Tag: Arizona Diamondbacks

The San Francisco Giants Thairo Estrada belts out a ninth inning grand slam against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field in Phoenix on Fri Jul 2, 2021 (AP News photo)

By Jeremy Kahn

If the San Francisco Giants (51-30) wanted to get out of their recent rut, they needed a change in their lineup and they may have found it in Thairo Estrada.

All the youngster did was go three-for-five, including a 431-foot grand slam in the top of the ninth inning and the Giants put an end to a season-high four-game losing streak with a 11-4 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks (23-61) at Chase Field. This was the seventh win in eight games for the Giants over the Diamondbacks this season.

The Estrada grand slam broke open a close game, helping Alex Wood to his eighth win of the season for the Giants, who maintained their half-game over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West, after the Dodgers defeated the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park by the final score of 10-5.

Estradas grand slam came with two outs after Buster Posey walked, then Austin Slater grounded into a double play and then the Giants way to break the game wide open began. Brandon Crawford drew a walk, then Wilmer Flores reached on a throwing error by Nick Ahmed that allowed Crawford advance to third base, after a walk to Steven Duggar that loaded the bases, Estrada launched a J.B. Bukauskas pitch deep into the left field seats.

Wood went the required five innings, as he allowed two runs on four hits, walking three and striking out eight before giving way to the bullpen.

It was a tough night for the Diamondbacks pitching staff, as their starter Zach Gallen was forced to leave the game in the top of the third inning with a strained hamstring and then manager Torrey Lovullo was forced to use his bullpen for the rest of the game.

Prior to leaving, Gallen went two innings, allowing three runs on five hits, walking three and struck out three, as he saw his record fall to 1-4 on the season and the Diamondbacks lost for the 25th time in their last 28 games.

Crawford, like Estrada also picked up a three-hit game in four at-bats and scored twice in the big win for the Giants, who continue to have the best record in the National League.

Lamonte Wade, Jr., who was surprisingly sent down to Sacramento a few weeks back continues his hot hitting, as he went 2-for-3 with a run scored and three runs batted in that included his seventh home run of the season.

Wade drove in the first run of the game, as he hit a sacrifice fly that scored Flores and then Mike Yastrzemski drove in the second run of the inning with a single that scored Duggar.

Alex Dickerson then added to the Giants lead, as he hit a solo home run deep into the Phoenix night, as it landed 415 feet away from home plate.

After the Diamondbacks began to cut into the Giants lead, Wade hit a two-run home run to give the Giants a 7-2 lead and they needed those runs, as the Diamondbacks began to comeback.

Edwin Escobar and Pavin Smith each hit solo home runs in the bottom of the eighth inning off of Jimmy Sherfy that saw Jake McGee get up at the end of the inning, as he was getting ready to come on to close the game; however, that all changed when Estrada hit the grand slam the put the game away for the Giants.

NOTES: Buster Posey was officially selected to his seventh All-Star Game. Posey won the fan vote at catcher and has been selected to start the game by the fans for the fifth time in his career (first time since 2017). With five fan elections, he joins Barry Bonds (12 fan selections) as the only players in Giants history to be voted in by the fans at least five times and Posey joins Hall of Famers Johnny Bench (10), Gary Carter (8) and Mike Piazza (11) as the only NL backstops with at least five fan elections.

The Estrada grand slam was the fifth of the season, for the Giants, joining Brandon Belt, Duggar, Mike Tauchman and Yastrzemski.

Since the 2019 season, the Giants are 12-5 in their 17 games at Chase Field against the Diamondbacks and have hit 17 home runs during this time and have also outscored the Diamondbacks 100-71 in those 17 games.

UP NEXT: Sammy Long will go for his second win of the season, as he takes the mound on Saturday night, while the Diamondbacks will start Jake Faria, who is 0-0 on the season.

