Tag: mlb

A’s snap the Astros’ six-game win streak with 4-3 victory

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Photo credit: @Athletics

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Oakland A’s beat the Houston Astros 4-3 at Minute Maid Park on Tuesday night. The A’s snapped the Astros’ six-game winning streak and with the win, moved just 1 1/2 games behind the Astros for first-place in the AL West.

The A’s sent Edwin Jackson to do the pitching. Jackson gave up a run in the bottom of the second. Astros’ All-Star shortstop Carlos Correa singled leading off to get things going. Correa advanced to second on a passed ball. Marwyn Gonzalez groundout to first and that allowed Correa to go to third. Astros’ first baseman big Tyler White also grounded out, and Correa scored on the play. The Astros led 1-0 after two complete.

The A’s put three runs on the board in the top of the third. With two out, Astros’ starter Charlie Morton walked Jed Lowrie. He then hit Khris Davis with a pitch to put two men on with two out. A’s first baseman Matt Olson blasted his 24th home run of the year off the facade of the second deck in right field.

The Astros tied the game in the bottom of the fifth. The Astros loaded the bases with two out. A’s manager Bob Melvin left Jackson in to face Alex Bregman. Bregman doubled down the left field line to drive in two, and the game was tied at three apiece.

The game was now a contest between the two bullpens. Shawn Kelly got the final out of the fifth, and he pitched a scoreless sixth as well. Fernando Rodney and Jeurys Familia held the Astros scoreless in the seventh and eighth. The Astros ‘pen did the same to the A’s until the top of the ninth. Astros closer Roberto Osuna struck out Marcus Semien for the first out of the ninth. Ramon Laureano worked Osuna for a walk. Jonathan Lucroy singled to men on at first and second. Left Fielder Nick Martini doubled to deep right-center field. Laureano scored. Lucroy would have scored, but the ball bounced over the wall for a ground-rule double. Osuna retired Matt Chapman and Jed Lowrie to end the threat.

Blake Treinen pitched the ninth for the A’s. Treinen set the Astros down 1-2-3 to secure the A’s 4-3 win.

Game Notes: With the win, the A’s are now 80-53, and the Astros are now 81-53.

Jeurys Familia was the winning pitcher, and Roberto Osuna took the loss.

The A’s announced the Brett Anderson was being placed on the 10-day DL due to a forearm strain in his left arm. His teammate, Sean Manaea, also went on the DL with rotator cuff tendinitis in his left shoulder. He went to an orthopedic doctor in LA for a second opinion. It is not known when he will return to action. The A’s recalled Ryan Dull from Nashville to take his spot on the roster.

The A’s announced that Frankie Montas will face Seattle Thursday night. Mike Fiers will pitch on Friday, and Daniel Mengden will start on Saturday.

Up Next: The A’s and Astros conclude their series Wednesday at 11:10 am PDT.

Trevor Cahill (5-3, 3.44 ERA) will start for the A’s Wednesday, and the Astros’ Dallas Keuchal will be his opponent. Cahill has not pitched well on the road this year, and the A’s are hoping for a reversal of fortune.

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary podcast: Astros’ rally boots A’s out of the park 11-4; Pale Hose gets season-high fourth consecutive win over Yanks; plus more

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Photo credit: @Astros

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

#1 The Houston Astros got seven hits and three consecutive doubles off A’s starter Brett Anderson. A’s relievers Lou Trivino and Emilio Pagan gave up three home runs in the 11-4 win. Are the Astros back?

#2 The White Sox are red-hot. Well, at least for now. They just matched their season-high for consecutive wins with four straight and got pitching help from Carlos Rodon, who had 18 pitches and five for strikes. The Yankees have been struggling at the plate as they lost to the Sox.

#3 Anthony Rizzo had a night for the Cubs with a home run and hitting his 1,000th career double. The Cubs’ Ben Zobrist got a go-ahead double as the Cubs defeated the New York Mets 7-4 at Wrigley Field.

#4 Turning to football since it’s the last week of preseason football. The NFL has a strict rule they already enforced several times during this preseason about lowering the helmet. The lowering of the helmet is considered a weapon in the NFL and players who lower their helmets will get hit with a 15-yard penalty and up to a suspension and fines.

