A’s Drop Angels For Split

April 6, 2017

The A’s got a 4-run third inning on Thursday afternoon, and beat the Angels 5-1 to split their four game series with the Halos.

Andrew Triggs pitched into the 6th inning for his 2nd career win. Triggs, who has a business degree from USC, allowed just 1 unearned run on 4 hits in 5 2/3rd innings.

The Angels took a 1-0 lead in the 3rd on an RBI groundout from Albert Pujols. However, the A’s would strike back in the bottom half of the inning.

Marcus Semien tied the game with an RBI single off of Tyler Skaggs, and ended up at 3rd after a Mike Trout error. Semien would score on a sac fly from Khris Davis. Ryon Healy delivered the big blow after that with a 2-run homer. The A’s would add 1 more in the 6th on a Trevor Plouffe RBI single.

Liam Hendricks, Santiago Casilla and Sean Doolitte combined for hitless relief for Oakland.

The Angels generated only five hits, but pitching is the bigger concern again. None of the Halos starters went more than 5 innings in the first four game series.

Tyler Skaggs had gotten a victory in his first start each season from 2013-16 but that streak came to an end as he gave up five runs, five hits and three walks in 5 1/3rd innings.

Skaggs just seemed happy to be out there though, and was encouraged despite the results. “It was fun,” Skaggs said. “Besides the third inning, everything was really good.”

Mike Scioscia on the other hand knows that much improvement is needed. “We’ve got confidence in our rotation,” Scioscia said, “but they’re going to have to do a better job to get a little deeper into games.”

Dodgers Blow Out Padres Again

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April 6, 2017

The Dodgers got a pair of home runs from Yasiel Puig and beat up the Padres 10-2 on Thursday. It was the final game of a four game set with San Diego, in which the Dodgers took 3 of the 4 games.

Brandon McCarthy got his first win in his first start of the season. McCarthy went 6 innings, giving up 2 runs on 4 hits, while striking out 4. Luis Avilan and Chris Hatcher shut down the Padres the rest of the way.

The Padres only offense came on a 2-run homer from Wil Myers in the 6th, off of McCarthy. The Dodger right-hander underwent Tommy John surgery in 2015 and suffered from a case of the yips last year.

Dodgers’ outfielder Joc Pederson was ejected in the seventh inning after he slammed his bat and helmet after being called out on strikes.

Puig’s two homers came off of former Angel Jered Weaver, who was making his Padres debut. Weaver went 5 innings, allowing 4 runs on 5 hits.

The Dodgers will now travel to Colorado to take on the Rockies for a 3 game set. LA will give the ball to Hyun-Jin Ryu, while the Rockies counter with Kyle Freeland.

Lakers Surprise Spurs

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April 5, 2017

The Lakers went in to San Antonio and shocked the Spurs 102-95 on Wednesday night. Tyler Ennis started in place of the injured D’Angelo Russell and scored 19 points, and the Lakers snapped an 8-game losing streak against Spurs.

LA got off to a fast start and lead by as many 26 points. Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge didn’t play in the 2nd half.

“I didn’t want to overplay anybody just to win a basketball game,” Greg Popovich said. “It doesn’t make much sense in the long run.”

The win was probably a bad thing for the Lakers lottery chances. LA is now 1.5 games better than Phoenix. The Suns have the 2nd worst record in the NBA. The Lakers 2017 1st round pick is top 3 protected.

“They’re having fun,” Los Angeles coach Luke Walton said. “We’re trying to build momentum for this off-season and hopefully we can stay healthy and keep playing a certain way.”

The Lakers outscored the Spurs 58-38 in the paint. Jordan Clarkson scored 17 points, and Larry Nance Jr. poured in 15 points and 9 rebounds.

The Lakers return home to play the Kings on Friday night at Staples Center.

Puig Leads Dodgers Over Padres

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April 5, 2017

Yasiel Puig hit his first home run of the season, and Rich Hill pitched 5 strong innings as the Dodgers defeated the Padres 3-1 on Wednesday night at the Ravine.

It’s was a rough spring training for Hill, but he got on track in his first start of the season. He went 5 innings, giving up just 2 hits, and allowing only Hunter Renfroe’s solo home run in the 4th inning. Hill also struck out 5 and walked 3.

“I only threw 75 pitches and I made one mistake on the home run, but it’s early, and I felt good tonight,” Hill said. “I made some mechanical adjustments, and I feel good about it.”

