Tag: mlb

A’s beat the Cardinals 2-0 to sweep the 2-game series

Published on by rxsluggerLeave a comment

Photo credit: @Athletics

By Jerry Feitelberg

The A’s, behind Daniel Mengden’s outstanding outing, downed the St. Louis Cardinals 2-0 at Busch Stadium on Wednesday. A’s catcher Beau Taylor hit a solo home run in the fourth, and Matt Chapman homered in the seventh to provide the offense the A’s needed.

The start of the game was delayed a few minutes due to a short rainstorm in the St. Louis area. The Cards gave some time to members of the St. Louis Blues to drive around the stadium with the Stanley Cup. The Blues won the cup for the first time in their history.

Mengden, who was called up from Las Vegas to take Frankie Montas’ position in the starting rotation, pitched exceptionally well. He gave the A’s six innings of work, and he allowed just four hits and no runs. Mengden walked one and struck out five. Yusmeiro Petit worked the seventh, and Joakim Soria the eighth. Both retired the Cardinals in order. Liam Hendriks worked the ninth. With one out, he gave up a double to Marcel Ozuna. Hendriks retired Jose Martinez and Yadier Molina to seal the win for the A’s. Mengden’s record improved to 2-1, and his ERA dropped to 4.09. Hendriks earned his second save. Hendriks is now the closer until Blake Treinen returns from the 10-day IL.

The Card Adam Wainwright also pitched well. He went 6 2/3 innings. He gave up seven hits and two runs. Both runs came on home runs by Beau Taylor (#2) and Matt Chapman (#19). He walked one and struck out nine. He is now 5-7 for the season.

The A’s line was two runs, eight hits, and no errors. The Cards’ line was no runs, five hits, and no errors.

With the win, the A’s are now five games over the .500 mark with a record of 43-38. The Cards drop to 40-39. The A’s picked up a game on the Houston Astros and trail them by seven games. The Texas Rangers won their game, and they lead the A’s by 1 1/2 games in the race for second place in the AL West.

The A’s left for Anaheim after completion of the game. They begin a four-game series with the LA Angels starting Thursday night at 7:07 pm Tanner Anderson (0-2, 4.20 ERA) will go for Oakland, and Griffin Canning (2-4, 3,88 ERA) will pitch for LA.

Time of game was two hours and 46 minutes. 44,871 fans watched the game.

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Baseball in England? “This is Bloody Cool”

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

Photo credit: @visitlondon

By: Amaury Pi-Gonzalez

Major League Baseball’s first regular season series will take place this weekend from June 29-30 at London Stadium in London, England.

The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox are the greatest rivalry in baseball and perhaps professional sports. The Red Sox are the home team, which makes a lot of sense for their first ever game in England, since the Red Sox play in New England. The NFL and the NBA have played in England, but this is a first for the MLB.

The Yankees have an on-going major league record of 29 consecutive games hitting a home run, plus they just ended a 10-game homestand with a 9-1 record. As this series gets underway, the Yankees are leading the AL East with 52-28 and a nine-game lead over the reigning champion Red Sox, who are in third place.

The two-game series between the Yankees and Red Sox will see the biggest and oldest rivalry in US sports in front of an estimated 130,000 fans.

London Stadium is a multipurpose outdoor stadium with a capacity of 66,000. One of the most iconic cities of the world, London has Big Ben, Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, and the Coca Cola London Eye, a huge observation wheel next to the Thames river. It is a scenario worthy for a James Bond movie.

It will be aired on FOX Sports Saturday, June 29 at 1:10PM EDT and ESPN Sunday, June 30 at 10:10 AM EDT.

Baseball in England is a spectacle, and like the British would say, “This is bloody cool.”

Bumgarner looks dominant in Giants’ 4-2 win

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

Photo credit: @KNBR

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO — After one of his worst starts of the 2019 season, Madison Bumgarner came back with a vengeance.

In six innings of work, Bumgarner struck out a season-high 11 and added a RBI single, as the San Francisco Giants defeated the Colorado Rockies 4-2.

Bumgarner, who raised his record to 4-7 on the season followed up a terrible start against the Los Angeles Dodgers, where he allowed six runs in 3.2 innings of work.

“He’s shown that ability so many times to come off a bad start and put it behind him and wash it off and bounce back,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “He did that tonight. What a great game he threw.”

Bumgarner did not give up a hit until Ian Desmond hit a solo home run in the top of the fourth inning, as he stopped a streak of retiring 10 in a row.

