Tag: San Francisco Giants

Tense, Tight: Giants-Braves opener has playoff feel, Arcia propels Atlanta to a 2-1 win

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By Morris Phillips

Supposedly there have been a bunch of lopsided results between the Giants and Braves over the last ten seasons, just not one on Monday night.

The opener of the four-game series at Truist Park was a pitcher’s duel with the Braves sneaking past the Giants with Orlando Arcia’s game-winning RBI single in the ninth. Max Fried and Logan Webb were brilliant, allowing just one run each, but neither was around when Arcia’s hard-hit, ground ball to the left side of the infield saw daylight.

The Giants had a pair of opportunities late to knock in a go-ahead run with a runner at third and just one out, but failed both times. Wilmer Flores struck out with the bases loaded in the eighth, and Thairo Estrada struck out facing Kenley Jansen in the ninth with runners at second and third.

With less than 70 games played this season, the Giants and Braves have already eyeballed each other with both trying to at least take advantage of the new postseason format and finish with the best record among non-division winners and gain homefield advantage in the opening round. Currently, both teams are looking up at the first place teams in their division, the Mets in the NL East and the Dodgers in the West.

Camilo Doval walked Matt Olson to leadoff the ninth on four pitches. The only free pass issued by the Giants all evening would be their undoing Marcell Ozuna singled to move Olson up, ahead of Arcia’s base hit with two outs.

Fried went seven innings, striking out eight and walking two. He was saddled with a no-decision when the Giants pushed a run across in the eighth. Fried has yet to lose to the Giants after five starts and one relief appearance.

Webb also pitched seven innings and allowed a run, while striking out seven and walking none. Travis D’Arnaud’s second inning homer was the only blemish for Webb, who has allowed six home runs this season–all on the road.

Joc Pederson received his World Series ring before the game, he was a late season acquisition by the Braves last year that contributed to their run to the title despite getting limited at-bats in the World Series. Pederson, Brandon Belt and Brandon Crawford were all absent from the Giants’ starting lineup, but all three got pinch-hitting assignments.

The Giants will activate Anthony DeSclafani for a start in Tuesday’s game, his first action since being injured in April. Spencer Strider will get the start for the Braves, who have won 16 of 18.

San Francisco Giants podcast with Marko Ukalovic: Bucs Suwinski was one man show in 4-3 win over Giants; SF opens 3 game series in Hotlanta tonight

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Pittsburgh Pirates Jack Suwinski gets mobbed by teammates after hitting a walk off home run in the bottom of the ninth at PNC Park on Sun Jun 19, 2022

On the Giants podcast with Marko for Morris:

#1 The Pittsburgh Pirates Jack Suwinski teed off on San Francisco Giants pitching on Sunday with three home runs fourth, sixth and ninth innings.

#2 Suwinski hit home runs off Giants pitchers Alex Cobb in the fourth, Sam Long in the sixth, and hit a slider off Tyler Rogers in the bottom of the ninth for the game winner.

#3 Suwinski a Pirate rookie is the first rookie to hit three home runs since former Pirate and former Giant Andrew McCutchen did it on Aug 1, 2009 as a Pirate.

#4 The Giants fell short after Thairo Estrada started off the top of the ninth inning with a home run off Pirates reliever David Bendar.

#5 The Giants are in Atlanta starting tonight in Cobb County. The Giants will go with Logan Webb (6-2, 3.43) for the Braves Max Fried (7-9, ERA 2.90) a 4:20 pm PDT.

Marko was filling in for Morris Phillips who does the Giants podcasts Mondays at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Three Suwinski Home Runs Beat Giants 4-3

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Three Suwinski Home Runs Beat Giants 4-3

The Pittsburgh Pirates Jack Suwinski hits his third home run of the day in the bottom of the ninth a walk off to defeat the San Francisco Giants at PNC Park on Sun Jun 19, 2022 (AP News photo)

By Barbara Mason

Sunday afternoon the San Francisco Giants (37-28) took on the Pittsburg Pirates (26-39) in the final game of their three-game series looking for a sweep. The Giants won a close game Saturday 7-5 turning in ten hits. They were looking for another big offensive day in Sunday’s game but the Pirates got enough pitching and hitting to edge the Giants 4-3 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.

The Giants got a nice start in the first inning scoring two runs and taking the early 2-0 lead. Joc Pederson hit a single that drove Luis Gonzalez and Mike Yastrzemski home.

The Pirates got up on the board in the third and fourth innings with solo home runs. Hoy Park hit one to right in the third inning and Jack Suwinski had another in the fourth inning to knot the game 2-2.