Sergio Romo, Alex Wood, and Kenley Jansen pitched the rest of the way, shutting down the Padres. Jansen picked up his first save of the season by pitching the 9th.

The Dodgers took a 1-0 lead on an RBI double from Adrian Gonzales, which scored Corey Seager. Gonzales would score later in the inning on a fielding error from Padres 1st baseman Will Myers.

After Renfroe cut the lead in half in the 4th, Puig put the ball over the left field wall in the Dodgers half of the 4th. It came on a 2-1 pitch to extend the Dodger lead to 3-1.

“I’m trying to make better swings,” Puig said through an interpreter. “I’m not used to batting that low in the order, but it keeps me in the lineup so I have to do my job.”

The 4th and final game of the series will be on Thursday night at the Ravine. Brandon McCarthy gets the call for the boys in blue. The Padres will counter with former Angel Jered Weaver.

Clippers Move Closer To 4th

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April 5, 2017

Blake Griffin scored 32 points and the Clippers won their 4th straight game by beating the Mavs 112-101 at Staples.

J.J. Redick scored 25 points, DeAndre Jordan had 20 rebounds, and Chris Paul had 22 points and 11 assists. The Clips have won 8 of their last 10 games.

Harrison Barnes led the way for Dallas with 15 points. The Mavs have lost 6 of their last 7 games, and are out of the West playoff race. They have just four games left in the regular season.

It was the 3rd straight game that Griffin has scored 31 or more points. “We keep forgetting he missed a huge part of the season,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said. “He’s getting ready.”

The Clippers made their first nine shots of the game. After the first quarter they shot 61% from the field and had built a 17-point lead.

Dallas got within seven in the second before the Clippers extended their lead to 18 and went into halftime ahead 62-49.

The 3rd quarter saw Yogi Ferrell score 9 points, which helped cut the Clippers’ lead to 6. “They just kept fighting,” Rivers said. “They had a lot of reasons to say `game over’ and that made us keep playing.” The Clippers would re-group and go on a 17-6 run. That pushed the lead back to 17 heading into the 4th quarter.

After a Mo Speights 3- points, the Clippers had their largest lead of the game, 20 points. The Mavs would rally again, but they never got closer than 9 points.

The Clippers moved to within a half game of idle 4th place Utah. The Clippers have three regular-season games remaining while the Jazz have four.

Up next for the Clips will be Saturday night against the Spurs in San Antonio.

Angels Win But Richards Leaves

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April 5, 2017

The Angels knocked off the A’s 5-0 on Wednesday night in Oakland, but they have more injury concerns with starting pitcher Garrett Richards.

Richards was sharp in his 4 2/3 innings of work, giving up just three hits while striking out four. However, he felt some cramping in his biceps, causing him to leave the game. Richards insisted that the move was nothing more than precautionary.

“Nothing serious. My arm feels good. I felt good tonight, elbow feels fine, shoulder feels fine,” he said. “It was just kind of a long inning and it just kind of stiffened up a little bit. There’s no red flags or anything, just something that flared up. … Everything kind of moves on as planned.”

Richards underwent tests after the game, which revealed no major issue. He will be re-evaluated when the team returns to Southern California.

The Halos got the offense going in the 2nd inning in this one. Andrelton Simmons started things off with an RBI single, while Danny Espinosa tacked on a 2-run single after that.

In the 5th inning, Mike Trout and Albert Pujols had back-to-back RBI singles of their own, and that was all the offense the Lakers needed.

Jose Alvarez, J.C. Ramirez, and Yusmeiro Petit shutdown the Athletics the rest of the way to give the Halos their 2nd victory of the season. Ramirez picked up the victory.

Game 4 of the series will be Thursday afternoon. Tyler Skaggs will be going for the Angels, while the A’s will give the ball to Andrew Triggs.

Dodgers Shut Down By Padres

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April 4, 2017

The Padres got 8 shutout inning from Clayton Richard on Tuesday night, and they defeated the Dodgers 4-0 at Chavez Ravine.

Yangervis Solarte hit a home run and the Dodgers grounded into four double plays on this night. The Dodgers were limited to just 5 hits after exploding for 14 hits and 14 runs the day before.

“Clayton’s goal is to put the ball on the ground and he’s a high percentage sinker,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “When he’s doing that, he’s going to be tough.”

Corey Seager went 0-4 for the boys in blue, with a strikeout, and hit into two double plays. Kenta Maeda went 5 innings, and gave up 3 runs on 6 hits in the loss.

