The San Francisco Giants wrapped up their road series against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on Wednesday night. The Giants lost to the Angels 4-1 in the series finale at Angel Stadium. San Francisco fell to 62-53, while Anaheim improved to 58-58.
Tristan Beck (3-1, 3.03 ERA) took the loss after pitching three innings and giving up two hits, three earned runs, two walks, two strikeouts, and one home run. Beck entered the game after Sean Manaea (3-3, 5.10 ERA) pitched four innings and gave up one hit, one earned run, one walk, and six strikeouts.
The Giants’ starting lineup consisted of LaMonte Wade Jr., Thairo Estrada, Wilmer Flores, Joc Pederson, J.D. Davis, Michael Conforto, Patrick Bailey, Brandon Crawford, Luis Matos, and Ryan Walker. Walker pitched one inning and gave up one hit and three strikeouts.
After one scoreless inning, San Francisco got on the scoreboard. Brandon Crawford was out on a sacrifice fly to Mickey Moniak. Michael Conforto scored for a 1-0 Giants lead with two outs.
Neither team added to the scoreboard until the Angels finally got on the board with a four-run sixth inning. Brandon Drury singled on a line drive to Joc Pederson, who committed a fielding error. Luis Rengifo scored to tie the game 1-1. Shohei Ohtani went to third base, while Drury went to second base. Mike Moustakas homered on a fly ball to right field. Drury scored to put the Angels up 4-1.
Notes Giants infielder Wilmer Flores improved to a 20-game on-base streak on Wednesday.
Giants bullpen catcher Alex Burg turned 36 on Wednesday.
The Giants made two roster moves on Wednesday. Outfielder Heilot Ramos was recalled from Triple-A Sacramento, while outfielder A.J. Pollock was placed on the ten-day injured list with a left oblique strain.
The Giants’ Rogers brothers have been putting up almost identical numbers. Taylor (2.52 ERA) has 46 strikeouts and a 1.09 WHIP, while Tyler (2.54 ERA) has 45 strikeouts and a 1.09 WHIP — both statistics are as of August 9, 2023.
Up Next The Giants will return home to host the Texas Rangers on Friday at 7:15 pm Pacific. The Giants haven’t announced who will start for them, but Jon Gray (7-5, 3.72 ERA) will pitch for the Rangers.
The Oakland Athletics have played five games against the Toronto Blue Jays over the past nine days. The Blue Jays have defeated the A’s in all five of those games. They did it again on Saturday afternoon in Toronto by downing Oakland 7-1.
This is just the complete flipside of what happened between the teams in 2018. Last season the A’s won all seven games they played with the Blue Jays.
One of the biggest problems for the A’s on Saturday was Blue Jays starting pitcher Aaron Sanchez who is a right-hander. The Oakland lineup is loaded with right-handed batters, and they have struggled versus right-handed pitching. The Athletics are 6-12 versus right-handed starting pitchers so far this season. They are 8-3 when facing left-handed starters.
Aaron Sanchez Photo: @TSN
Aaron Sanchez made the start for Toronto and worked 5.0 innings in recording his third win of the year. He gave up one run (unearned) on just two hits. Sanchez walked four and struck out four. With his strong performance against the A’s, Sanchez lowered his ERA to 2.32.
Toronto Focus
Former Oakland Athletic Eric Sogard scored the first run of the game after he doubled to lead off the game. Sogard has hit safely in all nine of the games he has played for the Blue Jays this season. He is currently batting .400 with three doubles, two home runs, and eight RBI.
Brandon Drury went 3-for-3 on Saturday just as he did last Saturday in Oakland. He hit two singles, a double, walked, and scored a run.
Randal Grichuk hit two singles, doubled, and drove in two runs as he went 3-for-5 on Saturday afternoon.
Catcher Danny Jansen doubled and added an RBI on a Sacrifice Fly.
Athletics Spotlight
Brett Anderson Photo: @Athletics
Starting pitcher Brett Anderson allowed six runs (all earned) on 10 hits in his 4.1 innings of work. He walked two and struck out two Blue Jays.
Ramon Laureano had his sixth multi-hit game of the season. He singled and doubled against Toronto on Saturday.
Matt Chapman hit a double in the eighth inning of the game. Chapman entered the game tied for 10th in the American League with 13 extra-base hits.
Up Next
The Oakland A’s will try to keep the Blue Jays from completing the season sweep on Sunday by sending RHP Chris Bassitt (1-0, 0.00) to the mound to face RHP Trent Thornton (0-3, 5.79). First pitch is scheduled for 10:07 PDT.
#1 It was Oakland A’s Matt Chapman bobblehead day alright, and the A’s did just that on Saturday, bobbled the game away to the Toronto Blue Jays 10-1 in a no mercy rule game.