The Rockies also scored in the top of the sixth inning, as left fielder Alex Dickerson lost the ball in the lights that allowed Charlie Blackmon score on a double by David Dahl that cut the Giants lead down to one run.

“I’ve been getting caught just pitching to just one side pretty much every pitch,” Bumgarner said. “These guys are too good to do that to. The plate is small enough as it is so you better use the whole thing.”

In six innings of work, Bumgarner gave up two runs on three hits and three walks along with 11 strikeouts. It was the first double-digit strikeout game for Bumgarner since April 2, 2017 against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field.

Donovan Solano picked up a single of his own in the bottom of the fourth inning, and then Bumgarner came up with one of his own to lengthen the Giants lead up to 3-1.
This was the first appearance for Chi Chi Gonzalez in the majors since the 2016 season, and he got off to a great start, as he struck out the side in the top of the first inning. In all, Gonzalez gave up three runs on six hits in five innings of work.

Tyler Austin put the finishing touches on the scoring in the bottom of the seventh inning, as he hit a pinch-hit home run.

It was the seventh home run of the season for Austin and his second pinch-hit home run for him this season.

The bullpen trio of Sam Dyson, Tony Watson and Will Smith pitched a perfect three innings, following up Derek Hollands three innings of perfect work on Monday night.
Smith pitched the ninth inning to notch his 21st save in 21 chances this season.

NOTES: Bumgarners 11 strikeouts moved him past Matt Cain for third place in San Francisco Giants history.

Brandon Belt batted leadoff for just the second time in his major-league career, and he struck out on three pitches in his first at-bat against Gonzalez.

“It didn’t look too smart the first at-bat,” Bochy said. “I told him, `You’re supposed to make me look good, but three pitches and you sit down.’ He laughed.”

UP NEXT: Jeff Samardzija takes the mound for the Giants on Wednesday afternoon, while the Rockies will counter with German Marquez.

A’s put on a power display to beat the Cardinals 7-3

Published on by rxsluggerLeave a comment

Photo credit: @Athletics

By Jerry Feitelberg

The A’s started the six-game road trip with a win over the St. Louis Cardinals 7-3 at Busch Stadium on Tuesday night. The A’s won the sixth of their last eight games and moved four games over the .500 mark with a 42-38 record.

The A’s put one on the board in the top of the second when first baseman Matt Olson bashed his 13th of the year. The lead didn’t last long as the Cardinals plated three off A’s starter Chris Bassitt. The Cards led 3-1 after two.

The A’s plated six in the top of the fifth. Josh Phegley led off with a double. Chad Pinder followed with his seventh big fly to tie the game. Marcus Semien hit a back-to-back jack to give Oakland the lead 4-3. The A’s scored three more in the inning. Matt Chapman and Matt Olson singled to put men on with one out. Cards starter Jack Flaherty retired Ramon Laureano for the second out. Former Cardinal, Stephen Piscotty, singled to drive in Chapman. Khris Davis entered the game as a pinch-hitter, and he came through with a double to drive in Olson and Piscotty. The A’s led 7-3.

Chris Bassitt was relieved in the bottom of the fourth. He went 3 1/3 innings in his shortest outing in 12 starts this year. Bob Melvin brought in J.B. Wendelken to pitch. Wendelken finished the fourth and was the pitcher of record. He was credited with his first Major League win. His record is now 1-1.  The A’s used four more relievers to finish the game. They held the Cards scoreless over the last five innings to seal the win for the A’s

Game two of the two-game series will be played Wednesday in St. Louis. The A’s will start Daniel Mengden, who was recalled from Las Vegas to take the spot in the rotation that was created when Frankie Montas was suspended for 80 games for the use of an illegal substance. The Cards will have the veteran pitcher, Adam Wainwright on the hill. Wainwright is 5-6 and has a 4.50 ERA. It will be his third career start against the A’s.

Headline Sports podcast with Barbara Mason: Will Kawhi say goodbye to Toronto?; Giants’ Pomeranz throws heat, strikes out 11 Rockies Monday night; plus more

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

Photo credit: @ChrisBHaynes

On Headline Sports podcast with Barbara:

#1 Will Kawhi Leonard bolt from the Toronto Raptors? It looks like Leonard will decline the $21.3 million player option and will consider becoming a free agent. There is talk that Leonard is considering signing on with the Raptors and Leonard said he love playing in Toronto so much last season why ruin an opportunity and re-up with the Raptors again.

