Tag: mlb

Surging Giants face tough road test

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Harness

The Giants had a fantastic first week of June, and they have used that momentum to get themselves right back into the National League West race.

Now comes the hard part.

The Giants have won five of their last six games, all of them played inside of AT&T Park, and as a direct result, the Giants are back to .500 and are only 1 ½ games behind the NL West-leading Arizona Diamondbacks, the team they just took two of three from this week.

Now the Giants will hit the road for a 10-day trip that starts tomorrow in Washington, a city that is buzzing from the NHL’s Capitals winning the Stanley Cup on Thursday. Meanwhile, its baseball team, the Nationals, isn’t playing too bad, either.

The Nationals currently own a 35-25 record and are in a tie atop the National League East with the Atlanta Braves. They have won seven of their last 10 games, but those three losses came against the Braves in a four-game series played last week. They rebounded nicely, however, by sweeping the Tampa Bay Rays in a two-game series.

The Giants will start the series on Friday at Nationals Park with Andrew Suarez (2-4) on the mound against Washington righty Stephen Strasburg (6-5).

Dereck Rodriguez (1-0) picked up his first major-league win on Sunday, giving up a single run to the Phillies in a 6-1 victory, but he will have a daunting task on Saturday when he goes up against Nationals left-hander Gio Gonzalez (6-2).

To cap off the series, southpaw Derek Holland (3-6) will most certainly have his hands full as he faces righty Max Scherzer (10-1).

A’s score three in the sixth for 4-1 laugher of Royals; Blackburn gets a win

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Photo credit: @Gloves_And_Bats

By Jerry Feitelberg

OAKLAND — Oakland A’s starter Paul Blackburn was activated off the 60-day DL and made his first start of the year. Blackburn, who missed a lot of time last year due to an injury and suffered a right forearm strain in spring training, was very impressive in his return to action Thursday night against the Kansas City Royals. Blackburn went six innings and allowed just three hits.

The only run the Royals scored came in the third inning when shortstop Alcides Escobar homered. The A’s rallied for three runs in the sixth, and the bullpen shut down the Royals offense as the A’s won the game 4-1.

The A’s tied the game in the bottom of the fourth when Matt Olson blasted his 13th homer of the year over the 388-foot marker in deep right center field. The blast traveled 414 feet. Olson has nine homers in his last 23 games.

In the bottom of the sixth, the A’s put together four hits and a walk that produced three runs and ended Jason Hammel’s night. With one out, A’s DH Khris Davis singled. Hammel walked Matt Olson to put men on at first and second. Matt Chapman hit a towering fly ball to center. Royals’ center fielder Paulo Orlando appeared to have trouble determining where the ball was going to come down. He seemed to be twisting and turning to find the ball, but when he did locate the ball, it was too late as the ball hit the wall for a double. Davis scored, and Olson stopped at third base. Marcus Semien singled to drive in Olson, and that was followed by Stephen Piscotty’s third single of the game to drive in Chapman with the A’s third run of the inning and the fourth of the game. The A’s led 4-1 after six.

A’s manager Bob Melvin used Lou Trivino in the seventh, Yusmeiro Petit in the eighth, and Blake Treinen in the ninth. The relievers did their job to secure the win.

Game Notes: With the win, the A’s improve to 32-31. Blackburn won his first game since August 22, 2017, against the Baltimore Orioles. Blackburn is 1-0, and has a 1.50 ERA. Jason Hammel’s record dropped to 2-6.

The A’s line was four runs, nine hits, and no errors. The Royals’ line was one run, four hits, and no errors. It was the Royals’ fifth loss in a row.

To make room for Blackburn on the roster, the A’s optioned catcher Bruce Maxwell to Nashville.

Time of game was two hours and 18 minutes and a sparse crowd of 7,967 fans were on hand to see Blackburn’s return to Oakland.

