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).