#2 San Francisco Giant starter Drew Pomeranz, who had some very rough outings this season, has also had some successful games. Monday night against the Colorado Rockies was one of them throwing for 11 strikeouts at Oracle Park after throwing 93 pitches was lifted in the bottom of the fifth inning.

#3 The New York Mets are going through some rough times. There is talk that the Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen has been making in game moves and over ruling Mets manager Mickey Callaway. What’s so bizarre about it is Callaway has followed Van Wagenen’s decisions resulting in the Mets finding themselves nine games out of first fourth in the NL East.

#4 The biggest baseball name was Aaron like in Hank Aaron famous for the home run, then there is the New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge, who had a lights out season last season, then there’s the Yankees’ Aaron Hicks, whose home run on Monday night help extend and tie the Major League mark for the most consecutive home runs by a team at 27.

#5 After a young girl Katlin Salazar was hit in the face by a Cody Bellinger bullet, the Los Angeles Dodgers have decided to extend the netting from the dugouts to the foul poles at Dodger Stadium. The bullet hit the girl who was seated four rows just up from the dugout. She had to leave some 15 minutes after being hit and was also paid a visit by Bellinger between innings.

Barbara does Headline Sports each Tuesday night at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary podcast: NL opponents always set for Dodgers; Astros hold onto first, everyone out for them too; plus more

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

Photo credit: @ChicagoSports

On Amaury’s News and Commentary podcast:

#1 Amaury, in the power rankings, everybody in the National League seems ready to chase the Dodgers as the team to beat every time they face the Dodgers.

#2 The Houston Astros the first place team in the AL West and have been giving their AL opponents some fits this season. Although they hit a rough patch, losing three of their last 10 games, they’ve been proving that opponents are going after them.

#3 The Milwaukee Brewers, who almost took out the Los Angeles Dodgers in the postseason last year, are another team who’s contending. They are just two games out of first place in the NL Central only trailing the Chicago Cubs. The Brewers are stocked with offense, including slugger Christian Yelich.

#4 Not too far in the distant future, the Tampa Bay Rays will be splitting their home games at Parc Olympic in Montreal. How much of a serious indication that their days in Tampa Bay are numbered?

#5 The Oakland City council are putting the Oakland A’s through the new stadium question test. Their main questions are paying for the new Howard Terminal location, and besides running a gondola from 12th Street BART to Howard Terminal, the council is looking for more answers to getting fans to the new stadium by other public transportation means.

Amaury Pi-Gonzalez is the Oakland A’s Spanish play by play announcer heard on 1010 KIQI San Francisco and does News and Commentary podcasts each Tuesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Fan hurt at Dodger Stadium; Safety at MLB parks

Published on by Sports Radio Service1 Comment

AP photo: A young fan holds ice to her head after being hit with a foul ball hit by Los Angeles Dodgers’ Cody Bellinger during the first inning of a baseball game against the Colorado Rockies, Sunday, June 23, 2019, in Los Angeles. (Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press)

By Amaury Pi-Gonzalez

A young woman was struck at Dodger Stadium by a line-drive hit by Cody Bellinger. She was taken to a hospital for precautionary tests. She was sitting just beyond the protective netting.

“I saw it literally hit her face,” Bellinger said “It was tough.”

While the odds are higher that you will have an automobile accident while driving to the baseball park as opposed to getting hit in a head by a baseball at the park, the fact remains that most stadiums are “fan friendly”and the fans are closer to the action. It is also true that today’s players are stronger than eve — pitchers can throw faster than ever and hitters can hit harder than ever. So if this is all true, the fans most pay more attention than ever, right? Not really.

Today, there are more distractions when you attend a baseball game than ever before. For starters, everybody carries a cell phone and many have one eye on the cell phone and the other eye on the action on the field. We are busier than ever. I remember when you went to the park to relax, enjoy the game and pay attention to the game and maybe even score the game, which is something that you seldom see today. Maybe with the older folks.

A line drive can hit anybody in the stands at any park at any given moment, even if you are paying attention to the game. One of the great things in baseball is that you feel part of the game, unlike any other sport, you can go home with a ball that you caught, show to your friends, save it as a souvenir or use it for a future player autograph.

Stadiums are protected by small screen/netting,most behind the dugouts and in other places. Ironically, the dated Oakland Coliseum, might be one of the safest parks to attend due to all that spacious foul territory. A line-drive doesn’t get to you as quick as most other places, so you have less of a chance of getting injured.