San Francisco Giants pitcher Alex Wood seen here throwing against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Mon Jun 14, 2021 at Oracle Park in San Francisco will start against the Diamondback on Fri Jul 2, 2021 at Chase Field in Phoenix (AP file photo)

On the Giants podcast with Michael:

#1 The San Francisco Giants (50-29) who opened a four game series on Thursday night at Chase Field in Phoenix against the Arizona Diamondbacks (22-60) are hoping that they can put more games between them and the Los Angeles Dodgers (49-31) can they do it?

#2 After the Dodgers series in LA Dodgers manager Dave Roberts seems to have a lot of confidence that the Dodgers can catch the Giants not only after sweeping them but they have the horses and experience to win the west is that a fair assessment by Roberts.

#3 After the loss on Tuesday in the brief two game series Giants manager Gabe Kapler said “No real explanation other than we’re going to have to do a better job against the best teams in baseball, including the Dodgers, in those big spots,”

#4 Giants outfielder Mike Tauchman suffered a mile contusion after making an outstanding catch on Tuesday night he ironically was filling in for Mike Yastrzemski who was also out with a contusion. Tauchman had an MRI on Wednesday and talk about Yastrzemski’s progress.

#5 Taking a look at tonight’s starting pitchers for the Giants Alex Wood (6-3 ERA 3.91) and for the Diamondbacks Zac Gallen (1-3 ERA 3.69) Michael tell us how you see this match in game 2 of this series for tonight.

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

Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Merrill Kelly throws to the San Francisco Giants line up in the first inning at Chase Field in Phoenix on Thu Jul 1, 2021 (AP News photo)

by Marko Ukalovic

PHOENIX—What a difference a start made for Merrill Kelly.

The Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher pitched seven strong innings and drove in a run on his first hit of the season in helping his team defeat the San Francisco Giants 5-3 in the first game of a weekend four-game series on Thursday evening at Chase Field.

San Francisco have lost a season worst four-games in a row and their lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers has shrunk to just a half game. Arizona snapped its own four-game losing streak and are just 3-9 after losing 17 games in a row.

Kelly gave up seven hits with three earned runs while striking out seven and did not allow a single walk on the evening.

Kelly, who came into the game with out having a hit, hit a bloop into left field for his first hit and RBI of the season to give the Diamondbacks a 2-1 in the second inning.

“I think he was just giving us different looks,” said Giants catcher Buster Posey about Kelly command tonight. “He didn’t really stay in one spot. He’s able to throw four pitches at different parts of the plate and that’s usually a recipe for success.”

The second inning for Giants starting pitcher Johnny Cueto is one he would like to forget. After coming off his best outing against the Oakland A’s last Friday, Cueto came into this start feeling under the weather. He finished the inning throwing 32 pitches and he looked fatigued and was not sharp on the mound.

“Yeah it was a long inning,” said Cueto if he had ran out of gas after the second inning. “I tried to have a lot of energy, I tried to install energy in the game but I just didn’t have it. I tried to go deep into the game as long as I could but again I just couldn’t do it.”

Cueto gutted out a five inning performance giving up all five runs on six hits, while striking out five batter and issued two walks.

Mike Yastrzemski drew first blood in the first inning when he hit a 418-foot home run to right field, his 11th of the season, to get San Francisco (50-30) on the board.

Arizona (23-60) responded with its two-out rally in the second. Back to back doubles to Josh Reddick and Josh VanMeter in the bottom of the second inning to even the score at one apiece before Kelly’s go ahead single. It was VanMeter’s 10th RBI on the season.

Wilmer Flores smashed a 429-foot two-run homer to left field after a one out single by Branden Crawford, his eighth of the season, in the fourth inning to give the Giants a brief 3-2 lead.

Once again the Diamondbacks regained the lead in the bottom half of the fourth and this time for good. Reddick hit a two-run homer that just cleared the fence in right fielder for his first home run in a Diamondback uniform to give Arizona a 4-3 lead.

Pavin Smith added an insurance run in the fifth inning for Arizona with his sixth home run of the season, a deep shot into the right field seats, to complete the game’s scoring.

Giants manager Gabe Kapler said there’s no need to hit the panic button right now despite his offense’s current slump.

“I don’t think we need a rally the troops kind of speech. We’re not that kind of team,” Kapler said.

