Tag: mlb

Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Kahn

With the end of a three-city, 10-game road trip that went from Washington, D.C., to Miami and finally onto Los Angeles, the San Francisco Giants saw their own beds in sight.

Nick Hundley and Brandon Belt each hit two-run home runs, helping the Giants to a 4-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

The win by the Giants, salvaged the three-game series over their longtime rivals and they ended their road trip with a 4-6 record.

This was the fourth three-city road trip for the Giants, who have played more than half of their road games and now return for a 10-game home stand beginning on Monday night. The Giants have one more three-city road trip from August 13-23, when they will travel to Los Angeles, Cincinnati, before ending in New York.

Hundley gave the Giants an early 2-0 lead, as he launched a Caleb Ferguson pitch into the left field pavilion in the top of the first inning.

Belt stretched the Giants up to 4-1, as he hit his first home run since coming back an emergency appendectomy on June 2. It was the 12th home run for Belt.

Chris Stratton went six innings, allowing one run (none earned), while giving up just three hits, walking one and striking out three.

Ferguson went five innings, allowing four runs on just two hits, walking one and striking out sic, as he looks for that elusive first major league win.

The Giants bullpen quartet of Will Smith, Mark Melancon, Tony Watson and Hunter Strickland pitched the final three innings, as they allowed one hits and struck out eight. Strickland got the final two outs of the game to pick up his 14thsave of the season.

Andrew McCutchen picked up the only other hit of the game for the Giants, who are now 7-6 on the season versus the Dodgers.

NOTES: Andrew Suarez will make his second career start against his home town team, the Miami Marlins on Monday night, while the Marlins will counter with Caleb Smith.

Buster Posey sat out the finale of the road trip, as Hundley took his place and gave the Giants an early lead.

Brandon Crawford will miss the next three games, as he will join his wife Jalynne in Arizona, as she will give birth to their fourth child. Crawford will rejoin the team on Thursday night, when the Giants will open a four-game series against the San Diego Padres at AT&T Park.

UP NEXT: The Giants and Marlins’ Game 1 is scheduled for Monday night at 7:15 pm PDT.

Photo credit: @LosAngeles_NC

By Jeremy Kahn

Once again, the long ball was the difference in the game between the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Kike’ Hernandez hit a two-run home run off of Madison Bumgarner in the bottom of the fifth inning, helping the Dodgers to a 3-1 victory over the Giants at Dodger Stadium on Sunday night.

The home run by Hernandez helped Alex Wood to his second win of the season, as the left-hander went 5.2 innings, allowing just one run on five hits, while walking two and striking out two.

The win gave the series to the Dodgers for the first time this season, and the season series between the longtime rivals is 6-6.

The two teams will not face each other until a three-game series at Dodger Stadium beginning on August 13, and the Dodgers will not face the Giants at AT&T Park until the last three games of the season from September 28-30.

Hernandez’s home run was the ninth extra base hit in 33 at-bats in his career against Bumgarner, including four home runs.

Bumgarner went six innings allowing three runs on five hits, walking four and striking out three, as he lost for the second time in his three starts this season after recovering from a broken left pinkie that he suffered in his final start of spring training against the Kansas City Royals.

Bumgarner also gave up a solo home run to Matt Kemp in the bottom of the first inning, as the Dodgers jumped out to an early 1-0 lead.

This was the second game in a row that Hernandez and Kemp each hit home runs for the Dodgers, who are 21-6 since May 17 and two games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League West.

Alen Hanson drove in the only Giants run in the game, as he hit a sacrifice fly that scored Mac Williamson in the top of the fifth inning.

Williamson broke up Wood’s no-hit bid in the top of the fifth inning, as he led off the inning with a left. Joe Panik then singled to center that sent Williamson to third, after Bumgarner struck out for the first out of the inning, Hanson hit a sacrifice fly to Kemp in left field that easily scored Williamson from third base.

That would be the score for a half-inning, as Hernandez hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the fifth inning that sent the Giants to their fifth loss in their last six games.

Following the Hernandez home run, Justin Turner then hit a ground rule double to right-center field, then Kemp walked; however, Bumgarner was able to stop the bleeding, when he got Yaisel Puig to ground into a force play that ended the inning.