Up Next: Game 2 of the four-game series will be played Friday night at the Coliseum. Frankie Montas (2-0, ERA 0.64) will pitch for the A’s, and Jakob Junis (5-5, ERA 3.62) will go for Kansas City. Game time is at 7:05 pm PDT.

San Francisco Giants podcast with Michael Duca: Bochy on Crawford, “You couldn’t ask for a better hitter”

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sfgate.com file photo: San Francisco Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford had a break out month of May and has started out June with an extra innings game winning base hit on Wednesday afternoon against the Arizona Diamondbacks

On the San Francisco Giants podcast with Michael:

The Giants’ run of six wins out of their last seven shows the team has come together like no other time of the season. Giants’ shortstop Brandon Crawford has had a great month of May and continues with a game-winning hit on Wednesday a 10th inning RBI single.

Manager Bruce Bochy said of Crawford, “We couldn’t have asked for a better hitter up there.” The Giants head on a nine-game road trip starting tonight in Washington. The Giants have a road record 12-20 and are looking to improve their record. With what’s happened lately, can the Giants do it?

Hunter Pence made his return on Wednesday with a hit in one at-bat. How much of an impact will he make now that he has returned?

Giants podcasts with Michael Duca and Morris Phillips are heard every week during the Giants season at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Oakland A’s podcast with Jerry Feitelberg: Don’t Mess with Texas as Colon gets most wins by a Dominican pitcher, tying Marichal

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Photo credit: @BR_MLB

On the Oakland A’s podcast with Jerry:

#1 Since pitching a no-hitter against the Boston Red Sox, Oakland A’s starter Sean Manaea has struggled. He had a 7.18 ERA in his last six starts and in the six starts before that, he had an 1.03 ERA.

#2 Manaea went 5.1 innings with four hits, two runs, four walks and two strikeouts, against Texas in Tuesday night’s 7-4 loss.

#3 The A’s faced the Texas Rangers on Wednesday and got crushed 8-2. The Rangers starter Bartolo Colon got his 243rd win, tying Juan Marichal’s record for wins the most by a Dominican pitcher.

#4 Colon went five innings, six hits, and gave up two runs. The Rangers’ bullpen held the A’s to no runs for the rest of the ball game and the A’s continued to struggle at the plate.

#5 The A’s are back home Thursday night against the Kansas City Royals to open a four-game series at the Oakland Coliseum after coming off Texas’ two-game sweep. The A’s are looking for their luck to change.

Jerry Feitelberg does the A’s podcasts each Thursday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Rangers crush A’s 8-2 to win series

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Photo credit: @athletics_fanly

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Rangers hit four home runs to beat the A’s for the second night in a row at Glove lIfe Stadium on Wednesday night.

Rangers’ starter Bartolo “Big Sexy” Colon won his third game of the year. With the win, the 243rd of his 20-year career, he tied Juan Marichal for most wins by a pitcher born in the Dominican Republic. He went five innings and allowed six hits and two runs. The Rangers’ bullpen held the A’s scoreless the rest of the way and won 8-2.

The Rangers plated three runs in the bottom of the first to take an early 3-0 lead. With two out, Nomar Mazara doubled. Jurickson Profar slammed his fifth big fly of the season to give the Rangers a 2-0 lead. A’s starter Daniel Mengden then served up a gopher ball to Joey Gallo. Gallo sent his 17th of the year into the seats in the second deck in right field to make it 3-0.

Mengden continued to struggle as Profar hit his second dinger of the night to give Texas the advantage 4-0 in the bottom of the third. The Rangers’ onslaught continued as they tallied two more runs in the fourth. Rangers’ catcher Robinson Chirinos walked and scored when Ronald Guzman took Mengden deep for his seventh of the year. The A’s trail 6-0.

The A’s put two on the board in the top of the fifth. A’s leading hitter, Jed Lowrie, reached on a double. Designated Hitter Khris Davis hit his 15th dinger to drive in Lowrie, and the A’s trailed 6-2.

