The Giants outlasted a short-handed Angels squad in an excruciating marathon this afternoon in Anaheim, notching their MLB-best 48th win. It was advertised as a pitching duel, Shohei Ohtani and Kevin Gausman, and both delivered superb outings. The Giants picked up six hits off Ohtani, including a solo shot by Mike Yastrzemski, but he struck out nine in his six innings to keep them from adding on. Gausman was tagged for a solo shot by LF Luis Rengifo, but also stymied the Angels with nine strikeouts in his seven innings. More good pitching followed as both bullpens kept the lid on things until the 12th, when both teams scored, then the Giants broke it open in the 13th.
It was a crazy game, over five hours long, and the Angels actually ran out of players. They had to use an outfielder to catch, and a pitcher to play outfield. Their penultimate reliever walked three of the four guys he faced and their last man walked another and gave up two hits. The Giants waited just long enough, it seems, to get a mis-match! Steven Duggar provided the extra-inning heroics, driving in a run in the 12th on a double and two in the 13th on--get this--an infield hit! Mauricio Dubon and Mike Tauchman, the eight and ninth hitters, were 0-for-10 with nine strikeouts until the 13th, when Dubon walked and Tauchman homered.
Darin Ruf made a great play in the 12th to throw out the almost-winning run, it took a review to make it happen. He was in because Brandon Belt hurt himself running the bases in the 8th--Belt reached base on a bunt single and was later thrown out at home on a bad-luck carom. Ohtani batted second and was 0-for-3 with two strikeouts against Gausman. Since he was hitting that meant the Angels had no DH. The Giants became the only NL team in history to use a DH against an AL team that did not use the DH! Giants DH Alex Dickerson had three hits off Ohtani, he's the first guy to get three hits off him in MLB.
Like I said it was a crazy game. My recap does not do it justice. The Giants showed remarkable resilience once again and continue to play winning baseball. This team deserves a day off, and they'll get one tomorrow. They open a three-game series at home against Oakland on Friday at 6:45 PDT.
Go Giants!
--M.C.
8 comments:
Great starting pitching. The real momentum changer was winning run scoring by the Angels, and then having it reversed. That can really take the sails out of a moving ship. The Angels also could have had a walk off walk or two against Littell, but they did swing at ball 4, with the bases loaded more than once. They were not the only hitters flailing, as Dubon flailed all game, but surprisingly in several AB's the last two games, Solano did some swinging at some pitches either too high or too outside that Wilt Chamberlain could not have reached them. Tauchman coming to bat in the 13th, with 5 K's behind him already, and he did not even foul off a pitch as he usually does. He either took strikes, or was swinging at nothing but air. But with 2 strikes, he barreled one up and hit a 3 run dinger. I was thinking, 6 strike outs in a game would be a first. I hope Belt is Okay. Ruf continues to throw out base runners.
If I told someone that this game was a pitching duel and it was extremely close and the final score was 9-3, they might wonder what the hell I was talking about. Weird, huh? The Angels blew it, especially that guy who swung at ball four twice, when a take would have won.
Yeah the Giants should have lost this game about three times!
I've been really impressed with Ruf. He is not just a masher, he has a lot of baseball skills.
The Giants are using a three man announcing crew, Miller, Flemming and Shawn Estes filling in for Mike Krukow as color commentator on TV. Flemming did the last three innings and extra innings on the radio. They watch feed and do their broadcast from Oracle Park. Flemming is also contracted with ESPN, he called the evening game between San Diego and LA. He does that from a studio he has set up in his home. He had to abandon the radio booth for the 13th to get home, KNBR got the voices of Miller and Estes to close out the game.
Also, this week has seen LA get swept by the Pads. That doesn't move us any further in front of the Pads, but does widen the gap with the blue goo. Thanks!
But this week the pads have 3 games at home vs. Arizona, so unless Arizona has a new found resilience, it looks as if the Pads will continue to win. Finally, several power ranking systems have recognized the giants as number 1. I hope this is a blessing and not a curse. Even yesterday, after the giants win, watching the baseball channel, more of the talk about the game was about Ohtani, then it was about the giants. I realize that it is important for MLB to promote its stars, especially those rare international starts like Ohtani, but still the big story was the giants win. I hope Belt will be ok. The injuries just keep on coming.
Injuries are up all over MLB, it's not just the Giants. Giants of course rely on "older" players so they are perhaps a bit more vulnerable!
I noticed too that the game story was all about Ohtani, but that's OK, he is a one-of-a-kind player. I like that the Giants are not subject to the all the hype and the scrutiny like LA and SD. The pressure is always greatest on the teams that have the most expectations on them. Giants are rolling along, doing their own thing, and keeping cool about it. Just focus on winning and continuing to improve the ballclub and good things will keep happening.
Flemm talked on the air about having to leave early for his ESPN gig. He's becoming a big-time national sportscaster, which is too bad because I think he'll leave SF behind at some point. He's a good announcer and I'd hate to lose him. He has some real radio skills. TV guys don't have to do much for the viewer, but radio guys really have to work and keep the audience engaged. Kuiper has good radio chops, I enjoy it when he is doing the broadcast. Miller should stick to TV, he no longer stays on top of the action during his time on the air. Too many anecdotes and too many long-winded descriptions without getting to the point (like out/safe, fair/foul, strike/ball). The radio audience needs THE FACTS FIRST and the bullshit second. On TV you can see everything so the announcer can be lazy and off-topic. On radio that kind of sloppy inattention is fatal. I think Miller spent too much time doing national TV and he's forgotten that radio is a different animal.
Being that I live on the east coast and sometimes I get the game while driving home on satellite ratio, Miller at times drives me crazy. I know the play is long over by the time he describes if the player was out, or got a hit, or whatever. I think he does it on purpose. I like his voice, and I like him on television. but I totally agree that I want more precise and direct information on the radio. I was spoiled listening to the Les Keiter tape delayed giants broadcasts when the team moved to SF. That is what we listened to on the east coast. I also was able to listen to Mel Allen, Red Barber, and Phil Rizzuto do the Yankee games. Later Ralph Kiner, Lindsey Nelson and Bob Murphy do the Mets games. Prior to 58, I was able to listen to the giants announcers in N.Y. whom I enjoyed. Overall, I like the giants announcers a lot. They may seem a bit like homers, but other teams are much worse in that regard. I did like Vin Scully when listening to the bums games, and a few years ago, I was taking a tour of the Kennedy Space Center, and the woman tour guide, had the same intonations and inflections in her voice as Scully. It was kind of weird hearing those intonations in a female voice, yet I enjoyed the tour with the female Scully.
Miller does an amazing impression of Scully. Vin used to do both TV and radio at the same time, all by himself in the booth. Much like Bill King used to do with the Warriors, he called them a "simulcast."
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