Joakim Soria pitched an eventful, but scoreless ninth inning to preserve the win to earn his first save of the season.

GAME NOTES: Outfielder Mike Tauchman was placed on the 10-day IL list (retroactive to June 30th) with a right knee sprain. The Giants recalled outfielder Jaylin Davis as he returned from his rehab assignment and reinstated from the 60-day injured list.

Posey will be the starting catcher for the National League at the All-Star Game in Denver, Colorado on July 13th as he finished first in the fan voting. It will be his seventh of his career, giving him one more selection to the National League squad than Willie McCovey and Will Clark earned in their storied Giants tenures.

UP NEXT: The Giants and D-Backs continue their four-game series on Friday 7/2 at 6:40pm at Chase Field.

San Francisco Giants Buster Posey connects for a three run home run against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the first inning as Diamondbacks catcher Stephen Vogt watches at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Wed Jun 16, 2021 (AP News photo)

By Jerry Feitelberg

The San Francisco Giants continued to torment the Arizona Diamondbacks Wednesday night at Oracle Park. The Giants won as they routed the Snakes 13-7. The Giants, having come back from a 7-0 deficit to beat Arizona 9-8 Tuesday night, continued to torment the hapless D-Backs. The Giants banged out 13 hits, including five more home runs to send the D-Backs down to their 13th loss in a row and the 22nd consecutive road loss. 

Torey Lovullo’s team put two runs on the board in the top of the first. Giants’ starter, Anthony DeScalfini, gave up a double to Josh Rojas. Ketel Marte followed with a single. Lamonte Wade, playing in leftfield, mishandled the ball, and Rojas scored. Marte went to second. Eduardo Escobar doubled to drive in Marte with Arizona’s second run.

The Giants stormed back in the bottom of the first. They put four runs on the board to go ahead 4-2. Wade started the rally with a single to center. Wade stole second. The Snakes’ starter, Merrill Kelly, walked Mike Yazstremski. The Giants’ Buster Posey blasted his twelfth dinger of the year to put the Giants ahead 3-2. Kelly walked Brandon Belt. Belt went to second on a wild pitch and scored on Jason Vosler’s double. The Giants led 4-2 after one inning. They would not relinquish the lead.

Lovullo brought in Keury Melli to pitch the fourth for Arizona. The Giants plated four runs. Steven Duggar led off the inning with a home run. Melli retired DeScalfini for the first out. The next hitter, Lamonte Wade, also homered to make it 6-2. The G-Men weren’t finished. Melli walked Yaz, and Buster singled to put men on at first and third. Brandon Belt walked to load the bases. Donovan Solano singled to drive in Yaz and Posey. The Giants led 8-2 after four.

The onslaught continued in the bottom of the fifth. Ryan Buchter was now pitching for Arizona. Steven Duggar walked to start the rally. Wilmer Flores, pinch-hitting for pitcher Anthony DeSclafini, homered to make it 10-2. Buchter walked Yaz. Posey singled to sent Yaz to third. Brandon Belt blasted an Earl Weaver special(a three-run dinger) to propel the Giants to a commanding 13-2 lead.

Giants’ Manager Gabe Kapler brought Conner Menez into the game to pitch the sixth. Arizona roughed him up for five runs. The key blow was Asdrubal Cabrera’s homer. 

The Giants’ Jose Alvarez pitched the seventh and eighth and did not allow a hit. James Sherfy pitched a scoreless ninth to seal the win for the Giants.

Game Notes: With the win, the Giants are now 43-25 for the year. They have a two-game advantage over the LA Dodgers in the race for the NL West division lead. The Snakes fall to 20-49. 

The hitting stars for the Giants were Buster Posey with three hits, three ribbies, three runs scored, and a home run. Lamonte Wade had two hits, and one of them was a solo dinger. Brandon Belt drove in three with a home run. He finished the night with two hits. Steven Duggar had two hits, too. One was a solo homer.

The Giants face the Snakes again on Thursday. The game will start at 12:45 pm. The Philadelphia Phillies are in town for three starting Friday night.

