Tag: Ty Blach

San Francisco Giants podcast with Michael Duca: Blach has the stuff; four relievers and a shutout; Can SF keep it going?

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

Photo credit: @SFGiants

On the San Francisco Giants podcast with Michael Duca:

#1 The opening day performance by San Francisco Giants starter Ty Blach, who went five innings with three hits and three strikeouts. Blach put out a strong performance.

#2 A look at what pitches that were working for Blach.

#3 It took four relievers to come in to shut the door on the Los Angeles Dodgers. There were doubts about the Giants bullpen, but they really impressed on Opening Day.

#4 Dodgers starter Clayton Kernshaw pitched well enough to win, but he didn’t get any offensive support, throwing for one run, eight hits, walked two, struck out seven well enough to complete the game.

#5 Joe Panik, who got the game’s only run on a solo home run in the fifth, that turned out to be the difference maker.

Michael Duca does the Giants podcast Fridays and Morris Phillips on Mondays at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

Last place clubs put on a show in Phillies 12-9 win over the Giants

Published on by moepeaLeave a comment
AP17232172714108
San Francisco Giants’ Pablo Sandoval scores as Philadelphia Phillies catcher Cameron Rupp stands by during the ninth inning of a baseball game Saturday, Aug. 19, 2017, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Mathew Sumner)

By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO–All the neat stuff that last place clubs rarely get to do, the Giants and Phillies got to do to each other on Saturday night.

A pinch-hit grand slam, a leadoff inside-the-park home run, a seven-run rally for the winners, and a oh-so-close, five-run rally in the ninth for the losers highlighted the Phillies 12-9 win over the Giants. The fans got into it, appreciating the Giants’ effort in narrowing a 12-4 deficit, and getting the tying run to the plate with the game’s last batter.

Small victories for struggling clubs, no doubt, but enough to, briefly, make the home fans forget that the Giants fell a staggering, 39 games behind the first place Dodgers with the loss.

“You love the fight,” manager Bruce Bochy said of his club. “And you hate to score nine runs and not win the ballgame.”

What was a well-played and competitive game through five innings, relinquished all of that when the Phillies got a pinch-hit, grand slam from Ty Kelly to cap their seven-run sixth. Kelly, from Tracy, got a nice ovation from his friends and family in attendance after lofting a Cody Gearrin pitch into the right field arcade.

“If you make a mistake like they did tonight, he doesn’t try to overpower, he just tries to put the head on it and that’s what he did tonight,” Phillies’ manager Pete Mackanin said of Kelly.

Kelly pinch-hit for Adam Morgan, who threw one pitch and win the game. Jerad Eickhoff started for the Phillies and endured a rough outing. Mackanin pulled Eickhoff with a runner aboard in the fifth, but Morgan retired Brandon Crawford to quell the threat.

 

 

Bridge-ing the gap…for now: Giant’s get the last blow in with a 11-2 laugher over the A’s

Published on by moepeaLeave a comment

 

AP17216175759449
San Francisco Giants’ Jarrett Parker, center, celebrates with teammates after a baseball game against the Oakland Athletics in San Francisco, Thursday, Aug. 3, 2017. The Giants won 11-2. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO–When it’s all about next season for both, downtrodden Bay Area baseball teams, it’s still competition.

So on Thursday, the Giants dialed up a response to Wednesday’s embarrassing 6-1 loss to the A’s. Call it, we see your Daniel Gossett and Ryon Healy, and will raise you a Ty Blach and a Ryder Jones.

Nothing resonates when your 35 games out of first place in August, but young, promising faces come the closest. Jones and Jarrett Parker combined for five hits and four RBI.  Blach pitched eight innings, won for the seventh time, and hit a three-run homer in the fifth inning.

“I think he surprised us all, how far he hit that ball,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “It was the Ty Blach show tonight.”

Kendall Graveman was a washout for Oakland, lasting just two innings and departing with the Giants leading 7-0 on their way to a 11-2 win. Graveman hadn’t pitched since May due to a shoulder issue that sidelined him, and he looked healed, but out of sync.

The Giants didn’t ease up when Graveman departed. Blach’s three-run shot came in the fifth, and it was the first Giants’ round tripper with two aboard all season at AT&T Park. It also put the Giants up 11-1 through five innings, a lead so rare it might wind up in a Smithsonian exhibit at some point.

The four-game set didn’t quite produce a competitive game, the first, an 8-5 win for the A’s came closest. But this is what last place clubs do, look good one minute, and dreadful the next. The goal for both the Giants and the A’s is to build on what appears promising, and get a preview during this season-closing stretch.

To that point, the Giants announced that Chris Stratton will replace Matt Cain in the starting rotation, and veteran Denard Span will play extensively in left field as the club prepares for a younger outfielder–maybe Jones, Parker or the injured Austin Slater–to take the reins in center.

Brandon Belt homered in the second, his team-leading 18th of the season. The Giants had 13 hits, one night after they managed just two hits opposite Oakland’s 6-1 lead in the fifth.  Blach threw at least six innings in a start for the sixth, consecutive outing.

The Giants continue their home stand Friday night with Madison Bumgarner facing Arizona’s Anthony Banda at 715pm.

