Giants run out of late-inning magic

ARI 4  SF 3  (11)

Once again the RISP bug bit: 0-for-9 in those spots with eight men left on base. That's with only five hits (and five bases on balls) in eleven innings. It's amazing that either team scored at all as the D-backs had a mere five hits as well. Things started promisingly but the lineup could not get the big hit and that let Arizona back into the game. They scored the Manfred Man in both the 10th and the 11th and that was the difference.

It's Alex Cobb and Zac Gallen tomorrow night at 6:45 Pacific.

Go Giants!

--M.C.

 

p.s. Giants picked up A.J. Pollock for "cash considerations" presumably to be Mike Yastrzemski for the next few weeks. An AAA player (utility infielder) named Mark Mathias was part of the deal, he will require additional cash or a PTBNL (player to be named later).

Epic win in extras

SF 4  BOS 3 (11)

The Giants went 4-for-18 today with runners in scoring position, this after last night's 1-for-13, yet 5-for-31 (.161) was still good enough to produce two wins! It was a low-scoring series as the pitchers really took charge. Today Scott Alexander opened with a scoreless 1-2/3 and Ross Stripling followed with 4-1/3 scoreless of his own. He took a 2-0 lead into the 7th but gave up a homer to the first batter he saw (Adam Duvall). Lefty Taylor Rogers finished the frame but his brother righty submariner Tyler Rogers got dinged for two in the 8th (Justin Turner HR). The Giants tied it up in the bottom half and Camilo Doval took care of the 9th.

It was another frustrating day as the Giants left 14 men on base (12 yesterday) and once again could not seem to get the big hit. Fortunately young Tristan Beck was dominant in both the 10th and the 11th. The Red Sox never sniffed a run. In the bottom of the 11th Casey Schmitt was hit by a pitch and Brandon Crawford bunted for a single to load the bases (Patrick Bailey was the Manfred Man). Joc Pederson poked one through into right field and the Giants finally had their clutch knock. Back-to-back walk-off wins should get the home crowd excited, right?

That was an excellent series win against a tough foe. The team showed resilience and determination. Both LA and Arizona lost so the 58-48 Giants are in 2nd place, two behind the Dodgers and two ahead of the Diamondbacks. The next four games are at home against those D-backs (Friday is an off-day). Monday's game (6:45 p.m. PT) will close out the month of July (they've gone 11-12, 9-7 since the Break).

Go Giants!

--M.C.

Walk-off win evens series

SF 3  BOS 2

Camilo Doval blew the save and the lineup was 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position but the Giants managed a win nonetheless. A strong opening from Ryan Walker (2-2/3 IP, 1 H, 3 K) and superb long relief from Sean Manaea (4-2/3 IP, 2 H, 5 K) helped the Giants cling to a 2-0 lead. Tyler Rogers got the final two outs of the 8th before Doval's unfortunate 9th. It really should have been 5-0 or somesuch as the Giants had multiple chances throughout the game to add on and they could not get the big hit. The Red Sox got two in the 9th to tie it but a big swing by J.D. Davis on the first pitch from Kenley Jansen in the bottom half launched one off the fair pole for a walk-off win.

The Giants scored in the 1st on a leadoff single from Austin Slater and a double from Wilmer Flores (who had three hits total). Davis singled Flores to third base but the rally died there. It was a harbinger of things to come! Marco Luciano singled to open the 6th and came around to score on Slater's grounder but that was it until Davis' game-winning homer.

The rubber match is tomorrow afternoon at 1:05 Pacific. Starters have not been listed.

Go Giants!

--M.C.

Bats can't back Webb

BOS 3  SF 2

Marco Luciano got his first major-league hit and that's always a fun thing. Let's hope he gets a lot more. He was hosed in the 7th in a crucial spot by some poor umpiring. He correctly looked at two close pitches that were out of the zone but both were called strikes and it killed the rally. The Giants sent four rookies to the plate in that sequence. A spectacular play at second base by Justin Turner saved a run. If that ground ball had gone through it might have changed the outcome. The lineup just could not get much going--a familiar refrain these days.

The Red Sox got the big hit they needed in the 8th. Logan Webb departed with a man on second and one out and the team trailing 2-1. Lefty Taylor Rogers was summoned for lefty Jarren Duran who was replaced by righty Rob Refsnyder. He hit a grounder through the six-hole to drive in what was to be the winning run.

It was a frustrating loss to be sure. Today's game is a Fox Saturday broadcast at 4:15 Pacific.

Go Giants!

--M.C.

