Photo credit: @offclockpodcast
On the MLB The Show podcast with Daniel:
1 Pennant race status as of Sunday. The A’s magic number is 1
2 Mariners extend longest postseason drought in major North American sports to 17 years.
3 Indians’ first time in MLB to have four pitchers with 200 strikeouts in a single season.
4 Giants celebrate National Singles Day by hitting 10 singles.
Daniel does the MLB podcast each Sunday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com
Photo credit: @Athletics
By: Jeremiah Salmonson
OAKLAND, Calif. — The Oakland A’s came into Saturday’s game against the Minnesota Twins feeling good. Friday night ended in another Khris Davis walk-off homer, and shrunk the A’s magic number to three games. The starting pitching matchup was the A’s Mike Fiers, who faced the Twins’ Chase De Jong. The A’s record coming into the game was 93-61 versus the Twins 71-82.
Fiers came out in full force for the A’s. He struck out the side in order in the first inning followed by a scoreless second inning. The third inning would be a little bump in the road for Fiers. He surrendered a double and single to start the inning. He managed to limit the damage by getting Joe Mauer to hit a sacrifice fly, Jorge Polanco to pop out, and Jake Cave to fly out to end the inning. The A’s on the other hand hadn’t been able to get much going against De Jong logging two hits through three innings.
Neither team was able to muster anything until the A’s came to bat in the bottom of the fifth. Ramon Laureano hit a one out single followed by a low line drive homer for Marcus Semien. Semien’s homer sailed over the out of town scoreboard in left field to give the A’s a 2-1 advantage in the fifth.
The next scoring chance came in the top of the seventh for the Twins. Ehire Adrianza doubled followed by a RBI single from Willians Astudillo. Mark Canha made a great effort to throw out Afrianza, but ultimately, Jonathan Lucroy wasn’t able to come up with the throw. The game was tied 2-2 at this point. In the bottom of the eighth, the A’s had a runner on third with two outs and Matt Olson grounded out to keep the game tied.
Blake Treinen came in the ninth and worked a relatively easy inning. He retired the first two Twins he faced before giving up a bloop single. He proceeded to strike out the next batter and end the Twins’ half of the ninth.
In the bottom of the ninth, Stephen Piscotty led it off with a ringing double down the line in left. Ramon Laureano struck out, Marcus Semien reached on a throwing error, and Matt Joyce was intentionally walked. Paul Molitor then brought in his right fielder to play the infield in an effort to cut down a potential run at the plate. Mark Canha struck out, but it wasn’t over just yet. With Matt Chapman batting and the bases loaded Trevor Hildenberger unleashed a wild pitch that brought Stephen Piscotty home to score.
With the A’s win and the Rays’ loss, the A’s magic number to clinch a Wild Card birth is one game.
The A’s will wrap up their series versus the Twins on Sunday afternoon at 1:05 pm PDT. Trevor Cahill (6-3, 3.77 ERA) will be on the Oakland mound and his opponent will be Minnesota’s Kyle Gibson (8-13, 3.78 ERA).
Photo credit: taiwannews.com.tw
By Jeremy Kahn
Tyler O’Neill ended Saturday afternoon’s game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the San Francisco Giants with one swing of the bat.
O’Neill smashed a solo home run with two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning, helping the Cardinals to their fifth win in their last six games with a 5-4 victory over the Giants at Busch Stadium.
Mark Melancon served up the O’Neill home run, as the Cards smacked their team record eighth walkoff home run of the season.
It was the ninth home run of the season for O’Neill, as they remain in the second spot for the National League Wild Card game and remain behind their division rival, the Milwaukee Brewers for the top spot.
The win by the Cards gave the victory to closer Carlos Martinez, who improved to 8-6 on the season, while Melancon drops to 0-3 for the Giants, who have dropped their last three games.
Adam Wainwright made just his third start of the season for the Cards, as he went 6.1 innings, allowing four runs on eight hits, walking no one and striking out six.
Things were looking good for the Giants, as they led the Cards 4-2 in the bottom of the seventh inning, but Yadier Molina tied up the game with a two-run home run off of Giants starter Dereck Rodriguez.
