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Estrada and Yastrzemski hit back to back homers in Giants 3-2 win over Pirates

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San Francisco Giants Thairo Estrada runs the bases after hitting a home run in the bottom of the third inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Sun Apr 28, 2024 (AP News photo)

Sunday, April 28, 2024

Pittsburgh (14-15). 000 001 001. 2. 5. 0

San Francisco (14-15) 003 000 00x. 3. 8. 0

Time: 2:23

Attendance: 36,380

By Lewis Rubman

SAN FRANCISCO–The Giants continued their flirtation with .500, coming a step closer when they defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates, 3-2, this sunny and windy afternoon. The win improved the record of Bob Melvin’s men to 14-15 and excellent mound work by Keaton Winn and long balls by two heretofore underperforming batters, Thairo Estrada and Mike Yastrzemski.

Winn, San Francisco’s starting pitcher, was 2-3, 3.54 at game time. The 26 year old right handed rookie was coming off two strong starts, in which he had garnered that pair of wins. He had pitched six innings in each of them and held his opponents, Miami on April 17 and the Mets on the 22nd, to a run and four hits apiece.

This was the first time he’d ever faced the Pirates, and he performed very well, allowing just one run, earned, on three hits and a walk over six full innings, in which he struck out five batters. He threw 80 pitches, 29 of which were balls. earned the win and even his won-lost count to 3-3 while lowering his ERA to 3.18.

Winn’s opposing number was Jared Jones, also a 26 year rookie righty making his sixth start in the show. A tad less than half of his deliveries are four seamers, and he also throws a slider, curve, and change up. He pitched well in four of the five innings he worked, but he had a rough third frame over all, he yielded three runs, all earned, on six hits, two of them home runs, and a walk while striking out three.

His pitch count reached 83, 55 strikes. He took the loss, bringing his record to 2-3,3.18. (You’ll note a lot of numerical similarities between the two teams in this dispatch).

The game was a scoreless tie for the first 2-1/2 frames, but then the Giants’ bats heated up. They opened their half of the third with their first back to back home runs of 2024. Estrada smacked a first pitch slider into the left center field bleachers, leaving his bat at 106.2 mph and landing 397 feet from the plate.

It was the second sacker’s fourth round tripper of the year. Yastrzemski followed with his second four bagger of the season, a 402 foot blast to center that had an exit velocity of 105.1 mph. It came on a 2-2 four seamer. Back to back singles by Tyler Fitzgerald and Jung Hoo Lee, followed by a sacrifice fly by LaMonte Wade, Jr., and the hometown crew was up, 3-0 a third of the way through.

The Bucs narrowed the gap to 3-1 in the top of the fifth. Edward Oliveres was hit by a pitch to open the frame, and Rudy Tellez banged a two bagger to left center to bring Pittsburgh’s designated hitter home.

Luis L. Ortiz relieved Jones and sent SF down in order in the sixth and held the Giants scoreless in the seventh, despite a two out single by Yaz followed by a Fitzgerald’s windblown double to left. Kyle Nicolas set them down, 1,2,3 in the eighth.

Erik Miller replaced Winn and held the Pirates to walk in the seventh, giving way to Ryan Walker, who put Pittsburgh down with just a hit batter in their share of the eighth.

Camilo Duval went for his fifth save in the ninth. It would have taken an eclipse for the Giants to have darkened the stadium for his entrance so the crowd had to settle for video clips. But that didn’t mean that there was no excitement, not after Tellez sent a double to right center and scored on Triolo’s single to left center, making it 3-2.

With Michael A. Taylor at bat, Triolo moved into scoring position on a passed ball, bringing ex-Giant Joey Bart, who had replaced Henry Davis as catcher after Davis had been pulled for a pinch hitter in the previous inning. Doval got him out on a checked swing grounder to short, averting a demoralizing loss and giving the Giants the win for the game and the series.

The Giants will have a day off in Boston Monday and play the Red Sox on Tuesday and will follow that with visits to Philadelphia and Denver before returning home to face the Cincinnati Reds on May 10.

A’s Come From Behind For a Second Time In Series to Beat Orioles 7-6

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Oakland A’s left to right Seth Brown, Esteury Ruiz, and Lawrence Butler celebrate after defeating the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards in Baltimore on Sun Apr 28, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Barbara Mason

For the second time in the Oakland A’s (12-17) series with the division leading Baltimore Orioles (17-10), the A’s came from behind to win not only the game but the series. Baltimore is a very tough customer leading the American League East division.

