SF 13 PIT 10
The Giants lineup enjoyed a rare fruitful evening, battering Pirates rookies starter Clay Holmes for seven runs in the first three innings. (Holmes was born in Dothan, Alabama, birthplace of Matt Cain.) They battered reliever Casey Sadler for four more in the next three innings. Fun fact: Buster Posey had four hits in the first four innings! Former Giants pitcher Kyle Crick was crazy wild and generated some bad blood on the home bench when he drilled Evan Longoria in the 7th, that led to another run. Crick was a first-round draft pick (#46) in 2011 and went to Pittsburgh in the Andrew McCutchen deal. The Giants also got Joe Panik (#29) in the first round that year.
You'd figure 12 runs would be enough, and it was, but the Bucs battled back with three off Derek Holland in the first five innings and four in the 7th with a grand slam off Pierce Johnson (two runs were charged to Holland). Johnson was a first-rounder (#43, Cubs) in 2012, the year Chris Stratton was the 20th pick. I only mention that because new pitcher Casey Kelley, just promoted from Sacramento, was also a first-round pick (#30, Red Sox). That was back in 2008 when Buster Posey was the fifth pick overall.
Tony Watson had a rare bad outing in the 8th, giving up two more runs, and the Giants 11-3 lead dwindled to 12-9, but they added on in their half to make it 13-9, which was good as closer Will Smith gave up a run in the 9th. It was ugly, it should have been a cakewalk, but there's no sense complaining about esthetics when the team is desperate to put together a winning stretch.
The Giants have yet to name a starter for tomorrow's game at 6:05 Pacific. Let's hope they keep swinging the bats!
--M.C.
5 comments:
Turns out Buster's four hits in the first four innings is the first time that's happened to a Giants player since they moved to SF.
Ty Blach is scheduled to start, DRod tomorrow, and Madbum was supposed to face Kershaw, but the starters for the first game in LA is being called TBD by both teams.
Leonys Martin, who went to Cleveland at the trade deadline, is apparently out with some undisclosed medical condition. I wonder if that means Andrew McCutchen moves up the pecking order of potentially available veteran outfielders.
Giants newest pitcher, Casey Kelly, pitched well. That's about all you can say about tonight's game.
Kelly should have started instead of Blach.
Probably, but if you don't score runs it matters little who starts. It would be great if Kelly had a late-career bloom, Vogie-like. He was the Sox top prospect way back when and was part of the Adrian Gonzalez trade.
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