Tag: Chicago Cubs

Giants fall in wild shootout against Cubs, 12-11

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Harness

The Giants’ bats, which had been clearly identified as a problem for most of this year, was definitely not an issue Wednesday against the Cubs.

Their ability to get the Cubs out on a regular basis was.

As a result, despite a comeback in the late innings, the Giants fell to the Cubs, 12-11, at Wrigley Field, despite pounding out 13 hits, including four home runs.

The Giants trailed 6-2 after four innings, but they mounted a stellar comeback that saw them take the lead in the seventh inning, 11-10. However, reliever Reyes Moronta gave up a two-run homer to Kris Bryant, his 26th of the season, to put Chicago back on top in the bottom of the eighth.

From there, the Giants could not get anything going against Chicago closer Craig Kimbrel, who tossed a perfect ninth to nail down his 11th save of the year, after spending half of this 2019 campaign as an unclaimed free agent.

Giants starter Dereck Rodriguez had an outing to forget on Wednesday. After a stellar start in Arizona over the weekend, Rodriguez was shelled by the vaunted Cubs lineup, surrendering six runs on six hits over only four innings, including a pair of homers.

Yu Darvish, the Cubs’ starter, didn’t fare much better. He gave up seven runs and lasted only 5 1/3 innings, and four of his pitches left the ballpark.

Mike Yastrzemski continues to tear up major-league pitching. He has three hits on Wednesday, which included his 17th homer of the 2019 season, a two-run shot in the fifth inning that cut Chicago’s lead to 6-4.

Stephen Vogt, Alex Dickerson and Evan Longoria each had a pair of hots for the Giants.

Rizzo homers twice in Cubs’ 5-3 win

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Photo credit: @BrianSandalow

By Jeremy Kahn

Coming off a series where they won three out of four from the Arizona Diamondbacks, the San Francisco Giants began another big series against a playoff contender.

Anthony Rizzo hit two home runs, helping the Chicago Cubs to a 5-3 victory over the Giants at Wrigley Field.

Rizzo put the Cubs into the lead in the bottom of the third inning, as he led off the frame with his 23rd home run of the season.

Unfortunately for the Cubs, the Giants tied it up in the top of the fourth inning, as Kevin Pillar hit his 18th home run of the season.

The Cubs took the lead for good in the bottom of the fifth inning, as they were helped out by instant replay and that man Rizzo was instrumental on the play that turned everything around.

Javier Baez hit a ground ball that Brandon Belt fielded at first, and thinking Belt touched the bag, Rizzo headed back to first base with Baez chugging down the line from the batters box.

Both players ran into each other, and the umpires called it a double play, as Abiatal Avelino threw the ball back to Belt from second base; however, the Cubs saw it a different way and challenged the call that was eventually overturned and Baez was safe at first base.

Kyle Schwarber then walked, and then Jonathan Lucroy singled off of Belts glove at first base that scored Baez with the eventual game-winning run.

Cole Hamels gave up three runs on five hits, as he won for the first time since June 12 against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field.

The Giants are now 3-2 on their nine-game road trip that will conclude with a two-game series in Oakland versus the As on Saturday and Sunday.

Austin Slater hit a two-run home run for the Giants that tied up the game in the top of the second inning.

Nicholas Castellanos gave the Cubs a quick 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, as he hit his seventh home run, and then two batters later, Rizzo hit his first home run of the game.

Rizzo went 3-for-3, as he picked up his first multi-home run of the season and Castellanos hit his seventh home run since being acquired from the Detroit Tigers on July 31.

Tyler Beede went just four innings for the Giants, as he gave up three runs on six hits, walked three and struck out four; however, he gave up three home runs.

Fernando Abad took the loss, as he gave up the fateful hit to Schwarber in the bottom of the fifth inning. Abad went 1.1 innings, allowing one run on two hits, walked two and struck out one.