The hero in this game was Kyle McCann who hit a two-run home run to take the lead 7-6 which was the final. Oakland pitcher Lucas Erceg had a blistering ninth inning to close out the game.

Game recap: Oakland’s Seth Brown hit a home run in the second inning of this game to give the A’s the lead 1-0. Baltimore answered right back with not one but two runs in the second taking a 2-1 lead. The Oriole’s Anthony Santander and Cedric Miller both scored.

The third inning really showed the A’s road-trip renegade mentality as Oakland brought home three runners to take a 4-2 lead. There would be no repeat of yesterday game for the A’s. These guys are real fighters as they battled from behind once again.

JJ Bleday doubled Lawrence Butler home to tie up this game 2-2 with Brent Rooker batting next. Rooker singled driving two runners, Tyler Nevin and JJ Bleday both home taking a 4-2 lead and the A’s were back on top.

Once again the Orioles answered back, this time with two home runs taking back the lead in this battle. Adley Rutschman hit a solo shot and Ryan Mountcastle slugged a two run homer for a 5-4 lead.

Baltimore extended their lead in the fourth inning with a Ramon Urias home run now leading 6-4. The three home runs from Baltimore in the third and fourth innings signaled the end of Paul Blackburn’s time on the mound. All six Oriole runs came off Blackburn whose four innings of work was the shortest of the season for him.

The fifth and sixth innings was quiet offensively for both teams. Oakland hit their first home run of the game in the seventh inning off the bat of Tyler Nevin trailing by a single run 6-5. The A’s were unable to challenge in the eighth but they came alive in the final countdown, the ninth inning. Kyle McCann hit a two-run home run taking a 7-6 lead. Darell Hernaiz had walked and McCann did the rest.

Lucas Erceg took over on the mound in the ninth looking to close out this game. The Baltimore first at bat in the ninth was a punch out, followed by a line out and a second strike out and that was the ball game. The A’s had come from behind in the ninth for a second time in this series. The final was 7-6.

Paul Blackburn went four innings in this game allowing seven hits and six runs with five strikeouts. Oakland relief pitching was exceptional and went the distance setting this win up for Lucas Erceg who closed out the game. The A’s had ten hits in the game and Baltimore had nine.

Game notes: Sunday afternoon the A’s finished up their series with the Orioles. Saturday, Oakland was stomped to the tune of 7-0 and they won this game and took the series against a very tough American League East opponent. Baltimore is in first place in this division and the win over them was sweet indeed for Oakland. Paul Blackburn started for Oakland and Albert Suarez started for the Orioles in a game that was decided by two Oakland runs in the top of the ninth.

After a very long road trip, Oakland will return home for a lengthy home stand. They will begin a three game series on Monday taking on the Pittsburg Pirates. Joe Boyle will take the mound for the A’s and Bailey Falter will start for the Pirates. First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 PM.

9th Erceg first at bat a punch out

Drive out

3rd punch out

Headline Sports podcast with Bruce Magowan: Taking a look at baseball’s legendary pitchers; Astros and White Sox continue to struggle; plus more

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Former San Francisco Giant pitcher Juan Marichal into his wind up was a six time 20 game winner for the Giants (photo from ebay)

On Headline Sports podcast with Bruce:

#1 Bruce, you’ve been covering baseball for decades you’ve got to see some Hall of Fame pitchers Bob Gibson, Sandy Koufax, and Juan Marichal talk about what it was like to see those legends like.

#2 Marichal missed winning the Cy Young Award in 1968 because Bob Gibson had a better ERA that season

#3 What happened to the Houston Astros, dead last in the American League West 9-19. They’ve fallen on hard times since Dusty Baker left.

#4 The Chicago White Sox are also on hard times at 6-22 last in the AL Central what led to their implosion?

#5 The Oakland A’s have come on lately. They’ve just completed a ten game road trip and got swept by the Cleveland Guardians to start the trip, they split a four game series with the New York Yankees, and won a series against the first place Baltimore Orioles. Is this run for keeps or is it a fluke?

