The Giants were staring into the abyss of a sweep at the hands of the worst team in MLB when they broke out for six runs in the 8th inning this afternoon in Cincinnati and hung on to win. A two-out RBI single from Joc Pederson was followed by a cathartic three-run homer from Evan Longoria and the Giants went from down 2-0 to up 4-2. Brandon Crawford kept it alive with a walk, Thairo Estrada singled, and Luis González drove them both home with a double. They needed all of it because Camilo Doval gave up a two-out, two-run homer in the 9th but also managed to get the third out and seal the deal. The bullpen has been a real adventure, wouldn't you say? Alex Cobb pitched well, striking out eight in six frames, and giving up only two runs (and it really should have been one) on four hits.
On Friday night the Giants were feeble against hard-throwing rookie Grant Ashcraft and the Reds wore down a wonky Carlos Rodón and won 5-1. It was a weird game that got even weirder when Kap tried to put in a recently re-activated Jake McGee and was told he wasn't on the lineup card! José Álvarez was summoned and he gave up two runs. Kap said "we fucked up" in the post-game interview. Yeah, that's about right. They bleeped the f-word of course.
On Saturday the Giants went 3-for-16 with runners in scoring position and had the game-tying run thrown out at the plate to end the game. Alex Wood gave up a three-run homer in the 1st but then he and Dominic Leone and Tyler Rogers followed with eight scoreless only to lose 3-2. It was a very frustrating game to say the least.
Today they managed to win despite the silly start time (0830 PDT). It looked bad for most of the morning--the Giants got their first hit in the 7th--but it turned out OK. It's been a rough month. Despite the 11-14 record they have 25 wins which is better than 18 of the 30 teams! Hey, I'm looking for positives here. Tomorrow they play in Philadelphia at 1:05 Pacific and Logan Webb takes the hill.
Go Giants!
--M.C.
2 comments:
The tv showed quite a spirited discussion between Gabe Kapler and Mini Me in the dugout right after the Jake McGee incident. One can only imagine the exchange. The Reds are clearly a better team than their record, not surprising as they were playing at a .250 clip earlier. Still, it is reminiscent of those many times when the Giants seemed to play up to the level of a good opponent and down to the level of a bad opponent. Oh, well, on to Philadelphia!
Yeah I saw that. One of the reporters asked Kap "isn't that the bench coach's job?" but he did not take the bait and throw Correa under the bus. Kap is big on "we" and pushes hard on the "we do this together" narrative. Bosses are supposed to take the heat and not blame subordinates and I like that about Kapler. He really does believe in a "team effort." It's not just talk.
There are rumblings in Philly about Girardi. The team is "under-performing" AGAIN. Must be the manager's fault!
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