Tag: Baseball

A’s come out on top with 3-1 win over Rangers in nail-biter

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Photo credit: @Athletics

By Jerry Feitelberg

OAKLAND — The Oakland A’s met the Texas Rangers for the first time this season Monday night at the Oakland Coliseum. Both teams entered the game with a record of 1-3. The A’s sent Andrew Triggs to the mound to handle the pitching chores. Triggs, now in his second year, pitched very well as he went five innings and allowed just one run and four hits. He did not get a decision, but the A’s rallied in the eighth to score two runs and win 3-1.

The Rangers sent Bartolo Colon out to pitch, and Colon also pitched extremely well. The 44-year-old master went six innings and was touched for just one run while giving up seven hits, He escaped jams in the fifth and sixth innings and he, too, did not get a decision.

The A’s started the scoring in the bottom of the third when third baseman Matt Chapman led off the inning with a home run over the right-center field wall. Bartolo Colon settled down and retired the next three hitters. The A’s lead 1-0 after three complete.

The Rangers threatened in the top of the fourth. With one out, Rangers’ catcher, Robinson Chirinos reached third when A’s right fielder Stephen Piscotty failed to catch the ball as he bounced off the wall. Triggs got Rougned Odor to pop out to Jed Lowrie for the second out. Ryan Rua, who had singled in the second inning, hit a line drive to center. A’s center fielder Boog Powell made a sensational diving catch to rob Rua of a hit and end the Ranger threat.

The Rangers tied the game in the top of the fifth. Triggs walked Drew Robinson to start the inning. Robinson stole second when Shin-Soo Chin struck out swinging. Rangers’ first baseman, Joey Gallo, followed with a single to drive in Robinson. The A’s, in their half of the fifth, had three solid singles but could not score. The key play in the inning came when A’s catcher Jonathan Lucroy tried to score from second on a Marcus Semien single to center. The throw home was on the mark, and while there was a collision between Lucroy and Chirinos, Chirinos was able to hold onto the ball for the out.

The A’s broke through in the seventh to plate two runs and take a 3-1 lead. The A’s had chances in the fifth and sixth, but could not get the key hit they needed to get the go-ahead run. Their fortunes changed in the seventh. With one out, Lucroy doubled to left-center. The new Ranger pitcher, Kevin Jepsen, retired Boog Powell for the second out and Lucroy advanced to third on the play. The next hitter, Marcus Semien walked. Ranger manager Jeff Banister brought in lefty Jake Diekman to pitch to Jed Lowrie. Banister wanted Lowrie hitting from the right side, but the strategy did not work as Lowrie doubled to drive in both Lucroy and Semien.

The A’s bullpen did its job as Ryan Buchter, Chris Hatcher, and Blake Treinen gave up just two hits and no runs in four innings of work. The A’s win 3-1.

Game Notes: With the win, the A’s improve to 2-3 while Texas falls to 1-4. The hitting stars for Oakland were Matt Chapman who hit his second homer of the season and Jed Lowrie who had a clutch two-out double in the eighth to drive in the winning runs.

The A’s meet the Rangers again Tuesday night for game two of the four-game series. Kendal Graveman will be on the hill for Oakland, and the Rangers’ will counter with the ace, lefty Cole Hamels.

Time of game was three hours and 10 minutes.  A sparse crowd of 7,416 was on hand to watch the heroes win and were able to go home with smiles on their faces.

Up Next: The A’s and Rangers meet again Tuesday night at 7:05 pm PT.

Dodged a bullet?: Giants either crafty or overmatched in season-opening weekend

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Photo credit: @TwitVI

By Morris Phillips

If the Giants’ bats come around, they’ll laugh heartily about it.

If they don’t, the entire club will be visibly upset for the next six months.

