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Monday, August 15, 2022 SECTION B

Giants nearly let sweep slip away against Pirates, but Thairo Estrada saves day

Tribune ConTenT AgenCy

SAN FRANCISCO — The Giants’ best, maybe last, chance at a postseason push is off to a good start.

With a sweep of the Pirates, completed Sunday afternoon with a walk-off 8-7 win, the Giants did exactly what it will take over their final 48 games to close the gap for the final National League wild card spot.

Thairo Estrada ended the back-andforth marathon with a walk-off blast to left field, only made possible after Mike Yastrzemski legged out a potential double play ground ball the previous batter.

Evan Longoria nearly played the goat, airmailing a throw to first base that allowed Pittsburgh to take a 7-6 lead in the top of the ninth, but ultimately played a critical role in the win, singling to lead off the bottom of the ninth.

San Francisco still trails San Diego by 6.5 games, with the Brewers in between them, but has a chance to make up more ground over the next nine games, all of which come against opponents that share something in common with the team the Giants just easily dispatched: a losing record.

Behind a solid start from Alex Wood, the red-hot wood of LaMonte Wade Jr. and some late theatrics, that is a designation that, for now, no longer applies to the Giants, who improved to .500 again with their three straight wins over the Pirates.

After taking over for Wood to start the seventh, John Brebbia faced four batters and retired none of them. He walked the leadoff man, No. 9 hitting catcher Jason Delay, and allowed a single before serving up the longest ball hit at Oracle Park this season to former San Francisco outfield prospect Bryan Reynolds.

Reynolds’ three-run homer landed 442 feet away, clearing the visitor’s bullpen in center

See Giants, Page B8

Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Alex Wood (57) pitches against Pittsburgh Pirates in the first inning at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Sunday.

Brian Peterson/Minneapolis Star Tribune/TNS photos

Zak Fellman, middle, holds the first bat that he carved as a kid, and his crew at Pillbox Bat Company, from left, Sarah Roberts, Carrie Frederich, Kyle Wright and Laura Sutton in Winona, Minnesota, Thursday.

Lifelong friends, baseball lovers now taking off with MLB memorabilia

Tribune ConTenT AgenCy

MINNEAPOLIS — When Dan Watson and Zak Fellman were 12 years old, they would go into the woods and find straight pieces of wood. They would shave them into bats using pocket knives for home run derbies with tennis balls.

Fast forward 25 years, and the lifelong friends came together to form Pillbox Bat Co., a custom sports memorabilia shop out of Winona, Minn., that pays homage to baseball’s history with bats, baseballs and other fan-driven products.

Pillbox is on the verge of breakout success after securing Major League Baseball licensing deals over the past 18 months. The company last month Some of the art bats hang on the wall along with a picture of Hall of Famer Tony Oliva, in the office at See Baseball, Page B8 Pillbox Bat Company in Winona, Minnesota, Thursday.

Romanian swimmer, 17, breaks 100-meter men’s freestyle record

The WAshingTon PosT

One of swimming’s oldest records toppled Saturday courtesy of one of its youngest stars, as 17-year-old Romanian swimmer David Popovici bested César Cielo’s 13-year-old 100meter men’s freestyle mark at the European Aquatics Championship in Rome. Popovici’s time of 46.86 eclipsed the former event record by 0.05 seconds, and he beat Saturday’s second-fastest competitor, Kristóf Milák, by 0.61.

“It felt great, and it’s very special to break this record which was set here in 2009 by César Cielo,” Popovici said via the Associated Press.

Though announcers declared Popovici the odds-on favorite entering Saturday’s final, his win hardly appeared inevitable at the halfway mark of the race, as he trailed France’s Maxime Grousset with 50 meters remaining. Popovici ultimately pulled ahead with a second-half surge, measured at a 24.12 split.

Cielo, the previous record-holder, complimented Popovici’s performance on Twitter, declaring that Popovici is “just getting started.”

Few swimmers have come close to Popovici’s impressive 2022. In June, he set the world junior record for the 200meter freestyle, notching a 1:43.21 time at the 2022 world championships in Budapest. And his 100-meter record is a half-second faster than any other swimmer’s time this year.

Popovici will have a chance to improve on his world junior record in the 200-meter freestyle final Monday afternoon after finishing with the event’s fastest time in Sunday’s semifinal.

Through Sunday’s races, Popovici’s victory stands as Romania’s lone medal, while Italy holds a commanding lead over the rest of its European counterparts with 25 total medals. The European Aquatic Championship concludes Wednesday.

Irvin struggles as Astros sweep Oakland with 6-3 win

Tribune ConTenT AgenCy

Two weeks after Cole Irvin’s sharp pitching led to the Astros being swept in a series for the first time since last September, the American League leaders and right-hander Cristian Javier flipped the script on the A’s this weekend in Houston.

Irvin struggled Sunday as the Astros beat the last-place A’s 6-3 for the three-game series sweep.

Javier (6-8) allowed only one hit and walked three batters while striking out six in six innings of work en route to the A’s eighth consecutive loss.

Irvin (6-10) has been one of the best pitchers in the MLB since July, posting a 1.88 ERA entering Sunday’s game. But the Astros were able to get to him early, with Alex Bregman smacking a two-run homer to left field in the first that put Houston up early.

In the next inning, the Astros continued to do damage. Irvin gave up back-to-back singles to Chas McCormick and Christian Vazquez before José Altuve hit a two-run double to give Houston a 4-0 lead.

Irvin settled in as the game went on, retiring nine of 11 batters over the third, fourth and fifth innings. The Astros added another run to the board in the sixth inning after Christian Vazquez hit a single to left field that sent Kyle Tucker home.

Irvin, who’d allowed three or fewer runs in each of his last seven starts, finished with eight hits and one walks while recording only one strikeout in six innings. The Astros’ five earned runs were the most Irvin allowed in more than six weeks.

The A’s have now given up five or more runs in eight games this month and 11 since the All-Star break.

Oakland’s offense struggled to get anything going, which has been the case this entire series. They failed to

See Oakland, Page B8

How Tom Brady navigates life, football at 45

Tribune ConTenT AgenCy

TAMPA, Fla. — Before ending his retirement and returning to the Bucs, Tom Brady knew he had to make better use of his timeouts.

At 45, the needs of his growing family – wife Gisele and three children, Jack (14), Benjamin (12) and Vivian (9) –– have increased.

His business empire now includes a clothing line (BRADY), production company, the TB12 healthy and fitness company with trainer Alex Guerrero and the NFT company, Autograph. In the offseason, he produced and starred in a film, 80 for Brady.

For a guy who has always beaten the clock, the hours and minutes that make up Brady’s day have become a precious commodity.

Brady has been excused from training camp until sometime after the Bucs’ preseason game at Tennessee on Aug. 20.

That announcement came Thursday from coach Todd Bowles when Brady was excused from his third practice in a week for what the Bucs have termed “personal reasons.”

“He’s going to deal with some personal things,” Bowles said. “This is something we talked about before training camp started. We allotted this time because he wanted to get in and get chemistry with the