Texas scored two more in the seventh. With the bases loaded and one out, Jurickson Profar continued his big night when he singled to drive in two more runs. The Rangers were done scoring, and they won 8-2.

Game Notes: Jurickson Profar was the hitting star for the Rangers. He had his first multi-homer game and had a career-high five runs batted in.

Bartolo Colon won his 243rd game and needs just one more strikeout to reach 2500 for his career. Colon, who is 45 years old, evened his season’s record at 3-3.

A’s starter Daniel Mengden, who was so good in May, took the loss. Mengden is now 6-5 and his line for the night was four innings pitched, five hits, and six runs. Four of the five hits Mengden allowed were home runs.

The A’s announced that Matt Joyce was placed on the 10-day DL retroactive to June 3rd. They recalled outfielder Nick Martini from Nashville. Martini, if he gets into a game, will be making his Major League debut.

The A’s also announced that pitcher Paul Blackburn will be activated from the 60-day DL and will be making his season’s debut against the Kansas City Royals Friday night at the Coliseum.

The Royals will send Jason Hammel to the hill to handle the pitching chores. Hammel gave up seven hits and three runs in six innings of work against the A’s last Saturday in Kansas City. Hammel did not get a decision.

Sad News: Baseball lost one of its greatest players Wednesday. The St. Louis Cardinals announced that Albert “Red” Schoendienst passed away at the age of 95. Schoendienst had a great career as a second baseman and won championships with the Cardinals and Braves. Schoendienst was a member of Baseball’s Hall of Fame.

Up Next: The A’s will welcome the Royals for a four-game series starting Thursday night at 7:05 pm PDT.

Bumgarner solid in season debut, but Giants lose to Dbacks 3-2

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Photo credit: @NBCSGiants

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO — It took nearly two months, but Madison Bumgarner finally made his 2018 season debut for the San Francisco Giants.

Bumgarner went six innings, allowing two runs on eight hits, while walking no one and striking out three; however, the Arizona Diamondbacks spoiled the night with a 3-2 victory over the Giants before a crowd of 36,925 at AT&T Park on Tuesday night.

The loss stopped the Giants’ five-game winning streak, as they fell to 4-1 on the six-game home stand versus the Philadelphia Phillies.

Through the first, Chris Owings got the Diamondbacks on the board in the top of the third inning, as he followed Ketel Marte’s double with one of his own. Kristopher Negron then made it 2-0, as he drove in Owings with a single to left field.

Paul Goldschmidt was locked in as he usually is against the Giants, as he picked up three hits in his only three at-bats off of Bumgarner.

This season against the Giants, Goldschmidt is hitting .429, as he is 12-for-28 with two home runs and five runs batted in. Against all other opponents this season, Goldschmidt is a combined 35-for-186, a .188 clip with six home runs and 15 RBIs.

Patrick Corbin was cruising into the fourth inning, as he did not allow a base runner until Andrew McCutchen got a base hit off of the left-hander to break up the no-hitter.

The Giants finally got on the board in the bottom of the fifth inning, as Mac Williamson hit a double to left field and then Brandon Crawford continues to hit the ball well, as he hit a double inside the third base line to score Williamson from second base.

Pablo Sandoval then hit a bloop single that fell in between Marte, Nick Ahmed and Owings that allowed Crawford to reach third base. Joe Panik then walked to load the bases, but Corbin regrouped to strikeout Bumgarner, Gorkys Hernandez and Buster Posey in succession to end the inning.

That fifth double by Crawford extended his home hitting streak up to 14 games, as 24-for-49 (.490) with 11 RBIs during the streak.

Corbin ended up going 6.1 innings, allowing x runs on just four hits, walking two and striking out seven in route to his raising his record to 6-2 on the season.

Mark Melancon made his second appearance of the season, as he replaced Bumgarner in the top of the seventh inning.

Melancon ended up going one inning, striking out two and throwing a wild pitch.

