as Denard Span doubled, went to third on a wild pitch and then scored on a Brandon Belt single off of Trevor Cahill.

The scoring did not stop with the Belt single, as Brandon Crawford drove in both Belt and Buster Posey with a single to right field. Crawford advanced all the way to third base, as Renfroe’s throw was went over the head of Cory Spangenberg at third base.

Crawford scored the last and final run of the first inning, as Hunter Pence lashed a double to right field.

The four runs scored by the Giants in the first inning were their most in an inning since scoring five times on June 30 against the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park.

Padres closer Brandon Maurer got the first two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, but that is when the wheels began to fall off for Maurer.

Buster Posey walked, went to second on defensive indifference and then scored on a Crawford single to bring up Conor Gillaspie, the hero of the 2016 wild card game.

Gillaspie tied up the game with one swing of the bat, as he hit a pinch-hit home run onto the arcade that sent the AT&T faithful into a frenzy. It was the first home of the season for Gillaspie, and his sixth career pinch-hit home run.

Jeff Samardzija was cruising all night long until the fifth inning. Samardzija ended up allowing five runs on eight hits, while walking just one and striking out three in 4.1 innings of work; however, Samardzija did not fare in the decision.

This was the 15th consecutive start that Samardzija walked one or fewer batters in a game. The last time Samardzija walked more than one batter in a game came on April 23 against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field, when he walked three in a 5.1 innings of work.

Cahill went 3.2 innings, allowing six runs on seven hits, while walking four and striking out just one and like Samardzija, he did not fare in the decision.

Pence added a run-scoring single in the bottom of the third inning that scored Belt from second base, after Belt led off the inning with a walk against Cahill.

The Pence single off of Cahill that scored Belt came one-half inning after the Padres got on the board. Franchy Cordero came within inches of his fourth home run of the season, but he was able to leg out a long triple. Cordero was able to score on a Cahill groundout to Crawford.

In all, Pence went 3-for-4 on the evening with two singles and a double against Padres pitching. Thru the first two games of the series, Pence 4-for-8 against Padres.

Hector Sanchez hit his fourth home run of the season against the Giants, as he led off the top of the fourth inning with a solo blast to straightaway centerfield against Samardzija.

This was the third home run for Sanchez since last Saturday night, as he hit a walk-off home run off of Stephen Okert, helping the Padres to a comeback 5-3 victory. Sanchez then hit another one on Sunday off of Samardzija in a 7-1 Padres victory.

The Giants chased Cahill in the bottom of the fourth, as they added another run with the help of shoddy Padres defense and Cahill’s second wild pitch of the game.

Gorkys Hernandez led off the inning with a single, advanced to second on a Samardzija sacrifice bunt and advanced to third base, when Aybar was unable to hold onto the Cahill throw and Hernandez advanced to third base.

Hernandez eventually scored the Giants sixth run of the evening, as Cahill uncorked his second wild pitch of the game with Posey at the plate.

Following the Posey walk, Padres manager Andy Green made a double switch, as he pulled Cahill in place of Craig Stammen and Szczur went to centerfield.

The double switch worked out for the Padres in the top of the fifth inning, as Szczur led off the inning with a double over the head of Hernandez and then scored on a Pirela single. Pirela then went to third on a Asuaje single that brought Wil Myers to the plate as the potential tying run.

Myers ended up grounding into a Fielders’ Choice, as Samardzija fielded the ball and threw to Posey, who tagged out Pirela.

Sanchez then hit a duck snort down the third base line that scored Asuaje from second base and Myers ended up stopping at third to cut the Giants lead down to just two runs.

That was the end of the line for Samardzija on this night, as Bruce Bochy went to the bullpen and brought on Josh Osich.

Spangenberg cut the Giants lead down to one run, as he grounded out to Panik and Myers scored easily from third base.

That would be it for Osich, as Cory Gearrin came on and was able to get out of the jam, as he got Renfroe looking for strike three to end the frame.

Gearrin was unable to hold onto the lead, as Asuaje hit a single to right field that easily scored Cordero from third base; however, Szczur was thrown out by Pence and called out for running outside the baseline between second and third base.

Myers gave the Padres their first lead of the night, as he led off the top of the seventh inning with a towering home run to straight away centerfield.

Szczur came up his third hit in as many at-bats in the top of the eighth inning, as he tripled to lead off the inning and then scored a huge insurance run on a Pirela triple that looked like Pence was going to catch; however, he was unable to hold onto the ball.

Pirela then scored the Padres second run of the inning, as Asuaje singled.

NOTES: Matt Moore looks to get the Giants back into the win column on Saturday afternoon, as he takes the mound for his 20th start of the season. The Padres will counter with Luis Perdomo, who will be making his 17th start of the season.

tacomaathletic.com photo: Former San Francisco Giants pitcher John Pregenzer circa early 1963 in a Tacoma Giants uniform

By Tony the Tiger Hayes

SAN FRANCISCO–He was a Giant?

John Pregenzer may be obscure to modern day Giants fans, but in his brief stint with the Orange & Black in the early 1960s, the husky reliever was the toast of the town, for being, well…obscure.

The professorial looking right-hander with a thick neck and even thicker eye glasses, caught the imagination of the city after, “O’Hara”, compiler of the Chronicle’s popular “Question Man” column, publicized Pregenzer’s humble baseball pedigree.

According to legend, the Giants had acquired the 6-foot-5, 250 pound pitcher from Pittsburgh in 1960 for a measly $100. The “Question Man” – who in reality was a woman – wondered why she couldn’t pick up a pitcher herself at the same cut-rate price as the Giants did.