#5 Jemele Hill, a former ESPN host from the talk show His and Hers, was fired and got a buyout from reports up to $6 million and is not allowed to talk about the buyout. Hill had talked about President Trump, racism, and political issues on her Twitter account and was told by ESPN not speak about politics. Hill was suspended once and then a second time after talking politics again. ESPN said that on-air talent will stick to talking sports and leave politics out of it.

Amaury Pi-Gonzalez does News and Commentary each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

San Francisco Giants podcast with Morris Phillips and Michael Duca: Giants get third consecutive win, beat first place D-Backs to start the home cooking 2-0

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Photo credit: @kristadunton

On the Giants podcast with Michael and Morris:

On the homestand, the San Francisco Giants took two out of three from the Texas Rangers and entertained the Arizona Diamondbacks, who are in first place as they come into town a game ahead of Colorado and 2 1/2 ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers. The one thing the Diamondbacks didn’t expect was to get shutout by Giants starter Chris Stratton Monday night.

The Giants rested a few regulars Monday night in anticipation of facing the Dodgers this weekend, but Stratton was in control. He pitched great going eight innings, five hits, no runs, no walks and six strikeouts. Three straight wins for the Giants having been more than four games under.

Catch Michael and Morris on the Giants podcasts each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Astros win their sixth in a row as they trounce the A’s 11-4

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Photo credit: @Athletics

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Houston Astros, who had struggled when they had three All-Stars on the DL, pounded the Oakland A’s at Minute Maid Park on Monday night by a score of 11-4. Jose Altuve, George Springer, and Carlos Correa, are all back in the Astros’ lineup and they showed the A’s why they are the defending World Series champions.

The A’s scored two in the second and two in the third on the strength of a two-run Marcus Semien blast in the second and a two-run Matt Chapman big fly in the third to lead 4-0 halfway through the third.

The Astros put five on the board in the bottom of the third. With one out, Martin Maldonado singled to start the rally. The Astros then hit three consecutive doubles to close the gap to 4-3. George Springer, Alex Bregman, and Jose Altuve all doubled. Marwyn Gonzalez singled to drive in Altuve with the fourth run of the frame. Gonzalez advanced to second on the throw home and he scored on Tyler White’s single to put the Astros ahead 5-4.

Neither team was able to put any runs on the board until the bottom of the eighth. Houston scored six times in the bottom of the eighth to put the game out of reach. Rookie Lou Trivino gave up a single to Josh Reddick. Reddick went to third on Nick Martini’s fielding error. Trivino retired Maldonado for the first out, but walked Springer. Bregman homered to up the lead to 8-4. Altuve walked and that ended the night for Trivino.

A’s manager Bob Melvin brought in Emilio Pagan to pitch. Pagan, who was recalled from Nashville due to Sean Manaea going on the DL, retired Carlos Correa for the second out. He then walked Gonzalez and was rocked by a blast by Tyler White. The A’s did not score in the ninth and the game was over. The Astros won 11-4

Game Notes: With the loss, the A’s fall to 79-53 and are now 2 1/2 games behind the Astros.

A’s Brett Anderson took the loss. His record is now 3-4. He went just 2 2/3 innings and gave up seven hits and five runs.

Astros’ Gerrit Cole was not at his best, but he still received credit for the win. His record is now 12-5. He pitched six innings and allowed four hits and four runs.

Astros’ Alex Bregman and Tyler White each homered. Both players had four RBIs.

After the game, Bregman had this to say about the recent success of his team: “We just had to get right. If we’re healthy, we’re the best team in the world.”

Up Next: Game two of the three-game series will be at Minute Maid Park on Tuesday night at 5:10 pm PDT.

Edwin Jackson (4-3, 2.97 ERA) will go for the A’s. The Astros will counter with Charlie Morton (13-3, 3.05 ERA). Neither pitcher was effective the last time they pitched. Jackson was rocked by the Rangers and Morton was tagged for six runs by the Mariners.

San Francisco Giants podcast with Morris Phillips: Lots of catching up to do if SF plans to get back into the playoff hunt

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Photo credit: @bcraw35

On the Giants podcast with Morris:

#1 The Giants, who are eight games behind Arizona, seven back of Colorado, and five and half back of Los Angeles in the NL West. They are eight games out for second in the NL Wild Card race.