With a chance to take the lead in the bottom of the seventh inning after loading the bases on walks against Corbin, Andrew Chafin and Yoshihisa Hirano, the Giants were unable to score, as Hirano got Posey to fly out to Jarrod Dyson to end the threat.

The Giants put two more on in the bottom of the eighth inning, as Evan Longoria singled with one out, then Crawford walked with two outs; however, Archie Bradley was able to regroup to get Sandoval to ground out to Ahmed to end the inning.

Hunter Strickland came on in the top of the ninth inning, and the Diamondbacks added another run, as Deven Marrero hit into Fielders’ Choice then Dyson walked and Jake Lamb hit a pinch-hit single that scored Marrero.

With one last chance to get back into the game, Alen Hanson hit a double that bounced on the right field line; however, the play was reviewed and after a brief 41 second review, the play stood. Boxberger then got Hernandez to strikeout swinging, and then Posey singled to right field to score Hanson from second base.

With McCutchen coming to the plate as the potential winning run, Austin Jackson came on to pinch run for Posey. McCutchen then singled to left field to bring up Longoria, who grounded out to Ahmed to end the game.

Brad Boxberger got the final three outs of the game, as he picked up his 14thsave in 15 opportunities.

NOTES: Chris Stratton will look to close the home stand on a high note, as he takes the mound for the Giants, and the Diamondbacks will send Clay Buchholz to the hill.

The game can be viewed on Facebook with Rich Waltz, Mike Krukow and Eric Byrnes on the call, and Ashley Adamson on the sidelines.

To make room for Bumgarner on the roster, Pierce Johnson was optioned to Triple-A Sacramento.

Thru the first five games, the Giants have outscored their opponents 24-7 with one game remaining on the home stand.

With their first pick (second pick overall) in the 2018 MLB Draft on Monday, the Giants selected Georgia Tech catcher Joey Bart, who was the 2018 Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year. Bart led the ACC in batting with a .359 clip, second in slugging at .632, and hits with 79. He also finished in the top 10 in home runs with 16, runs scored with 55, and on-base percentage at .471. His defense was outstanding as well, as finished the season with a career-best .992 fielding percentage.

UP NEXT: The Giants and Dbacks face off in a rubber match on Wednesday afternoon at 12:45 pm PDT.

Bombs away: Rangers top A’s 7-4

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Photo credit: nbcbayarea.com

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Texas Rangers blasted five home runs to down the A’s 7-4 at Globe Life Park on Tuesday night.

A’s ace Sean Manaea, who was 1- 4 with a 7.18 ERA in his six starts in May, went 5 1/3 innings and allowed four hits and two runs. Rangers’ starter Matt Moore, who has struggled all season, pitched six innings and he allowed eight hits and three runs. Neither starter figured in the decision.

The A’s took an early lead in the top of the first. With two out, Jed Lowrie started the rally with a double to left field. A’s DH Khris Davis doubled to deep left field to drive in Lowrie. Matt Olson singled to drive in Davis with the A’s second run of the night.

Rangers’ catcher Robinson Chirinos homered in the bottom of the fourth to cut the deficit to one. The A’s lead 2-1.

Khris Davis hit a solo blast in the top of the fifth to make it 3-1. Rangers’ Jurickson Profar sent a Manaea pitch out of the park in the sixth to make it a one-run game as they trail the A’s 3-2.

In the top of the seventh, Chad Pinder doubled to deep center field. Pinder tagged up and moved to third when Lowrie flew out. The Rangers issued a free pass to Davis, but Olson thwarted the strategy when he singled to drive in Pinder.

A’s manager Bob Melvin brought in Yusmeiro Petit to face the Rangers in the bottom of the seventh. With one out, Delino DeShields reached on a bunt single. Shin-Soo Choo homered to tie the game at four apiece.

