Photo credit: @athletics_fanly
On the Oakland A’s podcast with Charlie O:
1) Let’s talk Tommy John — the surgery and the pitcher!
2) Since we’re talking pitching, let’s talk Frankie Montas and what he’s doing for the A’s.
3) Speaking of Tommy John surgery, let’s talk about the A’s Chris Bassitt.
4) What’s coming up for the A’s?
Charlie O does the Oakland A’s podcasts each Tuesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com
Photo credit: @SFGiants
By Jeremy Kahn
If you were looking for the San Francisco Giants’ offense, well it disappeared after the first inning against the Miami Marlins.
Trevor Richards went six innings, allowing one run on just two hits, walking two and striking out three and the Marlins defeated the Giants 3-1 at Marlins Park on Tuesday.
It was a memorable night for Richards, who picked up his first major league win in his seventh major league start.
Brandon Crawford drove in the only run of the game in the top of the first inning, as he grounded out to score Joe Panik, who led off the game with a walk against Richards.
Things were looking good for the Giants, as they got both Panik and Buster Posey on via walks versus Stratton, but then Andrew McCutchen struck out and then Crawford grounded out for the second out; however, it scored Panik with what proved to be the only run of the game for the Giants.
It was a tough loss for Chris Stratton, who went seven innings, as he gave up three runs and scattered four hits.
The only bad inning for the Giants was the third inning, as the Marlins scored all of their runs in that frame.
Starlin Castro tied up the game with a single that scored Derek Dietrich, and then JT Riddle hit what proved to be the game-winning runs, as he doubled to right field to score Dietrich and Brian Anderson.
The inning could have gotten worse, but the defensive play of the game was made by Stratton, as he snared a Miguel Rojas line drive that Stratton caught and Stratton then threw to Evan Longoria to get Castro at third base for the final out of the inning.
Following that third inning, that saw the Marlins scored all of their runs, Stratton settled down and retired the final 13 batters he faced.
The Marlins tried to break open the game in the bottom of the eighth inning, as Cory Gearrin came on to replace Stratton; however, Gearrin gave up two hits and that was the end of the night for Gearrin. Will Smith came on to replace Gearrin, and he responded by striking out the side to end the inning
Kyle Barraclough came on in the top of the ninth inning for the second straight night, and for the second game in a row, Barraclough closed out the game and notched his fourth save in six opportunities this season.
NOTES: Andrew Suarez will make his second start on the road trip, and this will be a homecoming for the left-hander, as he went to Christopher Columbus High School in Miami before heading to the University of Miami, where he pitched for the Hurricanes. Suarez, who will have many members of his family and friends in the stands will be opposed by Caleb Smith, who is 5-6 on the season.
Brandon Belt, who underwent an emergency appendectomy on June 2 will join the team in Los Angeles, when the Giants head there to face the Dodgers beginning on Friday night.
Jeff Samardzija is expected to join the Sacramento Rivercats on Friday, and will make a rehab start against the Round Rock Express (Texas Rangers Triple-A team) at Dell Diamond.
UP NEXT: The Giants and Marlins continue their series with Game 3 on Wednesday at 4:10 pm PDT.
Photo credit: nydailynews.com
On the That’s Amaury’s Podcast:
#1 The Chicago Cubs’ Anthony Rizzo launched the Cubs into a five-run 11th inning that put the Cubs in first place.
#2 The Arizona Diamondbacks, who struggled to hold onto first place, scored nine unanswered runs after a hit by pitch.
#3 The Seattle Mariners’ Nelson Cruz hit two home runs and Wade LeBlanc went five solid innings in the M’s win over the Los Angles Angels 5-3 Monday night.
#4 The Boston Red Sox’s Mookie Betts is back from the DL and pitcher Steven Wright, who continued his scoreless pitching streak at 22 2/3, as the Red Sox defeated the Baltimore Orioles 2-0.
#5 Finally, in basketball, the Golden State Warriors are hosting the World Championship parade in downtown Oakland.
Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the vice president of the MLB Hispanic Heritage Museum, the Spanish radio voice for the Oakland A’s, and does News and Commentary each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com
Photo credit: youtube.com
By Jerry Feitelberg
OAKLAND — The Oakland A’s (34-32; fourth place in the AL West) start a three-game series with the World Champion Houston Astros on Tuesday night.
The Astros are currently in a dogfight with the Seattle Mariners for first place in the AL West. They are currently 42-25 and have one more loss than the M’s.
The Astros come to Oakland having won seven of the last 10 games. They will be sending three tough pitchers at the A’s. On Tuesday night, Lance McCullers Jr. will pitch for Houston. McCullers’ season record is 7-3, and his ERA is 3.94. McCullers has beaten the A’s twice this season and will be hoping to record his third win over them on Tuesday. In his two prior starts against the A’s he has allowed just two earned runs, four walks, and has struck out 10.
The A’s will counter with Houston native Daniel Mengden. Mengden had a terrific May but was pounded by the Texas Rangers in his last start. Mengden was tagged for four big home runs and six runs in just four innings of work.
On Wednesday, Astros’ Gerrit Cole will face the Green and Gold. Cole is having a terrific season with a record of 7-1 and a sparkling ERA of just 2.16.
The A’s Paul Blackburn will make his second start since coming off the DL. Blackburn is 1-0, and his ERA is 1.50. He went six innings and allowed just one run and three hits in recording the win over the Kansas City Royals. He threw 67 pitches and looked sharp.
Thursday’s game will feature Justin Verlander going for the Astros against the A’s Frankie Montas. Verlander, a former Cy Young Award winner and MVP with the Detroit Tigers, has a record of 8-2 and a 1.45 ERA.
The Astros are 14-5 in games that Verlander has started since he came to Houston from the Tigers last year. Montas has made three starts and won them all. He is 3-0 and has a 1.25 ERA. In three starts (and wins), Montas has allowed three runs in 2 2/3 innings of work.
The A’s pitchers will have their hands full trying to contain the Astros’ powerful lineup. Second baseman Jose Altuve is leading the league in hitting again. Shortstop Carlos Correa is a tough out. Alex Bregman at third, and Yuli Guriel round out the infield. George Springer, Josh Reddick, Jake Marisnick, or Marwyn Gonzalez will handle the outfield chores. Evan Gattis, who also doubles as a DH, Brian McCann, and former Athletic, Max Stassi are all guys that can hit and cause damage. The Astros’ bullpen is deep with Collin McHugh, Brad Peacock, Hector Rondon, Will Harris, and Tony Sipp seeing action. Chris Devenski and Ken Giles are the closers.
The A’s are just 1-5 against Houston this year. The A’s also have power up and down the lineup. Matt Chapman and Matt Olson are threats to go deep, and pitchers have to be careful not to make a mistake with their pitch selection. If they fail to locate the ball, Olson and Chapman will send the pitch into the seats. Jed Lowrie, who was hot early in the season, has cooled off a bit but is still a dangerous hitter. DH Khris Davis leads the A’s in homers and RBIs and is a very dangerous hitter. Davis can hit the ball out of any park. Chad Pinder, Mark Canha, Dustin Fowler, and Stephen Piscotty all have power.
Johnathan Lucroy and Josh Phegley are the catchers. Lucroy is a better contact hitter while Phegley has power but hasn’t played very much this season.
The Astros have had the advantage over the A’s the last couple of years. If the A’s are going to make progress, they will need to take the series from the Astros. That will be a tough task, but the A’s know they can play with the big boys. Just ask the Boston Red Sox.
sfexaminer.com file photo: Brandon Crawford who went 4-4 on Sunday and just missed the cycle leads the Giants with a .326 average has been a force at the plate
On the Giants podcast with Morris Phillips:
San Francisco Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford is swinging the bat that would make former Major Leaguer Rogers Hornsby proud. Hornsby was a Hall of Fame second baseman and shortstop that hit .350 career from 1915 to 1937. Crawford on Sunday hit .326 for this season.