It’s that serious–and that inconsequential–the Giants scored just two runs in four games to start the season in Dodger Stadium. Ultimately, what matters is what’s yet to come. But if the offense tanks, we’ll all remember the Giants started a subpar season with the most inept opening weekend in terms of offense in the last 30 seasons…

Of any team since the 1988 Orioles lost 12-0 on Opening Day–and 12-1 four days later on the way to 107 defeats–and after the two major upgrades in Longoria and McCutchen, all the faith invested in the holdovers, and the similarity to the last two campaigns, a collapse would be a mouthful to swallow.

Of course, this is a sobering juxtaposition. Could the Giants provide more of the same for a third straight year?

With the increasing ominous signs, it bears watching.

If not, the Giants may have shown that given their tenacity and level of engagement, they may have what it takes to compete. After all, the Giants assumed the most arduous opening of any team in the National League–on the road, against the penant winners with four different start times–and scraped together two, memorable, hard fought wins.

Without a couple of major pieces, that’s an accomplishment.  The precedent set by Joe Panik with his pair of solo shots says it best.

But if the Dodgers can claim the distinction of being the first team in baseball history to allow two or fewer runs in a season-opening four game series than that’s not good. Only one of the two runs were earned? That’s the Giants sending the competition off on their merry way brimming with confidence.

“They’ll get clicking,” Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy said. “It’s a matter of time. … They’re too good. We know that. Hopefully [during] this day off, they’ll get a chance to relax.”

Here’s a snapshot of the numbers from the weekend:

Evan Longoria started the National League portion of his career hitless. The former Tampa Bay Ray went 0 for 15, despite saying he saw some good pitches to hit.

Johnny Cueto was lights out on Friday night, allowing one hit over seven innings, no walks, with four strikeouts. So far no mention of reoccurring issues with blisters. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts astutely pointed that Cueto is especially tough with no baserunners pitching out of the stretch.

Joe Panik’s feat of solo homers in consecutive 1-0 wins is a once in the history of the sport achievement. Forget the distinction of Opening Day, no player has ever solo homered in consecutive games with that game result, period.

Opening the season with a pair of 1-0 wins? That’s been done before. 76 years ago by the Reds in wins over the Cardinals with a huge assist to Johnny VanderMeer. The Reds’ pitching staff one-upped the Giants by winning in extra innings both days, 21 innings total.

The Giants are hitting .192 as a team, ranking them 27th, just in case you mistakenly thought they generated a decent share of traffic on the basepaths, but couldn’t summon any big hits.

Dodgers get back-to-back shutouts with 9-0 win over Giants

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Kahn

After back-to-back shutouts to open the season, the San Francisco Giants were on the verge of receiving of back-to-back shutouts by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Rich Hill pitched five strong innings, and reigning Rookie of the Year Cody Bellinger broke out of a season-opening 0-for-11 slump to hit his first home run of the season and the Dodgers defeated the Giants 9-0 to salvage a split of their season-opening four-game series at Dodger Stadium Sunday night.

Following their first two wins of the season, the Giants failed to score over the final 18 innings of the series, while the Dodgers scored 14 runs in the last two games.

Chris Stratton gave up three runs in 5.1 innings, as the Giants became the first team since the 1988 Baltimore Orioles to score no more than two runs in the first four games of the season.

Stratton held the Dodgers hitless until the bottom of the fourth inning, as Corey Seager picked up his first hit of the season, and then Yaisel Puig followed suit with his first hit of the season.

The Giants defense got confused after Hunter Pence caught a fly ball hit by Bellinger for the second out of the inning, with Seager advancing to third base and Puig broke for second. Brandon Crawford then threw to Brandon Belt, and without a throw, Seager scored from third base to break the scoreless tie.

The Dodgers broke the game open in the bottom of the sixth inning, as Chris Taylor got a hit and then Puig ended Stratton’s night with a double to score Taylor.

Josh Osich came on to replace Stratton, and Bellinger greeted him with an opposite field home run.

Kike Hernandez put the final touches on the evening as he hit a two-run double off of Roberto Gomez in the bottom of the eighth inning.

NOTES: After a day-off on Monday, the Giants open their 60th home season in San Francisco against the Seattle Mariners, as Ty Blach takes the mound against the Seattle Mariners.

