Alex Wood, in his Giants debut, was superb over five innings. Kap pinch-hit for him in the 6th with the Giants clinging to a 1-0 lead but Wilmer Flores flew out to end the inning. Wood had only thrown 61 pitches, 42 for strikes, but the opportunity to score some runs--the bases were loaded--was too big to ignore. "National League rules" force that sort of decision on the manager, obviously. Wood probably could have continued even though he's fresh off the IL, but I can't fault Kap's choice. Sometimes you have to go for it even if it potentially costs you somewhere else. The lineup was 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position on the day, continuing their season-long poor hitting.
The bullpen, however, stepped up. Four pitchers retired the next twelve batters and nailed down a terrific 1-0 bounce-back win. After last night's agony, it was a huge performance. Jose Alvarez pitched the 6th, getting three outs on 17 pitches. Rookie Camilo Doval made his major-league debut and blew away the opposition on only 11 pitches, getting two strikeouts. He has some seriously nasty stuff! It's exciting when young players get a chance in a big spot and come through. Caleb Baragar also used 11 pitches and got two whiffs in the 8th, and Tyler Rogers used 11 pitches to get the save in the 9th.
A lot of little things went right for the Giants today and they avoided the sweep. Miami, for some reason, is not a happy place for road trips. I'm sick of the damn Marlins and of course they are coming to San Francisco for four on Thursday. In the meantime we get to enjoy a dandy win.
Kevin Gausman gets the start in Philadelphia tomorrow at 4:05 Pacific.
Go Giants!
--M.C.
3 comments:
Doval's minors numbers: 163-1/3 IP, 117 H, 70 R, 4 HR, 34 BB, 233 SO (692 TBF). That's combined Dominican Summer League, Rookie League, A-ball (Augusta), and A+ (San Jose). No AA or AAA time. He was signed as an amateur out of the Dominican Republic in 2015. He turns 24 on July 4th.
Miami seems to be a team that has a jinx on Posey. I hope his injury is minor and that he will not miss too many games. 95+ directly into his elbow, I am surprised it is not broken. Seems as if our starting pitching came out of Spring training ready to pitch. McGee and Webb were not available for today's game, and still our pen shut down the Marlins. Two of our 6 losses this year were brutal. Game one, and Game 14. I just hope they continue to pitch nicely when the team decides to start hitting.
Yeah! Me, too. Get the bats going in Philly!
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