Road Relevant: A’s lose 4-3 in Toronto, fall short of winning road trip to begin season

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By Morris Phillips

The A’s weren’t going to be satisfied with a .500 road trip to start the season. But after a grueling 4-3 loss to the Blue Jays, that’s what they got.

Finishing a senses-jarring, first ten games of the season with a 5-5 record isn’t earth shattering, but it’s an incredible, initial statement for the new-look A’s.

“I couldn’t be happier with the club’s energy, effort level and fight through these 10 days,” manager Mark Kotsay said. “The record may not reflect, right now, how well I feel we played on this road trip.”

Alex Manoah went six innings against Oakland, and picked up the win. The replacement guy for Toronto limited the A’s to four hits and two walks, and departed with a two-run lead. Manoah appearances have a winning effect on his club, the Blue Jays have won his last 10 starts.

“I want those guys to know that I’m giving it my all every time,” Manoah said. “I think they kind of play off that energy.”

The A’s trailed 3-0 and 4-2, but got a sacrifice fly from Seth Brown in the eighth to climb within 4-3, but they could get any closer in the ninth, making for a lengthier flight home ahead of Monday’s home opener against the Orioles at 6:40pm.

Lourdes Gurriel led the hosts with a double, single and sacrifice fly to boost a lineup that saw Vladimir Guerrero Jr. go 0 for 4.

“It’s pretty big that he gets hot,” manager Charlie Montoyo said of Gurriel. “It’s been amazing what he’s doing right now.

“Right now, he’s doing the job to make sure Vladdy sees some pitches.”

Adam Oller was lifted in the second inning in his Major League debut last Tuesday. He responded on Sunday, allowing three runs and five hits before being lifted by Kotsay in the fourth.

The 27-year old cited lack of command with breaking pitches, but acknowledged his growth as well, this time he kept the A’s attached.

Stephen Vogt hit his first home run of the season and Sean Murphy’s sacrifice fly to center field scored Cristian Pache from third base for two A’s runs.

“They were down early. We fought back. We grinded out at-bats,” Kotsay continued. “The energy was still really good for the end of a 10-day road trip. You’d look for that day off tomorrow, but I think the energy will be there tomorrow with opening day and going home.”

Sharks Lose 5-4 in OT to Wild, Bordeleau Has Assist in NHL Debut

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San Jose Sharks’ Ryan Merkley (6) skates past Minnesota Wild’s Kevin Fiala, center, and Jared Spurgeon (46) after Spurgeon scored the game winning goal in overtime at Xcel Energy Arena in St Paul on Sun Apr 17, 2022 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks finished their road trip with an overtime loss, 5-4 to the Minnesota Wild. Dmitry Kulikov, Jared Spurgeon, Matt Boldy, and Kevin Fiala scored for the Wild, with two goals from Spurgeon. Marc-Andre Fleury made 26 saves for the win. Rudolfs Balcers, Matt Nieto, Noah Gregor and Nick Bonino scored for the Sharks. James Reimer made 23 saves in the loss. With this win, the Wild clinched their playoff berth.

In this ten game losing streak, the Sharks lost six games by one goal. Two of their losses by two goals included empty net goals. That is a lot of close games. After this game, Sharks Head Coach Bob Boughner said:

“It’s crazy how close we are on a lot of nights. You know, I’ve never been through anything like this as a coach or as a player, you know, losing this many games. And I’m not sure some of those guys in the room have either, the veterans, and certainly my staff. So it’s our job to try and draw on the positives, especially with nine rookies in the lineup tonight, is trying to you know, provide a lot of teaching at this point of the season. There’s a lot of good going on and you’ll never see it in the wins a losses column right now.”

Sharks added a couple more rookies to the mix on Sunday, for a total of seven in the lineup. Forward Thomas Bordeleau had an assist, a shot and was 40% in face-offs. He had 13:14 TOI, skating at center with Noah Gregor and Rudolfs Balcers. Defenseman Santeri Hatakka had a shot, a hit and two blocked shots in 11:44 TOI, skating with Nicolas Meloche.

