Wednesday, April 21, 2021

1st inning: 11-7

PHI 6  SF 5

The Giants had a real shot to win today but this time the Phillies fought back in the late innings and avoided a series sweep. Anthony DeSclafani was not sharp early and left after four frames down 3-0. The Giants rallied for four in the 7th, down 4-1 at the time, but the 5-4 lead quickly evaporated on a Bryce Harper homer. He also got on and scored the game-winner in the 9th. Darin Ruf had a pinch-hit three run homer in that big 7th inning, that's the fifth pinch-homer by the club this year. Camilo Doval was victimized by the Harper blast but there's no shame in getting beat by one of the best hitters in the game. The outcome was disappointing but once again the Giants showed their ability to fight back. Overall it was a good road trip as they split the six games in Miami and Philadelphia.

The first 18 games marks 1/9 of the 162-game season. The Giants put up an 11-7 record in their first 2021 seasonal inning and find themselves in second place in the NL West, just ahead of the Padres. It's the team's best start since the 2013 season. That season unfortunately did not end well as the Giants finished 76-86 after going 18-34 in June and July. It does remind us, however, that anything can happen. But we also know how hard it is for teams to recover from poor play early so it is exciting that they've come out of the gate this year in a strong fashion.

The Giants are home tomorrow for seven games, four against the Marlins and three against the Rockies. They then have an off-day before heading to San Diego at the end of the month.

Aaron Sanchez gets the start tomorrow night at 6:45 Pacific.

Go Giants!

--M.C.

 

p.s. It appears Donovan Solano will head to the IL as he pulled up lame running the bases. No roster moves have been announced yet.

2 comments:

nomisnala said...

The outcome partially came from bad luck. Solano would have scored on Dickerson's hit, but came up lame at third. Also a ball that completely skipped by Dickerson in the outfield, yielded an unearned run. Plus the Phillies had a whole bunch of infield hits. Yes the phillies left fielder and former giants, gave us one of those runs back by dropping a fly ball hit by Yaz, but it was not enough. I wonder if some of the bullpen were having days off, or folks did not feel well, as some of the late inning relief choices were a bit perplexing. 3 of the games that the giants lost this year, were games where they had the late inning lead. Still as you posted 11-7 in the first inning is not so bad.

M.C. O'Connor said...

All the games have been close. My favorite thing so far this year is how competitive the team has been. They don't get blown out. They have a chance to win every game. They've played eight one-run games and are 5-3. Their biggest loss was 4-0 and their biggest win was also 4-0.