The Giants tried to get a rally started in the top of the ninth inning, as Buster Posey reached on a throwing error by Turner against Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen. After a strikeout to Brandon Crawford the first out of the inning, Jansen walked Williamson, then Joe Panik grounded out to Cody Bellinger that advanced Posey to third and Williamson; however, Jansen was able to get pinch-hitter Pablo Sandoval to pop out to Turner for the final out of the game.

Jansen picked up his 17th save of the season, as the Dodgers have won five in a row.

It was another frustrating night on the mound for Bumgarner, as he was not able to get the calls from home plate umpire Dan Bellino.

NOTES: Chris Stratton looks to salvage the series finale for the Giants, as he takes the mound, while the Dodgers will send Caleb Ferguson, as the rookie still looks for his first major league win.

Brandon Belt, who missed the last two weeks after an emergency appendectomy was activated from the disabled list.

To make room for Belt, Pierce Johnson was optioned to Sacramento.

Evan Longoria will have surgery that will insert a pin into his left hand, and the third baseman is expected to miss anywhere from six to eight weeks; however, Longoria is hoping to return after the All-Star Break, when the Giants open a three-game series against the Oakland A’s at the Coliseum on July 20.

Johnny Cueto will throw a live batting practice when the Giants return to San Francisco on Monday, when they open a three-game series against the Miami Marlins at AT&T Park.

Jeff Samardzija pitched three innings for the Sacramento Rivercats against the Red Rock Express at Dell Diamond, and Samardzija could be back soon, according to manager Bruce Bochy.

UP NEXT: The Giants and Dodgers will conclude their rivalry series on Sunday afternoon at 1:10 pm PDT on NSBA and SNLA.

Photo credit: @kikehndez

By Jeremy Kahn

After a 16-inning game in the finale of their four-game series against the Miami Marlins, the San Francisco Giants took a cross country flight, while their opponent, the Los Angeles Dodgers were on a day off.

Enrique Hernandez hit a home run off of Derek Holland in the bottom of the first inning, helping the Dodgers to a 3-2 victory over the Giants at Dodger Stadium on Friday night.

Matt Kemp hit a towering home run to straightaway center field off of Holland that gave the Dodgers a 2-0 lead, but it was a Yasmani Grandal fly ball to center field that was the key point to the game.

Grandal’s fly ball was dropped by Austin Jackson and then Yasiel Puig doubled to right-center field with what proved to be the game-winning run.

Pablo Sandoval cut the Dodgers lead down to 3-2 in the top of the seventh inning, as he hit a two-run home run off of Dodgers starter Ross Stripling that landed in the Dodgers’ bullpen.

Unfortunately, the Giants could not get any closer, as Josh Fields, Scott Alexander got the Giants out in the top of the seventh inning and eighth inning, before turning to closer Kenley Jansen, who retired the Giants in order to pick-up his 16thsave of the season.

Stripling went 6.1 innings, allowing two runs on four hits, not walking a batter and striking out six, as he improved his record on the season up to 6-1.

Holland went five innings, allowing three runs (two of them earned), while walking two and striking out seven, as his record fell to 4-7 on the season.

Pierce Johnson, called up earlier in the day, pitched two innings, allowing one hit and walking one. Will Smith continued pitching great, as he went one inning and struck out one.

NOTES: Madison Bumgarner will make his third start of the season, as he still looks for that elusive first win of the season, while the Dodgers will counter with Alex Wood, who is currently 1-5 on the season after going 16-3 in helping the Dodgers to their first World Series appearance since 1988.

Evan Longoria was placed on the 10-day disabled list with a broken left hand. Longoria broke the fifth metacarpal (pinkie) after he was hit by a pitch by Dan Straliy in the top of the fourth inning of Thursday’s 6-3 victory over the Marlins at Marlins Park.

The Longoria injury is the exact same injury that Bumgarner is just coming back from after missing nearly the first two months of the season.

UP NEXT: The Giants and Dodgers face off on Saturday at 5:15 pm PDT on FOX.