Jeff Samardzija will throw bullpen sessions on both Tuesday and Friday, and then will begin a rehabilitation assignment.

There is no timetable for the return of closer Mark Melancon, who is out with an elbow injury.

MLB Podcast with Daniel Dullum: Giants’ Panik makes history with back-to-back solo shots for game-winners; MLB walking wounded; Oak A’s hope Lucas can help pitching corp

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Photo credit: @NBCSGiants

On the MLB Podcast with Daniel Dullum:

1 San Francisco Giants Joe Panik’s history-making start sparks 2-0 start for Giants.

2 Disabled lists already well-occupied throughout MLB.

3  Oakland A’s pick up pitcher Josh Lucas from the St. Louis Cardinals.

4  New York Yankee outfielder Giancarlo Stanton linked with Roger Maris–again.

Daniel Dullum does the MLB podcasts each Sunday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

Maeda shuts out Giants for Dodgers’ first win of season 5-0

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Photo credit: @DodgersDigest

By Jeremy Kahn

You knew that the San Francisco Giants were not going to go 162-0, and the Los Angeles Dodgers were not going to go 0-162 on the season.

Kenta Maeda struck out 10 over five innings, as the Dodgers scored for the first time and they went on to defeat the Giants 5-0 at Dodger Stadium Saturday.

The fans at Dodger Stadium exploded with ecstasy in the bottom of the first inning, as Yaisel Puig hit a sacrifice fly to score their first run of the season. Matt Kemp hit a RBI single to increase their lead to 2-0.

Kike Hernandez hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the third inning to lengthen the Dodgers lead up to 3-0.

The Dodgers scored their final two run of the game in the bottom of the fourth inning, as Gregor Blanco and Andrew McCutchen miscommunicated on a fly ball that allowed Austin Barnes and Cody Bellinger to score.

Derek Holland pitched five innings, allowing five runs (three of them earned) on three hits, Holland also walked three and struck out four in his Giants debut.

Joe Panik, who solo home runs in the first two games of the season ended the game as he grounded into a double play to end the game and the undefeated season for the Giants.

NOTES: Chris Stratton will make his season debut for the Giants on Sunday afternoon, as he will take the Dodger Stadium mound and the Dodgers will send veteran left-hander Rich Hill to the mound.

Jeff Samardzija threw a side session of 20 pitches, and will throw a bullpen session on Tuesday, prior to the Giants home opener at AT&T Park. If all goes well with the session, Samardzija could begin a rehab assignment within a week.

UP NEXT: Both teams meet again Sunday night at 5:38 pm PT on ESPN.

A’s battle to the end, but lose to Angels 2-1

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By Charlie O Mallonee

Oakland — On the night the Oakland Athletics introduced their 50th Anniversary Team, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and the A’s gave the 27,665 fans a real show on the diamond. Unlike the the run-fest on Opening Day, it was an old fashioned pitchers duel on Friday as the Angels downed the Athletics 2-1.

Angels stater–LHP Tyler Skaggs–was in midseason form as kept the A’s hitters off-balance by mixing up his pitches and changing speeds. Skaggs worked 6.1-innings of shutout baseball while giving up just three hits to Oakland batters. Skaggs struck out five and walked none.

When Skaggs left the game in top of the seventh inning, he took a 1-0 lead with him to the clubhouse, thanks to Mike Trout’s first home run of the season that he hit out of the park in the top of the first.

Blake Wood worked the final two outs of the seventh and Kenyan Middleton kept the A’s from scoring in the eighth inning.

After the Angels added an insurance run in the top of the ninth, Mike Sciosia handed the ball to Blake Parker to close out the game and that is when it got interesting.

Khris Davis was A’s lead off hitter in bottom of the ninth. Davis walked. Matt Olson then hit a single through the right side of the infield moving Davis up to second. Parker struck out Stephen Piscotty and Matt Chapman.