Aramis Garcia came up with a big hit in the top of the seventh inning, as he gave the Giants a 3-2 lead. Garcia picked up four hits on the afternoon for the Giants.
Garcia went 4-for-4 on the afternoon, a career-high and Garcia now has hits in 10 out of his last 12 games.
Gregor Blanco extended the Giants lead up to 4-2, as he grounded into a fielder’s choice that scored Garcia.
Molina tied up the game with his 19th home run of the season off of Rodriguez, whose day ended following the Molina home run.
Rodriguez went six innings, allowing four runs on seven hits, walking one and striking out two and he will make one start next weekend against the Los Angeles Dodgers at AT&T Park.
This was the first time since his second major league start against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on June 9 that Rodriguez allowed three or more earned runs in the same game. Rodriguez went 15 consecutive games without allowing three runs or fewer.
Joe Panik picked up three hits and drove in a run for the Giants.
NOTES: Garcia is the first Giants rookie since Austin Slater on June 15, 2017 against the Colorado Rockies on June 18, 2017, to have a four-hit game in his rookie season.
The four-hit game by Garcia came one day after the rookie struck out four times in the same game. Garcia is the first to accomplish this feat since Hunter Pence did it from July 22-24, 2015 and only the second Giants player to do it since 1913, this according to STATS, LLC.
Garcia is only the fifth rookie in major league history to strikeouts four times in a game, and then four hits in the game. He joins Andre Ethier of the Dodgers in 2006, Travis Hafner of the Cleveland Indians in 2003. Roberto Meija of the Colorado Rockies and Craig Paquette of the Oakland A’s also in 1993.
Panik made his professional debut at first base, as he started the game at first base and it was the first time that Panik started there on the minor league or the Major League level.
UP NEXT: The Giants and Cards wrap up their series Sunday at 11:15 am PDT.
Andrew Suarez puts an end to the road trip and the Giants 2018 road schedule, as he takes the Busch Stadium mound for the first time in his Major League career, while Mike Mikolas takes the mound for the Cards.
Photo credit: @TheRitaGarcia
On the MLB The Show podcast with Matt:
#1 The New York Yankees are sitting on the top of the AL Wild Card standings by 1 1/2 games. They host the struggling Baltimore Orioles and can capitalize if they can win at least two out three.
#2 The A’s open a three-game set Friday versus the Minnesota Twins at the Oakland Coliseum. The A’s are in second in the AL Wild Card race and will have to win almost all their remaining games to catch the Yankees. Even at 1 1/2, the Yankees keep pulling away each time the A’s start to get close.
#3 The Houston Astros are closing in to clinch the American League West title. The Astros have a 3 1/2 game lead. The Astros are projected to win 102 at the pace they’re going.
#4 Teams that have already clinched? The Cleveland Indians and Boston Red Sox. Of these two teams, Matt tells us who will go the deepest in the playoffs.
#5 Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig’s home in Encino, Calif. was burglarized for the fourth time. This time the thieves made off with $170,000 in jewelry. Puig was on the field when the theft went down.
Matt Harrington does the MLB The Show podcast each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com
Photo credit: Amaury Pi-Gonzalez
By: Amaury Pi-Gonzalez
Jaime Jarrin has been the Spanish voice for the Los Angeles Dodgers for over half a century. As you can see, Jarrin is standing at the popular Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum and Hall of Fame wall conveniently located at the Club Level entrance of the Oakland Coliseum, the home of the Oakland Athletics.
Jarren is pointing at the flag of Ecuador. Ecuador is his country of birth. Aside from Jarren, other folks love to stop by the same area to take pictures of the colorful wall.
Amaury Pi-González serves as the Vice President of The Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum and Hall of Fame, a nonprofit organization that was founded in San Francisco in 1998.
Click the link for more information: http://www.hispanicheritagebaseballmuseum.org/
Photo credit: @Athletics
By: Matthew Harrington
The Oakland A’s inched, or rather walked off a step closer to a playoff berth, coming from behind to beat the Minnesota Twins 7-6 in 10 innings at the Coliseum on Friday night. Khris Davis hit a pair of home runs, including the game-winner, to cut the A’s magic number to three games.
