Tag: San Francisco Giants

San Francisco Giants game wrap: Lackluster Offense Hurts Giants Losing To White Sox 7-3

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San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Logan Webb throws against the Chicago White Sox during the first inning at Guarantee Rate Field in Chicago on Wed Apr 5, 2023 (AP News photo)

Lackluster Offense Hurts Giants Losing To White Sox 7-3

By Barbara Mason

Wednesday afternoon the San Francisco Giants (2-3) took on the Chicago White Sox (233) in game two of their three games series which winds up Thursday afternoon. Monday the Giants won a convincing game beating the White Sox 12-3. The White Sox evened the series in Wednesday’s game at Guarantee Rate Field in Chicago 7-3.

Chicago got on the board early when first baseman Andrew Vaughn doubled driving in Luis Robert Jr for the first run of the game and the early 1-0 lead. Gavin Sheets was next at bat and singled Andrew Benintendi home. Vaughn attempted to also score but was thrown out at home to end the inning.

The Giants hit a homer in the second inning off the bat of J.D. Davis for the single run in the inning. Chicago continued to hold the early lead 2-1.

The third and fourth innings were quiet for both teams, but In the fifth inning the White Sox scored a couple more runs. Hanser Alberto singled to left bringing Otto Colas home to extend their lead 3-1. Luis Robert Jr. would add to their lead doubling to right and bringing Elvis Andrus across home plate. Chicago had a 4-1 lead through five innings.

The White Sox didn’t let up going into the seventh inning. Yoan Moncada singled to right and Hanser Alberto scored followed by a Sheets single that brought both Benintendi and Robert Jr. home for a 7-1 Chicago lead.

The Giants continued to struggle on offense but they put together a rally in the ninth inning. Joc Pederson doubled bringing Michael Conforto and Wilmer Flores home but that was all there was for San Francisco.

It was a tough day for the Giants not able to generate much offense which has been a problem in this young season. San Francisco only had four hits in the game while Chicago had a solid offensive day with 13 hits. Despite having nine walks it just wasn’t enough for San Francisco to win this game.

Thursday the Giants will play the rubber game hoping to win this series. Starting for San Francisco Alex Wood matching up against the White Sox Lance Lynn First pitch is scheduled for 11:10 am.

San Francisco Giants off day report: Giants take breather after losing three straight; Resume series with Sox Wed night

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San Francisco Giants’ Mike Yastrzemski watches his solo home run during the fifth inning of the Chicago White Sox season home opening baseball game Monday, April 3, 2023. (AP News photo)

By Jerry Feitelberg

The San Francisco Giants have a rare off day Tuesday in the middle of a three-game series with the Chicago White Sox. The Giants had quite a night on Monday. The Giants pounded the White Sox 12-3.

The G-Men hit seven home runs in the game. They blasted four solo home runs in an inning- two back-to-back solo homers. David Villar had two homers, including a grand slam in the ninth. Another highlight was Anthony DiSclafina’s outstanding effort after missing the 2022 season with a leg injury.

The Giants evened their record at 2-2. They lost two out of three to the New York Yankees and were shut out twice. Having the bats come alive Monday night had to please the Giants’ manager Gabe Kapler. The question in Kapler’s mind is this: Can we find a way to beat the White Sox in the next two games?

It will take work. The White Sox will have their ace, Dylan Cease, on the mound for Wednesday’s game. Cease went 14-8 last year and was a candidate for the AL Cy Young Award. Cease will be making his second start of the season. He is 0-0 with an ERA of 1.40. The Giants will counter with their ace, Logan Webb. Webb took the loss in his first start on opening day against the Yankees. Webb was 15-9 last year and had a very impressive 2.90 ERA. Webb is 0-1 with an ERA of 6.0 this year.

The Giants have most of their players back from last year. New names include Michael Conforto, Vlake Sobol, Bryce Johnson, Taylor Rodgers, Roberto Perez, and Mitch Haniger. Haniger is currently on the IL.

The White Sox lost former AL MVP Jose Abreu to the Houston Astros. Their closer, former Oakland A’s reliever Liam Hendriks, is on the IL after he was diagnosed with non-Hodkins lymphoma in January. The White Sox are considered a team that can win the AL Central Division crown in 2023.

The White Sox moved Andrew Vaughn to first base to replace Abreu. They signed Andrew Benintendi to play left field. The Sox signed former Oakland A’s shortstop Elvis Andrus as their second baseman. Tim Anderson returns as the shortstop. Anderson is a potential All-Star every season.

Yoan Moncada is their third baseman. Luis Robert is in center field, and Oscar Colas will patrol right field for Chicago. Eloy Jimenez will be their DH.