Oakland catcher Jonathan Lucroy kept hope alive when he hit a solid single to right-center field that drove Davis home and moved Olson up to third. Parker induced Matt Joyce to ground out third to first to end the game.

Skaggs got the win and the save (just barely) went to Parker. The antacid went to Mike Sciosia.

The A’s Sean Manaea took the loss but he pitched well enough to win. Manaea pitched 7.2-innings giving up just one run off four hits. He walked none and struck out seven LAA hitters. The lefty threw 95 pitches–65 strikes. Oakland manager Bob Melvin told reporters after the game that Manaea did not want to come out of the contest when he was lifted in the top of the eighth inning.

The one blemish on the scoresheet for Manaea was the first inning home run he gave up to Mike Trout. As Melvin mentioned, after going 0-6 on Thursday Trout was overdue. Trout has now hit 14 home runs at the Coliseum in his career.

The A’s scattered seven hits divided between seven different batters. They had only one extra base hit in the game. Oakland went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base.

The A’s did not hit poorly on Friday night. They were stopped by a very outstanding performance by a starting pitcher and excellent support from two of his three relievers.

Oakland A’s 50th Anniversary Moment
The A’s played on March 30th for the first time in their history.

Opening Day Trivia
Khris Davis hit his third home run on an Opening Day as a member of the Oakland Athletics on Thursday which ties him with Dave Henderson and Terry Steinbach for the A’s record.

Matt Olson became just the fourth player in MLB history dating back to 1908 to hit an Opening Day home run on his birthday (Jeff Mathis (2011) Ian Stewart (2010) Scott Rolen (2000)).

Up Next
On Saturday the “second-coming” of Rollie Fingers, RHP Daniel Mengden will make his first start of the season for the Athletics. Mengden posted a record of 3-2 in seven starts last season with an ERA of 3.14. The Angels will counter RHP Matt Shoemaker who made 14 starts for the Halos in 2017 and finished with a 6-3 record while recording a 4.52 ERA. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 P.M. The game can be seen on NBC-California, heard on the A’s Radio Network and en Espanol on 1010 AM and 990 AM.

The Big Reveal
The MLB debut that everyone has been waiting for will happening in Oakland on Sunday when the highly touted, two-way Japanese player Shohei Ohtani will make the start for the Angels. Game time is 1:05 P.M.

Panik makes history in Giants’ 1-0 win over Dodgers

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Kahn

Just two days in the 2018 Major League season, San Francisco Giants second baseman Joe Panik made history.

Panik hit a solo home run off of Kenley Jansen in the top of the ninth inning, as the Giants defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 1-0 at Dodger Stadium.

His home run was the only run of the game for the second game, as he became the first player in the 139-year history of Major League Baseball to hit home runs in back-to-back games with the final score of 1-0.

The Giants became the first team since the 1943 Cincinnati Reds to pick-up 1-0 wins in their first two games of the season, as they defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 75 years ago.

Johnny Cueto retired the first 18 batters of the game until Chris Taylor led off the bottom of the seventh inning with a single. That would be the only baserunner to reach base against Cueto on the evening.

Cueto walked no one and struck out four, as he went seven innings after he threw 97 pitches in his first start of the season.

Former Dodgers reliever Tony Watson struck out two in the bottom of the eighth inning, before giving way to Hunter Strickland, who retired the Dodgers in order that included getting Joc Pederson to pop out to Buster Posey on the first pitch he saw on from Strickland.

It was the second game in a row that Pederson made the final out of the game, as he grounded out to Brandon Crawford to end the opener on Thursday.

Through their first two games of the season, the reigning National League Champions have yet to score a run, while allowing just two runs to their longtime rivals from San Francisco.

If you thought Cueto pitched a great game, the guy across the diamond for the Dodgers was not too shabby either.

Alex Wood pitched eight innings, as he allowed just a base hit to Brandon Crawford in the top of the fifth inning and nothing else.

Wood struck out five and did not walk a batter like Cueto, but it was one pitch by the best reliever in the game that cost the Dodgers the game.