NOTES: Pablo Sandoval flew to Los Angeles to see Dr. Neal ElAttrache for a second opinion on his right elbow. Steven Duggar, who is out with a left shoulder sprain will not need surgery; however, he most likely miss the rest of the 2019 season.

Johnny Cueto pitched 4.1 innings, allowing five runs (four earned) on four hits, walked one and struck out three. Cueto threw 60 pitches, 43 of them for strikes.

UP NEXT: Dereck Rodriguez will take the mound for the Giants on Wednesday night, while Yu Darvish will pitch for the Cubs.

MLB The Show podcast with Matt Harrington: Reds Aquino and Astros Alvarez belt 3 HRs; Mets hot win their eighth straight game; plus more

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photo from nytimes.com: The Cincinnati Reds Aristides Aquino gets the warm welcome at the plate after belting one of his three home runs at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati in the Reds 21 run win over the visiting Chicago Cubs

On the MLB The Show podcast with Matt:

#1 The Cincinnati Reds Aristides Aquino connected for three home runs all in the first four innings of Saturday’s game in the Reds 10-1 win over the Chicago Cubs. The Reds hit a total of six homers in the game.

#2 The New York Mets continued their winning ways with their eighth straight win and for the second night in a row a come back win over the Washington Nationals 4-3. The Mets have won 15 out of their last 16 wins.

#3 Is the three game homer going to be the norm the Houston Astros as Yordan Alvarez accomplished the feat in a 21 run win over their hosts the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards on Saturday in a 23-2 win. The Orioles who are going the other way have had their share of frustrations including this week when Chris Davis and manager Brandon Hyde who got into a out of control argument in the Orioles dugout during a game.

#4 In the game on Saturday night Astros Carlos Correa hit the longest home run ever hit at Camden Yards which landed in the back of the center left bleachers. The Astros were just teeing off.

#5 Speaking of comebacks the Chicago White Sox just got by the Oakland A’s on Saturday night. The Sox with a 3-0 lead in the top of the ninth all they needed to do was put the A’s away but not so easy the A’s scored twice falling just a run short to tie it up and lost to the Sox 3-2.

Matt does the MLB podcasts each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

MLB The Show podcast with Daniel Dullum: Rookies with three homer games; Cleveland all knotted up with Twins in Central; plus more

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photo houstonchronicle.com: The Houston Astros’ Yordan Alvarez gets congratulations in the Astros dugout after a first inning home run at Camden Yards, the first of three against the Baltimore Orioles in a 21-run win 23-2 Saturday night.

This week on MLB The Show with Daniel Dullum, who is Sports Editor of the Apache Junction/Gold Canyon News at the home office in Gold Canyon:

1 Rookies making baseball history with three-homer games

2 Indians erase 11-game deficit in AL Central, tie Twins for first

3 Swingin’ A’s 1 ½ games out of AL wild card

4 Samardzija beats Phils, Giants 4 games out of NL wild card

5 Tim Tebow’s baseball season over due to injury

Catch Daniel each Sunday for the MLB podcast at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Cubs maul the A’s 10-1 on getaway day

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Photo credit: @Cubs

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Chicago Cubs blasted three home runs on Wednesday afternoon to defeat the A’s 10-1 at Wrigley Field. Chicago won the series 2-1.

The A’s are off on Thursday. They are staying in Chicago to face the White Sox for three games starting Friday afternoon.

A’s starter Homer Bailey did not fare well on Wednesday. Bailey, who had faced the Cubs many times when he was with the Cincinnati Reds, was knocked around by the Cubs. The big hit came in the fourth inning with the score tied at one. With the bases loaded, Cubs second baseman Ian Happ blasted an opposite-field grand slam to put the Cubs ahead 5-1. The Cubs’ starter, Jose Quintana stifled the A’s bats on Wednesday. Quintana went seven innings and allowed one run and two hits. He struck out seven A’s.