The Giants will face the veteran hurler Lance Lynn on Thursday. Lynn is in his 12th year. He has a career record of 123 wins and 84 losses. The Giants will send lefty Alex Wood to the mound to face the Sox, Wood was 8-12 last year, but his lifetime record is 71-60.

The Giants would love to take the next two games and finish the road trip with a winning record. After the series with the White Sox, the Giants return home to face another American League team, the Kansas City Royals, at Oracle Park. It will be the home opener for the Giants.

Jerry Feitelberg covers the San Francisco Giants and Oakland A’s for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

South Side Homer-cide: Giants hit 7 home runs in 12-3 rout of the White Sox

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By Morris Phillips

Michael Kopech and the White Sox need a day off. Lucky for them, they’ll get one on Tuesday.

Kopech might need to get his neck checked and the Sox just need a reset after the visiting Giants ruined Opening Day on the South Side with seven home runs, including four off Kopech in the fifth inning alone.

Kopech was rendered to some incredulous reactions as he became the first pitcher to give up five home runs to the Giants in one game since 1987. The Giants went on to win easily, 12-3 at sold-out Guaranteed Rate Field.

The occasion was no doubt unexpected after the Giants were shut out on Thursday and Sunday at Yankee Stadium. But the outburst made it clear the Giants will be home run happy again in 2023 despite not landing home run king Aaron Judge in the off-season.

“That Sunday loss really left a bad taste in our mouth,” said David Villar, who connected twice. “We wanted to come out here and get things rolling.”

Villar was joined by Michael Conforto, Mike Yastrzemski, Joc Pederson, Thairo Estrada, and Bryce Johnson in the homer deluge. Johnson’s was the first of his Major League career, and Conforto’s his first as a Giant after missing the entire 2022 season due to a shoulder injury.

And even more impressive than the seven home runs by the visitors? The return of Anthony DeSclafani, who pitched six, scoreless innings to secure the win. DeSclafani appeared in just five games last season before he was shut down due to an ankle injury and won for the first time since October 2021.

“It felt like I was just throwing strikes with everything,” DeSclafani said. “The two-seam, the slider, I guess you could call them the keys to the game.”

DeSclafani even had time for an ego-driven argument/non-argument with Andrew Vaughn, who may have disagreed with the pitcher’s pitch selection on a 3-0 count with a runner on in the second inning. All we know is DeSclafani was quick to defend his choice of a slider that resulted in a harmless ground-out by Vaughn.

The White Sox were left to provide almost all the answers afterwards as their clunker followed an impressive weekend in Houston against the World Series champion Astros in a four-game split.

Manager Pedro Grifol promised his staff would look to see if Kopech was tipping his pitches or was hurt by a decrease in velocity within his pitching stint, which may have led to the five homers he allowed. Either way, the Giants have reclaimed their personality of a homer-hunting ball club with or without a crew of name-brand sluggers in their lineup.

The three-game series resumes Wednesday with a marquee matchup of Logan Webb and Chicago’s Dylan Cease.

Yankees, Brito shutout Giants 6-0 on 3 hitter. New York takes two of three from SF

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New York Yankees starter Jhony Brito pitched his first win of the season throwing five innings of shutout ball before being lifted against the San Francisco Giants at Yankee Stadium in New York on Sun Apr 2, 2023 (AP News photo)

By Jessica Kwong

NEW YORK.—The San Francisco Giants (1-2) suffered another shutout loss to the New York Yankees (2-1), 6-0, on Sunday afternoon and fell in the Opening Week series 2-1.

It is the first time in franchise history that they have been shutout twice in the first three games of a season. They struck out 41 times – which Giants manager Gabe Kapler did not seem too concerned about.

“I think you go through a three-game stretch or a five- or a 10-game stretch and you’re going to have times when you strikeout more,” said Kapler. “We always want to be putting the ball in play with authority, the number one goal, we weren’t able to do that as much as we needed to in this series.”

Yankees captain Aaron Judge hit his second home run of the season in the third inning to put New York up 1-0. Then Giancarlo Stanton hit a homer on a – fly ball to center field and Anthony Rizzo scored, bringing the Yankees up 3-0.

In the fourth inning, Kyle Higashioka hit a home run to left field to put the Yankees up 4-0. In the seventh, Rizzo hit a sacrifice fly to center fielder Mike Yastrzemski and allowed Anthony Volpe to score. Then a wild pitch by Giants right-hander Sean Hjelle allowed Gleyber Torres to score and boosted the Yankees to 6-0.