Of Bordeleau’s first game, Boughner said: “I thought he did a lot of good things. You know, I talked to him after the first. Of course, he was nervous and, you know, he said to me: ‘I’ll be better in the second period,’ but I thought he actually had a pretty good first period.” He went on with the analysis to say “I liked his game, I thought pretty responsible, and for a first game I thought he handled himself very well.”

Dmitry Kulikov scored the first goal of the game at 6:04 of the first period. Kevin Fiala dropped the puck to Kulikov high in the slot. Kulikov’s shot went through some traffic and past Reimer’s glove. Assists went to Fiala and Matt Boldy.

Jared Spurgeon made it 2-0 at 7:29 with a shot from the point that went through traffic and in. It seemed to change direction off of Brent Burns’ stick. Marcus Foligno got the assist.

Rudolfs Balcers got the Sharks on the board at 9:38. Thomas Bordeleau knocked the puck lose below the goal line and Balcers gathered it up and moved up high for a shot from just below the blue line. The puck went under Fleury and in. Assists went to Bordeleau and Noah Gregor.

Matt Nieto tied the game at 1:19 of the second period. Nick Bonino caught the puck after Burns knocked it away from the Wild in the Sharks’ zone. Bonino passed it across the neutral zone to a speeding Nieto who carried it the other way. He got as far as the face-off circle before taking the shot for his sixth of the season.

Matt Boldy got the lead back for the Wild at 6:37, cleaning up a rebound. Assists went to Kevin Fiala and Frederick Gaudreau.

Noah Gregor tied it back up at 11:11. Bordeleau helped out again, this time picking off a pass and getting the puck to Balcers to start the play. Burns took the shot from the point and Gregor knocked in the rebound. Burns and Balcers got the assists.

Nick Bonino scored a short-handed goal at 1:37 of the third to give the Sharks a 4-3 lead. Tomas Herlt broke the puck out and then turned to skate backwards just over the Wild blue line. Bonino went down the boards and Hertl made a pass across the ice to him. Bonino took the shot from bad angle and beat Fleury. Assists went to Hertl and Nicolas Meloche.

Keivn Fiala tied it for the Wild, redirecting a Jordie Benn shot from the point. There was some discussion of goaltender interference, as a Wild player did bump Reimer’s glove. After the game, Boughner explained that the Sharks considered challenging it but, with Reimer outside the blue paint, the call might go against them. Assists went to Benn and Gaudreau.

Jared Spurgeon scored the game winner at 1:05 of overtime with a wrist shot from just above the circle. Assists went to Fiala and Gaudreau.

The Sharks next play on Tuesday at home against the Columbus Blue Jackets at 7:30 PM PT.

San Francisco Sweeps Cleveland 8-1; Wood gives up only four hits and Estrada homers gets four RBIs

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San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Alex Wood pitches in the first inning to the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field in Cleveland on Sun Apr 17, 2022 (AP News photo)

San Francisco Sweeps Cleveland 8-1; Wood gives up only four hits and Estrada homers and gets four RBIs

By Barbara Mason

After taking the first two games in their series against the Cleveland Guardians (4-5) the San Francisco Giants (7-2) went for the sweep Sunday afternoon defeating the Guardians by seven runs 8-1.

It was a quiet first inning for San Francisco but the second inning was anything but quiet for the Giants. Thairo Estrada homered to left and with Wilmer Flores on second after hitting a double it was a 2-0 lead for San Francisco.

The Guardians would threaten in the third inning but Alex Wood would get out of a two runners on jam and the Giants held on to their two run lead.

San Francisco would strike again in the fourth inning. Thairo Estrada grounded into a fielder’s choice to shortstop and Joc Pederson would score. Brandon Crawford was just behind him off a throwing error by Owen Miller. The Giants now had a 4-0 lead.

In the sixth inning the Giants would add a couple more for a 6-0 lead. Peterson would score from second off a double by Estrada. Estrada would go on to score when Duggar hit an infield single.

