The San Francisco Giants were able to break their losing streak on Friday against the Atlanta Braves and will look to start a winning streak as they start a two-game series with the Oakland Athletics on Saturday night.

The Giants lost four games in a row before Friday’s win. Though they are back to a .500 record, their playoff hopes have taken a huge hit thanks to their recent struggles. They have no hopes of winning the NL West and are three games out of a Wild Card spot.

If San Francisco can take advantage of an Athletics squad that has the third-worst record in MLB with a sweep, they’ll be feeling much better about their odds.

Tyler Fitzgerald has continued to be a huge source of offense for the team through their struggles, so they will be looking to him to keep the hits coming.

Fitzgerald has a slashing line of .350/.385/.683 in the month of August, making him the hottest bat on the team.

Taking the mound for the Giants will be rookie starter Hayden Birdsong.

Birdsong got off to a nice start to his career but has pitched very poorly in his last two outings. He and the coaching staff will be looking to do things a bit differently on Saturday.

He has a 17.05 ERA over 6.1 innings pitched in his last two starts. Batters are slugging an absurd .345/.424/.897 against him in that time. It’s a small sample size, but a worrying sign for the rookie.

The 22-year-old has given up a lot of home runs this season. Luckily for him, the Athletics are one of the weaker teams in the league in terms of power. It could be a nice matchup for Birdsong.

San Francisco’s offense will be taking on rookie Osvaldo Bido for the first time.

Bido, unlike Birdsong, has played his best baseball to start August. He has a 1.50 ERA over 12 innings pitched over his last two games. Batters are slashing just .195/.283/.268 against him.

The two offenses that he’s faced have been the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays, both of which have been better than the Giants as of late.

Oddsmakers have this one slightly into San Francisco’s favor as road favorites. The moneyline odds are -120 for the Giants and EVEN for Oakland. The runline is -1.5 with +145 odds. The over/under is at 7.5 which is a bit below average.

The San Francisco Giants have been superstar-hunting throughout the past few offseasons. Unfortunately, a lot has gone down since.

They couldn’t land Aaron Judge after reports that he was signing with the team. Carlos Correa also agreed to a $350 million deal before the Giants backed out due to a medical concern.

They landed Blake Snell, one of the top arms in Major League Baseball, but it’s different than landing a hitter. At the end of the day, hitting home runs sells tickets. The front office understands that, the fan base understands that, and so do the players.

There will be perhaps a bigger star than Judge and Correa on the market this year. Juan Soto of the New York Yankees hits free agency unless he gets a deal done within the next few months, and he’s projected to land a $500-plus million contract.

It’s uncertain if San Francisco would be willing to hand out that type of money, but given the success he’s found and his age, it’d be well worth the investment.

Some insiders believe the team will get involved.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post listed landing spots for the left-handed slugger, listing the Giants at No. 4.

“They showed interest in a Soto trade, and they’ve been trying to land a big positional star for years. Is a pitchers’ park a dealbreaker?”

Bringing up the ballpark is an interesting thing to talk about. Soto, who’s on the trajectory to be an all-time great, might be scared away by not playing in a hitter-friendly ballpark.

If he stays with the Yankees, he’d have the opportunity to play in one of the more hitter-friendly ballparks in Major League Baseball.

However, this situation is likely going to come down to money. If New York offered him $500 million and San Francisco offered him $575 million, he could prefer the extra $75 million

Agent Scott Boras has never been one to take less than he believes his client deserves. With Soto, who could genuinely reset the market for hitters, it’s safe to say that he’ll be searching for the top dollar available.

The Giants have some other holes they need to fill, so handing over $500 plus million to one player might not be the right decision. However, it’ll be a step in the right direction and could interest future free agents, which is very important.

If they want a star, nothing should stop their pursuit of signing one.

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — No other reporters were in the courtroom Friday besides the ABC7 I-Team, when the first man arrested under San Francisco’s latest bait car program received a plea deal. His car burglary victims are not pleased that 27-year-old Robert Sonza is being released Friday – time served, after 11 months in jail. Sonza has a record of car break-ins, running from police, domestic violence and more.

Dan and Linda Oldiges had their rental car broken into on September 1 of last year. They came from Indiana for a wedding, and parked in this lot so they could tour Alcatraz Prison.

I-TEAM EXCLUSIVE: SF break-in suspect seen in viral bait car video arrested by police

Dan Oldiges: “You’re in a busy parking lot with, you know, thousands of people all over. Usually, that’s not where crime happens. It happens at late, late at night and-“
Linda Oldiges: “Not in broad daylight.”
Dan Oldiges: “Not in good areas of the town, but this is a tour site.”