Starting pitcher Ross Stripling made his Giants debut and allowed four runs in five innings. Hjelle allowed two runs in two innings.

Giants catcher Joey Bart had to be placed on the 10-day injured list after an MRI revealed a mild back strain. Bart said he “felt something weird” during batting practice.

“We don’t expect it to be a long-term thing,” said Kapler. “We discussed the possibility of like, seven days. Maybe a few more.”

San Francisco is 1-2 after losing their first series of the 2023 season.

“First series in the season, so I mean they did their part, they know their strengths and they pitched well,” said Giants third baseman J.D. Davis. “They executed a lot of pitches against us. I think one thing is we just scrap it up and learn from it and take it into Chicago and try to learn from something.”

The Giants continue their road trip with a three-game series against the Chicago White Sox. Giants right-hander DeSclafani will go up against right-hander Michael Kopech in the White Sox’s home opener. First pitch on Monday has been moved up to 12:10 p.m. PT. due to a forecast of inclement weather.

Crawford’s two run blast leads Giants to 7-5 win over Yanks

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San Francisco Giants Brandon Crawford went deep connecting for a two run top of the fourth inning home run against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium in New York on Sat Apr 1, 2023 (AP News photo)

By Jessica Kwong

NEW YORK.—The San Francisco Giants came back from their blowout loss on Opening Day and beat the New York Yankees 7-5 in game two of the series at Yankee Stadium on Saturday evening.

New York made a strong comeback effort at the bottom of the ninth inning. They had the bases loaded and Giancarlo Stanton at-bat. But Giants relief pitcher Camilo Doval retired Stanton on a double-play grounder, giving the Giants a win and tying the series at 1-1.

Doval gave up Yankees captain Aaron Judge’s 500th career RBI in the ninth. But Doval earned a critical save when Stanton hit a ground ball to shortstop Brandon Crawford. Second baseman Thairo Estrada threw the ball low to first baseman LaMonte Wade Jr, who caught it. The play was under video review, and wound up in favor of the Giants as rain came down after a warm spring day in the Bronx.

“Live and it looked before they paused, he kept it long enough,” Crawford said of Estrada. “LaMonte was definitely on the bag. I wasn’t too worried.”

Crawford lead the Giants by hitting a two run home run in the fourth inning, driving in three runs and stealing a base in the contest.

“It was a good day. My best game of the year so far,” said Crawford with a laugh, as it was only the second game of the 2023 season.

The game has four pitch clock violations, including two by Doval in the ninth and San Francisco’s Taylor Rogers. Giants manager Gabe Kapler said they didn’t have that issue during spring training.

“We saw a good mastery of it,” said Kapler. “This is a different environment and it’s understandable that things sped up a little bit, but no pitcher’s going to survive giving away balls like that. It doesn’t matter how good you are.”

Giants’ Blake Sabol had his first major league hit – a bunt, which he wasn’t expecting. Sabol, who is from Southern California, was at Angel Stadium when star Mike Trout had his first hit, which was also a bunt.

Yankees infielder Anthony Rizzoa at first base told Sabol: “Hey man, they all count the same. Don’t let anybody tell you different.”

Giants starting pitcher Alex Cobb gave up two runs as well as four hits in 3 2/3 innings.

The Giants conclude this three game series with the Yankees Sunday. The Giants will be starting right hander Ross Stripling he’ll be opposed by the Yankees right hander Jhony Brito at Yankees Stadium a 10:35 am PDT first pitch.

New York in their home opener on Thursday beat the Giants 5-0.

Giants Look Ahead to Game Two Against Yankees Saturday

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San Francisco Giants’ Alex Cobb pitches against the Philadelphia Phillies during the first inning of a baseball game in San Francisco, Friday, Sept. 2, 2022. Cobb makes his first start of 2023 against the New York Yankees on Sat Apr 1, 2023 at Yankee Stadium in New York (AP News file)

Giants Look Ahead to Game Two Against Yankees

By Barbara Mason

The San Francisco Giants (0-1) will spend the weekend with the New York Yankees (1-0). Thursday night the Giants dropped their season opener at Yankee Stadium 5-0. Aaron Judge got the party going in the first inning with his first at bat in this young season. He launched a sizzling 422 feet home run picking up where he left off in 2022. This was the first time that the two clubs had ever met on opening day.

This Saturday San Francisco will meet New York in game two of the series at 1:05 PM. Alex Cobb will take the mound for the Giants and Clarke Schmidt will get the nod for New York. Thairo Estrada had a couple of hits for the Giants in game one of this series and will be aiming for more.