Brandon Belt would homer in the seventh inning to extend San Francisco’s lead to 8-0. Belt would bring Austin Slater home from first.

The Guardians got up on the scoreboard in the bottom seventh inning when Amed Rosario scored off a single from Austin Hedges. Cleveland trailed by a heap of runs and everything pointed to a San Francisco sweep. The Guardians were not able to get much going in this game.

Monday the Giants will start a four-game series with the mighty New York Mets (7-3). Starting pitcher for the Giants will be Alex Cobb (1-0 ERA 3.60) and for New York Tyler Megill (2-0 ERA 0.00). First pitch is scheduled for 4:10 PM PDT at Citi Park in Flushing.

San Jose Barracuda podcast with Marko Ukalovic: Barracuda begin final road trip on Wednesday night in Bakersfield

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The San Jose Barracuda defenseman Anthony Bitetto (2) has control of the puck on Fri Apr 15, 2022 against the Abbottsford Canucks at 4Solar America in San Jose in the last home game of the season for the Barracuda (photo from the San Jose Barracuda)

On the Barracuda podcast with Marko:

#1 The San Jose Barracuda (20-39-4) in their last game of the season grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first period over the Abbotsford Canucks ((35-25-1) at 4Solar America Arena in San Jose but the Barracuda couldn’t hold the lead succumbing to a 4-3 come back loss by the Canucks last Friday.

#2 Early in the game the Barracuda’s Lane Pederson showed off his handiwork by scoring those two goals with a powerplay goal and a shorthanded goal for his eighth and ninth goals of the season.

#3 It’s been a long time coming but Kyle Topping got his second goal after 22 games the goal tied the game up 3-3 and forced overtime.

#4 The Canucks Justin Dowling scored twice in the contest once in the first period and the game winning goal in the overtime stanza. Dowling is on a roll he has scored a goal in each of his last three games.

#5 The Barracuda now head to Bakersfield to face off with the Bakersfield Condors at Mechanics Bank Arena in Bakersfield (33-20-5) this Wed Apr 20th 6:30 pm PDT with a trip to Henderson on the 22nd and 23rd to close out the regular season. The last time the Cuda and Condors met was back on Wed Apr 6th in San Jose in an overtime loss for the Barracuda 3-2.

Marko did the Barracuda podcasts throughout the 2021-22 season at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Warriors open series with 123-107 win; Takes game 1 at Chase Center upon Curry return

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Stephen Curry (30) made a return performance for the Golden State Warriors in game 1 against the Denver Nuggets at the Chase Center in San Francisco on Sat Apr 16, 2022 (AP News photo)

Warriors Open Series With 123-107 Win; Take game 1 at Chase Center for openers

By Barbara Mason

Saturday night the Golden State Warriors (53-29) took on the Denver Nuggets (48-34) in the first round of the 2021-22 playoffs. The Warriors welcomed back Stephen Curry who had missed significant time with a sprained ligament in his left foot.

A determined Curry worked hard to get back into tonight’s game apparently with limited minutes but bringing the leadership that his team relies on from him. All eyes will be on Curry as he plays his first game in over four weeks.

One of the biggest challenges for Golden State will be MVP from last year Nikola Jokic and quite possibly repeating as MVP again this year.

This was a hotly contested game as expected. After one quarter the Nuggets held a 27-26 lead. As the second quarter came to an end the Warriors had outscored Denver 32-20 and had a 58-47 half-time lead. Jokic had 14 points in the half but it was Jordan Poole and Klay Thompson with 17 and 14 points that made the difference. With 4.2 seconds left in the second quarter Curry made a 28-foot three point jumper to finish the first half in Warrior style.

Golden State had to continue to try and contain Jokic and keep his shooting to a minimum He is the heart and soul of the Nuggets and the last thing you want is for him to go on a scoring frenzy.

The Warriors continued to pour it on and after three quarters led 90-70. While this game was far from over, Golden State was playing with intensity and purpose.