Pittsburg would break the tie in the sixth inning when Suwinski hit his second solo home run of the game to give the Pirates the lead 3-2.

San Francisco would tie up the game in the ninth inning off a Thairo Estrada solo home run. Going into the bottom of the inning the score was 3-3. It was a monster day for Pittsburg’s Suwinski hitting his third homer of the day and giving the Pirates the walk off 4-3 and avoiding the sweep.

Monday evening the Giants start a four game series with the Atlanta Braves in Cobb County. Logan Webb (6-2, 3.43 ERA) will be on the mound in game one for San Francisco. The Braves will start Max Fried (7-2, 2.90 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 4:20.

Giants win second game in series over Pirates 7-5

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San Francisco Giants’ Austin Slater, right, celebrates with Wilmer Flores (41) after hitting a solo home run off Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Jose Quintana during the fifth inning at PNC Park Pittsburgh on Sat Jun 18, 2022 (AP News photo)

Giants Win Second Game In Series Over Pirates 7-5

By Barbara Mason

Saturday afternoon the San Francisco Giants (37-27) took on the Pittsburg Pirates (25-39) in game two of their series. Friday the Giants got the win 2-0 to open the three game series. The Giants continued winning 7-5 on Saturday at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.

Wilmer Flores got the Giants going in the first inning with a home run to left for the early lead 1-0. The Pirates would answer with a Diego Castillo sacrifice that would drive Ke’Bryan Hayes home to tie up the game 1-1.

In the third inning Darin Ruf singled driving in Curt Casali for a short-lived lead 2-1. The Pirates scored four runs off a Diego Castillo home run driving in Hayes and Michael Chavis taking back the lead 4-2.

The Giants scored in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings. Austin Slater hit a solo home run in the fifth inning narrowing the Pirate lead to 4-3. Brandon Crawford singled in the sixth inning driving in Thairo Estrada tying up the game 4-4. San Francisco was not finished. Joc Pederson scored when Mike Yastrzemski hit a sacrifice fly giving San Francisco back the lead 5-4.

The Giants would get an insurance run in the seventh inning. Luis Gonzalez doubled driving in Joc Pederson for a 6-4 lead.

A solo home run in the eighth inning from Daniel Vogelbach cut the Giants lead to 6-5. The Pirates had a great opportunity in the inning when they loaded the bases with two outs but were unable to cash in and it was on to the ninth inning.

The Giants would put another insurance run up on the board that would solidify the win and with their second win guaranteed taking this series.

San Francisco will finish this series tomorrow with a 10:35 start. Alex Cobb will start for the Giants and Mitch Keller will take the mound for the Pirates.

Rodón shines in Giants 2-0 shutout win over Pirates

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San Francisco Giants starter Carlos Rodon throws against the Pittsburgh Pirates line up in the bottom of the fourth inning at PNC Park in Pittsburgh on Fri Jun 17, 2022 to open the three game series (AP News photo)

by Marko Ukalovic

PITTSBURGH — Carlos Rodón pitched a two-hitter over eight innings in a brilliant performance as the San Francisco Giants shut out the Pittsburgh Pirates 2-0 on Friday evening at PNC Park.

San Francisco has won six out of its last seven games and gained a game in the NL West standings as both the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers suffered lost on Friday.

Rodón had eight strike outs and just two walks on just 98 pitches in his dominating eight inning mastery over an anemic Pirates lineup that was never had a runner get past second base. He lowered his ERA to 2.84.

For Rodón, he has now won back-to-back starts after being winless in his previous five starts (including three losses) and improved to 6-4 on the season. Keeping the Pirates lineup off balanced for most of the night, Rodón no hit Pittsburgh for the first four and two-thirds innings before giving up a single to Jack Suwinski with two outs in the fifth inning.

“I’ve been building off that inning,” Rodón said. “Week to week I’m still working on stuff, just refining and getting a little more crisp with my fastball-slider. … Just a couple things that (pitching coaches J.P. Martinez and Andrew Bailey) looked into. It’s got me in the right spot.”

The Giants offense wasn’t that much better as they scored both runs off of solo homers. Luis Gonzales opened the game with a leadoff home run, his third of the season, that went over the bleachers in right field off of Pirates starting pitcher Zach Thompson.

Joc Pederson hit a bomb that traveled 413 feet into the right fielder bleachers for his team leading 14th home run of the season off of Thompson in the fourth inning to conclude the scoring on the night.

“As crazy as it sounds,” Giants manager Gabe Kapler said, “When he’s striking everybody out but running really deep counts and (getting) a ton of foul balls, it’s gonna be more difficult for him to get through eight innings like he did today.”