San Francisco will be looking for their first run of the season in game two. Early hits and first up on the scoreboard would be a great place to start in this second game of the season. Although there is rain in the forecast, they should be intermittent and there should be a nice window that will accommodate nine innings of baseball.

The Giants came off the 2022 season on a very disappointing note. They want to establish the team as post season contenders in 2023 something that did not materialize last season. The Giants right now do not have a superstar although the team was attached last winter to a couple; Aaron Judge and Carlos Correa. Judge remained in New York and made his presence loud and clear Thursday night.

Right now there are a lot of issues in the lineup and a lot of these guys are getting older. Their pitching staff is a good one but it will be months down the road before there is any indication of just where this team will be at the end of July.

Right now all that looms on the horizon for the Giants is tomorrow’s matchup with the injury ridden New York Yankees.

Giants Webb knew he was facing the best hitter in baseball in Judge

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San Francisco Giants starter Logan Webb seen dealing in the bottom of the sixth inning on opening day. Webb knew that the New York Yankees had a potent line up going in including facing Yankee star Aaron Judge on Thu Mar 30, 2023 (AP News photo)

By Jessica Kwong

NEW YORK.—The San Francisco Giants suffered a 5-0 blowout loss to Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees on Opening Day.

San Francisco’s loss at Yankee Stadium on Thursday afternoon was accentuated by Judge hitting the first home run of the 2023 season in the first inning. Judge re-signed a blockbuster nine-year, $360 million deal with the Yankees and was crowned the club’s captain after flirting with joining the Giants during free agency.

Giants right-hander Logan Webb threw a sinker and Judge hit the second pitch of his first at-bat to Monument Park, giving the Yankees a 1-0 lead.

“I think he’s the best hitter in baseball,” said Webb, who had his second straight Opening Day start for the Giants. “Obviously, it would have been nice to have him, but he’s not (with the Giants). I wish I could have that pitch back.”

Judge said he was “just trying to make solid contact.”

“Especially with a guy like Logan, got that nasty sinker-changeup mix,” said Judge. “Lot of balls on the ground, lot of weak contact. Just trying to elevate a pitch and get it in the air best I could. I didn’t expect that to happen. Try to swing at strikes.”

Webb struck out 12 in six innings and set a franchise record for strikeouts on Opening Day. Giants manager Gabe Kapler said Webb had “pitched about as good a game as he could have hoped and all of us could have hoped”.

“I thought he attacked the strike zone with all of his pitches. It was as efficient as we’ve seen him in a long time. A lot of swing-and-miss. Excellent outing by Logan,” said Kapler. “Really good swing by Judge on that fastball. The two homers beat us today.”

Yankees starter Gerrit Cole also set a franchise record – 11 strikeouts is the most any Yankee pitcher has ever had.

In the fourth inning, Yankees infielder Gleyber Torres hit a homer off Webb and Josh Donaldson also scored, bringing them up 3-0. In the seventh inning, Yankees infielder DJ LeMahieu singled to the left and allowed Torres to score. Then Judge singled to center and Jose Trevino scored, extending the lead to 5-0.

The Giants last faced the Yankees at Oracle Park in 2019 and their first time at Yankee Stadium since 2016. Thursday’s match was a sellout.

It was the first time the Giants and Yankees have met on Opening Day. The three-game series continues with a 1:05 p.m. PT game on Saturday.

Here comes the Judge Giants get blanked by Yanks Cole in 5-0 opener at Yankee Stadium

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New York Yankee slugger and team captain Aaron Judge gets around a San Francisco Giant pitcher Logan Webb pitch for Judge’s first home run of the 2023 season at Yankee Stadium in New York on Thu Mar 30, 2023 (AP News photo)

By Jessica Kwong

NEW YORK– Aaron Judge who was a strong candidate to join the San Francisco Giants in the off season and later re-signed with the New York Yankees slugged an opening day home run in the bottom of the first inning against his would have been team on Thursday afternoon at Yankee Stadium for a 5-0 win.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone said in his post game presser that it was one of his lowest darkest places that he had been when Judge was considering signing with the Giants. Whether Judges decision came because the Yankees were offering more money or he thought being with the Yankees would do more for the future of his career Boone was happy with the outcome that he decided to say in New York, “One of my lowest, darkest places this winter was when I thought maybe it was in jeopardy that he was coming back,” Boone said “One of the darkest places I went was picturing him on that third-base line in a Giants uniform on opening day.”

Judge during opening day introduction got a nice ovation from the New York crowd acknowledging the crowd of 46,172 before the game. As Judge came to the plate he delighted that crowd with the first home run of the Yankee season with a 422 blast that landed just above the monuments in centerfield in the net above.

