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Andrew Cashner’s first start of the season was in San Francisco almost a week ago, and even though Tim Lincecum beat Cashner that game, Andrew pitched well in defeat. Friday’s rematch saw both Cashner and Lincecum pitching well enough to win but the result was different from the first match-up as the Padres squeaked by the Giants, 2-1.
The large crowd – an announced attendance of 34,929 – was made up of what seemed like half Giants fans, and they were vocal in their support. Another attraction for fans of both clubs was the fireworks show directly following the game, so a mostly full stadium was to be expected.
Angel Pagan greeted Cashner in the first inning with a sharp single to right field, and Pagan then stole second base. Marco Scutaro hit a ground ball back to Cashner and was thrown out, with Pagan taking third base.
With a two-strike count to Pablo Sandoval, Cashner delivered a wild pitch in the dirt that John Baker couldn’t get to cleanly, and Pagan came in to score. The Giants were up 1-0 before the Padres came to face Tim Lincecum for the first time in the game.
“I threw a lot of first pitch curve balls tonight. I’d kind of like to have that one back that I bounced in the first. I was trying to make that pitch right there and it just kind of got away a little bit,” Cashner said after the game.
In the bottom of the second inning, Lincecum walked Yonder Alonso to open the frame and Chris Denorfia followed with a single to left field, Alonso taking second base.
Jedd Gyorko came up and ran the count full against Lincecum and hit a shot into center field that Angel Pagan made an excellent diving catch to get to. John Baker then ground into a double play and the threat was over.
In the third inning, the Padres finally got on the board. Andrew Cashner singled to center field, and after Everth Cabrera’s unsuccessful bunt attempt for an out (thanks to a diving catch on the fly by Pablo Sandoval), Cashner stole second base, the first steal of his career.
About the steal, Cashner said, “I thought I ran the bases better than expected. Doc (First Base Coach Dave Roberts) told me to be ready for a ball in the dirt, and as soon as I saw Buster [Posey] go down I kind of hesitated a little bit right there, but I got lucky.”
Will Venable struck out, but Chase Headley singled to right field putting Cashner on third base and then Carlos Quentin singled to left, plating Cashner with Headley taking second. Yonder Alonso then singled to right and Headley scored and the Padres lead was 2-1 over the Giants.
Both starting pitchers held their ground. While Cashner wasn’t brilliant, he was quite effective, pitching six innings (83 pitches), giving up the one run on five hits and a walk while striking out five.
“What I think was really effective for him tonight – he got [Hunter] Pence out on it three times – was his change-up,” catcher John Baker said postgame. “You can take ten miles per hour off of the fastball, it looks like a fastball down, it becomes very, very difficult to hit.”
Tim Lincecum lasted seven full innings (105 pitches) for the Giants, giving up the two runs on six hits and three walks while striking out nine. Cashner gave way to Joe Thatcher and Dale Thayer in the seventh inning, and then Luke Gregerson came in to take care of the eighth inning.
“He’s throwing the ball well,” manager Buddy Black said of Lincecum after the game. “This guy knows how to pitch, this guy knows how to compete, this guy has been on the big stage, and tonight we beat him.”
George Kontos relieved Lincecum in the bottom of the eighth inning and got the Padres in order, while the top of the ninth inning saw Huston Street come in for a save opportunity. Street gave up two ground ball singles to make it interesting, but with runners on first and third and two outs, Huston struck out Brandon Crawford to end the game.
Andrew Cashner evened his record at 1-1 with the win while Huston Street earned his fourth save. Tim Lincecum took the loss to fall to 2-1. The Padres improve to 7-15 with their second consecutive win while San Francisco’s record is now at 13-10.
Notes:
San Diego Chargers wide receiver Denario Alexander showed up, donning a Padres uniform, and took batting practice with the team. Alexander just signed his contract tender from the Chargers on Tuesday. Denario was impressive with the bat, knocking two pitches out of the park. While Alexander didn’t play baseball in college (University of Missouri), he did play at his high school in Marlin, Texas, where he said he had a .490 average. Former Charger LaDanian Tomlinson played high school football at University High in nearby Waco.
On the injury front, still no progress with Cameron Maybin (wrist) who is still wearing a splint on his wrist. Manager Buddy Black indicated that no prognosis could be made concerning Maybin until the splint is removed and that there isn’t yet a timetable to determine when that will occur. Kyle Blanks is now fine and Buddy plans to start Blanks on Saturday.
On Saturday afternoon, the Padres announced that a press conference will be held jointly with both the Padres (representatives from management and select players) and the Primera Division Tijuana Xolos soccer club (representatives from management and select players). The nature of the presser is being kept under wraps, but the sports desk at The Reader is on it, and we’ll have someone there to see what the announcement is all about. Since it is well-known that the Xolos are eager to draw interest from the San Diego area, it would be logical to speculate that perhaps a soccer game is in Petco Park’s future if a soccer field could somehow be fitted onto the baseball field. Stay tuned.
The Giants and Padres will be back at it on Saturday, with a couple of left-handed pitchers going at it. The Padres will send out Eric Stults (2-2, 4.70) to take on Barry Zito (3-1, 3.42) of the Giants. First pitch is at 5:40 PM PDST, carried on radio 1090 AM and televised on Fox Sports San Diego. Para escuchar al juego por radio en Español, se encuentra XEMO 860 AM.
