Tag: Brandon Belt

Lincecum defangs Diamondbacks

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By Jeremy Kahn

August 30, 2013

PHOENIX-Tim Lincecum is a free agent at the end of the 2013 season, but if he pitches the rest of the way like his two last starts, he should be wearing Orange and Black next season.

Lincecum went seven innings, allowing zero runs on six hits, while walking two and striking out two on his way to his second consecutive win and the San Francisco Giants defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks 1-0 before a crowd of 24,380 at Chase Field.

“Best I have had felt out there in a while,” said Lincecum, who threw 99 pitches on the evening.

The win was also special for Giants centerfielder Angel Pagan, who made his return to a major league diamond for the first time since May 25, when hit a walk-off two-run inside-the-park home run at AT&T Park against the Colorado Rockies.

In his first major league at-bat in 82 games, Pagan hit a double off of Diamondbacks starter Randall Delgado and then scored the only Giants run that they would need, as Brandon Belt hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield that scored Pagan from third base in the top of the first inning.

“I was going, I was going to challenge (A.J. Pollock),” said Pagan.

Despite taking the loss, Delgado pitched an admirable game, as he went seven innings, allowing one runs on just three hits, walking two and striking out three; however he saw his record fall to 4-5 on the season.

Paul Goldschmidt, who entered the game with a .529 clip in his career versus Lincecum was retired in his first at-bats, but finally got to Lincecum, as he hit a single in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Following the Goldschmidt single, Martin Prado hit a single that sent Goldschmidt and immediately following the Prado single, Aaron Hill walked to load the bases.

After going 1-for-3 on the night, Goldschmidt is still hitting at .an .500 clip, as he is now 10-for-20 in his career versus the two-time Cy Young Award Winner.

Lincecum then struck out Miguel Montero on three consecutive pitches, and Pablo Sandoval saved the shutout, as he dove for an A.J. Pollock hit down the left field line, got up and threw to Belt for the final out of the inning.

“Ball down the line, looking at a crooked number,” said Bruce Bochy, “that was how we won the game.”

Marco Scutaro made an amazing play at second base, as Goldschmidt was running on the pitch, Scutaro was covering second and a ball hit by Prado was snared by Scutaro, who tagged second and threw to first to complete the double play.

Sandoval was forced to leave the game after being hit on the knee by a Brad Ziegler pitch in the top of the ninth inning and was replaced by Joaquin Arias at third base.

Sergio Romo came on in the bottom of the ninth inning, and shut the Diamondbacks down to pickup his 33rd save of the season.

Romo extends two different streaks at Chase Field, as he now completes 20.0-consecutive scoreless innings, tied for the second longest streak all-time by a visiting pitcher in the history of the ballpark (according to Stats LLC).

Also, Romo completed his 23rd consecutive inning of scoreless appearances at Chase Field, the longest such by any visiting pitcher at any ballpark since 1921 (according to Stats LLC).

NOTES: Ryan Vogelsong will take the ball in the second game of the three-game series on Saturday afternoon, while former Oakland A’s starter Trevor Cahill will toe the rubber for Kirk Gibson’s Diamondbacks.

Former Diamondbacks pitcher Yusmeiro Petit will face his former team on Sunday, while 13-game winner Patrick Corbin will head to the mound for the Diamondbacks.

To make room for Pagan, Francisco Peguero was optioned to Fresno and Andres Torres was transferred from the 15-day to the 60-day disabled list after having surgery on his left Achilles.

With the victory, the Giants are now 5-10 following an off day this season, their first win after an off day since Chad Gaudin defeated the Diamondbacks on July 19 at AT&T Park.

The Giants have raised their record versus the National League West to 31-24, the best out of any team in the division.

When the game began at 6:40 (local time) it was a balmy 91 degrees outside of the ballpark, but a cool 78 degrees inside.

SF Giants split series, defeat Brewers 4-1

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By Jerry Feitelberg

August 8, 2013

0808131The Giants were looking to even the four game series with the Milwaukee Brewers Thursday afternoon at AT&T park. The Giants sent Tim Lincecum to the hill. Lincecum entered the game with a 5-11 record for the season but he looked like the Timmy of old as he picked up the win going eight innings allowing no runs and just ONE hit as the Giants won the game 4-1. Marco Scutaro and Brandon Crawford were terrific at the top of the lineup as they both had three hits each in the game. They had back to back hits in the first, second and sixth inning. The big blow of the game came in the first inning went Brandon Belt hit a three run homer. The game summary follows.

The Giants jumped out to 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Marco Scutaro led of with a single to left. Shortstop Brandon Crawford followed with a double to left center field to put men on at second and third with no out. With one out, first baseman Brandon belt launched a home run to deep right field to score Scutaro and Crawfor ahead of him. Giants lead 3-0 after one inning of play.

The Giants added a run in the bottom of the second. With two out, Marco Scutaro doubled down the left field line. He advanced to third on a wild pitch and then scored on a single off the bat of Brandon Crawford. Giants lead 4-0 after two.

The Brewers got on the board in the top of the ninth. Khris Davis, pinch hitting for the pitcher, doubled to start the frame. Davis scored when Jean Segura singled with one out. Sergio Romo nailed nail the win getting the last two outs of the game. Giants win 4-1. Lincecum gets the win and he is now 6-11 for the season and Donovan Hand took the loss . Hand’s record is now 0-4.

Notes: The Giants entered the game homer less in eleven straight home games. The last home run at home was on July 20th.The Giants are now 8-12 since the All-Star break. The Giants recalled Hector Sanchez from Fresno and he caught the game for the Giants. Catcher Guillermo Quiroz was designated for assignment. With the win, the Giants are now 12 games under .500 and their home record improves to 30-29. The Giants play an inter-league series with the Baltimore Orioles Friday night at AT&T park at 7:15 pm.