The A’s drew first blood in the top of the fourth. Marcus Semien led off the frame with a double down the left-field line. He tagged and went to third when Matt Chapman flew out to right. Semien scored on Matt Olson’s sacrifice fly to center. The Cubs tallied five times in the bottom of the fourth. With one out, Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant singled. Bailey hit Anthony Rizzo with a pitch to put two men on. Cubs’ shortstop Javy Baez singled to drive in Bryant to tie the game 1-1. Bailey walked Kyle Scharber to load the bases. Happ hit the grand slam to make it 5-1. It was Happ’s second homer of the year and second career grand slam.

The Cubs put four more runs on the board in the fifth. Nick Castellanos continued to torment the A’s when he doubled with one out. He went to third on Rizzo’s infield single. A’s manager Bob Melvin brought in Lou Trivino to pitch. Trivino gave up a single to Baez for the Cubs’ sixth run of the afternoon. Trivino then had to face the left-handed hitter Schwarber. Trivino, who has not been effective lately, gave up a gopher ball to Schwarber. The ball made it into the stands in left field, and the Cubs now led 9-1 after five complete.

There was no more scoring until the bottom of the eighth. Blake Treinen was now pitching for Oakland. Treinen retired the first two hitters he faced. He could not get by the Cubs catcher Victor Caratini. Caratini blasted his sixth big fly of the season to make it 10-1.

Game Notes: Bailey saw his record drop to 9-8. The A’s are now 65-50 for the year. They remain 1/2 game behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the race for the second Wild Card slot. The Rays lost to the Toronto Blue Jays 4-3 on Wednesday in Tampa.

Jose Quintana improved to 10-7 for the year. Quintana is 6-0 in his last seven starts for Chicago. The Cubs improved to 62-52. The Cubs’ home record is 41-19 at Wrigley. They do not play well on the road.

The A’s line score was one run, three hits, and no errors. Marcus Semien had two of the three A’s hits in the game. The Cubs’ line was 10 runs, eleven hits, and no errors.

Time of game was two hours and 37 minutes. 41,179 fans jammed the friendly confines of Wrigley Field to see their beloved Cubs down the A’s.

Up Next: The A’s meet the Chicago White Sox Friday afternoon in Chicago. Game time is set for 12:10 pm PT.

A’s rout Lester, Cubs 11-4

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Photo credit: @Athletics

By Jerry Feitelberg

The A’s came back from a tough 6-5 loss Monday night to pummel the Chicago Cubs and their ace, Jon Lester, 11-4 at Wrigley Field. Lester, who pitched for the A’s in 2014, suffered his worst loss since July 22, 2012, when he was with Boston and was trounced by the Toronto Blue Jays. The A’s sent Brett Anderson to the mound, and Anderson won his first game in a month. Anderson went six innings and allowed two runs and seven hits. Cubs third baseman rocked Anderson for a home run in the sixth.

The A’s put eight runs on the board in the top of the second. Mark Canha started the onslaught with a leadoff triple. Lester struck out Chad Pinder for the first out. Stephen Piscotty singled to drive in Canha with the A’s first run. Robbie Grossman singled to put two men on with one out. A’s catcher Dustin Garneau hit a blast that traveled 413 feet to the last row in the left-field seats to up the lead to 4-0. Brett Anderson followed with a single. Lester walked Marcus Semien and Matt Chapman to load the bases. Matt Olson singled to drive in Anderson and Semien. Chapman advanced to third on the play. Canha then grounded into a fielder’s choice. Chapman scored when the Cubs’ catcher Victor Caratini mishandled the throw from Cubs’ first baseman Anthony Rizzo. Olson went to third and scored on Chad Pinder’s ground out to second. The A’s led 8-0.

The A’s added three more in the top of the fourth. Matt Chapman worked Lester for a walk. Lester then struck out Olson and Canha. Pinder singled to put two men on with two out. Stephen Piscotty blasted his 10th round-tripper of the season to give the A’s a commanding 11-0 lead.

The Cubs scored two in the sixth and two in the ninth. It was too little and too late. The A’s won a laugher 11-4.