 

Hwang debuts with tie-breaking home run, Giants sweep the Rockies

Published on by moepeaLeave a comment
manager-bruce-bochy-of-the-san-francisco-giants-takes-the-ball-from-picture-id802871148
Manager Bruce Bochy #15 of the San Francisco Giants takes the ball from starting pitcher Ty Blach #50 taking him out of the game against the Colorado Rockies in the top of the seventh inning at AT&T Park on June 28, 2017 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)

By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO–Talk about a quick turnaround. Tuesday’s Rockies-Giants’ game ended at midnight with Denard Span’s game-winning hit. Wednesday’s game started at 4:45am.

How in the name of seagull subterfuge is that possible?

Well, the American, big league debut of Jae-Gyun Hwang in a Giants’ uniform was such a big deal, folks in Korea got up before dawn to watch it live.

And they weren’t disappointed.

With his first major league RBI already in his back pocket, Hwang one-upped himself with a tie-breaking home run in the sixth inning of the Giants’ 5-3 win over the Rockies. For the 29-year old rookie, and star player previously in the Korean League, it was a dream-come-true moment, and not just because his ball sailed over the wall.

“I’ve given up a lot back home — whether that’s money, being away from family, my career and everything — just to be here,” Hwang said through his interpreter. “The only reason I did that was because I wanted to realize my childhood dream of playing a game in the big leagues.”

Hwang’s probably set for more than just one game after becoming the 17th Giant to hit a home run as their first big league hit. In addition, Hwang’s a good luck charm for a club that’s been both unlucky and bad. That can’t be disputed after his home run propelled the NL West also-rans to their first series sweep–home or away–of the now half-finished season. Doing it after a 1-12 stretch, and against the Rockies, winners of nine straight against the Giants coming in made it that much more memorable.

“He reached his dream and hits a huge home run. He got a nice beer shower in there,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “It’s a special moment. These are moments you love.”

Giants’ starter Ty Blach did his part in contributing to the feel good moment, by recovering from an early hiccup to pitch into the seventh inning and get the win. Blach was touched by a brilliant piece of hitting, Nolan Arenado’s two-run single in the first, where the notorious Giants’ killer went out of the strike zone to poke a 2-2 pitch into center field. Mike Tauchman’s RBI single in the sixth was the only other blemish for Blach, who allowed seven hits, three walks while striking out six.

Blach took down his hometown team, one start after his disaster versus the Mets, in which he was pulled after pitching just three innings in an 11-4 loss. This time, he was gritty despite constant traffic on the based paths, some of which he contributed to with his throwing error in the first inning.

 

 

Giants’ unlikely win at Wrigley Field keeps their momentun building

Published on by moepeaLeave a comment

AP17143030548206

By Morris Phillips

The power-challenged Giants aren’t likely to win many games via the long ball.  And rookie pitchers aren’t likely to prevail in the adverse conditions that crop up at Wrigley Field, the iconic home of the World Series Champion Cubs.

But there the Giants were Monday night–at Wrigley, the wind blowing out, with rookie Ty Blach on the mound, trying to corral the Cubs, who like the Giants were desperate to get their season headed in the right direction.

So what transpired? The Giants muscled up–with seven extra-base hits and three home runs–and Blach did his part on the mound by employing some ingenuity developed in the Pacific Coast League. The result was a 6-4, series-opening win for the Giants–just their second win in their last 11 games in Chicago against the Cubs.

Blach shut the Cubs out through seven innings, when the Giants led 6-0, and pitched into the eighth.  While the home team has struggled offensively in 2017, the Cubs scored 13 runs on Sunday in their series finale against the Brewers, and nine runs twice in a three-game sweep of the Reds earlier last week. But against the Giants’ rookie, they rolled over a bunch, and failed to elevate his offerings, as Blach replicated his approach developed last season pitching for Triple-A Sacramento.

“I tried to execute pitches early, be aggressive, dictate the game and let them hit the ball on the ground,” Blach said.

Offensively, the Giants jumped on starter John Lackey early, beginning with leadoff man Joe Panik’s home run to start the game. Panik replaced the injured Denard Span at the top of the lineup, and had his best game since April 4, knocking in a pair of runs with the homer, an RBI double and a single.

Albert Almora Jr. robbed Brandon Belt with a diving catch in center field. Just before that Addison Russell made a diving stop of Christian Arroyo’s ground ball that took away a base hit. But that good fortune only allowed Lackey to survive the first inning.

The Giants would add two runs in the third, and single runs in the fourth and fifth, as five of the seven hits against Lackey went for extra bases. The Cubs’ veteran starter had won two of his previous three starts.

“I felt like I executed quite a few pitches, but they got a few more balls up than we (saw),” Lackey said.

The Giants’ home runs and extra-base hits were season highs, but the solo shots kept going out, a streak that has reached 18 home runs without at least one guy on base. Even with the outburst, the Giants rank dead last in MLB in home runs with 38 (tied with the Red Sox). The infrequency of home runs, along with the paucity of base runners when the Giants do connect, illustrate how tepid the team’s power game has been. And how unlikely they would be the club to take advantage of a hitter-friendly evening on Chicago’s North Side.

The Cubs joined the act in the eighth with a pair of two-run homers that narrowed the Giants’ lead. But this time–unlike the 2016 NLDS–the bullpen held up. Hunter Strickland came on to record the final two outs of the eighth, and Mark Melancon shut down the Cubs in the ninth for his ninth save in 11 chances.

Johnny Cueto and Jon Lester square off in the second game of the four-game set, a rematch of Game 1 of the 2016 NLDS that went to the Cubs, 1-0.