Logan Forsythe, playing at third base in place of the injured Justin Turner, who suffered a broken wrist during spring training, committed three of the four Dodgers errors on the night.

The four errors in a game by the Dodgers are their most in a game since they committed four on August 11, 2013 against the Tampa Bay Rays. In that game, like Forsythe, Dee Gordon committed three errors for the Dodgers.

NOTES: Derek Holland makes his Giants debut on Saturday night, as he takes the Dodger Stadium mound, while the Dodgers will send Kenta Maeda to the hill.

UP NEXT: These two teams face each other again Saturday night at 6:10 pm PST.

That’s Amaury’s Podcast, News, and Commentary: Angels’ Ohtani is all the rage at the Oakland Coliseum

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Photo credit: @deepredthread

By Amaury Pi Gonzalez

OAKLAND — Shohei Ohtani, the Los Angeles Angels infielder and pitcher, is baseball’s center of the universe at the Oakland Coliseum with at least 100 Japanese journalists out here to cover the first ever position and pitcher player since Babe Ruth did it for the Boston Red Sox in the early 20th century.

Ohtani, who had not made himself available to the Japanese and English media, is a very low-key player much in the way that former Seattle Mariner Ichiro Suzuki was when he was in his hey days. Ohtani is schedule to pitch on Sunday against the Oakland A’s that will draw not only thousands in the stands, but millions watching from Japan and about 100 Japanese reporters are expected to cover his first big league pitching performance on Sunday.

A’s opening day transformation: The A’s team president David Kaval, who did away with the opening night game concept, gets a lot of credit for his scheduling of the A’s first day game since the day game opener since 1994. Amaury remembers covering the Giants opening day and the Giants played a lot of day games.

Day games are special, and in Anaheim, the Angels play a lot of Saturday night games. It’s an entertainment area as you get Disneyland which is for families who take their families to the park, and at night, they go to the games. The games for the A’s every game is a day on a Saturday.

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

 

 

San Francisco Giants podcast with Michael Duca: Blach has the stuff; four relievers and a shutout; Can SF keep it going?

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

On the San Francisco Giants podcast with Michael Duca:

#1 The opening day performance by San Francisco Giants starter Ty Blach, who went five innings with three hits and three strikeouts. Blach put out a strong performance.

#2 A look at what pitches that were working for Blach.

#3 It took four relievers to come in to shut the door on the Los Angeles Dodgers. There were doubts about the Giants bullpen, but they really impressed on Opening Day.

#4 Dodgers starter Clayton Kernshaw pitched well enough to win, but he didn’t get any offensive support, throwing for one run, eight hits, walked two, struck out seven well enough to complete the game.

#5 Joe Panik, who got the game’s only run on a solo home run in the fifth, that turned out to be the difference maker.

Michael Duca does the Giants podcast Fridays and Morris Phillips on Mondays at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

Blach outduels Kershaw; Giants take opener 1-0

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Harness

The Giants appeared to have the look of a team that was basically up on a tee for the Dodgers to smack around, particularly on Opening Day.

Someone apparently forgot to tell Ty Blach and the rest of the pitching staff, which combined to shut down the Dodgers Thursday afternoon at Dodger Stadium, 1-0.

Blach went five innings and gave up only three hits to a lineup that was only one game away from winning the World Series, while also striking out three and walking three. From that point, the Giants utilized four relievers, including fill-in closer Hunter Strickland, to keep Los Angeles off the scoreboard for four more innings.

“He’s got a great makeup about him,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “We were very confident that he was going to give us a chance to win, which he did. That’s why we picked him to go on Opening Day.”

In the process, Blach got the best of Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw, who gave up a run on eight hits, walking two and striking out seven.

Second baseman Joe Panik fired the shot that separated the two teams and provided the difference. In the fifth inning, he got an inside fastball from Kershaw and sent it into the seats beyond the short fence in right field for a solo homer.

“That’s what this game is about, it about competing,” Blach said. “I love the opportunity to go up against one of the best in the league. It’s a great opportunity, and I loved every minute of it.”