Not an easy achievement Crawford was able to get his perfect 4-4 on Sunday off Washington Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer is one of the best pitchers in the N.L. Crawford got a first inning single, Crawford also hit for a two-run home run, a double in the sixth, in the fourth at bat Crawford missed the cycle with a double with hit up the left field line.
Giants pitcher Derek Holland went five innings, three hits, walked two, struck out four, Holland is now 4-6. The Giants start a four-game series in Miami Monday night. The Marlins have struggled all season, but Morris gives his take on how he sees this series.
Morris does Giants podcasts twice a week for http://www.sportsradioservice.com
Photo credit: @NBCSGiants
By Jeremy Kahn
What a day it was for Brandon Crawford in the series finale for the San Francisco Giants against one of the best pitchers in baseball, Max Scherzer of the Washington Nationals.
Crawford picked up three hits in his three at-bats versus Scherzer, including a two-run home run off of Scherzer in the top of the fourth and the Giants defeated the Nationals 2-0 at Nationals Park on Sunday.
On the afternoon, the hot hitting Crawford ended up going four-for-four, as the Giants took the series two games to one, and more important, took the season series four games to two.
Crawford singled in the top of the first inning, then smashed a two-run home run into the second deck that proved to be the only runs of the game for both teams. Crawford then doubled in the top of the sixth inning, and with a chance for the cycle, Crawford doubled down the left field line to complete his four-hit day.
It was the eighth home run of the season for Crawford, and his 29th and 30 runs batted in on the season.
Crawford, who struggled thru the month of April, as he batted .189 thru the first month of the season, is now hitting .338.
Since May 1, Crawford is hitting .439, as he is 58-for-132 during that stretch. His .338 batting average is just three points behind Freddie Freeman of the Atlanta Braves, who is batting .341.
Derek Holland went the minimum five innings to pick up the victory for the Giants, who are now 2-1 on their three-city, 10 game road trip thru Washington, Miami and Los Angeles.
Holland gave up three hits, walking two and striking out four, as he improved to 4-6 on the season.
Bruce Bochy turned the game over to his bullpen, and they performed in an outstanding manner, as former Nationals closer Mark Melancon pitched the sixth inning, walking one, then Sam Dyson walked and struck out a batter in the seventh inning, then Tony Watson pitched a perfect eighth.
Hunter Strickland came on in the bottom of the ninth, who got Bryce Harper, Anthony Rendon and Matt Adams, who came on to pinch hit for Mark Reynolds to pick up his 13thsave of the season.
Strickland, who in their last meeting hit Harper that led to a bench clearing brawl got Harper to ground out to Crawford for the first out. Rendon then followed it up with a ground ball with a ground ball to Crawford and then Strickland got Adams to strikeout swinging to end the game.
Scherzer went seven innings, allowing two runs, while scattering four hits, walking three and striking out nine, as he saw his record on the season fall to 10-2 and his earned run average increase from 1.95 to 2.00. This was the first loss for Scherzer since April 4, breaking his nine-game winning streak.
NOTES: Madison Bumgarner will make his second start of the season on Monday evening, as the Giants continue their road trip against the Miami Marlins at Marlins Park, who will send Wei-Yen Chen, who is 1-3 with a 5.86 ERA on the season.
In his season debut on Tuesday night, Bumgarner went six innings, allowing two runs, walking no one and struck out three after missing the first two months of the season with a broken left pinkie.
This was the first series win for the Giants against the Nationals in Washington since July 9-11, 2010, the year that the Giants won the first of their three World Championships in a five-year period.
Crawford is the first Giants batter to ever get three hits in the same game off of Scherzer.