Bruce Magowan is a podcast contributor at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

San Francisco Giants podcast with Stephen Ruderman: Giants to start 11 game road trip in Boston Tuesday

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San Francisco Giants Patrick Bailey belts a home run in the bottom of the fifth inning at Oracle Park in San Francisco against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sat Apr 20, 2024 (AP News photo)

On Headline Sports podcast with Bruce Magowan:

#1 Stephen, The San Francisco Giants (13-15) are on their longest homestand of 2024 they opened with the Arizona Diamondback, New York Mets and now closing up the series with the Pittsburgh Pirates today.

#2 The Giants on the nine game homestand thus far are hitting .240 with 34 runs scored and their getting pitching has an 4.06 ERA.

#3 Stephen have to ask you about catcher Patrick Bailey whose hitting .309, with 3 home runs, and ten RBIs and is seventh best amongst MLB catchers with a .887 OPS.

#4 Stephen, talk about Blake Snell after three starts he’s on the 15 day IL. Snell with an 11.57 ERA. He struggled in those first three starts and had to come out of his last start suffering from adductor strain. The Giants put a lot of stock in him with a big contract.

#5 The Giants will embark on an 11 game road trip they’ll head to Boston starting Tuesday night for three games, then in Philadelphia for four games starting on Friday and concluding the road trip in Colorado for three games next week Tuesday. Talk about how you like the Giants chances against the Red Sox, Phillies and Rockies?

Stephen Ruderman is a podcast contributor at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

#1

Headline Sports podcast with Charlie O: Angels Rendon back on IL with hamstring injury; Orioles top prospect sent down after hitting .059; plus more news

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Los Angeles Angeles Anthony Rendon (6) walks off the field with manager Ron Washington (left) and trainer Mike Frostad (right) after pulling up injured with a torn left hamstring against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ballpark on Sat Apr 20, 2024. Rendon was placed on the 10 day IL.

On Headline Sports podcast with Charlie O:

#1 Los Angeles Angels third baseman Anthony Rendon who has played only not more than 58 in his last four seasons of his current seven year $245 million contract has a left hamstring tear and the recovery is expected to be a long one. Rendon is frustrated by the injury saying he’s doing everything to stay out there but says nothing is working.

#2 The Baltimore Orioles top prospect Jackson Holliday has been optioned to the Orioles minor triple A affiliate Nashville after managing just two singles, two walks in 36 at bats spread over ten games. Holliday struck out 18 times and was hitting .059 with just one RBI.

#3 The Orioles were just stunned when they were beat in the opening game of their three game series on Friday night by the Oakland A’s 3-2. The A’s had beat the New York Yankees Thursday. That showed shades of maybe Oakland might be up for challenging some of the tougher teams in the American League. Then on Saturday the Orioles got some clutch hitting and pitching shutting down Oakland 5-0.

#4 Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani who was greeted by a thunderous rain of boos at Rogers Centre in Toronto and did what he could only do hitting his seventh home run against the Toronto Blue Jays. Ohtani said he was not surprised and that he got booed in the dugout too. Dave Roberts Dodgers manager said that was funny too. Ohtani knew he was booed after deciding to sign with the Dodgers rather than the Blue Jays in the off season.

#5 Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge why the slump? Judge is hitting .186 with four home runs and the topper was the loss to the A’s on Thursday and Judge earned the golden sombrero with his fourth strike out. Judge said that he’s had worse starts than this one and that you just have to keep on working.

Join Charlie O does Headline Sports podcasts each Sunday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

San Diego edges Bay FC 2-1; Bay FC loses it fourth game of season

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Try as hard as they did including headers Bay FC couldn’t get in the win column and drop their fourth loss of the season to the San Diego Wave at Bashor Field in San Diego on Sat Apr 27, 2024 (Bay FC X photo)

By William Espy

Bay FC finished up their three-game road trip in San Diego to take on the San Diego Wave at Bashor Field on Saturday night to a 2-1 loss. Neither team has had the start to the season they had hoped for and both were without key players for this matchup.

Bay’s first-ever signing Alex Loera is out for the season with a torn ACL, while San Diego is without Alex Morgan, Abby Dahlkemper, Melanie Barcenas, and Sofia Jakobsson. Due to the amount of injuries in their lineup, San Diego’s Kimmi Ascanio made her first career start in the NWSL at just 16 years of age.