Game Notes; Brett Anderson improved to 10-7 for the season. Lester dropped to 9-8. The A’s are now 65-49 for the ear. They still trail the Tampa Bay Rays by 1/2 game for the second Wild Card Slot in the American League. The Rays beat the Toronto Blue Jays 7-6 in 10 innings to maintain their 1/2 game lead over the A’s.

Bob Melvin used Lou Trivino in the seventh, and Wei-Chung Wang pitched the eighth and ninth. Trivino pitched a scoreless seventh. Wang gave up four hits and two runs in his two innings of work.

Up Next: The A’s finish the three-game series with the Cubs on Wednesday. Homer Bailey (9-7) will go for Oakland, and he will be opposed by lefty Jose Quintana (9-7). Game time is at 11:00 am.

The Cubs hit four home runs to down the A’s 6-5

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Photo credit: @Cubs

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Oakland A’s dropped a thriller to the Chicago Cubs 6-5 in the opener of a three-game series at Wrigley Field on Monday. It was the A’s first visit to Wrigley since June 2010. The A’s starter Chris Bassitt entered the game with a record of 7-5. The Cubs named Kyle Hendricks as their starter. Hendricks’ record was 8-8, and his ERA was 3.07.

The Cubs jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Nick Castellanos, obtained by the Cubs from the Detroit Tigers at the trading deadline, hit his first home run as a Cub. It was his 12th of the year. He tormented the A’s when he was a member of the Tigers.

The A’s took the lead in the top of the third. Hendricks, who very rarely walks a hitter, issued a free pass to Jurickson Profar. Profar went to second on a sacrifice bunt by Bassitt. Marcus Semien followed with his 18th blast of the year. He hit an opposite-field home run to give the A’s the lead 2-1.

The Cubs tied the game in the bottom of the sixth when Cubs second baseman Javy Baez homered. Bassitt finished the inning. His line was six innings of work, two runs, and eight hits.

A’s manager Bob Melvin brought in Blake Treinen to work the seventh inning. Treinen had been pitching better of late, but Monday night was a nightmare for him. The Cubs scored four runs on four hits to take a 6-2 lead. Treinen served up a gopher ball to pinch-hitter Ian Happ, who was leading off. Jason Hayward singled and scored on Nick Castellanos’ double. Jay Baez hit his second of the night and 29th of the year to give Chicago the lead 6-2. Treinen’s lin was two thirds of an inning, four hits, four runs and he was tagged for two dingers in the inning.

The A’s rallied to put three on the board in the top of the eighth. Cubs veteran reliever, Steve Cishek, was on the mound. The first hitter he faced, Jurickson Profar, doubled. Cishek struck out A’s catcher Chris Herrmann for the first out. The A’s pinch-hitter Nick Martini gave Cishek quite a battle. Cishek and Martini engaged in an 11-pitch struggle that was won by Martini when he blasted a home run into the right-field seats to bring the A’s within two 6-4. The next hitter Marcus Semien blasted the first pitch from Cishek into the left-field bleachers to make it a 6-5 game. Cubs manager Joe Maddon brought in Brandon Kintzler to get the final out of the ninth.

The A’s failed to score in the top of the ninth. With two out, pinch-hitter Khris Davis walked. Chad Pinder followed with a single. Maddon replaced Kyle Ryan with David Phelps. Phelps, acquired by the Cubs in a trade with the Toronto Blue Jays, had to face the hot-hitting Marcus Semien. Semien hit the ball hard, but it was not far enough as it was caught in left field for the final out of the game. The Cubs won 6-5.

Game Notes: With the loss, the A’s drop to 64-49. The Tampa Bay Rays also lost so the A’s remain a half game behind the Rays for the second Wild Card slot. The Cubs improved to 61-51 and remain in first place in the NL Central.

Neither starter figured in the decision. Bassitt’s line was six innings, two runs, and eight hits. Hendricks line was 6 1/3 innings of work. He allowed two runs and just one hit.

