Matt "Tugboat" Wilkinson took the mound tonight as the opener. He pitched a 1-2-3 1st and pitched around a single-and-stolen base in the 2nd for a tidy debut. The bulky lefty from Canada made the jump from AA and faced his original organization. Tugboat came over in the Patrick Bailey trade. It was an auspicious start to the game and got better from there. Adrian Houser delivered a great long relief performance with five scoreless and Dylan Smith worked a two-inning save. It was the kind of pitching we haven't seen much of this season.
Rafael Devers doubled in the 4th and came home on a Victor Bericoto single and that was all the scoring. I was pretty sure the Giants were going to blow it in the late innings but they didn't. It's their ninth team shutout.
I think "Tugboat" is one of the best baseball nicknames ever. By the way he's listed as a right-handed batter despite being a southpaw. Madison Bumgarner was the same way. Of course Tugboat will most likely never swing a bat in the bigs. He turns 24 in December.
Go Giants!
--M.C.
p.s. Tonight's win was Game 126, the end of the seventh seasonal inning. There are a mere 36 games left in the season. This last stretch was a stinky 6-12 and the team is 52-74 (.417) overall. Here's the breakdown:
1 comment:
The fact that they did not blow tonight's game seemed out of character. I would have still kept my money on Cleveland, until Patrick Bailey came up with 2 outs in the ninth. I told my friends, either he will strike out by swinging at a pitch in the dirt, or he will take strike 3 right down the middle. He did not disappoint. Cleveland, like the giants has not had a great year on offense, but their pitching has saved them. With Cleveland almost a 63 percent favorite to win the game, it seemed like the rare chance for those who gamble to take a chance on the giants.
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