#2 The Giants got a 3-1 win behind the pitching of Derek Holland (7-8), who went six plus, one run, three hits, three walks, and four strikeouts against the Texas Rangers on Sunday at AT&T Park.

#3 The Giants’ Aramis Garcia will be catcher Nick Hundley’s backup. Garcia came up from the minors Sunday and is working with catching instructor Bill Hayes whose getting him prepared when he gets in his first game.

#4 Giants’ pitcher Jeff Samardzija couldn’t make the come back as he’s been plagued by shoulder pain and is scheduled to meet with Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Tim McAdams. No confirmation if Samardzija will have surgery.

#5 The Giants will open a three-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks tonight at AT&T Park. The Giants will need to start winning series or sweeping series in order to make up lost ground and to get back into the postseason hunt.

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

Holland beats his former team–Rangers–for the first time, 3-1

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO — Derek Holland faced his former team in the Texas Rangers for just the third time in his career, but it was a rookie that came up with the biggest hit of the game.

Steven Duggar hit a two-run triple that helped the San Francisco Giants defeat the Rangers 3-1 before a crowd of 39,260 at AT&T Park on Sunday afternoon.

Duggar’s triple off of Yovani Gallardo scored Hunter Pence and Nick Hundley with what proved to be the winning margin, as the Giants took two of three in a rematch of the 2010 World Series.

That triple was the first of Duggar’s career.

Gallardo got the first two batters out in that fateful fourth inning, but Pence singled and then Hundley walked before Duggar launched a Gallardo pitch into Triples Alley to give the Giants the lead for good.

Holland went 6.1 innings, allowing one run on three hits, while walking three and striking out four, as he won for the seventh time on the season.

This was the first career win for Holland against the team that drafted him in the 25th round of the 2006 Major League Draft. Holland played his first eight seasons with the Rangers, where he went 62-50 with a 4.35 earned run average in 179 games (158 starts).

The 158 starts by Holland with the Rangers is the eighth-most in Rangers history, and his 62 wins are the ninth-most.

Evan Longoria got the Giants going in the bottom of the first inning, as he tripled to the appropriately named ‘Triples Alley,” and then Brandon Belt singled to score Longoria. As for Longoria, that was his third triple of the season, the most for him since the 2013 season, when he also hit three.

The Rangers tied it up in the top of the third inning, as Elvis Andrus hit a double to left field that Hunter Pence bobbled in left field to allow Rougned Odor to score the tying run for the Rangers.

Following the Andrus double that tied up the game, Brandon Crawford came up with the defensive play of the game, as Adrian Beltre hit a ball into the hole that looked like it was going into left field; however, Crawford dove for the ball, got up and was able to throw out Beltre to keep the score tied at one. Not only did Crawford make another fantastic play, but Brandon Belt dug the ball out of the dirt for the final out of the inning that kept Andrus from scoring the potential go-ahead run.

That was the only hit that Holland would allow until he gave up two in the top of the seventh inning.

Duggar gave the Giants the lead for good in the bottom of the fourth inning, as his triple scored the eventual winning runs for the Giants.

Holland got into a bit of a jam in that seventh inning, as he gave up two hits in the top of the seventh inning; however, both Joey Gallo and Isiah Kiner-Falefa were stranded at third base, when Tony Watson struck out Robinson Chirinos and then got Odor out on an attempted bunt to end the inning.

Without the services of usual closer Will Smith, Mark Melancon came on to finish the game, and despite the fact that he gave up a pinch-hit single to Shin-Soo Choo with one out in the top of the ninth inning, Melancon was able to get the last two batters for his third save of the season.

NOTES: Buster Posey will undergo season-ending hip surgery on Monday in Vail, Colorado to repair a damaged labrum and remove bone spurs in his right hip.

Posey was placed on the 10-day disabled list, and to replace Posey on the roster will be Aramis Garcia, who was recalled from Triple-A Sacramento.

This was the first time that Melancon picked up back-to-back saves in consecutive games since May 19 and 20, 2017 against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium.

By winning the series finale against the Rangers, the Giants won their 65th game of the season, surpassing their total of 64 from just one year ago.

UP NEXT: The Giants host the Arizona Diamondbacks for a three-game series starting Monday night at 7:15 pm PDT.

Giants’ Chris Stratton will look for his ninth win of the season on Monday night, as he takes the mound against Patrick Corbin of the D-Backs, who is looking for his 11th win of the season for the Diamondbacks.