Attendance was 41,219. It was the 233rd consecutive sellout for San Francisco.

Late rally downs Bumgarner, Giants

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By Jeremy Harness

August 7, 2013
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SAN FRANCISCO – As the eighth inning began, things were looking pretty good for the Giants.

Starter Madison Bumgarner had been giving a spectacular performance, going seven innings and giving up only a pair of hits and a walk while the Giants had just given him a run in the bottom of the seventh to put him in line for a possible win.

That’s when the good feelings ceased, however. The Milwaukee Brewers tagged Bumgarner for four runs in the eighth inning as the Giants fell 6-1 before 41,416 hopeful fans at AT&T Park Wednesday night.

Looking on the bright side, however, Bumgarner now has 10 straight outings that he has pitched at least seven innings, which is the longest streak by a Giants starter since Rick Reuschel had 11 consecutive to end the 1988 season.

The Giants couldn’t get anything going offensively against starter Marco Estrada, managing only one hit against him in the five innings he pitched.

It wasn’t just Estrada who the Giants had issues with on Wednesday. They also have center fielder Carlos Gomez to thank for keeping them off the scoreboard. They hit several hard shots in Gomez’s area, only to watch him run each one of them down.

That started in the first inning, when Buster Posey smacked one that was destined for extra bases, a ball which Gomez leaped at the warning track and snared to end the inning.

The Giants did get a little payback in the seventh inning, though. After he walked with two outs, Bumgarner timed his pickoff move perfectly as Gomez was trying to steal second. From there, first baseman Brandon Belt fired to second for the putout as Gomez spiked his helmet in frustration.

That seemed to spark a rally for the Giants that carried over to the bottom of the inning, as the two Brandons got on base to start things off, Crawford with a walk and Belt with a single that just skipped past second baseman Rickie Weeks’ glove.

A wild pitch by reliever Alfredo Figaro then moved both of them into scoring position with Posey at the plate. Posey was robbed again of a base hit – this time by a diving grab in left field by Khris Davis – but Crawford tagged up from third to put the Giants in front and take the lid off of the scoreless game.

However, the Brewers themselves got some momentum against Bumgarner in the eighth that eventually knocked him out of the game. Davis and Yuniesky Betancourt led off the inning with hits before Jeff Bianchi scored Davis. On the next play, Betancourt scored on a throwing error by Bumgarner on a fielder;’s choice, which gave the Brewers the lead. After the outburst in the eighth, the Brewers put up two more runs off reliever Barry Zito to send even more fans to the exits. 

Giants take advantage of Brewers mistakes, win 4-2

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by Kahlil Najar

SAN FRANCISCO, CA. — On a day billed as a Grateful Dead Tribute Night that saw Bob Weir throw out the first pitch and plenty of tie dyed shirts throughout AT&T Park, the magic was certainly in the air as a plethora of mistakes by the Brewers (47-65) were able to propel the Giants (50-61) to a 4-2 win and give them their first win of this important seven-game homestand.

The Giants started the scoring off in the bottom of the fourth when Gregor Blanco came to the plate and hit a hard grounder to first base that Juan Francisco was able to field but threw the ball into the dirt past an outstretched Scooter Gennett and went into left field. Brandon Belt who was already on second was running on contact and was able to score safely on the Francisco’s fifth error of the year to give the Giant’s a 1-0 lead. In the seventh inning, the Brew Crew were able to tie the game when Francisco hit a deep ball to center field that popped over the fence for a ground rule double and scored Jonathan Lucroy who had started off the inning with his 18th double of the year.

The bottom of the eight proved to be the most mind-bending inning for the Brewers as after a lead off walk and a stolen base to Hunter Pence landed him at second base, the usually reliable John Axford threw a wild pitch on an intentional walk to Pablo Sandoval that moved Pence over to third and Sandoval at first with one out. The pitching miscue landed Axford in the doghouse and the Brewers brought in reliever Michael Gonzalez to face red hot Brandon Belt who had three singles on the day. After bringing Belt to a full count, Gonzalez threw a slider in the dirt that loaded the bases.

The next batter Jeff Francouer, who was pinch-hitting for Roger Kieschnick smacked a broken bat single off of new Brewer reliever Rob Wooten to left field just over the reach of Jean Segura and allowed Hunter Pence to score from third and give the Giants a 2-1 lead. After a routine pop out by Gregor Blanco, Giants manager Bruce Bochy again decided to bring in a pinch hitter and this time he brought in right-handed batter Joaquin Arias who after three straight sliders hit a ground ball to third that slipped under the glove of Jeff Bianchi and allowed Pablo Sandoval and Brandon Belt to score to give the Giant’s a three run lead with a score of 4-1. Sergio Romo came in the close the game in the top of the ninth and gave up an home run to Juan Francisco but settle down and earned his 27th save of the year.

Giants pitcher Chad Gaudin (5-2) had an impressive game as he lasted for six and one-third innings and only gave up four hits and one run and notched an impressive eight strike outs and continued his streak of only allowing two runs or fewer in eight of his last ten starts. “He’s just been so consistent, both in the ‘pen and starting,” Bochy said. “He’s so valuable on this ballclub. We needed a starter and he’s stepped in and he’s thrown the ball as well as anybody.”

Hunter Pence did his best impersonation of the Grateful Dead Bears as he walked a team high three times and continued his streak of reaching base safely every game since the All-Star game. Brandon Belt also had himself a game today as he notched his second three-hit, two-runs performance of August.

The Giants and the Brewers head back at it tomorrow when Matt Cain (7-6, 4.57 ERA) squares up against Wily Peralta (7-11, 4.57 ERA), game time 7:15pm.