“It’s a long season,” Maeda said. “We still have a lot of games to play. I was a little bit too excited, being the season opener,” he said through a translator. “(Richard) really moved the ball well and kept the hitters off balance. He kept the rhythm off balance, which is something I wasn’t able to do for my team.”

Solarte also had an RBI single in the 1st inning to put the Padres ahead 1-0. As sacrifice fly from Ryan Schimpf made it 2-0 after the one inning. After Solarte’s solo blast in the 3rd, Will Myers tacked on an RBI single in the 8th. That was all the scoring the Padres needed.

The game brought back memories of the Dodgers’ struggles against left handers last year. “I hate to go back to last year, but it feels like they were anxious at-bats against left-handers,” third baseman Justin Turner said. “Not waiting guys out, getting mistakes over the plate. But we’ll get better.”

Game 3 of the series is on Wednesday night at the Ravine. Rich Hill will get his first start of the season for the Dodgers, and he’ll be opposed by Trevor Cahill.

Angels Rally For First Win

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April 4, 2017

Danny Espinosa hit a 3-run home run in the 9th inning to propel the Angels to a 7-6 victory over the A’s. It was Espinosa’s first hit as an Angel, and the Halos first victory of 2017,

The night was also highlighted by Matt Shoemaker’s return to the mound, after taking a line drive off his head late last season. Shoemaker pitched 5 solid innings for the Angels, giving up 2 runs on 4 hits, and departing with a 4-2 lead.

“He’s very determined,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. “He’s been very determined his whole career to get to this point. I think once he was physically fit, I think everyone felt that he would come back. He’s got the perseverance to get back on that mound and hopefully have the success that he had before.”

Andrew Bailey pitched a scoreless 8th inning to collect the win. Cam Bedrosian picked up his 2nd career save and his first of the season by shutting down Oakland in the 9th.

The Halos will be back at it in game 3 of the series on Wednesday night. Garrett Richards will take the mound for the Angels, in his first start May 1, 2016. Richards underwent stem cell treatment to repair ligament damage in his elbow. The A’s will counter with Jharel Cotton.

Ducks Win But Lose Fowler

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April 4, 2017

The Ducks outlasted the Flames on Tuesday night at the Honda Center by a score of 3-1 to move closer to a Pacific Division title.

Patrick Eaves scored his 8th goal in 9 games, and John Gibson made 26 saves, as Anaheim opened up a four point lead in the Pacific Division. Kevin Bieska and Chris Wagner also scored for the Ducks. The bad news was they lost Cam Fowler to an injury.

Fowler took a knee-on-knee hit from Flames’ defenseman Mark Giordano in the 3rd period. The Ducks’ top defender and ice-time leader had to be helped to the locker room.

“He’s one of our best players, and who knows the severity of the injury?” Bieksa said. “But it looked like he was in a lot of pain, so we weren’t happy with it, so we responded the way we did.”

The Ducks are getting thin on the blue line as the playoffs approach. Anaheim played without Sami Vatanen, and Hampus Lindholm before losing Fowler. The Ducks were actually down to three defenseman at one point on Tuesday night after a few penalties, which meant Ryan Getzlaf had to take shifts as a defenseman.

Calgary hasn’t won at the Honda Center in 13 years, which is a string of 25 straight victories for the Ducks. It is the longest winning streak in one arena against one opponent in NHL history.

The Ducks will host the Blackhawks on Thursday night in their quest for 5th straight Pacific Division title.

Kings Find Offense Against Oilers

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April 4, 2017

The Kings got their offense going on Monday night at Staples Center in a 6-4 win over the Oilers. The win ended the Oilers 5-game win streak, and put a dent in their hopes of winning the Pacific Division.

Trevor Lewis and Tanner Pearson scored 8.5 minutes apart in the 3rd period, and Jonathan Quick made 23 saves for the Kings.

The Kings also got goals from Nic Dowd, Nick Shore, Dustin Brown, and an empty-netter from Drew Doughty. It was just the 2nd time in the last 7 games that the Kings were able to defeat a playoff-bound opponent.

For the Oilers, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had two goals, while Milan Lucic and Daniel Nurse scored as well.

Cam Talbott made 20 saves for Edmonton, which is now tied with San Jose for 2nd place win the Pacific Division with three games left.

The Kings have three games left this season. They will return to action on Thursday vs Calgary at Staples Center.