Back-to-back wins

SF 8  OAK 3

The Giants picked up a game on the Diamondbacks with a late outburst against the A's. J.D. Davis homered in the 1st to make the home crowd happy. Casey Schmitt doubled in the 2nd to make it 3-0 but Oakland fought back and tied it up against Jakob Junis in the 4th. A pinch-hit two-run homer from Austin Slater in the 6th made it 5-3 and with Alex Wood's three scoreless frames (5th, 6th, and 7th) the Giants were set up nicely. They tacked on three more in the 8th and that allowed Luke Jackson to finish up. Marco Luciano made his debut playing shortstop and batting eighth. He handled all his chances cleanly but went 0-for-2.

It's an off-day tomorrow and then three against the Red Sox over the weekend. Friday night's game is at 7:15, Saturday afternoon's is 4:15 (Fox), and Sunday's at 1:05 (all times Pacific).

Go Giants!

--M.C.

Giants edge A's to snap skid

SF 2  OAK 1

Alex Cobb threw six dominant innings in San Francisco tonight and gave the Giants a chance to win. They scratched out a run on a Casey Schmitt sacrifice fly in the 5th to take a 1-0 lead but couldn't hold it. Tyler Rogers, in his second inning of work, gave up a two-out RBI hit to JJ Bleday in the 8th to tie the game. Fortunately Mike Yastrzemski flashed his Veteran Savvy Clutchness with an RBI double in the bottom half to regain the lead. Camilo Doval struck out the side in the 9th to make it stand.

Whew! The team desperately needed a win. They got a win. That's good. That's very good.

Tomorrow night's game is at 6:45 PT.

Go Giants!

--M.C.

 

p.s. RIP Mike Ivie who died last week at age 70. He was the first pick of the 1970 draft (Padres). Ivie's two best seasons (1978-1979) were with the Giants. He was traded to the Astros in 1981 for Dave Bergman and Jeffrey Leonard.

Rookies spark comeback win

SF 6  PIT 4

The Giants started their longest road trip of the season with an impressive comeback win against the Pirates. Starter Ross Stripling looked better but couldn't finish the 5th and left with the game tied 2-2. Sean Manaea finished the frame and the Giants took a 3-2 lead in the top of the 6th. Manaea unfortunately gave up two in the 6th and had to be bailed out by recent call-up Mauricio Llovera. In the top of the 7th a leadoff double by Wilmer Flores and a walk to J.D. Davis set up Patrick Bailey and he drove in two (an OF error helped) with a single. That made it 5-4 and after Bailey stole second Luis Matos drove him in with a single. That was enough. An outstanding two-inning performance by righty submariner Tyler Rogers kept it 6-4 into the 9th where Camilo Doval turned in an effortless 8-pitch save.

It's a fine win to start the second half of the baseball season. As I pointed out it is really the remaining 4/9 (44%) of the season but as we know these games get increasingly more important as the calendar turns. Tonight's win was the club's 50th. With the Dodgers winning and the Diamondbacks losing LA (52-38) takes the top spot by a game over AZ (52-40). The 50-41 Giants are 2-1/2 games back in third place.

All-Star Alex Cobb takes the hill tomorrow (4:05 PT) in Pittsburgh.

Go Giants!

--M.C.

p.s. I'll be away from my desk for about the length of this Giants road trip. I'll keep an eye on things but I won't be posting. So keep the comments flowing!

The last time the NL won the All-Star Game . . .

. . . the Giants had a pretty good year.

So I'm taking the 3-2 win by the "senior circuit" to be a good omen for the rest of the season. The NL used nine pitchers for one inning apiece. Alex Cobb threw a scoreless 4th and Camilo Doval a scoreless 7th. Doval was awarded the win as the go-ahead homer was hit in the top of the 8th. Way to go, Giants!

MLB decided that the June draft should be moved to July and should happen during the All-Star Break. The Giants had the 16th pick and took another two-way player, this time a high-schooler named Bryce Eldrige. The second pick (#49) was another high schooler, lefty-hitting shortstop Walker Martin. After that it was Kent State southpaw Joe Whitman (#69) followed by two more college shortstops. Cole Foster (#85) is a switch-hitter from Auburn and Maui Ahuna (#117) is a lefty-hitter from Tennessee. Ahuna is from Hilo on the Big Island of Hawai'i. You might remember that I spent some time watching baseball in Hilo and I have a real fondness for the place. There are a lot of Giants fans in the Aloha State. In Hilo you can follow the orange-and-black on KPUA 670 AM. 

Here's a list of all the Giants picks (21 total). We are seeing players (Patrick Bailey and Casey Schmitt) from the 2020 draft class in the majors right now so we could to see some of these new Giants by 2026.

The games resume Friday--the Giants will be in Pittsburgh (4:05 PT).

--M.C.

 

p.s. Hilo High School's most famous graduate has to be Jennifer Doudna who shared the 2020 Nobel Prize (with Emmanuelle Charpentier) in Chemistry for their work in genetics (CRISPR).