On Bay FC’s side of things, Albertin Montoya went with a slightly different approach for tonight’s game with Loera out of the lineup, moving Tess Boade back into a more defensive role alongside Dorian Bailey in the midfield. They did have Scarlett Camberos back in the lineup though which was certainly beneficial for the team’s offense.

San Diego Starting XI: Sheridan, Girma, Lundkvist, Wesley, McNabb, Doniak, Ascanio, Jones, Carusa, McCaskill, Colaprico

Bay FC Starting XI: Proulx, King, Dydasco, Menges, Sharples, Bailey, Boade, Castellanos, Camberos, Oshoala, Kundananji

San Diego nearly got out to an early lead in the 10th minute, however, Lysianne Proulx was able to disrupt the play and keep the ball out of the net. That wouldn’t last long though, as just three minutes later Makenzy Doniak was able to beat Proulx with a shot just inside of the box after a pass from the aforementioned Ascanio who recorded her first career NWSL assist.

Racheal Kundananji tried to tie it up a couple of minutes later with a long shot, however, it went over the net and it remained 1-0 in favor of San Diego. Boade showed that a more defensive role wouldn’t prevent her from contributing offensively in the 21st minute, as she was able to take the ball away from Ascanio with a considerable amount of pressure and then immediately get a strong scoring opportunity but she was denied by Kailen Sheridan.

A few moments later, Proulx came out of the goal to play the ball near the edge of the box however the ball fell to a member of the Wave with a wide-open goal. Bay FC got bailed out by Emily Menges who blocked the shot and prevented San Diego from getting out to a 2-0 lead.

Bay got another strong scoring chance in the 28th minute, as Kundananji ran down the wing before finding Asisat Oshoala in front of the goal, who passed it back to Deyna Castellanos. Castellanos fired a great shot, however it went just over the crossbar.

In the 33rd minute, Danielle Colaprico collided with Bailey in midfield. Colaprico went down in a considerable amount of pain with an apparent nose injury, as it was a face-to-face collision between the two. Since she caused a delay in the match, Colaprico had to go to the sideline while play restarted.

In a tremendous showing of sportsmanship, Bailey headed to the sideline herself as well to stand with Colaprico preventing either team from getting an advantage as the result of an accidental injury. One of the most noticeable aspects of Bay’s defensive efforts in the first half was Savy King’s improvement in the defensive third of the pitch, she was disrupting plays quite regularly which hadn’t necessarily been the case all season.

She had played well previously, but it was quite a notable improvement. Both teams got a few more opportunities prior to the end of the first half, but neither was able to score and it went to halftime with San Diego holding their 1-0 lead.

Early in the second half, Kayla Sharples nearly scored in her third straight game, however, she hit the crossbar. Luckily for Bay though, the ball fell to Oshoala who was able to put it away to tie the game at 1. In the 51st minute, Kundananji went down after some contact with Mya Jones, after a small amount of attention from the trainer she got back up and continued the game.

San Diego nearly regained the lead in the 56th minute, Doniak received a cross and a perfect header could’ve easily been a goal however Proulx was able to get right in front of it and make a save. Castellanos was down in significant pain in the 60th minute, however, despite a small limp, she was able to carry on.

Oshoala had a tremendous individual effort in the 63rd minute, as a Wave defender was waiting for the ball to go out for a goal kick, Oshoala got past her. She then took the ball, ran past another defender, and got a shot off that was blocked by Hanna Lundkvist.

In the 73rd minute, the Wave got a scoring chance off of a corner when a volley was seemingly going over the net but it had an absurd amount of spin on it, which caused it to bounce off the crossbar and back into play but Bay FC were able to clear the ball. In the 75th, Oshoala went down after being clipped by an opposing player’s leg.

She was waving desperately at the bench from the ground, which is certainly a scary sight for Bay supporters. She walked off the pitch under her own power but did not look comfortable at all. After the match, both Oshoala and Montoya confirmed that she was just cramping and is expected to be available on Wednesday.

The Waves took a 2-1 lead after a FC Barcelona-esque passing play which was finished off by Jaedyn Shaw. After the goal, Montoya substituted Oshoala out in favor of Princess. Just a few moments later, Bailey was fouled by Colaprico who was already on a yellow card, giving Bay FC a dangerous free kick with time starting to run out.