Thompson finished the evening going four and one-third innings with two earned runs on four hits, striking out two while walking five Giants hitters and is now 3-5 on the season.

Camilo Doval pitched a perfect ninth to earn his 10th save of the season.

GAME NOTES: San Francisco left five men on the base paths. Pittsburgh left three on.

UP NEXT: San Francisco and Pittsburgh continue its three-games series on Saturday 6/18 at 1:05pm at PNC Park.

San Francisco Giants podcast with Daniel Dullum: Belt’s back in full form; Hits HR on Wed against Royals

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The San Francisco Giants Brandon Belt rounds third base and heads home after hitting a bottom of the fourth inning home run at Oracle Park in San Francisco against the Kansas City Royals on Wed Jun 15, 2022 (AP News photo)

On the Giants podcast with Daniel:

#1 One of the key figures in the San Francisco Giants line up is back since Tuesday night Brandon Belt who was a pinch hitter and on Wednesday was a designated hitter. Belt had been on the IL since May 18th.

#2 In the fourth inning on Wednesday Belt worked the an eight pitch count to 3-2 before hitting a rocket in the center field Kansas City Royals bullpen. It looks like Belt hasn’t missed a step.

#3 Fans have a waited over a month for Belt’s return and got their monies worth saluting the team captain as he rounded the bases after hitting the massive home run.

#4 The Giants did lose a tough one 3-2 Wednesday in a close game Giants starting pitcher Sammy Long pitched the first three innings giving up two runs and three hits but didn’t take the loss.

#5 The Giants open a three game series in Pittsburgh Friday night at 4:05 pm PDT. Starting pitchers for the Giants Carlos Rodon (5-4, 3.18) and for the Pirates Zach Thompson (3-4, ERA 4.50).

Join Daniel Dullum each Friday for the SF Giants podcasts at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Giant Strides: SF looks to gain ground in the NL West race with favorable pre-All Star break sked

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By Morris Phillips

A week ago the Giants were frustrating themselves and their fans. A week later, things are much brighter. Winning games in bunches, and beating the preferred opponent makes a difference.

Prior to facing the Dodgers and Royals, the Giants had lost 21 of 38, a step back for a club that got off to a roaring start to their 2022 season (13-5 through the first 18 games). Injuries to starters Anthony DeSclafani, Alex Wood and position players Evan Longoria, Brandon Belt and Lamonte Wade Jr. were a major part of a team didn’t measure up to other playoff worthy teams, and/or saw its offense disappear one too many times/or saw the bullpen blow a couple of leads.

Plus, when your coming off a 107-win season and the retirement of Buster Posey, the biggest name in local baseball over the last 15 years, the microscope gets a longer look. But overall, the Giants have held up without looking good throughout. Now with the team’s health improving and the schedule easing considerably, the Giants can–hopefully–look more like themselves.

The biggest thing that needs to change? And road baseball could enhance the chances of it happening? The Giants need more base hits, doubles and triples, anything that improves a .239 team batting average that’s a culprit when the team has scoring droughts.

The pitching’s been good not great with an ERA of 3.92, just ahead of the league average. But the numbers have swelled in recent weeks, suggesting a tweak or additional arm could lower that number. Even more encouraging, the Giants continue to be rough on opposing home run hitters, by allowing a MLB-least 48 homers thus far.

Power hitting could set the Giants apart as the season progresses, with health being the biggest factor. Of the guys who’ve missed time, Brandon Belt has returned to the lineup and hit his fifth home run of the season on Wednesday. Evan Longoria’s return has reached 28 games, but he hasn’t hit a home run outside of a five-homer-in-six-games stretch in late May. Longoria’s gotten fewer at-bats within games as well in June, that could continue when Lamonte Wade Jr. returns.

Darin Ruf, Brandon Crawford, Austin Slater, Belt and Longoria are all hitting below the .239 mark, and are the biggest candidates to pick up their offense. Wade enters this mix as well when he returns in the coming weeks. So far, Wade’s appeared in only ten games.

Twelve of the 28 games remaining before the All-Star break are against the Braves, Brewers and Padres and critical to playoff momentum and seeding. Starting this postseason, the top wild card holds home-field advantage in a short, opening round series. The other 16 games are against teams the Giants internally will be happy to see with the first six of 19 games against Arizona topping the list. The Giants also see the currently under .500 quartet: Reds, Pirates, Tigers and White Sox.

The schedule’s balanced: 15 of the 28 games remaining are at home, 13 on the road, but the Giants have winning records home and away.