Davis crushed his league-leading 45th homer to deep center field with no outs in the bottom of the 10th, erasing the sting of a blown 4-0 A’s lead. Blake Treinen strengthened his Cy Young candidacy by picking up the win after allowing no hits over the ninth and 10th innings for his eighth win of the year. Matt Magill wound up the loser after finishing off the ninth inning by standing a pair of runners, but failing to retire Davis to start the 10th.
Davis knocked in a pair of runs in the bottom of the first on his first homer of the game, a two-run shot off Twins starter Jose Berrios. A couple of sacrifice flies had the A’s up 4-0 with opener Liam Hendriks and long reliever Chris Bassitt out of the game after five innings of combined work.
The Twins plated six runs in a lengthy sixth inning, knocking around Lou Trivino (four runs) and Shawn Kelley (two runs) to take a 6-4 edge, but Mark Canha returned fire in the bottom of the frame with a two-run shot of his own off reliever Gabriel Moya. Berrios was charged with one of the runs, ending the day with 5 2/3 innings of work and five runs (four earned).
Ryan Buchter and Jeurys Familia pitched scoreless seventh and eighth innings, respectively, to open the door for Treinen. Treinen handle his part, as did Davis, to help the A’s keep pace with the New York Yankees in the top AL Wild Card chase. New York, by virtue of beating the Baltimore Orioles Friday, leads the race for home field in the one-game playoff by just a game and a half. Oakland will send the leading candidate to pitch in the contest, Mike Fiers, to the mound Saturday night at 6:05 pm PDT against Minnesota.
Photo credit: @Cardinals
By Jeremy Kahn
Matt Adams hit a big home run for the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2014 National League Championship Series, and he came up with a big hit in the opener of their three-game series against the San Francisco Giants.
Adams, who hit a home run off of Hunter Strickland in the bottom of the eighth inning in Game 2 of the 2014 NLCS hit a two-run, pinch-hit double off of Tony Watson in the bottom of the eighth inning, as the Cardinals defeated the Giants 5-3 at Busch Stadium.
Harrison Bader got the eighth inning rally started with a two-out walk off of Mark Melancon, then Yairo Munoz singled before Melancon was replaced by Watson, who gave up the two-run double to Adams.
Reliever John Brebbia struck out the side in the top of the eighth inning to pick up his fifth win of the season for the Cards, while Carlos Martinez, who was celebrating his 27th birthday notched his fourth save in as many opportunities.
Marcell Ozuna drove in the first run of the game for the Cardinals, as he singled to drive in Matt Carpenter in the bottom of the first inning.
Chris Shaw tied up the game in the top of the third inning, as he drew a walk against Cards starter John Gant to score Evan Longoria.
It was a big night for Longoria, who went 3-for-5 on the evening for the Giants, who have lost 14 out of their 18 games, including a season-long 11-game losing streak.
Gant did not get of the third inning, as he went just 2.2 innings, allowing one run on four hits, walking three and striking out three and threw 67 pitches in those 2.2 innings.
Kolten Wong gave the Cards the lead in the bottom of the fifth inning, as he singled off of Madison Bumgarner to score Bader.
Wong came up with his second hit and second run batted in in as many innings, as he singled off of Bumgarner in the bottom of the sixth inning to score Jedd Gyorko.
Bumgarner pitched six innings, allowing three runs on eight hits, walking one and striking out five.
The Giants tied up the game in the top of the seventh inning, as Gregor Blanco singled to score Austin Slater and then Longoria tied up the game with a ground ball to first base that scored Alen Hanson.
NOTES: Brandon Belt is done for the season, as he underwent surgery to clean up his torn meniscus and cartilage damage in his right knee. This was the second surgery of the season for Belt, who underwent an emergency appendectomy on June 2 after he left the game against the Philadelphia Phillies. Belt should be ready when the team meets again in Scottsdale, Ariz. in February at their Spring Training Complex.
This season, Belt hit .253 with 14 home runs and 46 RBIs for the Giants.
UP NEXT: The Giants and Cards continue their series with game two Saturday at 10:05 am PDT.