The short passing play between Joelle Anderson and Boade would quickly be broken up, leading to a corner which also would fail to convert. Boade almost tied it up in the 85th minute following a great pass by Princess, however, the shot went well over the goal.

Bay FC was buzzing as 90 minutes came to an end, they had seven minutes of stoppage time to tie it up but so far they’d struggled to beat the keeper despite quite a bit of pressure. Bailey nearly did just that after a shot from Sharples but she was tripped up in the box and the ball trickled out of play for a corner which nothing came out of.

Montoya then sent Sharples up front as a center forward to try to get on the end of headers, certainly an interesting strategy that had the potential to pay off. She created a few chances and nearly scored a couple of times but was unable to convert on those chances.

Bay had quite a few close calls, but they were unable to score a second goal of the night and when the final whistle blew, it was a 2-1 win for San Diego.

Reynolds, Hayes slug back to back home runs in Pirates 4-3 win over Giants in 10 inning game

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Pittsburgh Pirates Ke’Bryan Hayes is congratulated by third base coach Mike Rabelo on the way home after hitting a solo home run against the San Francisco Giants in the top of the tenth inning at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Sat Arp 27, 2024 (AP News photo)

Pittsburgh (14-14). 000 000 100 3. 4. 11. 1

San Francisco (13-15). 000 001 000 2. 3. 7. 2. 10 innings

Time: 2:46

Attendance: 34,841

Saturday, April 27, 2024

By Lewis Rubman

SAN FRANCISCO–After last night’s come from behind walk off win against the Pirates, there was a good chance that tonight’s matchup between the two 12-13 teams would be a resounding let down. It wasn’t. This game featured top notch pitching, comebacks by both teams, and an ultimately deflating 4-3 loss for the home team. That loss dropped the Giants to two games below the .500 plateau, which they haven’t occupied since March 31, when they stood at 2-2.

The Pirates started with Martín Pérez, a lefty with 11 years’ experience in the American League, where he went 84-81, 4.44 for the Rangers, Twins, and Red Sox. and now in his first season in the senior circuit. He brought a record of 1-1, 3.45 to this evening’s contest.

That one loss came against his old team from Boston, when, on April 21, he got tagged for four runs, all earned, on six hits over the short span of four innings. Saturday night, he threw six masterful innings, in which he allowed one run, which was unearned, on four hits and two walks He notched four strikeouts and threw 81 pitches, 56 for strikes. He had to settle for a no decision that shrunk his earned run average to 2.86.

The Giants also went with a veteran, although not one as grizzled as Pérez. Jordan Hicks has been in the bigs since 2018 except for the COVID season of 2020, which he sat out while recovering from Tommy John surgery. His first team was St. Louis, who traded him to Toronto last July.

He signed with the Giants as a free agent in January. Hicks has remade himself from a fire balling reliever who once touched 105 mph twice in a single appearance. The 27 year old native of Texas dialed himself down and added to his arsenal, improving his control and lessening the strain and allowing him to pitch more innings, although he still is capable of rearing back and letting ‘er rip.

He took the mound at 2-1, 1.61 and left after six plus frames after a performance that resembled the one Pérez turned in. No Pirates crossed the plate. Hicks gave up four hits and nary a walk and recorded nine strikeouts. 62 of his 88 deliveries were counted as strikes.

The last batter he faced before giving way to Luke Jackson was Connor Joe. who eventually scored an unearned run. Hicks went home with a no decision, leaving him at 2-0 but an ERA reduced to 1.69.

The starters achieved this in spite of a total of six errors, three for each team while they were on the mound. The Giants, who drew first blood in the sixth, did it with the unearned run off Pérez after Nick Ahmed reached first on an error by shortstop Aklika Williams and eventually scored on a double by Wilmer Flores.

The Buccaneers restored the tie in the top of the seventh. Joe advanced to second on Jack Suwinski’s grounder to short that was ruled a single. Joey Bart reached on a fielder’s choice that sent Joe to third, and he scored on Rowdy Tellez’s sacrifice fly to left.

Colin Holderman kept San Francisco off the board in the eighth, and Josh Fleming retired the side in order in the eighth and got the first out in the bottom of the ninth. He then turned the ball over to Hunter Stratton.

Luke Jackson and Tyler Rogers pitched a scoreless seventh and eighth, respectively, and Camilo Doval allowed a hit but no runs in the top of the ninth.