#2 The Jays’ first baseman Rowdy Tellez hit for his fourth homer and got a double as part of the Jays offense was hitting .191.
#3 The Jays’ Brandon Drury hitting .147 went 3-4 and hit for two RBIs and two runs scored.
#4 The A’s rough day continued after using six relievers they called on their first baseman Kendrys Morales as a closer in the ninth inning.
#5 The A’s and Jays conclude the series today at the Coliseum with the Jays Aaron Sanchez (2-1, 2.86 ERA) and the A’s Brett Anderson (3-0, 2.63 ERA).
OAKLAND — Saturday was supposed to be all about Matt Chapman. The Gold Glove-winning third baseman was honored by having his image immortalized as a bobblehead and given away to eager fans who love to collect limited edition pieces. 33 members of Chapman’s family traveled from Southern California to attend the game. However, instead of a day of celebration, the game became just a very ugly 10-1 lost to the surging Toronto Blue Jays.
The player who really had the opportunity to celebrate on Saturday grew up about 90 miles away from the Oakland Coliseum and had a large contingent of family and friends in the stands. Rowdy Tellez plays first base for the Blue Jays. Tellez came into the game struggling with just a .191 batting average. When the game ended, the big man from Elk Grove had picked up his fourth home run of the season to go with a double, two runs scored and three RBI.
Tellez had a partner in crime that helped defeat the A’s in Brandon Drury. Drury also started the day hitting below the “Mendoza Line” at .147. Drury went 3-for-4 in the game with two RBI and two runs scored.
The A’s used six pitchers in the contest. The final player to take the mound for Oakland was first baseman Kendrys Morales. Yes, the A’s were waving the white flag at the point in the top of the ninth inning.
Oakland did manage to manufacture one run in the bottom of the ninth to prevent the game from being a shutout.
The A’s have fallen under .500 with this loss. Their record now stands at 11-12.
Oakland has lost four of their last five games. They are 1-3 on this eight-game homestand.
This will be the first home series loss for the A’s since being swept by the Astros in June of 2018.
Mike Fiers was charged with the loss and falls to 2-2 for the season. He worked just 3.1 innings allowing six runs (all earned) off nine hits (2 HR). Fiers struck out four batters and walked none.
The A;s used a total of six pitchers who gave up 10 runs (all earned) on 15 hits to the Jays. A’s pitchers struck out 12 batters and walked just three. They did allow three home runs.
The A’s scattered six hits in the contest. Matt Chapman and Steven Piscotty both collected two hits off Toronto pitching.
The only extra base hit for the A’s came in the ninth inning. Robbie Grossman hit a double and eventually came home to score the only run for the green and gold.
The A’s left six men on base and were 2-for-6 with runners in scoring position.
Fernando Rodney pitched a 1-2-3 top of the eighth inning for Oakland. It was his 906th career pitching appearance tying him with Cy Young for 24th on the all-time list. That is pretty “heady” company.
Fernando Rodney makes 906th appearance Photo: Charlie O. Mallonee
Blue Jays
The Blue Jays have now won five of their six games on this seven-game road trip.
They will win both series on the road.
The Jays’ record has improved to 10-12 for 2019.
Sam Gaviglio (2-0) gets credit for the win.
Matt Shoemaker made the start for Toronto and was pitching a fine game when he had to exit due to injury. The pitcher became involved in a rundown play of Matt Chapman between first and second in the bottom of the third inning. Shoemaker put the tag on Chapman and then fell to the ground. He left the field under his own power, but the club reported later that he was being evaluated for a left knee injury.
The Jays left nine men on base and went 5-for-13 with runners in scoring position.
Toronto hit three doubles and three home runs off A’s pitching.
It was a day for the Blue Jays where they could do no wrong.
There was something in the air
There were two separate incidents of fans jumping out of the stands and on to the field of play on Saturday. One occurred in the sixth inning and was ended fairly quickly.
The second incident happened in the ninth inning and the man spent a considerable amount of time running around on the infield. The trespasser thought he was about to elude security again when second base umpire and crew chief Bill Nelson grabbed him by the waist. Nelson threw the unruly fan to the ground and security took care of the rest. The big crowd of 31,140 gave Nelson a roar of approval.
The easy answer is to say it was 4/20 day, but that is too easy. The most import thing is that no player, umpire or employee was injured.
Up Next
The three-game series with Toronto wraps up on Easter Sunday. The Blue Jays will send RHP Aaron Sanchez (2-1, 2.86 ERA) to the mound while the A’s will counter with the undefeated LHP Brett Anderson (3-0, 2.63 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 1:07 PM.
Sports Radio Service 