Dereck Rodriguez goes for his seventh win of the season, as he takes the mound against Adam Wainwright, who looks for his third win of the season for the Cards. Wainwright is 6-7 against the Giants in his career, while Rodriguez will face the Cards for the second time in his career. Rodriguez faced the Cards on July 6, where he did not fare in the decision of a 3-2 Giants victory.
Photo credit @hardball247: Madison Bumgarner San Francisco pitcher has lost some off his fast ball and velocity but wants to continue with the Giants for the 2019 season
On the Giants podcast with Michael:
#1 The Giants took the first two games of the series against the San Diego Padres, but dropped game three on Thursday with a 8-4 loss. Starter Chris Stratton dropped his record to 10-10.
#2 The Giants are looking at some of their young prospects to fill in potential open positions when spring training begins. There will most likely be new faces in the Giants’ lineup.
#3 Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner says he wants to stay in San Francisco. He’s in the last year of his six-year, $35 million deal.
#4 Giants first baseman Brandon Belt will have knee surgery and is done for 2018. Belt was hitting over .300 before he had to have appendectomy surgery on June 1st.
#5 The Giants open up a three-game series with the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cards are chasing for the top spot in the National League Wild Card. The top three teams in the NL Central–Milwaukee Brewers, Chicago Cubs, and the Cards–are all vying for the NL Division title.
Michael does the Giants podcasts each Friday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com
Photo credit: @Athletics
On the A’s podcast with Joey:
#1 There’s no mercy rule and the Los Angeles Angels badly needed it during this series with the Oakland A’s. On Wednesday, the A’s treated the Angels like it was some kind of sandlot game with a 10-0 win. The next day, Thursday, the A’s wore out the Angels 21-3.
#2 Angels manager Mike Scioscia, who is rumored to be close to announcing his retirement, had to wish that would come sooner after the A’s wasted no time scoring runs, five in the third, seven in the fourth inning, six in the sixth, and three more in the seventh.
#3 The Angels’ only bright spot was a home run in the sixth by Mike Trout off A’s pitcher Edwin Jackson, but that was a blip on the Angels’ scoring radar.
#4 The A’s lost four of the last five games before the series with the Angels. The A’s showed us in the last two games that they can break out the bats giving the A’s that confidence again.
#5 The A’s host the Twins for three. The Twins are second in the AL Central, but not in the Wild Card hunt.
Joey does the A’s podcasts each Friday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com
Photo credit: @SFGiants
By Jeremy Harness
The San Francisco Giants are fresh off of taking two of three games from the San Diego Padres, but they have a new challenge on their hands as they head into the weekend.
They will now travel to St. Louis for a three-game series with the Cardinals, a series that starts Friday night at Busch Stadium.
Unlike the Giants, the Cards definitely have something to play for at this time of the year.
St. Louis currently holds an 84-69 record and currently hold the second wild card spot in the National League. If the playoffs started today, the Cards would travel to Milwaukee for a one-game elimination against the Brewers, who they trail by three games.
The National League Central crown is not completely out of the question, but chances become dimmer as the games go by. The division-leading Cubs are 5 1/2 games ahead of the Cardinals and only 2 1/2 games ahead of the second-place Brewers.
However, the Cards’ playoff spot is far from guaranteed. In fact, they only sit a game and a half in front of the Colorado Rockies for the last playoff spot.
For the Cards, the mission to stay in the postseason race continues Friday night against the Giants. Madison Bumgarner (6-6, 3.14 ERA) will take the ball for the Giants on Friday against Cards righty John Gant (7-6, 3.53 ERA).
Gant has won four of his last six decisions, but he got shelled in his last outing. He surrendered six runs on six hits, including a pair of damaging home runs, in only 4 1/3 innings as the Cards were routed by the Dodgers, 17-4.
Giants rookie Dereck Rodriguez (6-4, 2.30 ERA) will go Saturday afternoon against Cards veteran righty Adam Wainwright (2-3, 3.72 ERA).
Giants’ Andrew Suarez (7-11, 4.24 ERA) will hope to start turning things around on Sunday as he takes the mound against Cards righty Miles Mikolas (16-4, 3.01 ERA), who has won five of his last six decisions, including each of his last three.