Taylor Rogers came in to pitch the top of the tenth and undid his predecessors’ fine work. He allowed back to back home runs into the left field bleachers, Reynolds’ 387 foot, two run blast, his fourth homer of the year, that scored zombie runner Williams before him, and a 377 foot shot by Ke’ Bryan Hayes. Pittsburgh now was up, 4-3.

But the Giants hadn’t walked the plank yet. With David Bednar on the hump for the visitors, Jorge Soler sent a towering drive 433 into the left center field bleachers. Courtesy runner Patrick Bailey scored in front of him, bringing the Giants within a run of a tie. But Bednar recovered and, although Estrada managed an infield hit to third, fanned pinch hitters LaMonte Wade, Jr. and Mike Yastrzemski.

The win went to Stratron (1-0, 3,07) and the loss, to Tyler Rogers (0-1, 4.32).

Sunday, Giants and Pirates will stumble out of bed blurry eyed and bushed and into the ballpark for a day game after a night game. The probable pitchers are Jared Jones (2-2, 2.79) for Pittsburgh and Keaton Winn (2-3, 3.54) for San Francisco.

Nashville-San Jose end up in a draw 1-1 at Music City

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San Jose Earthquakes defender Carlos Akapo (29) kicks the ball past Nashville SC midfielder Jacob Shaffelburg during the first half at Geodis Park in Nashville on Sat April 27, 2024 (AP News photo)

By William Espy

The San Jose Earthquakes are in Tennessee to take on Nashville SC for their fourth matchup against each other in history. The previous three meetings had all ended in a draw, the Earthquakes desperately needed a win as did Nashville.

Both sat 14th in their respective conference entering the night, San Jose at the bottom of the West while Nashville was ahead of only the New England Revolution in the East. Nashville entered the night with a defensively minded 5-3-2 formation while the Quakes stuck with their standard 4-3-3. The Quakes came back after Nashville took a 1-0 lead to tie up the game 1-1 for the draw at Geodis Park in Nashville.

Nashville Starting XI: Willis, Muvi, Maher, Kallman, Lovitz, Shaffelburg, Yearwood, Godov, Davis, Mukhtar, Surridge

San Jose Starting XI: Yarbrough, Costa, Bradon, Rodrigues, Akapo, Tsakiris, Gruezo, Yueill, Kikanovic, Ebobisse, Espinoza

Earlier this week, the Earthquakes announced their record signing of midfielder Hernan Lopez from Godoy Cruz of the Argentine Primera Division. Although he has yet to join the team he will certainly be a difference maker when he gets into the lineup in the near future.

The first opportunity of the game came in the fourth minute when a throw-in got Cristian Espinoza behind the defense, he passed it to Niko Tsakiris who ran out of time and was unable to convert on the opportunity. The first booking of the night came at the end of the fifth minute when Daniel Lovitz’s challenge didn’t go as planned and he ended up with a yellow card.

Tsakiris would get a yellow in the 14th minute as he cut across into the box with the ball and put himself in a dangerous situation to try to get a penalty called. Nashville took a 1-0 lead in the 19th minute when Hany Mukhtar fired a shot from well outside the box and it found the left side of the netting. As they had multiple times this season, San Jose dug themselves a hole that they had to try to climb out of early on.

By the 27th minute, the game had been all Nashville, they led in shots 8-1 and on the scoreboard 1-0 despite the Earthquakes having 58% possession to that point. Nashville would maintain their lead for the remainder of the first half but were unable to build on it.

The Earthquakes would need a much stronger showing in the second half if they hoped to walk away with any points. At this point, they still had yet to record a shot on target. Other than the single goal, it was a pretty uneventful half as neither team was able to create high-quality scoring chances despite Nashville getting an abundance of shots.

Luchi Gonzalez made a couple of substitutions to start the second half with hopes that they’d provide a spark to a team that desperately needed it. Skahan and Pellegrino came on for Tsakiris and Benjamin Kikanovic. The Earthquakes got their first quality scoring opportunity of the night in the 53rd minute when Jeremy Ebobisse kicked the ball wide-left.

If he had aimed the shot on target, it could’ve easily tied the game at 1 but instead, it was still in favor of Nashville. An hour into the match, the Quakes still hadn’t tested Nashville’s keeper Joe Willis. In the 62nd minute, Nashville got a chance to make it 2-0 but William Yarbrough was able to make the save to deny a header from Sam Surridge from point-blank range.