Nevertheless, baseball games offers fans a unique experience. It is the ultimate game to take you family on a sunny Sunday afternoon to enjoy. There will always be accidents, but I believe that if you pay attention, you are more aware and therefore, you can see a ball if it is coming your way.

The largest stadium in the MLB is Dodger Stadium with a capacity of 56,000. As of today, the Dodgers have the largest attendance in all of baseball — 2,049,295 in 43 home games. That is an average of 47,658. They have the best record in the game, 54-25 leading the NL West, 13 games over the Colorado Rockies and on their way to their seventh consecutive divisional title. The current record is 14 in a row by the Atlanta Braves from 1991 to 2005.

Amaury Pi-Gonzalez is heard on the Oakland A’s Spanish flagship station KIQI 1010 San Francisco and can be heard weekly on That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary podcasts at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Preview: A’s-Cards to open 2-game series starting Tuesday night

Published on by rxsluggerLeave a comment

photo from the stltoday.com: St Louis Cardinal catcher Yadier Molina congratulates Los Angeles Angels star Albert Pujols in Pujols’ last appearance in Busch Stadium in St. Louis on Sunday.

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Oakland A’s, with a record of 41-38, travel to St.Louis to play two games against the Cardinals. The Cardinals are 40-37 and are in third place in the NL Central. They trail the Chicago Cubs by two games in the race for first place in the division. They are 1/2 game behind the Milwaukee Brewers for second place.

The A’s will be facing a team that is always in the mix for a post-season berth. The Cardinals have a lineup with players that can send the ball out of the park. The key players for the Cardinals are first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, third baseman Matt Carpenter, outfielders Marcel Ozuna, Jose Martinez, Dexter Fowler, and Harrison Bader. The catching chores are shared by Yadier Molina and Matt Wieters.

The Cardinals obtained Goldschmidt from the Arizona Diamondbacks last winter. So far, Goldschmidt is hitting .260 and has 14 home runs and 31 RBIs. Carpenter is having an off-year hitting .218, but has hit 10 dingers. Left-fielder Marcel Ozuna is the big power man on the team. Ozuna, in his second year in St. Louis, has 20 homers and 62 RBIs so far.

The pitching matchups will see Chris Bassitt going for Oakland on Tuesday. Bassitt (4-3, 3.64 ERA) pitched well last week against Baltimore. The A’s are hoping the magic rubs off against the Cardinals. Jack Flaherty (4-4, 4.24 ERA) will be the Cardinals’ starter. On Wednesday, Tanner Anderson will be the A’s choice to pitch, and the Cardinals will counter with the veteran Adam Wainwright.

The Cardinals’ bullpen will feature Andrew Miller and Genesis Cabrera from the left side. Their righties are John Brebbia, Giovanny Gallegos, John Gant, Jordan Hicks, and Carlos Martinez. Martinez has been designated as the team’s closer.

Since the game is being played in a National League Park, the A’s will not be able to use the Designated Hitter. A’s right-fielder- Stephen Piscotty will be making his first trip back to St. Louis. Piscotty was traded to the A’s before the start of the 2018 season.

On paper, the teams appear to be evenly matched. The A’s are having problems dealing with the loss of Frankie Montas and Blake Treinen. Montas is gone for 80 games, and Treinen has been placed on the 10-day IL with a shoulder issue.

The A’s finish the six-game road trip with four with the LA Angels in Anaheim. The Cardinals will play the A’s again in Oakland on August 3rd and 4th.

San Francisco Giants podcast with Morris Phillips: Dickerson and Anderson have great series, but Giants can’t overcome D-Backs

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

photo from sfgate.com: San Francisco Giants pitcher Shaun Anderson throws against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the first inning during a baseball game, Sunday, June 23, 2019, in Phoenix.

On the Giants podcast with Morris:

#1 How impressive was the Giants outfielder Alex Dickerson in the Arizona Diamondbacks series? He was collecting the hits in his first series with the team.

#2 Shaun Anderson, the Giants pitcher, has had himself a great year so far. Who can forget his first game at Oracle Park getting two hits to help his own cause and winning, and on Sunday, no exception again — pitching in a 3-2 loss, but a good outing getting six innings in five hits and two runs while striking out two.

#3 Anderson said during the game manager Bruce Bochy could have pinched hit for him, but kept him out there and he got that quality start.

#4 Critics have said the Giants have the worst lineup in the franchise’s history? No one is hitting .300 or above at this stage of the season.

#5 The Colorado Rockies come to Oracle Park tonight and will start Jon Gray (7-5) against the Giants’ Drew Pomeranz (2-7).