They lost cash, a $1,200 iPad, a $3,500 laptop. Police arrested 27-year-old Robert Sonza that same day, after he broke into another rental car and an SFPD bait car. In San Francisco Superior Court Friday morning, Judge Harry Jacobs approved a plea deal – two years in county jail for each of three burglary counts, but the sentences run concurrently. That means, with the 11 months he’s been in jail and with good time credits, Sonza is getting out today.

The ABC7 I-Team’s Dan Noyes broke the news to the couple, Dan Oldiges saying, “Well, I can’t say it surprises me, I mean, the people of San Francisco elect these people. They support them. Yeah, I don’t know what else to say. I- to me, that’s a joke.”

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San Francisco Public Defender Anita Nabha emailed us that Sonza has completed “over 300 hours of programming in custody… working toward college credits”, and that social workers have helped him “identify further opportunities for him to access upon his release.”

A probation violation was also part of this case. In April of 2022, police spotted Sonza driving a stolen SUV used in multiple car break-ins that day.

“The police sort of trapped him,” witness Patrick Rylee said. “This is a one-way street. They trapped him down there.”

Police had Sonza in a dead-end on Union Street past Montgomery, but he sped away, took out this garage on Alta Street, sideswiped cars, and returned to the intersection where Officer Riley Bandy had just pulled up. The I-Team obtained Bandy’s body camera video from that night.

“He just headed right straight for my car and tried to run me over,” SFPD Office Riley Bandy said. “So I had to jump back into my car to avoid getting killed.”

Then, you can see Sonza back up and drive down the sidewalk to avoid police, hit this staircase, take out this Vespa. He made it to Columbus and Broadway where he slammed into a civilian’s car injuring him. Sonza ran from that scene, officers finally catching him a few blocks away in Chinatown.

SFPD officer: “He was in the driver’s seat of our car when the car rammed our car. So, he’s got–“
Riley Bandy: “I can feel it. I’m starting to feel my back kind of lock up.”

Sonza injured two officers and that civilian. At first, prosecutors charged Sonza with several counts of “Assault Upon a Peace Officer with a Deadly Weapon”, “Hit and Run”, “Evading an Officer with Willful Disregard”, “Leaving the Scene of an Accident”, “Resisting Arrest” and a misdemeanor “Possession of Burglar Tools.” In a plea deal, all the charges got dismissed except a single count of “Evading an Officer”.

Prosecuting a SF repeat offender: How 1st bait car arrest gets out of jail again and again

Bandy told the I-Team, “I was really surprised to know that they, that they really dropped, you know, to know that they dropped almost everything.”

That court proceeding also included an incident from February 2 of last year. Police responded to the Japantown garage for a report of an auto burglary. Officers tried to detain Sonza as the suspect, but he fled — got in his car, ran over an officer’s foot, and hit a parked car. That case brought nine more charges, including “Assault Upon a Peace Officer”, “Burglary of a Vehicle”, “Hit and Run”, and “Resisting Arrest.”

San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said, “”I, too, am disappointed,” about Sonza’s release after 11 months in jail.

Dan Noyes: “So the bottom line is, you were pushing for more, but you didn’t get it.”
Brooke Jenkins: “That’s correct, we believe, based on his prior criminal history, as well as the conduct in the new case, that this should be stacked time, so that the old case and the time that he was facing for that should be stacked on top of what we agreed to in the new case, and the judge again, having reviewed his criminal history and heard our arguments, disagreed.”

Robert Sonza was also ordered to pay restitution: $10,000 to the Oldigeses, $4,000 to his other victim that night. But his public defender told the court he is indigent, so he won’t have to pay court fees but is still on the hook for what he stole from those two victims.

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Here is the full statement from San Francisco Deputy Public Defender Anita Nabha:

Today, Mr. Sonza was sentenced to a two-year county jail sentence as the result of a negotiated agreement with the District Attorney’s Office.

Since his arrest in 2023, Mr. Sonza has served nearly a year of jail time where he has earned other time credits for taking advantage of every programming opportunity at his disposal to get his life back on track. Social workers from the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office have also worked closely with Mr. Sonza to identify further opportunities for him to access upon his release.

Mr. Sonza is a dedicated son, brother, and father who intends to go back to school to earn more certificates needed to make him an appealing candidate for a union job. As a testament to his dedication, Mr. Sonza completed over 300 hours of programming in custody, which included working toward college credits. Before his arrest last year, he was in the process of completing an apprenticeship program to which he hopes to reapply.

Take a look at more stories by the ABC7 News I-Team.