The Warriors were one quarter away from taking game one in this series. Poole continued to play lights out basketball through the fourth quarter. With under three minutes left in the game the Warriors bench took it home. The final was 123-107.

Nikola Jokic finished with 25 points, ten rebounds and Will Barton had 24 points for the Nuggets. Tonight it was all Warriors from the second quarter on and there was no stopping them.

Poole finished with 30 points and was five of seven from downtown. It was a great night for Curry in his return with 16 points and he was three of six from beyond the arc.

Game two at Chase Center will tipoff at 7:00 PM on Monday night.

Sharks Fall 2-1 to Stars, Losing Streak at nine

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Dallas Stars defenseman Jani Hakanpaa (2) and center Joe Pavelski (16) defend against San Jose Sharks center Logan Couture (39) in real close battle at the American Airlines Center in Dallas on Sat Apr 16, 2022 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The Sharks lost their ninth in a row Thursday, 2-1 to the Dallas Stars. Tyler Seguin and Michael Raffl scored for the Stars. Jake Oettinger made 23 saves for the win. Timo Meier scored for the Sharks and Kaapo Kahkonen made 24 saves in the loss.

After the game, Sharks Head Coach Bob Boughner compared the game to the previous outing:

“I thought tonight we played exactly how we want to play in this building against an urgent team. We know how important this game was for Dallas, we tried to match that urgency early. I thought we did. I just thought our game was better, I thought that we played with good structure.”

The Sharks were eliminated from playoff contention after their loss to the Blackhawks on Tuesday. So it should be no surprise that a number of rookies in need of game time were in the lineup Thursday. Out of the lineup were Alexander Barabanov, Erik Karlsson and Radim Simek with injuries of varying degrees. Forward Jasper Weatherby had 8:01 TOI and won 29% of his face-offs, centering Jeffrey Viel and Scott Reedy. Viel had 7:51 TOI. Reedy had two shots, a hit and a blocked shot in 12:10 TOI. Sasha Chmelevski had three shots, two hits, and won 29% of his face-offs in 16:56 TOI, centering Noah Gregor and Matt Nieto. Defenseman Ryan Merkley had an assist, three shots, a blocked shot and a hit in 16:40 TOI, playing with Marc-Edouard Vlasic. Defenseman Nicolas Meloche had a shot, a hit and a blocked shot in 20:31 TOI, playing with Mario Ferraro.

Boughner was not unhappy with the performance of the younger players, and said:

“I thought the young guys all played well, I thought Weatherby coming in, I thought he played fine in the middle. I thought he had a little trouble in his face-offs. You know, but I thought Reedy, and Sasha, [Merkley], all those guys gave us good minutes.”

Tyler Seguin scored the first goal, at 5:55 of the first period. He redirected a shot from Jamie Benn that came across the ice to Seguin, right in front of the blue paint. Assists went to Benn and Ryan Suter.

Michael Raffl scored the second Dallas goal, short handed at 13:32 of the second period. Luke Glendening carried the puck from one o-zone to the other, two on one with Raffl. Glendening made the pass through a sliding Brent Burns to Raffl, who had a clear shot. Assists went to Glendening and Esa Lindell. It was the eleventh short-handed goal that the Sharks have given up this season.

Timo Meier scored at 19:23 of the second, his 33rd of the season. Ryan Merkley sent the puck to the middle of the slot for Meier, who took the shot through traffic. Assists went to Merkley and Mario Ferraro.

The shots were close throughout the game, with a final count of 26-24 Stars. Each team had three shots on the power play, but the Stars had three short-handed shots as well as the short-handed goal. The Sharks won 41% of their face-offs.

The Sharks next play on Sunday at 2:30 PM PT in Minnesota against the Wild.

Giants win game two against Guardians 4-2 at Progressive

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The San Francisco Giants Brandon Belt connects for a fifth inning two RBI single against the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field in Cleveland on Sat Apr 16, 2022 (AP News photo)

Giants Win Game Two Against Guardians 4-2

By Barbara Mason

After winning the first game against the Cleveland Guardians (4-3) Friday night the San Francisco Giants (5-2) continued their three game series Saturday. The Giants won Friday’s series opener handily 4-1 thanks to pitcher Carlos Rodon who allowed a single run through seven innings striking out nine and only giving up two hits.

