It was Patrick Bailey Bobblehead Day at the ballpark and the young catcher made the most of it, going 4-for-4 including a homer and two doubles to help the Giants to a bounceback win. Yesterday's stink-o start from veteran lefty Blake Snell led to a lopsided loss. Today's shaky start from rookie lefty Kyle Harrison was rescued by stellar bullpen work and a 16-hit attack. (The Giants need to get their southpaw starters going!)
I was particularly happy to see Jung-Hoo Lee get a couple of key extra-base hits. He led off the game with a homer and then smacked an RBI double in the 8th after a nine-pitch battle. LaMonte Wade, Jr. continues to rake, he's slashing .388/.483/.510 so far. But the day belonged to the backstop and his slash line rose to .340/.397/.560 with that almost-hit-for-the-cycle performance.
Harrison gave up six hits and three runs in four frames. At this point Keaton Winn looks more polished, and further along in his development. Winn is a few years older and played some college ball. I have to remember that Harrison is only 22! The relievers picked up the slack (unlike yesterday) and the lineup delivered a steady attack.
Tomorrow it's Jordan Hicks at 1:05 PT. It's a good matchup with Merrill Kelly.
Go Giants!
--M.C.
8 comments:
Bailey was probably going for the cycle. He was around second when his second double bounced over the fence. Sometimes catchers hit for a cycle, but not often.
Epic!
Gotta love catchers who can hit.
They said on the post game show that Bailey was only going to hit lefty from here on out. I did not know this. I thought he was still switch hitting. Anyone else know about this?
I had not heard that. He has only 12 PA as a RHB vs LHP this year so far. Murphy is a RHB so I suppose he'll start vs lefties.
Giants pick up RHP Mitch White. He's a former Dodger prospect from San Jose (also Bellarmine/Santa Clara). They see him as a Jakob Junis swingman type. He's out of options so if he gets added to the active roster someone will have to go down (Avila? Miller?).
Kai-Wei Teng goes back to AAA. Sean Hjelle takes his spot.
It's looking to me like the Giants are going to need a lot of middle relief this year if they are going to have any kind of success. They have Logan Webb as a starter, but don't seem about to let their rookies go much more than 5, Snell has no more than 6 in him, Cobb and Ray wii be coming off of injuries and Hicks is new to the starter routine. I watched the post game show yesterday and both George Kontos and Randy Winn think Hicks' and Harrison's 160 inning projection are are high. Maybe that's why the Giants wanted White.
The young guys have a lot to learn and there are a lot of young guys! I really like this group of young pitchers (Harrison/Winn/Walker/Miller/Roupp/etc.) but this team doesn't score enough runs to back them up. Yeah, they need some depth in the 'pen.
I never saw a 160 IP projection for Harrison, more in the 130 range, which I think is realistic. In fact, he might get sent down if he can't start missing some bats.
Hicks is a wild card. I figured they'd ride him hard until the All-Star Break and then back off and use him less when Cobb and Ray were available. Right now he's 5 starts/28 IP, but he's never thrown more than 77-2/3 in a season. I really like what he's doing. Trying to re-invent yourself at the MLB level is a tough task but he looks like he can pull it off. There are 139 games left--I think they'll pencil him in at least 20 times if he's healthy.
I think they will have to see how some of these arms respond. Harrison is a big thick kid, and although he is only 22 and it would be nice to keep his innings to a minimum, the giants need to see how his arm responds. With two seasoned pitchers possibly coming back, they could give a few guys a break from a start or two and still have them late in the season. We should get Jackson back in the relief corps soon. Some of our guys in Sacramento so far, are showing significant promise.
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