The Giants have announced Carlos Rodon as their Friday night starter against the Pirates, who will be pressed to field a formidable lineup against him. The Pirates ranked 6th worst in strikeouts (562 through 62 games) and have a paltry .220 team batting average. Rodon just went more than a month without a victory before he shut down the Dodgers for six innings in his last start.

San Francisco Giants podcast with Michael Duca: Will Reds Pham be red hot over T Shirts poking fun over Fantasy Football IR players?

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One of the T shirts that San Francisco Giants Joc Pederson wanted pulled and thrown away saying “Stashing players on the IR isn’t cheating” that has set off Cincinnati Reds outfielder Tommy Pham who said he was ready to pimp slap Pederson (image from bucktee.com)

On the Giants podcast with Miguel:

#1 Michael, the San Francisco Giants players thought the better of having the “Stashing players on the IR isn’t cheating” T shirts and had them thrown out after a pretty sensitive Cincinnati Reds Tommy Pham took exception to them. With the Reds coming to San Francisco on Fri Jun 24th was that the wise choice made on the Giants part?

#2 Get ready for the pimp slap: Pham was angry about Giants Joc Pederson’s setting injured players on the Injured List and saying it wasn’t cheating. Pham slapped Pederson in the face during batting practice on May 27th do you believe this is over or there’s plenty more of that coming next weekend?

#3 Pederson said that it was wise not to escalate the situation with the T shirts and Pham said all he had to do was release the IR rules and “text how I told Joc I was going to pimp slap him for cheating” which Pham did.

#4 Pederson was also not happy that his autograph was facsimiled on the T shirts as he did not approve the signature on the shirt and wants to prevent another brouhaha with Pham again. Giants pitcher Alex Cobb saw humor in them and was blown away about how Pederson could be so calm about the whole situation.

#5 The Giants open a three game series in Pittsburgh on Friday night at PNC Park. Starting Friday for the Giants Carlos Rodon (5-4, 3.18) and for the Pirates Zach Thompson (3-4, 3.50) a 4:05 pm PDT first pitch.

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

Bumgarner-like Relief: Kansas City bullpen shuts down the Giants in 3-2 win to avoid a sweep

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By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO–In 2014, Madison Bumgarner threw five innings of scoreless relief to propel the Giants to a victory in Kansas City in Game 7 of the World Series. You may have heard about it.

On Wednesday, the Royals provided their answer–on a much, smaller stage–with five innings of scoreless relief from four relievers to lead Kansas City past the Giants, 3-2. The win snapped the Giants five-game win streak, and sends the host club on the road to Pittsburgh in hopes of continuing their improved play.

“One of the things we know leads to big things for us (is) a couple of walks, a double, a base hit, and all of a sudden we’ve scored three runs in an inning,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “I think that’s been one of our calling cards over the course of the last few years. It’s not always going to be in the cards.”

With the Giants attempting to go 10 games over .500 for the first time in 2022–and the struggling Royals trying to avoid a 13th loss in their last 17 games–things appeared to be going to form as early as the fourth inning when Brandon Belt homered, and Curt Casali added a run-scoring sacrifice fly to tie the game at two. That brought the game to a stage where four relievers for the Royals, and five for the Giants would attempt to avoid a decisive mistake in a game that saw just one more run scored.

Royals manager Mike Matheny liked his chances after the fifth when Amir Garrett successfully relieved starter Jonathan Heasley, who was taxed, throwing 92 pitches in just the first four innings.

“Amir coming in and kind of forcing their hand in those situations, what are they going to do,” Matheny said. “The (Giants have) shown early that they’re going to go to their bench. We need him to come in and throw strikes, pound the zone, get his lefties out. He ended up getting us through that inning.”

Taylor Clarke followed, getting four outs and avoiding trouble by stranding a pair of Giants. Then Jose Cuas came on in the seventh and got three outs that would eventually translate to his first major league win after toiling in the minor leagues for six seasons. Neither Clarke or Cuas were likely to shut down a hot club given their track records, but they got it done. For Cuas, the experience was unforgettable.

“It’s more than I’ve ever dreamed of,” Cuas said. “I can’t really tell you I’ve dreamed of this moment because I didn’t get this far in my dream. It’s amazing. I’m soaking every second of it I can and every day for me is just a dream come true.”

The reward for Cuas: a dousing of ketchup, shaving cream and other substances in the visiting clubhouse by teammates enthused by the rookie’s first mark in the big leagues. Cuas didn’t mention that aspect in recounting his dream.

Cuas’ outing turned victorious in the eighth when the Royals broke through against John Brebbia with a run-scoring, sacrifice fly from Whit Merrifield. The go-ahead run was set up by Andrew Benintendi’s pinch-hit double to start the inning.