Blake Treinen took the loss for Oakland.

The Cubs announced that their closer, Craig Kimbrel, was placed on the 10-day IL with a knee problem.

The Cubs’ line was six runs, 12 hits, and no errors. The A’s line was five runs, six hits, and no errors.

The A’s hit three homers in the game. Marcus Semien had two. The Cubs had four. Javy Baez also had two homers.

Time of game was three hours and 18 minutes. 40,721 people were crammed into the friendly confines of Wrigley Field to watch the Cubs win.

Up Next: Game two of the three-game series will start at 5:05 pm. It will be a battle of lefty pitchers. Brett Anderson (9-7) will go for Oakland, and he will be opposed by Jon Lester (9-7). Lester pitched for the A’s in 2014.

Sandoval wins it in a Giants walk-off in the 13th

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO — Pablo Sandoval sent the San Francisco Giants players and fans into a frenzy with one swing of the bat.

Sandoval hit a pitch barely off the ground and over the left field wall in the bottom of the 13th inning off of Brad Brach, as the Giants defeated the Chicago Cubs 5-4 in 13 innings before a crowd of 39,747 at Oracle Park.

That was two inches off the ground again like the ball he hit down the line yesterday and then to go to the opposite field like that in this ballpark, it’s a testament to the flight of the ball, said Cubs Manager Joe Maddon.

Brach got Buster Posey to strike out for the first out of the inning, and on the first pitch to Sandoval, the Giants won their third straight game.

It was the fifth career walk-off for Sandoval, and his first since August 9, 2018 against the Cubs, when he hit a single to left field.

This was the Giants fifth consecutive win by one run, and they are 24-10 this season in one run games, the best record in the major leagues. They are 10-2 in extra-inning games this season, including 4-0 on this current home stand.

Overall, the Giants have won three in a row, 10 out of their last 11 and 17 out of their last 20 game to move to 52-50 on the season.

The last time that the Giants won 17 out of 20 was from July 25 until August 16, 2001.

Sam Coonrod pitched a perfect 13th inning to pick-up his first win of his major-league career. Coonrod struck out Javier Baez and Kris Bryant before getting Anthony Rizzo to ground out to Joe Panik for the final out of the inning.

Things were looking good for the Giants, as they entered the top of the eighth inning with a slim 4-3 lead and the bullpen in full force.

Unfortunately, that was not the case, as Kris Bryant doubled, then went to third on a Rizzo groundout back to Reyes Moronta and after a walk to Peninsula native Daniel DeScalso, Tony Watson gave up the game-tying single to Jason Heyward. Watson was able to regroup and struck out Robel Garcia to end the threat.

I thought we battled back in the eighth inning. Anytime you play that long and hang in there I mean it’s nice to see nobody give up and still go out there and compete. It just wasn’t our night tonight, said Bryant.

Madison Bumgarner went seven innings, allowing three runs on six hits, walking just one and striking out seven, but he did not fare in the decision.

The Cubs took the lead in the top of the first inning, as Baez doubled off of Bumgarner, then Bryant singled in Baez; however, the inning ended when Pablo Sandoval, who was playing in the shift near second base, made a great play to on a ball hit by Rizzo, as he tagged Bryant and threw to Brandon Belt to complete the double play.

That was the lead until the bottom of the second inning, as the Giants tied up the game, as Alex Dickerson doubled to lead off the inning and then slid away from the throw by Kyle Schwarber to the plate on a Yastrzemski sacrifice fly.

Unfortunately, the tie would not last long, as the Cubs retook the lead in the top of the third inning, as Bryant singled to score Baez, who singled and then stole second and third.

Dickerson got the rally started, as he hit a solo home run to left field to tie up the game, then Brandon Crawford singled, which was followed by a Mike Yastrzemski walk and then Kevin Pillar hit a Yu Darvish offering to the left-center field power alley to give the Giants the lead.

