SF 2 PIT 1 (11)
Undefeated in July! This afternoon in Pittsburgh the orange-and-black eked out a very Giants-y win, scratching and clawing and finally prevailing after 11 innings. It's a win that depended on a shut-down 'pen and a patient lineup. Sometimes the other guy has to crack first, and that's just what happened when Daniel Hudson threw a wild pitch to Buster Posey and Denard 'I'm on Fire' Span scored the go-ahead run. Kudos to FNG Austin Slater for breaking up Pirates starter Chad Kuhl's no-hit bid with a solo shot in the 6th to tie the game at one apiece. He's raking a cool .333/.385/500 in 91 PA. Matt Moore walked six in 5-2/3 yet somehow pitched around it and only allowed the one run (McCutcheon scoring on a Bell single) in the 3rd inning. That means the club delivered (Kontos, Okert, Strickland, Osich, Dyson 5-1/3 IP) eight scoreless frames after that. Play like contenders!
--M.C.
p.s. George Kontos has looked particularly good lately and Jae-gyun Hwang got a pinch-hit double after a gritty effort. Accentuate the positive, right?
2 comments:
giants got away with a ton of walks. They had been in the bottom 3 of walks given up, this game may change that. Last year, giving up very few walks while accepting many, was a key offensive weapon during the first half of the season. Has not been quite the lopsided statistic this year. Is there any chance that the giants can get back into the wild card race?
Let's put it like this: the Giants have 79 games left and if they go 49-30 or .620 ball that will get them to 81 wins or .500 for the season. So if they can play BETTER than .620 ball (say 55-24 or .696) then maybe they'll win 87 games and be the second wild card like last season.
A chance? Sure, anything is possible. A good chance? No, I'd say highly improbable. But they can certainly do better than .386 and last place.
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