Saturday, September 7, 2024

McCray leads the way

SF 6  SD 3

Rookie Grant McCray had a big night: two homers and five runs batted in to power the Giants past the Padres. Logan Webb had to really work as San Diego's potent lineup tagged him for ten hits in his six frames but he held the line and managed a quality start. Sterling relief work from Tyler Rogers, Camilo Doval, and Ryan Walker nailed it down.

It didn't look good in the 1st when the Padres jumped on Webb for a quick two but the Giants responded with three of their own from the bottom of the lineup. A hit by Patrick Bailey, another by Brett Wisely, and then McCray got his first crack at glory and launched a two-out three-run bomb to take the lead. He got another chance with the bases loaded in the 4th but could only manage a no-RBI double-play grounder that upped the lead to 4-2.

San Diego dinged Webb for another in the 5th but he put up a zero in the 6th. It was a tight contest until the 9th when McCray, again with two outs, hit a homer, this time driving in Bailey who had walked. It was a sweet moment for the 23-year-old and for the ballclub. This is just the kind of thing the Giants need to see--the young players in the system "serving notice" for 2025!

Grant McCray is the son of Rodney McCray who had a "cuppa coffee" in the early 90s. He was a 3rd-round pick in 2019. The 4th-round pick was Tyler Fitzgerald.

Spencer Bivens is listed on the website as tomorrow's starter (1:10 PT). Kyle Harrison went on the 15-day IL. His season is likely over.

Go Giants!

--M.C.

2 comments:

M.C. O'Connor said...

Lee comes back in 2025. Ramos will certainly start in LF. Matos is still here. Now there's McCray. Let's have lots of athletic guys out there competing! Let's find us a real outfield for next year!

On a related note, what's going to happen to arb guys like Yaz ($7.9 M) and Wade ($3.5 M)? Are they going to get the J.D. Davis treatment? Seemed like a nickel-squeezing move at the time--will they be that way this off-season as well? If they pursue any high-dollar free agents then there could be some real payroll shuffling.

Just because they have a lot of payroll room doesn't mean they won't "cheap out" when they feel they need to!

nomisnala said...

Fitzgerald, depending on off season moves, could be moved to the outfield, or second base, or become a Dubon type of utility player, but with more power. Dubon has played all 7 positions this year, except pitcher and catcher, and he played most of them last year and won a gold glove. That seemed to be the type of player that Farhan used to love, could play almost any position, and save lots of money that way, so they could spend it on some actual significant positional players, or pitching.