MLB The Show podcast with Daniel Dullum: Will there be more rental players?; Postseason trade deadline nearing; Wild card races on; plus more

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Photo credit @Dbacks: The Arizona Diamondbacks pay tribute to the late Sen John McCain offering him a number 18 jersey that hangs in their dugout at Chase Field. Daniel reports on the tribute.

On the MLB The Show podcast with Daniel:

1 Postseason trade deadline is picking up steam.

2 Wild NL West race getting wilder–on Saturday, Rockies win, while D-Backs and Dodgers lose.

3 Injury updates on Buster Posey, Stephen Strasburg, Astros and Yankees in general.

4 D-Backs, sports world honor the late Senator, John McCain, who died Saturday afternoon at the age of 81.

Daniel Dullum does the MLB The Show podcasts at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Crawford and Pence go deep in the Giants’ 5-3 win over the Rangers

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO — What is that old saying by Baseball Hall of Famer Yogi Berra? “It is like Déjà vu all over again.”

After jumping out to a 4-0 lead after the bottom of the first inning, the San Francisco Giants were forced to hold onto the victory after nearly blowing it in the end and ended up with the 5-3 win over the Texas Rangers before a crowd of 40,287 at AT&T Park on Saturday afternoon.

“It’s really incredible how similar the two games were but we found a way to get the last out today,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “Torture was back.”

Brandon Crawford came up with the big hit in the bottom of the first inning, as he smashed a three-run home run off of Martin Perez. It was the 12th home run of the season for Crawford.

Andrew McCutchen got the ball rolling for the Giants in the bottom of the first inning, as he doubled to left field to lead off the bottom of the first. It was the second straight day that McCutchen came up with an extra base hit to lead off the game.

After the McCutchen double, Brandon Belt then singled and then Evan Longoria drove in the first Giants run of the afternoon, as he hit a sacrifice fly that scored McCutchen from third base. Brandon Belt came up with the heads up play of the game early on, as he went to second on the Longoria sacrifice fly.

Nick Hundley then walked, and then Perez was able to get Austin Slater to line out to Nomar Mazara in right field, and then Crawford launched his home run over the right-center field wall.

Andrew Suarez bounced back from two tough starts, as he went seven strong innings, allowing zero runs on three hits, walked three batter and struck out five on his way to his fifth win of the season.

“This whole week I looked at old video just to see what could get me going again,” Suarez said. “Once I know I’m getting a lot of groundballs I know that’s when I’m in my game.”

Despite allowing those four runs in the bottom of the first inning, Perez ended up pitching a good game, as he allowed four runs on five hits, walking one and striking out four in five innings of work.

After that fateful first inning, where Perez gave up four runs on three hits and walked one, he then settled down, as he allowed two hits and struck out four in his final four innings of work.

Hunter Pence lengthened the Giants lead up to 5-0 in the bottom of the seventh inning, as he hit a pinch-hit home run off of former Giants teammate Matt Moore.

It’s very important to continue to send that message of relentless attack,” Pence said. “Even where we are and as clouded as it may seem, you still never know. When there’s still a chance in this game of baseball, things can get hot in an instant.”

Things began to get interesting in the top of the eighth inning, as after Hunter Strickland was able to get the first two outs of the inning, then it got weird for the second day in a row.

Joey Gallo reached when Slater was unable to close hid glove on the potential third out of the inning, then Shin-Soo Choo singled Gallo to right field and then Rougned Odor launched a three-run home run onto the Arcade to get the Rangers within two runs. Strickland was able to regroup, and get Elvis Andrus to ground out to end the inning.

The ninth inning was no better for the Giants, as closer Will Smith came on for the third straight day and got the first out, but then Jurickson Profar walked and then Robinson Chirinos beat out an infield single and then Smith uncorked a wild pitch that sent the potential tying run into scoring position; however, Smith was able to get Adrian Beltre to strikeout for the second out of the inning.

Smith was unable to end it without some drama, as he walked pinch-hitter Isiah Kiner-Falefa and that was end of the day for Smith.

Mark Melancon came on to end the game, as he pinch-hitter Carlos Perez to fly out to Slater end the game. It was the second save of the season for Melancon, and the first since June 21 against the San Diego Padres.