UP NEXT: The Giants will head to Miami to take on the Marlins for a four-game set. Game 1 is set for Monday at 4:10 pm PDT.
sbnation.com photo: Washington Nationals pitcher Stephen Strausburg leaves the mound on Friday night against the San Francisco Giants and is now on the D.L. for a shoulder strain injury
On the MLB The Show podcast with Daniel Dullum:
1 The Washington Nationals put pitcher Stephen Strasburg on DL while The New York Yankees squawk about universal DH.
2 MLB suspends Padres’ Jose Torres pitcher for 100 games for domestic abuse arrest.
3 Giants and A’s land blue chippers in first round of MLB Draft.
4 Long, hard road for the A’s. Also, their 22nd round selection from Apache Junction.
5 Angels’ Shohei Ohtani on DL. Could miss possible All-Star selection.
Join Daniel each week for all the latest on MLB at http://www.sportsradioservice.com
Photo credit: sports.yahoo.com
By Jeremy Kahn
On the day that the Washington Capitals brought the newly won Stanley Cup to Nationals Park and Alexander Ovechkin threw out the first pitch, it was the Washington Nationals superstar that provided the big blast against the San Francisoo Giants.
Bryce Harper hit his National League-leading 19th home run in the bottom of the fourth inning, as the Nationals defeated the Giants 7-5 in an early Saturday matinee at Nationals Park.
In his first game since being activated from the 60-day disabled list, Adam Eaton scored two runs to help even the weekend series with the Giants.
Eaton, who missed 52 games with a left ankle bruise, was hit by a pitch, as he led off the bottom of the first inning.
Anthony Rendon drove in Eaton with a single that gave the Nationals a quick 1-0 lead, and then in the next inning, he scored again and the Nationals took a 5-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning.
Dereck Rodriguez lasted just 2.2 innings, as he gave up five runs just six days after his first major league start and win over the Philadelphia Phillies at AT&T Park.
Rodriguez, who is the son of Hall of Famer Ivan Rodriguez, pitched in front of his father for the first time as a major leaguer, and will do so again on Thursday, when he pitches in his hometown of Miami against the Marlins.
Nick Hundley got the Giants back in it in the top of the third inning, as he hit a three-run home run off of Gio Gonzalez to get the Giants within 5-3.
The Giants rally continued in the top of the fourth inning, as the Giants loaded the bases and were only able to manage one run, as Andrew McCutchen hit a sacrifice fly.
Gonzalez, who like Rodriguez saw his pitch count elevate and was unable to get out of the fourth inning.
Justin Miller picked up his third win of the season, as he retired all five batters he faced.
Hundley got the Giants within one run in the top of the seventh inning, as he doubled in a run; however, the Nationals put the game away in the bottom of the seventh inning, when Spence Kieboom hit a RBI double of his own.
NOTES: Derek Holland will take the mound in the series finale on Sunday, while the Nationals will send Max Scherzer to the mound, as he looks to improve to 11-1 on the season.
This will be the first time that Holland will face the Nationals in his 10-year career, while Scherzer looks to go to 2-0 against the Giants this season. On April 25, Scherzer went six innings and struck out 10 in a 15-2 victory for the Nationals, as they salvaged the series finale.
Brandon Crawford was out of the lineup for the first time since May 16 against the Cincinnati Reds. Crawford struck out as a pinch hitter in the top of the seventh inning.
Ovechkin’s first pitch to Scherzer went over the pitcher’s head, and the Conn Smythe Award Winner asked for another one and it was granted.
UP NEXT: The Giants and Nats conclude their series on Sunday at 1:05 pm PDT.
Photo credit: abc7.com
On the MLB The Show podcast with Matt:
The Los Angeles Angels reported that superstar Japanese pitcher Shohei Ohtani was placed on the D.L. on Friday night for a Grade 2 UCL strain. Ohtani was given a PRP and stem cell injection on Friday by Dr. Steve Yoon in Los Angeles. Dr. Yoon said that he would re-evaluate Ohtani’s progress in three weeks. If things don’t improve, Dr. Yoon and the Angels did mention Tommy John surgery could be in the equation.
The Washington Nationals’ star pitcher Stephen Strasburg has been suffering through shoulder inflammation. It was discovered on Friday night after pitching to the San Francisco Giants that Strasburg was having the shoulder problems.
The San Diego Padres have suspended pitcher Jose Torres for 100 games, which is being served retroactively. In December, in Phoenix, Torres broke down a locked door, punched a hole in another locked door and pointed a gun at his female roommate threatening to kill her.
