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KEITHSRAKOCIC—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS San Francisco Giants' Nori Aoki gets a base hit to lead off the ninth inning of a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Thursday in Pittsburgh. The Pirates won 4-0. ByCarlSteward BayAreaNewsGroup PITTSBURGH Much-neededoffensive reinforcement Marlon Byrd will ar- rive at PNC Park Friday to join the Giants. Maybe, just maybe, his new teammates will show up as well. It was almost as if the Giants weren't here yet, either, in a 4-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates that had so little to offer that manager Bruce Bochy's postgame press conference lasted less than two minutes and a handful of questions. It was far cry from the Giants' last appearance at PNC, when they rolled to a National League wild-card game victory 8-0 last October 1 that launched them on their 2014 World Series run. Pirates starter Charlie Morton (8-4) shackled San Francisco on four hits over the first 6 2/3 in- nings, walking two and striking out eight, and the Jared Hughes and Tony Watson finished the job out of the bullpen, allowing two more Giants singles the rest of the way. "We just couldn't generate any of- fense," said Bochy. "Their guy (Mor- ton) was really good." There's another way to look at it. The Giants offense just hasn't been up to snuff since Hunter Pence strained his left oblique on Monday night. They have lost three of the first four games on this rough road trip against the National League Central's two best teams, the Cardinals and Pi- rates, and they've scored six runs in the four games. There is little margin for error the way the bats are going, particu- larly the important ones. No. 3 hit- ter Brandon Belt is 2 for 14 on the trip. Cleanup man Buster Posey is 2 for 13. They have one RBI between them, and that came when Belt was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. GIANTS SFblankedbyMorton,Pirates TeamtradesforByrdtogetoffensivehelp PIRATES4,GIANTS0 Up Next: Giants at Pittsburgh When: Friday, 4:05 p.m. TV: CSN THESCORE By Joedy McCreary The Associated Press GREENSBORO, N.C. Tiger Woods kept saying his game was getting better, even though his results didn't show it. On his first day at the Wynd- ham Championship, his score fi- nally did. Woods had his best round in more than two years Thursday, shooting a 6-under 64. Two-time heart transplant re- cipient Erik Compton, William McGirt and Tom Hoge shared the first-round lead at 62. Morgan Hoffman, Jim Herman and Derek Ernst followed at 63, and Martin Kaymer, Davis Love III and Carl Pettersson joined Woods at 64. It was Woods' lowest score on the PGA Tour since a 61 in the sec- ond round of the WGC-Bridges- tone Invitational in 2013. He and the others took ad- vantage of a low-scoring day at what he called a "tricky" Donald Ross-designed course at Sedge- field Country Club that gave up GOLF Woods has best round in 2 years His 64 puts him 2 strokes off the lead at Wyndham By Joseph Wilson The Associated Press BARCELONA,SPAIN Chris Froome will be racing both for and against history when the Spanish Vuelta starts Saturday. The Tour de France champion is aiming to become the third cy- clist to win both the Tour and the Vuelta in the same season, after Jacques Anquetil (1963) and Ber- nard Hinault (1978). However Froome will need to improve on his past Vuelta perfor- mances, which yielded two run- ner-up finishes. The 30-year-old Froome estab- lished himself as a rising talent in 2011 when he finished second behind winner Juanjo Cobo as a teammate of Bradley Wiggins, the Sky team's then leader. Last year, he was beaten only by Alberto Contador, who will not attempt to defend his title after winning the Giro d'Italia and tiring at the Tour this summer. Froome also will be battling fatigue from the Tour that fin- CYCLING Froome aims to add Vuelta to Tour title Three weeks into San Fran- cisco 49ers training camp, and 10distant months since leaving Australian rugby- league stardom, Jarryd Hayne has gained a sense of belong- ing among his NFL peers. 49ERS Hayneadjusting to the 49ers, NFL FULL STORY ON PAGE B2 By Josh Dubow The Associated Press NAPA Christian Ponder is under no illusions about what kind of re- action he'll get when he returns to Minnesota. "I would expect some boos probably," Ponder said. Ponder even joked that he might even respond to the ex- pected harsh treatment with a bow when he takes on the Vikings in an exhibition game for the Oak- land Raiders on Friday night. The game comes just over four years after the Vikings selected Ponder 12th overall, three years after he helped take Minnesota to the playoffs and two years after he lost his starting job. It's been a rapid fall for Ponder from potential quarterback of the future in Minnesota to likely clip- board holder in Oakland as the backup to Derek Carr. Ponder ac- cepts the blame for his struggles. "I just didn't play well," he said. "I didn't play as well as I should have. (Matt) Cassel did well when he stepped in when I got hurt and they had a different plan going forward. It's unfortunate it didn't work out. I missed that opportu- nity but that's in the past. I'm tak- ing advantage of my chance here." Ponder has fared well so far, running with the first team for much of the offseason program while Carr dealt with an injury and throwing a touchdown pass in the exhibition opener for Oak- land last week against the St. Louis Rams. Ponder also serves as a valu- able sounding board for a second- year player in Carr, having gone through many of the same expe- NFL PONDER EXPECTS BOOS IN MINNESOTA Raiders quarterback was selected 12th overall just over four year ago by Vikings Oakland Raiders quarterback Christian Ponder (9) looks to pass from the pocket in the second quarter against the St. Louis Rams at O.co Coliseum in Oakland last week. PHOTOS BY ANDA CHU — BAY AREA NEWS GROUP Oakland Raiders quarterback Christian Ponder threw for 2,935yards with 18touchdowns, 12interceptions and an 81.2passer rating his second season as the Minnesota Vikings made it to the playoffs behind Adrian Peterson's 2,097-yard rushing season. "I didn't play as well as I should have. (Matt) Cassel stepped in when I got hurt and they had a different plan going forward..." – Christian Ponder, Oakland Raiders quarterback. The U.S. stock market en- dured its worst performance in 18months on Thursday, driven lower by another slump in Chinese shares and heavy selling by technical traders. WALL STREET Worst day in 18 months for stock market FULL STORY ON PAGE B5 The Red Bluff Derby Girls roller derby team will host two bouts Saturday evening at the Tehama District Fairground, a benefit for the Red Bluff Kiwanis. Doors open at 4:30 p.m., bouts start at 5:30p.m. FAIRGROUNDS Derby Girls plan double bill of bouts Saturday RAIDERS AT MINNESOTA When: Saturday, 5 p.m. TV: FOX TUNEIN Get your puzzles fix with the NEA Crossword, 7Little Words and Celebrity Cipher, start your day off right with your horoscope, and read the latest advice doled out by Amy Dickinson. YOUR DAILY BREAK Fun and games inside today PAGE B4 RAIDERS PAGE 2 GOLF PAGE 2 CYCLING PAGE 2 GIANTS PAGE 2 SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Friday, August 21, 2015 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1