Judge said after the game that all along he really wanted to stay in New York and that during the off season it was kicking the tires of sorts when he went to San Francisco as a free agent. He made clear after the game his heart was not playing in his native Northern California but to stay as a Yankee,  “I didn’t want to go anywhere. I was pretty vocal about that from the beginning and then you got to go through the free-agency process. But all in all this is where I wanted to be and I’m happy I’m here and it’s tough to think about being anywhere else.”

Yankee starter Gerrit Cole pitched shutout for six innings before being lifted striking out 11 Giants hitters and surrendering three hits and two walks. Giants starter Logan Webb came out strong striking out five out six Yankee hitters going six innings but was charged for four runs including Judge’s first inning blast.

Cole said that Judge’s first inning home run was a tone setter for the Yankees and said that the home run was a wake up call early in the game and that he came to play. Cole who walked Giants lead off hitter LeMonte Wade Jr to start the game settled down after the game to pick up his first win of the season.

The Giants will go back to the drawing board on Saturday after taking Friday off and will start right hander Alex Cobb against the Yankees right hander Clarke Schmidt for a 1:05 pm first pitch at Yankee Stadium.

San Francisco Giants podcast with Michael Duca: Padres not sure when former Giant Williams will be back; plus more news

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Former San Francisco Giant third baseman who having colon surgery on Fri Mar 30, 2023 is the topic of Michael Duca’s Giants podcast at http://www.sportsradioservice.com (file photo San Francisco Chronicle)

On the SF Giants podcast with Michael:

#1 Michael, on Friday former San Francisco Giant third baseman Matt Williams and current San Diego Padres third base coach will have surgery for colon cancer. Padres manager Bob Melvin says he doesn’t have a time frame when Williams will return.

#2 Williams broke in with the Giants in 1987 and was one of their top hitters and is best remembered for being on that Dusty Baker 1993 team where he hit .294.

#3 Michael, you covered those glory years when the Giants went and won three World Series in 2010, 2012, and 2014. The Giants just honored retired pitcher Sergio Romo who was a huge part of those teams and shut the door in relief for the Giants in the World Series but also in some of those crucial to get there.

#4 Michael, how ironic was it that Romo’s old roommate Hunter Pence came out to take out Romo motioning to the bullpen after Romo gave up two hits and a wild pitch to the Oakland A’s in relief. It was quite and emotional send off for Romo but he said he loved every moment of the opportunity the Giants gave to him.

#5 Michael, talk about the opener at Yankee Stadium this morning as the Giants will be going with Logan Webb going up against the Yankees Gerrit Cole. Talk about the match up and how you see the Giants faring at Yankee Stadium today?

Join Michael Duca for the Giants podcasts each Thursday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

That’s Amaury News and Commentary podcast: Dodgers still looking for a second ring after a decade of winning; plus more news

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Los Angeles Dodgers’ Mookie Betts watches his three-run home run during the eighth inning of the team’s baseball game against the San Francisco Giants on Thursday, July 21, 2022, in Los Angeles. (AP News photo)

On That’s Amaury News and Commentary podcast:

#1 Amaury, can the San Diego Padres catch the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers who have won the National League title every year for the last decade and won one ring during that time are trying to secure a better position to win another ring and this year might be their best chance.

#2 The Dodgers with Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Max Muncy, and Will Smith all healthy and should be ready to battle. With this line up of key players do the Dodgers chances to win a World Series vastly improve.

#3 Amaury, Philadelphia Phillies JT Realmuto was ejected on Monday for moving his glove when the umpire went to put a new ball in his glove and ended up having the ball thrown away. Realmuto wanted to know why he was ejected and umpire Randy Rosenberg said he was retaliating for the previous pitch that he called on Phillie pitcher Craig Kimbrel.

#4 Amaury, opening day Thursday night you and Manolo calling all the play by play for the Oakland A’s 71 home games. You and Manolo don’t travel and we know you have pointed out that the Los Angeles Angels and Toronto Blue Jays are not traveling their broadcasters do you think this will be a regular trend in baseball not traveling their broadcasters?

#5 The New York Mets Kodai Senga struck out nine batters in five innings of work, the Mets Tommy Pham in the same game hit a two RBI double and Mets second baseman Luis Guillorme hit an RBI double. The Mets have some talent and Senga can keep hitters off balance.

Join Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Oakland A’s lead play by play announcer on the A’s Spanish radio network at 1010 KIQI San Francisco and 990 KATD PIttsburg and read That’s Amaury News and Commentary at http://www.sportsradioservice.com