That was the home opener for Cleveland at Progressive Field and not the debut as the Guardians that they were hoping for. The Giants won their second straight game in Cleveland with a 4-2 win on Saturday.

Cleveland was first on the scoreboard Saturday in the first inning. Jose Ramirez hit a sacrifice fly to allow Myles Straw to score for the early 1-0 lead.

The Giants would fight through four innings when in the fifth inning Brandon Belt singled to center and base runners Thairo Estrada and Mike Yastrzemski would both score giving San Francisco a 2-1 lead. Cleveland would score in the same inning to tie up this game. Myles Straw doubled to deep left and base runner Owen Miller scored for a 2-2 game.

Going into the eighth inning the game remained tied. With one out the Giants would load the bases and Wilmer Flores would ground into a fielders choice to second. Brandon Belt scored to break the tie and give the Giants a 3-2 lead.

San Francisco was not finished and with two outs Austin Slater would score on a wild pitch extending the Giants lead. The Giants would take the 4-2 lead into the ninth inning. In the bottom of the ninth Cleveland was looking at their last chance to salvage this game. Cleveland’s Josh Naylor would single and Owen Miller walked but they could not cash in and San Francisco held on for the win

Sunday the Giants will be going for the sweep. First pitch is scheduled for 10:40 AM PDT. Alex Wood (0-0 ERA 4.15) will take the mound for San Francisco and for Cleveland it will be Aaron Civale (0-0 ERA 5.40).

A’s Pache Continues Hot Start with 7-5 Saturday Win at Toronto

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The Oakland A’s Cristian Pache is thrilled after getting the game winning home run in the top of the ninth inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre on Sat Apr 16, 2022 (The Canadian Press via AP News)

A’s, Pache Continues Hot Start with 7-5 Saturday Win at Toronto

By Tony the Tiger Hayes

The no-name A’s continued their quick start to the 2022 season on Saturday by beating old friend Matt Chapman and the Toronto Blue Jays 7-5 on the road.

Spring time accusation Cristian Pache belted a go-ahead two-run long ball in the 9th to spear head the win to improve Oakland young season record to 5-4.

Catcher Sean Murphy also went deep for the A’s. The win went to righty reliever Danny Jimenez who pitched a perfect 8th. Lou Trivino notched his second save.

The win snapped Oakland’s six game losing streak to the Jays dating back to last season.

Hot prospect Pache was acquired during spring training in a trade from Atlanta that sent slugger Matt Olson Southbound.

With Oakland tied 5-5, Pache walloped a 1-0 Julian Merryweather fastball over the right field fence for his first Oakland round tripper to put Oakland up 7-5.

“I noticed that he was throwing a lot of breaking balls so I paid attention to that,” the exciting rookie said through an interpreter after the game. “I also saw that he was throwing a lot of curveballs so I made sure not to miss any of the fastballs and I went out there and I didn’t miss.”

Merryweather took the loss.

Earlier, Chapman whacked his second homer and Zack Collins sailed his first on consecutive pitches from A’s right-hander Domingo Acevedo in the 6th as the Blue Jays to over come a 5-2 deficit.

Oakland took a 3-1 lead in the 2nd when they strung four consecutive hits off Toronto starter Hyundai Jin Ryu to take a 3-1 lead.

Murphy, who doubled and scored in that frame, made it 5-1 with a two-run 451 poke to center field seats in the 4th.

NHL podcast with Matt Harrington: Isles Bossy was a goal scorer and a four time cup champion passes at 65; Rangers Shesterkin throws shutout against Red Wings; plus much more

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The late Mike Bossy skated for the New York Islanders between 1977 to 1987 was a four time Stanley Cup Champion winner (photo from nhl.com)

On the NHL podcast with Matt:

#1 Matt, it’s hard to believe that former New York Islander Mike Bossy has passed at 65 years old. Bossy has suffered from lung cancer. Bossy was a goal scorer and a four time cup champion winner.