5th inning: 9-9

1st inning: 6-12

2nd inning: 10-8

3rd inning: 12-6

4th inning: 12-6

5th inning: 9-9

Logan Webb threw his 96th career start* this afternoon and achieved two things: his first complete game and his first shutout. The Giants got a 4th-inning homer from J.D. Davis and with Webb's dominant outing that was enough for a 1-0 win. That's the club's 49th victory of the season and I'm a bit disappointed as I was hoping for 50 by the All-Star Break. Nonetheless the 49-41 record and .544 percentage is better than many people expected when the season started. Remember that they were 6-13 at one point and finished April at 11-16. They then went 35-20 in May and June including a ten-game winning streak. They also had a franchise-record streak of ten consecutive road wins. They swept a three-game set in Colorado (6/6-6/8), then back-to-back three-game sweeps of the Cardinals and the Dodgers (6/12-6/18), and the first game of the series in Toronto (a shutout against Kevin Gausman on 6/27). It was quite a run.

With today's win the Giants improve their July record to 3-5. Overall they are in third place in the NL West, three games behind the 52-38 Arizona Diamondbacks. They score 4.66 runs per game, putting them in the top third, just a little above the MLB average of 4.58 rpg. On the pitching side they allow 4.33 runs per game, good for 13th-best. If they are a .544 team then they project to win 39 more games out of the remaining 72. That would get them to 88 wins and right on the Wild Card bubble (just like they are now). If they can summon that May-June magic and be a .600 team they'll finish 92-70 which would most likely secure them a spot. Regardless they are going to have to play as well the rest of the way, and likely a little better overall, as they've played in the first 90 games.

But that's getting ahead of ourselves. Today was about Logan Webb throwing one of his best games ever (10 strikeouts, 10 ground ball outs, no walks) and the Giants getting a much-needed win. I should point out that Webb's 126 IP is the most in MLB.

The Giants return to action on Friday, July 14th in Pittsburgh (4:05 Pacific). Meanwhile, enjoy the break!

--M.C.

*It was his 99th game--he pitched in relief once in 2020 and twice in 2021.

Giants power past Rockies

SF 5  COL 3

It's been a rough homestand for the Giants but they bounced back today with a power-fueled win. A two-run homer in the 1st from Michael Conforto and another two-run homer in the 5th by pinch-hitter Austin Slater made the difference this afternoon. Rookies Patrick Bailey and Casey Schmitt combined for a run in the 4th to give the Giants the lead they would not relinquish. Much of that was due to an excellent long relief effort from southpaw Alex Wood. After a two-inning opening stint from rookie Ryan Walker (who gave up a run in each frame) the struggling starter entered in the 3rd and was sharp and efficient. He delivered five scoreless innings surrendering a walk and three hits while whiffing three. Tyler Rogers gave up a two-out run in the 8th but Camilo Doval had a quick 9th and that nailed down the win.

Alex Cobb was selected for the NL All-Star team (as a replacement for Atlanta's Bryce Elder) and so will join closer Doval in Seattle for Tuesday's showcase.

Logan Webb gets the final start of the first half* tomorrow at 1:05 PT.

Go Giants!

--M.C.

 

*it's actually the team's 90th game which is 5/9 (56%) of the season

Cobb leads the way

SF 2  SEA 0

The Giants had been 0-for-July until last night's tidy win. A strong start from Alex Cobb and the three-headed relief monster (The Brothers Rogers and Camilo Doval) snapped the four-game losing streak. There wasn't much in the way of highlights with the Giants barely eking out their two runs but the combined shutout was nice to see. Wilmer Flores had three hits and Luis Matos had two plus a walk.

It's an off-day today and then there's a three-game set against the Rockies before next week's All-Star Break. Friday is a night game (7:15 PT) while Saturday and Sunday are both day games (1:05). The rotation has not been announced but Logan Webb pitched Monday so I expect we'll see him on Saturday.

Go Giants!

--M.C.

Sabol's shots not enough

SEA 6  SF 5

Logan Webb had strikeout stuff, whiffing eleven in his 6-2/3, but the Mariners chipped away and it was tied 2-2 after seven. Blake Sabol's two-run homer in the 4th gave the Giants a brief lead. Lefty Taylor Rogers finished the 7th and his brother righty Tyler Rogers handled the 8th. Unfortunately Camilo Doval imploded in the 9th, his worst outing of the season, and a taut 2-2 affair was suddenly 6-2 Seattle. Blake Sabol struck again, this time a three-run bomb in the last of the 9th, but it wasn't quite enough. That's three straight losses. The team needs to find that winning mojo again.

It's a day game in San Francisco tomorrow, 1:35 PT.

Happy Fourth of July and GO GIANTS!

--M.C.