Let's see . . . combine great pitching with lots of run-scoring hits and . . . it's a win! This is a formula the Giants should get behind. Team MVP Jordan Hicks threw another good game. He's the best move of the off-season so far. Here's a piece on FanGraphs about the adjustments he's made to move from the bullpen to the starting rotation. Mostly, he's sacrificed some velocity on his big sinker to gain more command. And he's added a splitter. His career path is an unusual one and so far it is paying off for the Giants. I like rooting for this guy.
The youth brigade of Ryan Walker, Landen Roupp, and Erik Miller closed out the last three frames. They were overpowering. Hicks was pulled after six innings and 79 pitches—it was 6-1 by then. A solo homer from Joey Gallo was the only blemish. Speaking of homers, the Giants did not hit one. But they did steal three bases, two of those in one inning by rookie Tyler Fitzgerald. He and the other fellow at the bottom of the lineup (Nick Ahmed) combined for six hits, five runs scored, and three batted in.
Jung-Hoo Lee got the day off. He went through a long slump after a hot start. He had two hits yesterday but he is still making too many easy outs. I don't think he'd missed an inning of the first twelve games so this was a smart time to give him a break. There's an off-day tomorrow and then they go to Tampa Bay for three. Keaton Winn is scheduled for Friday at 3:50 Pacific.
Go Giants!
--M.C.
4 comments:
As per several Cardinal blogs, Cardinal fans are not too happy with their management due to Jordan Hicks' early season success. Among other reasons.
Giants also fixed Manaea last year and he has gotten off to a good start.
Two of the errors yesterday came on technical issues. One was a catchers interference, on a check swing. I guess it still applies, but it was kind of odd. This was Bailey's third error of the year and an odd one at that. Then Chapman was called for blocking the base at third. I wonder if that was reviewable. As there were two issues with that call. One was that the runner was out by quite some margin, and last year I thought that was a mitigating factor on those plays, (last year at home plate only), and two on replay, it was quite a questionable call. The call that got Melvin kicked out of the game, was with 2 men on, and Soler up. The count was 2-2, and a low inside pitch which had been called a ball all game was called strike 3. Bye, Bye potential rally. I do not blame Melvin for that. With all that being said, even though it is early in the season, Melvin has not seemed to spark this team to victory. Let's see what happens over the next week.
I was confused by the call on Chapman, too.
And that pitch to Soler was clearly a ball. As you say, bye-bye rally.
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