#2 Matt, the New York Rangers didn’t waste anytime making work of the Detroit Red Wings with a 4-0 shutout at Madison Square Garden Saturday. Igor Shesterkin in goal stopped 20 Red Wing shots for the shutout and left winger Alexis Lafreniere scored twice.

#3 Nashville Predators are hard to hold back as they defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 4-3 in a Saturday matinee. The Preds got scoring help from Mikael Granlund who got a goal and an assist. The win strengthens the Predators in the Western Conference wild card.

#4 The Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry is week to week with a lower body injury. Jarry didn’t practice Friday morning at the skate he stopped 36 shots on Thursday against the New York Islanders he has a 2.42 goals for the season in the win over the Isles 6-3.

#5 Black on ice officials with Jordan Samuel Thomas and Shandor Alphonso it was the first time that two black officials worked together in NHL history. Shout out to the San Jose Sharks and the Chicago Blackhawks at the United Center who participated in the historic game on Thursday night.

Join Matt for the NHL podcasts each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Ebobisse’s brace help Earthquakes draw with Nashville SC 2-2

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Nashville SC and the San Jose Earthquakes played to a 2-2 draw at Pay Pal Stadium in San Jose on Sat Apr 16, 2022 (photo from San Jose Earthquakes)

by Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE — Jeremy Ebobisse is using 2022 as a showcase season.

Ebobisse recorded his second brace of the season as the San Jose Earthquakes came back twice to settle for a 2-2 draw with Nashville SC on Saturday afternoon at Pay Pal Stadium.

San Jose, despite remaining are winless in their first seven matches, earned another point and have earned a point in their last three home matches. Nashville SC has points in three straight matches.

This was the first match between the two clubs as Nashville SC entered the MLS as an expansion team in 2020.

Quakes head coach Matias Almeyda welcomed back his best defender to the starting lineup in Nathan. The Brazilian fullback played in his first match since the opener when he suffered a lower body injury in the first half.

Nashville (3-2-2) drew first blood late in the first half. Former Quake Anibal Godoy fed Hany Mukhtar at midfield off of a turnover. Mukhtar dribbled all the way in, untouched, and beat Quakes goalkeeper JT Marcinkowski with a right footed shot into the right corner for his first goal of the season in the 38th minute.

San Jose (0-4-3) had a couple of chances earlier in the opening 45 minutes, including a shot from Cristian Espinoza from inside the box in the 16th minute, but it was easily handled by Nashville SC goalkeeper Joe Willis.

San Jose’s luck changed early in the second half. A handball by Danile Lovitz in the 51st minute set up a free kick from 20 yards out.

Ebobisse bent in a perfect ball into the left corner of the net past Willis for his team leading fourth goal of the season in the 52nd minute to score the equalizer.

“It’s a team that does not give up,” said Ebobisse. “We’re a team that always play to the final whistle. We always believe we can turn this game around.”

Nashville SC regained the lead in the 63rd minute. CJ Sapong’s header off a throw in caromed over to an unmarked Mukhtar along the left side. The German native used a diving kick into the empty net for his first brace of the season.

The Earthquakes took advantage of another set piece. A corner kick from Jamiro Monteiro found its way to Jan Gregus who poked the ball back into the middle and Ebobisse chipped it into the back of the net for his fifth goal and second brace of the season.

Marcinkowksi finished with two saves on five shots on target. Willis made three saves on five shots on target.

GAME NOTES: San Jose finished the match with eight corner kicks. Nashville SC had one.

This was Nashville’s first MLS match against a team from California.

The Earthquakes are off to the worst start in club history with just three points from their first seven games. San Jose is the 10th team in MLS history to have fewer than three points after six games, while only three teams have had two or fewer points through seven games in league history.

UP NEXT: San Jose host the Seattle Sounders on Saturday 4/23 at 7:00pm at Pay Pal Park.