NOTES: Odor’s home run in the top of the eighth inning was the seventh home run allowed by the Giants bullpen since in the last 10 games.

With the two home runs by Crawford and Pence, this was the first time that the Giants hit more than one home run in a game since June 19 against the Miami Marlins.

That was just the second pinch hit home run of Pence’s career, the only previous one was on June 18, 2017 against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field.

Buster Posey will miss the rest of the season, as he will undergo hip surgery in Colorado on Monday. Posey will miss the next six to eight months.

UP NEXT: The Giants and Rangers conclude their series with a finale on Sunday afternoon at 1:05 pm PDT.

Derek Holland looks his seventh win of the season for the Giants, while Yovani Gallardo tries for his eighth win for the Rangers.

MLB The Show podcast with Matt Harrington: Cubs maintain 3-game lead in NL Central with win; Yanks have life in wild card hopes–beat O’s 7-5; plus more

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Photo credit: @Cubs

On the MLB The Show podcast with Matty:

#1 The Chicago Cubs won a crucial game, a one-run win over the Cincinnati Reds on Friday 3-2. The Cubs had home run help from Daniel Murphy (7) and David Bote (5).

#2 The New York Yankees got a 7-5 win over the Baltimore Orioles on Friday over pitcher Chad Green, who got his seventh win, and got home run help from Luke Voit, who hit two homers numbers two and three for the season. The Yanks’ Neil Walker hit his eighth home run.

#3 The Toronto Blue Jays got a well-pitched game from starter Ryan Borucki. The Jays also got home run help from Kendrys Morales (19) and Bill McKinny (2). The Jays got the win over the Philadelphia Phillies, who remain just two games back in the NL East.

#4 The Miami Marlins got a pitching performance out of starter Daniel Straily, who threw a three-hit shutout against the Atlanta Braves 1-0. The first-place Braves were caught off-balance by the last place Marlins and Straily, who they just couldn’t figure out all game long.

#5 The Oakland A’s evened up the series in Minnesota at Target Field on Friday night with the help of Matt Chapman’s three run homer–his 18th of the season. The A’s also got home run help from Stephen Piscotty (17) and Ramon Laureano (3) as the A’s crushed the Twins 7-1.

Matt does the MLB The Show podcast each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Chappy’s Homer Lifts A’s to 7-1 Win Over Twins

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Photo credit: @Athletics

By Matthew Harrington

It was the names you wouldn’t expect that delivered for the A’s at Target Field Friday, but that’s because the usual names were anything but. The Manaealator threw five innings of one-run ball, Chappy launched a three-run homer and Momo and the aptly-dubbed Laureano hit solo shots to push the A’s to a 7-1 while visiting the Twins.

League wide, teams wore special player’s weekend jerseys adorned with nicknames of the player’s choosing,hence the unique recap. Sean Manaea drew the assignment on the hill and rebounding nicely from his previous poor By start, a six run shelling at the hands of the Houston Astros, to give the A’s the win after holding the Twins to just one run.

Oakland scored first off Twins starter Jake Odorizzi with a sacrifice fly in the top of the fourth. It seemed like manufactured runs would and a low score would rule the day after Miguel Sano brought a run home in the bottom of the fourth on a sacrifice fly as well.

Jonathan Lucroy singled in another run in the top of the 5th of Odorizzi, who exited the game trailing 2-1 after seven innings of work and five hits. Oliver Drake would struggle in his inning of work, thanks to Oakland’s rally.

Lucroy singled to open the inning and Nick Martini walked. After a mound visit, potential MVP darkhorse Matt Chapman stepped up to the plate. He blasted his 18th homer of the year for a 5-1 A’s lead.

Stephen Piscotty greeted Addison Reed in the top of the ninth with a homer to open the inning, then rookie Ramon Laureano hit his third career homer for the final seventh run. Laureano, having recently been called up earlier in the month, didn’t get a chance to submit a nickname and simple wore “Laureano” on his jersey.

Manaea turned the game over to his pen after five innings with a 2-1 lead. Lou Trivino, Fernando Rodney, Jeurys Familia and Shawn Kelley all threw shutout innings to preserve the win.

Oakland remains 1.5 games back of Houston after the Astros beat the Halos in Anaheim.

Oakland sends Mike Fiers to the mound Saturday at 4:10 pm PDT to face Stephen Gonsalves.