SFGate

Exactly two months after trailing Houston by 12 games on June 18, the A’s on Saturday will have a chance to tie the Astros for first place in the AL West. Oakland trailed the Astros 3-2 in the ninth on Friday night before tying the game on a replay reversal in the ninth. Then Matt Olson led off the 10th by launching a 3-2 pitch from Tony Sipp over the wall in right. Home run No. 23 this season for the A’s first baseman cut Houston’s lead in the division to a mere game. The A’s celebrated a 4-3 victory in front of 23,535 at the Coliseum on Friday...

Both because he’s in his 10th big-league season and because he’s not someone who typically overpowers hitters, the A’s Trevor Cahill says he won’t get overamped for Saturday’s start against the first-place Astros and Dallas Keuchel. “I’m always a guy who’s better the calmer I am,” Cahill said in the Oakland clubhouse Friday afternoon. “When I start getting upset out there, it’s usually not a good thing. “Being a sinkerballer and a guy who uses his changeup a lot, I’ve got to relax and just pitch. … I don’t rely on anger to get...

CINCINNATI - The Giants want to take advantage of this so-called easier part of the schedule, a stretch of 10 games against teams that are in last place or close to it. We await one of three true outcomes. The Giants could go on an outrageous run and make themselves serious contenders. They could crash and burn and never be heard from again. Or they could split the games, a typical scenario in a season in which all roads seem to lead to .500. The stretch started with Friday’s 2-1, 11-inning loss to the Reds in which the Giants showed enough...

CINCINNATI - Rookie pitcher Dereck Rodriguez was one of the first Giants off the bench as catcher Nick Hundley and Yasiel Puig squared off Tuesday at Dodger Stadium. “Being in Puerto Rico and watching my dad over the years, you kind of know when stuff starts to heat up,” said Rodriguez, son of Hall of Fame catcher Ivan Rodriguez. “Once I saw Puig look at Hundley and start saying some words, I knew something was going to go down. “I had one foot out of the dugout, and when (Puig) pushed him, I took off. I didn’t want (Hundley) to be there by...

The Raiders are considering holding training camp in Reno when the team moves to Las Vegas before the 2020 season. Team President Marc Badain toured potential training sites Thursday at the University of Nevada and two high schools. He told reporters following the tour with Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve and others that he is committed to making sure the training camp is in northern Nevada. Badain said the decision will be based partly on where the team does its offseason training. He said the Raiders scouted three dozen sites before picking...

CINCINNATI - Casey Kelly is making his first start for the Giants Friday night at Great American Ball Park, and his dad has two wishes. His dad is Pat Kelly, the Reds’ bench coach. “I guess in a perfect world,” the elder Kelly said, “he throws six shutout innings, and we beat the reliever.” Pat Kelly has walked a fine line the past couple of days, trying to balance his gig in the Reds’ organization with the fact his kid is the starting pitcher on the team that’s in town to begin a three-game series. “You’re...

Warriors superstar Stephen Curry believes the Minnesota Timberwovles might have passed on him in the 2009 NBA Draft due to his love of golf.

Just like Steph, seventh-grader Amanda Kerner stood before a big crowd and knocked down shot after shot from five different spots on the court: 20 makes in 21/2 minutes, complete with a buzzer-beater. For one afternoon, Stephen Curry ensured that 200 girls in his camp had as real a chance as possible to try to be a little bit like him, down to the fancy dribbling work and competitive shooting drills he does daily alongside Kevin Durant throughout the season. Curry went nuts for Kerner’s success. Her summer? Absolutely made. “It was the...

Good news for the Giants. Bad news for the Dodgers. The commissioner’s office on Thursday suspended Los Angeles right fielder Yasiel Puig two games and fined for his role in Tuesday night’s brawl at Dodger Stadium. Giants catcher Nick Hundley was fined, but not suspended. The amount of the fines were not disclosed. Both players were ejected after a jawing match, which Hundley started, turned into a shoving match, which Puig started with two shoves at home plate. As the benches emptied, Hundley was restrained by Dodgers...

HOUSTON - Why was 49ers rookie right tackle Mike McGlinchey nearly impaled in the ground on his first snap against Texans defensive tackle J.J. Watt on Wednesday? Well, as it turns out, there was a reason beyond the fact that Watt is a three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year. On Thursday, left tackle Joe Staley provided a bit of context. Staley said Houston’s coaches had the 49ers offensive linemen and Texans defensive linemen run one-on-one run-blocking drills. Those were foreign to McGlinchey, who had only engaged in one-on-one pass-blocking drills...

The San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers are waiting to see if Major League Baseball will suspend Yasiel Puig and Nick Hundley for a batter's box tête-à-tête that escalated into a full blue-on-orange brawl Tuesday night. That gives us time to hear Giants right fielder Andrew McCutchen reflecting on the donnybrook as only Andrew McCutchen can.

LOS ANGELES - Much of the story of the 2018 season should be told by the time the Giants play the Dodgers one more time, at AT&T Park, on the final regular-season weekend. Still, the way the National League West has played out, those three games could determine whether the Dodgers win a sixth straight division title, reach the wild card or miss the playoffs altogether. The Giants still have a shot to play for something in Games 160 to 162. But it got longer Wednesday night when another late comeback did not push them over the top and the...

LOS ANGELES - What would the Giants rivalry be without Juan Marichal going after Johnny Roseboro with a bat? Or Reggie Smith climbing into the stands at Candlestick to take on a fan? Or Yasiel Puig vs. Madison Bumgarner, or now, Puig vs. Nick Hundley. "If you look at these two clubs, the history, there have probably been a few more of these," manager Bruce Bochy said Wednesday as he and everyone else awaited word from the league office on possible discipline for Puig and Hundley after Tuesday night's fight. Puig feels targeted, particularly by the Giants,...

So you’re in the starting lineup for the A’s, first inning, you’re getting loose in the on-deck circle, and — wait a minute, you’re out of the game? That happened to Mark Canha in Tuesday night’s game against Seattle, and the way he reacted said a lot about the A’s. Certain episodes make it clear that it’s all about the team. Only two batters had come to the plate when Jed Lowrie stepped in against Seattle left-hander James Paxton in the first inning and lined a shot that struck Paxton on his pitching arm. Paxton, later placed on the disabled...

HOUSTON - On Wednesday, in the course of an interview that lasted less than six minutes, running back Alfred Morris said “opportunity” on 11 occasions. So, any guesses why the six-year veteran signed with the 49ers on Tuesday? “I was waiting for an opportunity,” Morris said. “and they said there was opportunity here. So I came. Despite an impressive NFL resume, Morris, 29, was still on the open market in mid-August because he didn’t receive many attractive opportunities in free agency. He worked out for the Jets, but “didn’t...