For the Giants, the good news was limited to Belt’s return after missing 30 games with injury and a bout with COVID. The bad news started with Brandon Crawford’s first inning fielding error that opened the door for two Royals’ runs to start the game. Crawford was playing in his 1,500 game with the Giants.

“We depend on Craw for his ability on defense and expect it every time out,” Kapler said of the botched play. “I think that ball just kind of jumped up on him a little bit. It’s part of the game. it happens.”

After a 6-3 home stand the Giants travel to Pittsburgh where they will see Pirates’ starter Zach Thompson on Friday night. The Giants have not announced a starter for that game as of yet.

That’s Amaury News and Commentary: The best division in baseball plus

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Copy of the New York Daily News announcing the New York Mets and New York Yankees in the Subway World Series in 2000 edition could the two cross city rivals meet again in this year’s fall classic? (photo by wikipedia)

The Best Division in Baseball, Plus

That’s Amaury News and Commentary

By Amaury Pi-González

OAKLAND–For the first time this 2022 season there will be a third wild card team on each league. No division in baseball is better than the American League East, with the New York Yankees walking-away with the best record in baseball and Toronto, Tampa Bay and Boston poised for a tremendous race.

For the first time ever, a division could have three wild card teams going into the postseason and a total of four of the five teams in this division playing in October.

The American League East is the only division in baseball with four teams playing over .500. In the AL West, there is only one team to beat, Dusty Baker’s Houston Astros, they are the best team and will stay in first place.

The LA Angels are sputtering again, after a very nice start, they went into a funk lost 14 in a row, from May 25 to June 8,and Joe Maddon (one of the best managers in baseball) was sent packing.

Next managerial change could come from Seattle, where expectations were high for this team to win this year. Manager Scott Servais and General Manager Jerry DiPoto are in the hot seat. The Texas Rangers spend a fortune (close to half billion dollars) signing Corey Seager and Marcus Semien, they are both starting to play the way everybody expected, but I do not believe they have the pitching to overtake their State rivals Houston Astros.

The Oakland A’s are what they are. All the other teams have more established talent, they are trying to compete with rookie manager Mark Kotsay, a good baseball man, but the best jockey in the world cannot win the race if the horse is limping.

In the Central Division, considered the weakest in all the major leagues, supposed to be an easy one for the Chicago White Sox, but the great Tony LaRussa is not having much fun so far, star closer Liam Hendriks just placed into the IL.

The Minnesota Twins will be in the playoffs, as of today leading that division and the Cleveland Guardians are playing good baseball, leading the way at third-base, José Ramirez an early candidate for MVP. Watch out for the Indians, sorry, the Guardians, they have a good team and a terrific manager in Terry Francona.

There are some 100 games left for each team this season. While in New York they are talking about a Subway Series, Mets vs Yankees. Most recently, in 2000 the New York teams faced each other with the Yankees winning in five games, a memorable series, which I happened to worked for the Latino Baseball Network.

In other cities there is lots of disappointment. In Los Angeles, the Dodgers, whose manager, Dave Roberts predicted a 2022 World Series win during an appearance on the Dan Patrick Show, when he said “We will win the World Series in 2022. We will win the World Series this year.”

The Dodgers have pitching problems, ace Walker Buehler recently went into the IL, Julio Urias is not going to win 20 games again this season (he was the only to win 20 last season) plus mixed with an inconsistent offense, the Dodgers have stuff to “figure out”, they do have the talent.

The San Diego Padres, at this time, even with the delayed return of superstar Fernando Tatis Jr, looks like the team that could win this division. Bob Melvin is doing a great job, which is nothing new for the three-time Manager of the Year.

The San Francisco Giants, while they are not going to win 107 games again, they find a way to win series, starter Jacob Junis went into the IL, veterans like Evan Longoria and Brandon Belt, can’t seem to stay healthy.

Giants lost some pieces in the off-season, perhaps the biggest one, starter Kevin Gausman who had his best year ever in 2021 with a 14-6 record, and 2.81 ERA, he left for a very lucrative contract in Toronto. Nobody expected the Giants to have a similar season as 2021, which was a dream season, when every player at the same time, had great years.

Trades: The new deadline this year is set for August 2. There will be many trades, some earlier than others, but the greatest commodities are starting pitchers. they are in high demand. Many of the teams with hopes of postseason play will reinforce themselves. In today’s game the old saying “you never have enough pitching” is new again.

Happy Fathers Day weekend.

Join Amaury Pi Gonzalez for all the play by play of Oakland A’s baseball on the A’s Spanish radio network and on flagship station Le Grande 1010 KIQI San Francisco and News and Commentary at http://www.sportsradioservice.com