Former MLB infielder and Philadelphia Phillie Lenny Dykstra is facing charges for making terrorist threats and possession of illegal drugs after threatening to shoot a Uber driver. Dykstra got into the car and wanted to change destinations. The driver told Dykstra to make the changes on his Uber app, but Dykstra took a pill bottle and put it behind the head of the driver and said he would blow his head off if he didn’t take him where he wanted to go. According to Dykstra, the driver was blowing through red lights and was driving to a police station where he told police he was threatened by Dykstra. Dykstra in turn charged the Uber driver for false imprisonment for keeping him in the car while he was being driven to the police station. Both are being criminally charged, respectfully.
Matt Harrington does the MLB The Show podcasts each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com
Photo credit: @SFGiants
By Jeremy Kahn
What a nice start to a three-city, 10 game road trip for the San Francisco Giants against a tough Washington Nationals team.
Andrew McCutchen got the offense going in the first inning, as he hit his third home run of the week that matched his season total and the Giants defeated the Nationals 9-5 at Nationals Park on Friday night.
Andrew Suarez did not go the minimum five innings, as he was pulled from the game with one out in the bottom of the fifth inning after the Nationals cut the Giants once 6-2 lead down to 6-4.
Suarez went 4.1 innings, allowing four runs on six hits, walking one and striking out five, before way to Reyes Moronta.
The Giants extended the lead to 3-0 in the top of the second inning, as Alen Hanson continues his hot hitting since coming off the disabled list, as he singled to right field that scored Pablo Sandoval. Hunter Pence then extended the lead, as he doubled in Hanson.
Nationals starter Stephen Strasburg lasted just two innings before he was forced to leave the game with inflammation in his shoulder, and will undergo an MRI on Saturday. Strasburg gave up three runs on five hits, walking no one and striking out two, as he fell to 6-6 on the season.
Gorkys Hernandez continues his hot hitting, as he hit a two-run two run home run in the top of the fourth inning that gave the Giants a 5-0 lead.
The Nationals finally got on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning, as Suarez gave up a two-run home run to Juan Soto that landed in the Giants bullpen just out of the reach of Pence, who attempted to make a home run saving catch.
Brandon Crawford remains hot, as he doubled to left field that scored McCutchen to give the Giants a 6-2 lead in the top of the fifth inning.
Wilmer Difo began the Nationals comeback in the bottom of the fifth inning, as he singled to lead off the inning against Suarez. After Pedro Severino flew out for the first out of the inning, Adrian Sanchez singled and then Trea Turner walked to load the bases for Bryce Harper, who was the tying run.
Harper singled to right field to score both Difo and Sanchez, which marked the end of the night for Suarez.
Reyes Moronta replaced Suarez, and was able to get Anthony Rendon to fly out to Hernandez in centerfield and then Mark Reynolds fouled out to Hanson at third base to end the threat. That was it for Moronta, who picked up his second win of the season.
Matt Adams got the Nationals within one run in the bottom of the sixth inning, as he singled off of former Nationals reliever Mark Melancon.
The Giants broke the game wide open in the top of the seventh inning, as Sandoval singled in Joe Panik, who doubled to right field to lead off the inning. Following the Panik double, Buster Posey singled and then after McCutchen made the first out of the inning, Crawford was hit by a pitch that loaded the bases.
Sandoval then followed Crawford to the plate, and singled to centerfield to score Panik from third base. Evan Longoria, who did not start, came off the bench to pinch hit for Hanson and hit a sacrifice fly that scored Posey and then Hunter Pence put the finishing touches on the scoring, when singled to right field to score Crawford.
NOTES: Dereck Rodriguez will make his second major league start on Saturday, as he takes on Gio Gonzalez.
Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija both threw in the bullpen prior to the game. Samardzija, who is out with right shoulder tightness will throw one more bullpen session and then throw to hitters or make a rehab start. Cueto is likely to throw two more bullpen sessions and then a batting practice before returning from inflammation in his right elbow.
UP NEXT: The Giants and Nationals meet again Saturday at 9:05 am PDT.