Darvish went six innings, allowing four runs on six hits, walking just one and striking out six, as like Bumgarner, he did not fare in the decision. He also saw his 13.0 inning scoreless streak come to an end in the bottom of the second inning, and the four runs allowed marked his first runs since July 3 against the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park.

NOTES: The last time that the Giants picked up four walk-off wins in a six-game span was in the year that they moved to San Francisco in 1958. During that season, the Giants defeated the Milwaukee Braves, the Cincinnati Reds and the St. Louis Cardinals from July 5-13, 1958.

Rizzo went 0-for-5 on the night, as his 13-game hitting streak came to an end.

UP NEXT: Tyler Beede closes out the home stand on Wednesday afternoon, as he looks for his fourth win of the season for the Giants. Jon Lester will take the Oracle Park mound for the Cubs, as he looks to get his 10th win of the season.

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary podcast: Cubs’ Garcia and Schwarber start game with 2 big flies; Twins get rare triple play against Angels; plus more

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Photo credit: @robelgarcia16

On That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary podcast:

#1 The Chicago Cubs got a splash hit and a home run at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Monday night. Robel Garcia hit a tremendous drive into McCovey Cove and Kyle Schwarber hit his 22nd home run of the season.

#2 The Minnesota Twins got a 5-4-3 triple play in the first inning on Monday night when the Los Angeles Angels’ Edwin Encarnacion hit a grounder to Twins third baseman Luis Arraez, who tagged third and relayed the throw to second with the Twins’ Jonathan Schoop covering and Schoop threw to first baseman Miguel Sano for the triple play.

#3 The Houston Astros pitcher Gerritt Cole is the second fastest pitcher to reach 200 strikeouts in baseball history and he did it against the Oakland A’s in a 11-1 rout. For the A’s, it was their second straight loss, and for Cole, he was in total command and showed why he reached 200 strikeouts so quickly.

#4 As the trade deadline gets closer, the San Francisco Giants; key pitchers Madison Bumgarner and Will Smith are up for grabs. There also has been talk that Giants manager Bruce Bochy has talked with team president Farhan Zaidi about possibly keeping Bumgarner and Smith. It’s possible the Giants might not move them the later it gets.

#5 Houston Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow says with the roster, the Astros have they could win the whole thing. Luhnow said that with the four starters they have, they can win on good pitching and get deep into the postseason.

Amaury Pi-González is a pioneer in establishing Spanish baseball radio play-by-play in the Bay Area that dates back to 1970s. The Spanish broadcast for 72 games are heard on KIQI 1010AM/990AM with studios in San Francisco, serving also the Sacramento/Stockton market and does That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com 

San Francisco Giants podcast with Morris Phillips: Mets-Giants go extra innings three times in series

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sfgate.com photo: San Francisco Giants’ Mike Yastrzemski, right, is congratulated by third base coach Ron Wotus (23) after hitting a solo home run against the New York Mets during the 12th inning of a baseball game in San Francisco, Sunday, July 21, 2019.

On the Giants podcast with Morris:

#1 San Francisco Giants outfielder Mike Yastrzemski is having a season with on Sunday. He got a walk away home run off New York Mets pitcher  Robert Gsellman in the bottom of the 12th in a four-game series that went into extra innings three times.

#2 The game on Sunday went 12 innings, which gives you an idea how the Mets and Giants battled tooth and nail to win this series

#3 The Giants have been getting these series in the last month’s worth. They take three out four from the Mets and are just 2 1/2 games back in the NL Wild Card standings

#4 Giant outfielder Kevin Pillar got fed up with the strike calls when he got punched out by plate umpire Mark Rippenger. He argued with Rippenger, but got ran. It was Pillar’s first ejection for this season.

#5 The Giants open a three-game series against the Chicago Cubs on Monday night. Starting pitchers for the Cubs, Alec Mills (0-0, 4.50 ERA), and for the Giants, Shaun Anderson (3-2, 4.87 ERA).

San Francisco Giants podcasts are heard right here at http://www.sportsradioservice.com each Sunday