The Rangers’ setup reliever retired the A’s in order in the top of the eighth. The Rangers took the lead for good in their half of the inning. Rookie reliever Lou Trivino was rocketed by the veteran Adrian Beltre’s second home run of the season. Beltre has missed 28 games so far this year due to an injury, but the future Hall of Fame player showed that he can still play. Jurickson Profar walked and then scored on big Joey Gallo’s blast that propelled the Rangers to a 7-4 advantage. Closer Keone Kela, struck out Lowrie, Davis, and Olson to earn his 14th save of the year. The Rangers win 7-4.

Game Notes: The Rangers evened the season’s series at four apiece.

The A’s fall to 31-30 and the Rangers improved to 26-37.

Chris Martin was the winning pitcher, and Lo Trivino took the loss.

The A’s announced that they placed Daniel Gossett on the 10-day DL with a strained right elbow. They also sent pitcher Josh Lucas back to Triple-A Nashville.

A’s relief pitcher Liam Hendriks was activated off the 10-day DL, and as a result, they recalled catcher Josh Phegley from Nashville.

Up Next: Game 2 of the two-game series will be played at 5:05 pm PDT. Daniel Mengden will go for Oakland, and the ageless Bartolo Colon will be on the hill for Texas.

Oakland A’s podcast with Charlie O: Murray most likely to pass up A’s offer to quarterback at Oklahoma

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@OU Baseball photo: Oklahoma Sooner centerfielder Kyler Murray who can do it all will turn down the Oakland A’s offer to be their number one draft pick to quarterback the Sooners in football next fall

Let’s talk the A’s MLB Draft with Charlie O!

1) Charlie, you told me you’re not to happy about the Athletics’ first-round pick Kyler Murray. What’s your objection?

2) You pointed out an interesting pattern in the first 10 draft picks.

3) Charlie, it took the A’s a while before the grabbed a pitcher in the draft. Does that surprise you?

4) What happens next with the draft?

5) How’s the big club doing and what’s coming up for Oakland?

Charlie O does the Oakland A’s podcast each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Dwight Clark will be forever remembered for the catch; Can the Warriors sweep or split in Cleveland?

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Photo credit: @SBNation

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

*He will forever be remembered for “The Catch” in the 1981 NFC Championship that launched the San Francisco 49ers to the Super Bowl. Dwight Clark, who passed away at age 61, was not only remembered for his great days in football, but also as a family man and friend. Clark’s wife Kelly made the announcement on Monday. Clark was surrounded by friends, family, and many fans, who paid visits to the 49ers superstar.

*The Bay Area is surrounded by many pro and college teams, but a recent survey by many pro teams and college teams that came out Monday, 46% of Bay Area residents said they would like to move because of the high cost of housing and the bad traffic. In the survey, residents said they would move in the next few years.

*Game 3 of the NBA Finals between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors continues Wednesday. The Warriors are up 2-0. Could Golden State take the next two games in Cleveland or will they split?

* The Oakland A’s, after finishing up on the road on Wednesday, start a 10-game homestand against Kansas City, Houston, and the Los Angeles Angels. They had a rough time last homestand. Can the A’s go above .500 this coming homestand?

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Oakland A’s Spanish play by play announcer, does News and Commentary at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

San Francisco Giants podcast with Michael Duca and Morris Phillips: Giants rolling with 5-game win streak; Bumgarner gets the call tonight against D-Backs

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file photo from arizonasports.com: San Francisco Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner returns tonight for the first start since his injury during spring training in March

On the Giants podcast with Michael and Morris:

We knew that the Giants would be facing some tough opponents of late. Looking back to their road trip in Philadelphia, the Phillies swept the Giants in Philly. They struck 55 Phillies in five games and the Giants didn’t see any of that coming back to AT&T Park and sweeping the Phillies.

Here’s the Arizona Diamondbacks, who are starting at 19-8 and they’re still in that slide. They came into AT&T Park on Monday night with just a one-game lead in first place and they now have lost 13 of their last 14 games. The Diamondbacks re-assumed first place by beating Cincinnati and Miami, winning five out of six in Phoenix. which has been their only response to the huge swoon they went through in May.

There’s more Michael and Morris as they do the Giants podcasts each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com