Andrew Cashner’s first start of the season was in San Francisco almost a week ago, and even though Tim Lincecum beat Cashner that game, Andrew pitched well in defeat. Friday’s rematch saw both Cashner and Lincecum pitching well enough to win but the result was different from the first match-up as the Padres squeaked by the Giants, 2-1.
The large crowd – an announced attendance of 34,929 – was made up of what seemed like half Giants fans, and they were vocal in their support. Another attraction for fans of both clubs was the fireworks show directly following the game, so a mostly full stadium was to be expected.
Angel Pagan greeted Cashner in the first inning with a sharp single to right field, and Pagan then stole second base. Marco Scutaro hit a ground ball back to Cashner and was thrown out, with Pagan taking third base.
With a two-strike count to Pablo Sandoval, Cashner delivered a wild pitch in the dirt that John Baker couldn’t get to cleanly, and Pagan came in to score. The Giants were up 1-0 before the Padres came to face Tim Lincecum for the first time in the game.
“I threw a lot of first pitch curve balls tonight. I’d kind of like to have that one back that I bounced in the first. I was trying to make that pitch right there and it just kind of got away a little bit,” Cashner said after the game.
In the bottom of the second inning, Lincecum walked Yonder Alonso to open the frame and Chris Denorfia followed with a single to left field, Alonso taking second base.
Jedd Gyorko came up and ran the count full against Lincecum and hit a shot into center field that Angel Pagan made an excellent diving catch to get to. John Baker then ground into a double play and the threat was over.
In the third inning, the Padres finally got on the board. Andrew Cashner singled to center field, and after Everth Cabrera’s unsuccessful bunt attempt for an out (thanks to a diving catch on the fly by Pablo Sandoval), Cashner stole second base, the first steal of his career.
About the steal, Cashner said, “I thought I ran the bases better than expected. Doc (First Base Coach Dave Roberts) told me to be ready for a ball in the dirt, and as soon as I saw Buster [Posey] go down I kind of hesitated a little bit right there, but I got lucky.”
Will Venable struck out, but Chase Headley singled to right field putting Cashner on third base and then Carlos Quentin singled to left, plating Cashner with Headley taking second. Yonder Alonso then singled to right and Headley scored and the Padres lead was 2-1 over the Giants.
Both starting pitchers held their ground. While Cashner wasn’t brilliant, he was quite effective, pitching six innings (83 pitches), giving up the one run on five hits and a walk while striking out five.
“What I think was really effective for him tonight – he got [Hunter] Pence out on it three times – was his change-up,” catcher John Baker said postgame. “You can take ten miles per hour off of the fastball, it looks like a fastball down, it becomes very, very difficult to hit.”
Tim Lincecum lasted seven full innings (105 pitches) for the Giants, giving up the two runs on six hits and three walks while striking out nine. Cashner gave way to Joe Thatcher and Dale Thayer in the seventh inning, and then Luke Gregerson came in to take care of the eighth inning.
“He’s throwing the ball well,” manager Buddy Black said of Lincecum after the game. “This guy knows how to pitch, this guy knows how to compete, this guy has been on the big stage, and tonight we beat him.”
George Kontos relieved Lincecum in the bottom of the eighth inning and got the Padres in order, while the top of the ninth inning saw Huston Street come in for a save opportunity. Street gave up two ground ball singles to make it interesting, but with runners on first and third and two outs, Huston struck out Brandon Crawford to end the game.
Andrew Cashner evened his record at 1-1 with the win while Huston Street earned his fourth save. Tim Lincecum took the loss to fall to 2-1. The Padres improve to 7-15 with their second consecutive win while San Francisco’s record is now at 13-10.
Notes:
San Diego Chargers wide receiver Denario Alexander showed up, donning a Padres uniform, and took batting practice with the team. Alexander just signed his contract tender from the Chargers on Tuesday. Denario was impressive with the bat, knocking two pitches out of the park. While Alexander didn’t play baseball in college (University of Missouri), he did play at his high school in Marlin, Texas, where he said he had a .490 average. Former Charger LaDanian Tomlinson played high school football at University High in nearby Waco.
On the injury front, still no progress with Cameron Maybin (wrist) who is still wearing a splint on his wrist. Manager Buddy Black indicated that no prognosis could be made concerning Maybin until the splint is removed and that there isn’t yet a timetable to determine when that will occur. Kyle Blanks is now fine and Buddy plans to start Blanks on Saturday.
On Saturday afternoon, the Padres announced that a press conference will be held jointly with both the Padres (representatives from management and select players) and the Primera Division Tijuana Xolos soccer club (representatives from management and select players). The nature of the presser is being kept under wraps, but the sports desk at The Reader is on it, and we’ll have someone there to see what the announcement is all about. Since it is well-known that the Xolos are eager to draw interest from the San Diego area, it would be logical to speculate that perhaps a soccer game is in Petco Park’s future if a soccer field could somehow be fitted onto the baseball field. Stay tuned.
The Giants and Padres will be back at it on Saturday, with a couple of left-handed pitchers going at it. The Padres will send out Eric Stults (2-2, 4.70) to take on Barry Zito (3-1, 3.42) of the Giants. First pitch is at 5:40 PM PDST, carried on radio 1090 AM and televised on Fox Sports San Diego. Para escuchar al juego por radio en Español, se encuentra XEMO 860 AM.