Morris Phillips does the Giants podcasts each Monday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

Locastro’s RBI single in 10th helps Snakes sink Giants 3-2

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

sfgate.com: Arizona Diamondbacks’ Tim Locastro hits an RBI single against the San Francisco Giants in the third inning during a baseball game, Sunday, June 23, 2019, in Phoenix.

By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Sunday, June 23, 2019

PHOENIX — After losing six games in a row, the Arizona Diamondbacks were ready to celebrate something.

Centerfielder Tim Locastro lit the fuse for the occasion with a 10th inning walk-off run-scoring single that gave the D-Backs a 3-2 NL West win over the San Francisco Giants Sunday before 25,071 at Chase Field.

As soon as Locastro’s drive shot past Giants third baseman Evan Longoria, the Diamondback dugout emptied onto the field.

“Those are the things you look for as a team, when you finally have something good happen,” Arizona Manager Torey Lovullo said. “We’ve been coming in here talking about losing baseball games, and that’s hard. It’s tough on the team and tough on everyone.

“But you have to find a way to keep grinding. That showed the personality of this team.”

The Diamondbacks loaded the bases against San Francisco reliever Mark Melancon (3-2) before Locastro delivered his game-winner. After Christian Walker led off the Arizona 10th with a single, he was erased at second when Nick Ahmed hit into a fielder’s choice. Pinch-hitter Jarrod Dyson walked and Carson Kelly was intentionally walked.

Ahmed scored the winning run from third on Locastro’s drive over the third base bag.

‘With one out, I’m just trying to get the ball to the outfield,” Locastro said. “Actually, I knew that (Melancon’s) tendency is to come in a little bit, so I was looking in there and got one over the third baseman’s head.

“As soon as I hit it, I saw (Longoria) jump up for it. As soon as I saw it drop, I gave it a fist pump and knew we had the win. I was very excited.”

“It didn’t surprise me that (Dyson) drew that walk,’ Lovullo said. “He was fighting off pitches and that was a key moment of the game. It’s built because of Christian Walker having a good at-bat and getting on base.”

Arizona took a 1-0 lead in the third when Caleb Joseph drew a one-out walk and scored on Locastro’s base hit.

The Giants tied the game at 1-1 in the top of the fourth. Evan Longoria led off with a single, moved to third on Brandon Belt’s double and scored on an infield groundout by Stephen Vogt.

The Diamondbacks regained the lead at 2-1 in the bottom of the fourth. With one out, Adam Jones reached on a strike three wild pitch, moved to third on Eduardo Escobar’s single and scored on a base hit by Christian Walker.

Kevin Pillar tied the game at 2-2 with his 10th home run of the season to lead off the Giants seventh, hastening Merrill Kelly’s departure. He worked six-plus innings, struck out nine, walked two, and gave up two earned runs on four hits.

The D-Backs bullpen — Andrew Chafin, Yoan Lopez, Greg Holland and winning pitcher Matt Andriese (4-4) held San Francisco scoreless in the final four innings, with a combined three strikeouts and no walks or hits.

“It was pretty bad to give up that leadoff homer to Pillar. It would have been liked getting out of there with a lead, but the guys did a great job of picking me up and getting a huge victory,” Merritt Kelly said. “Hopefully, we’ve got some good energy going.”

Giants starter Shaun Anderson threw a strong six innings, giving up two runs on five hits with two strikeouts and one walk. Relievers Reyes Moronta and Sam Dyson held the Snakes scoreless and hitless in their combined three innings.

“We just couldn’t get anything going with the bats,” Giants Manager Bruce Bochy said. ‘They got the big hit, we didn’t. That’s the difference in the game.”

Lovullo said that Ketel Marte was not available for today’s game, even going into extra innings. Marte had been listed as day-to-day after suffering a left groin cramp on Friday.

“There was a minimal risk, but we held him back today. (Marte) will be out there when we play the Dodgers.”

Locastro added, “Now we have to get on a streak and that’s the goal moving forward.”

The Giants return home to host Colorado Monday through Wednesday. Lefthander Drew Pomeranz (2-7, 7.09 ERA) faces the Rockies’ Jon Gray (7-5, 4.18 ERA) in Monday’s series opener. San Francisco’s probables for Tuesday and Wednesday are Madison Bumgarner (3-7, 4.28 ERA) and Jeff Samardzija (4-6, 4.23 ERA).

TAGS: Tim Locastro, Arizona Diamondbacks, San Francisco Giants, MLB