Wednesday, April 14, 2021

Giants shut out Reds

SF 3  CIN 0

Johnny Cueto had another excellent start this afternoon but after getting the first two outs in the 6th he gestured to the dugout that he had to leave the game. Giants were up 2-0 at that point. Caleb Baragar got the final out of the inning. Cueto's final line was 5-2/3 IP, 3 H, 0 BB, and 4 SO (20 batters, 68 pitches). It seems Johnny had a tight lat muscle and let's hope that he recovers quickly. He's pitched superbly so far this season and it would be a big blow to lose him. The Giants have an off-day tomorrow and then a 12-game stretch before the next off-day. Logan Webb, who pitched a scoreless 7th, might have to take Cueto's next turn.

Meanwhile the Giants lineup, befuddled at first by Reds starter Tyler Mahle, broke through in the bottom of the 5th with a single by Donovan Solano and a double by Austin Slater. Curt Casali pushed in a run on a fielder's choice but was later thrown out at home on Tommy La Stella's two-out single. No matter, the Giants created a third run on a couple of walks and a fluky bloop hit from Mauricio Dubon in the 8th. Tyler Rogers came on in the bottom half and walked the first guy but then coaxed a double-play grounder and an inning-ending grounder. Jake McGee was once again called on for the 9th and after a two-out hit from Joey Votto he whiffed Eugenio Suarez to end it.

The Giants reversed the result of Monday's loss and pulled off an impressive series win. Shutting down the high-flying Reds offense was quite a feat--Cincinnati's hitters scored nine runs total in the three-game set, having scored 66 in their previous nine games!

The team is playing good baseball and getting results: their 8-4 record is the fourth-best in MLB.

Anthony DeSclafani takes the hill in Miami on Friday at 4:10 p.m. PDT.

Go Giants!

--M.C.

9 comments:

Brother Bob said...

"Lefty" McGee is becoming a good story. Looks like we have our closer.

M.C. O'Connor said...

7-1/3 IP, 2 BB, 10 K and only one hit (Joey Votto!) allowed. He's pitching really well. My only concern is over-use. It would be nice to see the Giants win a few games that don't require nail-biting finishes. But that's being picky: winning is good, I shouldn't care about HOW they win games.

nomisnala said...

Pablo did it again. With the Marlins up 3-2, Pablo came up with two men on and on the first pitch hit a 380 foot opposite field home run. To give the Braves the lead 5-3. But this game has a long way to go. Back to what I was going to originally post. They are expecting a weekend heat wave in Miami, and temperatures are expected to get into the 90's. It has not been that hot in Miami so far this season, so it looks as if nature saved it for the giants games. It does not look like rain, but I am hoping the stadium will be closed because of the heat. The temps will be a big change from SF. and even from south Florida so far this year.

M.C. O'Connor said...

That's 3 pinch-hit homers for him so far this season.

M.C. O'Connor said...

Cueto goes on 10-day IL.

Ron said...

Y'all do realize that Jake McGee's Nickname is officially listed as 'Mac Cheez', which is a pretty damn good Nickname for a hard-throwing guy who has a name starting w/ 'Mc'.

M.C. O'Connor said...

Here's the link.

Oh, the possibilities . . . Big Mac Cheez, Quarter Pounder with Mac Cheez, Egg Mac Cheez, Mac Cheez-wich, Mac Cheez Griddles, Mac Cheez Nuggets (or would that be Cheez Mac Nuggets?) . . .

JC Parsons said...

Why does Mac Cheez bother with signals? Isn’t it like 95% fastballs? Worse than Mariano Rivera, but at least that was a nasty pitch, not just a pretty normal looking fastball. I guess I don’t see what his trick is... maybe a plus fastball is all there is to it.

nomisnala said...

When discussing the game with friends in South Fla. The guy we all agreed that we had to watch out for was Jazz Chisholm. The other day he turned on an inside 4 seem high fastball at 100 MPH. and pulled it into the upper deck. The giants have sure had their chances with men on third so far this game, and only once with a man on second did someone come through. Longo. Posey continues to slump in south fla.