San Francisco Giants’ Mike Yastrzemski, second from right, celebrates after hitting a grand slam home run that scored LaMonte Wade Jr., from left, Brandon Belt and Curt Casali in the eighth inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Tue Jun 15, 2021 (AP News photo)

By Jeremy Kahn

Mike Yastrzemski came with the biggest hit of the game when the San Francisco Giants needed it the most.

Yastrzemski hit a grand slam that landed into McCovey Cove that propelled the Giants to an unbelievable 9-8 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks at Oracle Park.

This was the seventh straight win for the Giants over the Diamondbacks and are now 12-2 since the beginning of the 2020 season and have outscored them 74-41 during that time.

Things did not start good for the Giants, as Zack Littell could not get a batter out and the Diamondbacks jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning.

Sammy Long came on to replace Littell, and the Diamondbacks added three more runs in the top of the second inning to take a 7-0 lead.

These are not the Giants of yesteryear, as they began to mount their comeback in the bottom of the second inning.

Donovan Solano drove in the first run for the Giants, as he grounded out to Josh Rojas at second base that allowed Wilmer Flores to easily score from third base and then Steven Duggar hit a two-run home run to cut the Diamondbacks lead down to 7-3.

Former Oakland As outfielder Josh Reddick added what turned out to be the last Diamondbacks run of the night, as he grounded out to Long that allowed Asdrubal Cabrera to score from third base.

The Giants began to mount their comeback, as Solano drove in his second run of the game, as he pulled the ball into left field that scored Brandon Belt to cut the lead in half.

Jason Vosler then got the Giants within three, as he beat out an infield single to score Solano.

Then the Giants came up with could be one of the biggest innings of the season, as Belt doubled to right field, then Solano singled on a 2-0 pitch and after Mauricio Dubon flew out to left field and then Lamonte Wade, Jr., grounded into a force play and Gabe Kapler gambled, as he sent his last pinch hitter on the bench and Curt Casali drew a pinch-hit walk to bring Yastrzemski to the plate and on the fourth pitch he saw from Humberto Castellanos, Yastrzemski hit his first career professional grand slam to give the Giants a dramatic comeback victory.

Jimmie Sherify pitched a perfect eighth inning, as he picked up his first win of the season for the Giants.

Tyler Rogers nailed it down in the top of the ninth inning, as he set the Diamondbacks down in order with a strikeout to pick up his ninth save of the season.

Littell last just six batters, as he allowed four runs on four hits, walking two and not striking out a batter and then Long came on to replace Littell.

Long ended up going five innings, allowing four runs on five hits, walking one and striking out three before giving way to Conor Menez, who allowed two hits and struck out two in his only inning of work and then Jarlin Garcia gave up a hit and strikeout in his only inning of work before Sherfy came on in the top of the eighth inning.

It was a tough no-decision for Alex Young, who went four innings, allowing three runs on five hits, walking one and striking out two.

The Diamondbacks bullpen let them down, as they were unable to get the Giants out, as they the trio of Conor Martin, Joe Mantiply and Castellanos went the final four innings, allowing five runs on seven hits, including that grand slam to Yastrzemski that proved to the game-winning hit.

NOTES: This was the biggest comeback by the Giants since they trailed the Cincinnati Reds 8-0 at Great American Ballpark on May 3, 2019, and ended up winning 12-11 in 11 innings.

When he hit a home run on Monday night, Brandon Crawford reached another milestone, as he became the quickest Giants shortstop since at least 1901 to reach 15 home runs in a season, as he reached the plateau in the Giants 66th game of the season.

Sadly, this was the 21st consecutive loss on the road for the Diamondbacks, and their 12th loss in a row overall.

Their last win away from Chase Field for the Diamondbacks came on April 25 against the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park, as Madison Bumgarner threw a seven-inning no-hitter; however, the no-hitter does not count as a no-hitter in the MLB record book.

UP NEXT: Anthony DeSclafani looks for his seventh win of the season, as he heads to the mound on Wednesday night, while Merrill Kelly goes to the mound for the Diamondbacks.