The Earthquakes went straight down the pitch to score their first of the night, as a perfectly timed run by Jack Skahan got him behind the defense while remaining onside. The only person he had to beat was Willis, and he did just that to make it 1-1. Ebobisse was then subbed off for Preston Judd as Gonzalez hoped to keep the offensive momentum running. In the 66th minute, Brent Kallman received some medical attention.

At the end of the 71st minute, the Earthquakes nearly made it 2-1 however Skahan’s shot went just wide. Nashville made a few substitutions of their own, trying to swing momentum back in their favor as time started to run out. Rodrigues went down and caused a short delay with less than ten minutes remaining, he’d be substituted off as the Quakes could not afford to take any chances.

Nashville brought pressure and tested Yarbrough at the beginning of stoppage time getting a couple of solid opportunities before the ball was knocked out of play. Neither team would be able to break the deadlock, it would end in a 1-1 draw which was a decent result for two struggling teams however either one could’ve won. Nashville would certainly feel disappointed with the result given how strong they were in attack though.

San Francisco Giants podcast with Morris Phillips: Giants Bailey finding his groove at the plate; Doval shuts the door on Bucs in ninth

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San Francisco Giants pitcher Camio Doval pitches to the Pittsburgh Pirates in the top of the ninth inning at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Fri Apr 26, 2024 (AP News photo)

On the San Francisco Giants podcast with Morris Phillips:

#1 Morris, the San Francisco Giants catcher Patrick Baily ended the ball game on Friday night with a three run ninth inning walk off home run which ended a pitcher’s duel against the Pittsburgh Pirates in a 3-0 win at Oracle Park.

#2 It was a scoreless game up until the bottom of the ninth and the Giants Michael Conforto walked and Matt Chapman followed up with a single and that brought up Patrick Bailey whose been seeing the ball well and whose hitting .300.

#3 Bailey said during the post game scrum that he’s tried to build his confidence at the plate. Bailey said he struggled with his confidence last season. So he’s confident going to the plate no matter what this season.

#4 Giants reliever Camilo Doval closed the door on the Pirates coming in in the ninth and pitching one inning giving up two hits with one walk and striking out one batter. Doval ended the game with a ball that went right back to the mound Doval threw home for the force and Bailey threw to first to retire the hitter. Doval gets the light show every time he gets the call and leaves the bullpen for the mound.

#5 San Francisco Giants RHP Jordan Hicks (2-0 ERA 1.61) gets the start against the Pittsburgh Pirates Martin Perez (1-1 ERA 3.45) first pitch 6:05pm PDT at Oracle Park.

Morris Phillips is a podcast contributor at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Oakland A’s podcast with Augie Mesenburg: A’s challenging tough teams in the AL East

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Oakland A’s Shea Langeliers (23) rounds third base after hitting a home run in the top of the first inning and is congratulated by A’s third base coach Eric Martins (3) at Camden Yards in Baltimore on Fri Apr 26, 2024 (AP News photo)

On the Oakland A’s podcast with Augie Mesenburg:

#1 In the last two games the A’s have called on closer Mason Miller who shut the door on the New York Yankees on Thursday and on the Baltimore Orioles on Friday night both first place teams and both games on the road.

#2 Miller can throw heat with pitches over 100 MPH and that’s what’s been key in some of these A’s win he kept it tight in Friday’s game in one run ball game in the tenth inning and the A’s in front he closed out the Orioles for close one run 3-2 win.

#3 Miller on Thursday night in New York faced the last four Yankees hitters which included Yankee slugger Aaron Judge and retired them all as the A’s split the four game series with New York at 2-2.

#4 The A’s also got a clutch double from designated hitter Brent Rooker in the tenth inning to bring in the go ahead run and eventual winner for the A’s 3-2.

#5  Oakland will send Paul Blackburn to the mound in game three. He has been having a terrific season with a (2-1, 2.03 ERA). Baltimore will start Albert Suarez (1-0 ERA 0.00). First pitch for this game is scheduled for Sunday at 10:35 AM.

Augie Mesenburg is a podcast contributor at http://www.sportsradioservice.com and is a reporter for 103.2 KHAI Honolulu

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