As Pregenzer’s legend expanded, a fan club was established that grew to some 3,000 members. Among the hijinks was a baked pheasant testimonial dinner held in his honor where the husky hurler was presented a scroll proclaiming him honorary mayor of Fresno.

Why was he a Giant?

Well, initially, there was that alleged $100 transaction. Once in Giants hands, Pregenzer showed he was more than a farmhand. In Single-A Springfield in 1962, he went 14-9, with a 2.85 ERA. By the start of the 1963 campaign Pregenzer, 30, broke camp with the club, compiling a 4.82 ERA in nine outing before retuning to the minors. 1964 saw another return to the Giants and more action, as he went 2-0, with a 4.91 ERA in 13 relief outings. Overall he pitched in 22 games equalling 27.2 innings for SF.

Before & After

Clearly the Wisconsin native was not viewed as a prospect when he was signed by Pittsburgh at the advanced age of 25 in 1958. But he kept the dream alive by never giving in to the doubters. The first two batters he faced in a major league game were future Hall of Famers (the Cubs Ron Santo and Ernie Banks) and Pregenzer retired them both. Pregenzer pitched a couple more seasons in the Giants farm system before moving on to the real world. In eight minor league seasons he was 66-49, with a 3.67 ERA.

He wasn’t Billy O’Dell. But…

Pregenzer won his only two big league decisions and coincidently both in Pittsburgh against the club that unloaded him for the price of a nice dinner.

In the first win, Pregenzer retired two more future Hall of Famers (Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell) in 1.1 innings of relief work in a 2-1 win at the Steel City (8/2/64). In the second victory he retired yet another future HOFer (Bill Mazeroski in one inning of action in a 9-6 win (9/7/64) at fabulous Forbes Firld.

Giant Footprint

After his playing days ended Pregenzer became a school teacher in Tacoma, he stayed active in baseball as a youth sports referee.

 

 

San Diego Padres’ Hunter Renfroe, left, heads for home plate after hitting a two-run home run off San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Madison Bumgarner, right, during the second inning of a baseball game Thursday, July 20, 2017, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

By Jeremy Harness

SAN FRANCISCO – In the top of the ninth inning of Thursday night’s game, the umpiring crew stared a monitor for two-and-a-half minutes, trying to decide if San Diego third baseman Cory Spangenberg was successfully picked off of first base.

It probably took less time for a parole board in Nevada to make its decision to grant O.J. Simpson his early release from prison Thursday morning than it took for the crew at AT&T Park to determine that Spangenberg was, in fact, out.

Unfortunately for most of the announced “sellout” crowd of 41,166, that play could not turn the tide of a game that the Giants eventually dropped to the Padres, 5-2, in a season that has just seemed to drag on very slowly.

Starter Madison Bumgarner’s undoing was, really, two bad pitches. The first came in the second inning, as Hunter Renfroe touched Bumgarner for a two-run homer that hugged the left-field corner but stayed fair long enough to give the Padres a 2-0 lead.

The fatal blow came in the seventh, as Spangenberg took a fastball from Bumgarner (0-4) that caught too much of the plate and sent it into the seats to give San Diego a lead they would not relinquish.

Those two bombs accounted for all four of the runs that the big lefty surrendered on Thursday. He gave up only six hits and walked only one batter while striking out five others.

“You look at the numbers, and even though they weren’t great, but he threw the ball (well),” manager Bruce Bochy said. “A couple of mistakes left the ballpark.”

In the meantime, with the exception of one inning that saw them tie the game, his teammates could not solve Padres starter Jhoulys Chacin (9-7), who is now 3-0 against the Giants this season. In doing so, he went six innings and gave up only a pair of runs on four hits, striking out four hitters and walking only one.

“He has a long history of pitching very well against us,” Bochy said. “Next to (Clayton) Kershaw, I don’t know who’s tougher on us.”

After falling behind 2-0, the Giants got one of those runs back in the sixth when Denard Span knocked in a run with a flare single into right-center.

One batter later, Span came around and scored after Eduardo Nunez smacked a single into left to tie the game at 2-2. It appeared that the Giants were poised to take the lead, especially after Nunez advanced to second on a balk and then momentarily stole third.

However, his momentum took him off the bag, and third baseman Cory Spangenberg took advantage of this by maintaining his tag. Third-base umpire Cory Blaser saw this the whole way and promptly called Nunez out, ending the Giants’ surge.

In the top half of the seventh, Spangenberg tagged Bumgarner and chased him right out of the game.

After Erick Aybar singled after a prolonged at-bat, Spangenberg cleared the wall in right center – the deepest part of the ballpark at 421 feet – to give San Diego a 4-2 lead.

San Diego tacked on another run off Giants reliever George Kontos in the eighth, when slugger Wil Myers lined a single into left to score Jose Pirela, who had led off the inning with a single of his own.

The Giants made a charge in their half of the eighth, using a two-out rally to load the bases. However, lefty reliever Brad Hand got Buster Posey to fly out harmlessly to deep right to end the inning and keep the Giants down three.

NOTES: The Giants are expected to be reunited with an old friend in a very short period of time. Third baseman Pablo Sandoval, who had a big hand in all three of the Giants’ World Series titles, was recently released by the Boston Red Sox, and the Giants are expected to sign him to a minor-league deal once he clears waivers.

 

Also, on this day in 1969, starter Gaylord Perry got his first hit of the season, which also happened to be his first major-league home run in a 7-3 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

 

Giants manager Alvin Dark did not hold Perry’s hitting in high regard, as he said a year earlier that “they’ll put a man on a moon before he hits a home run.” Well, Perry’s home run came just 20 minutes after the team found out that Neil Armstrong had set foot on the moon.