Detroit Downer

The alarmingly punchless Giants lineup could not overcome the lowly Tigers this afternoon and they split the two-game series with a win apiece. The Giants hung on to win 4-3 on Tuesday night behind six shutout innings from Carlos Rodón. The bullpen was shaky but Camilo Doval managed to close it out. Today they took a 1-0 lead on an Evan Longoria homer in the 1st but could not get anything else going until the 7th when they got a run on a fielder's choice. The Tigers tied the score against Alex Wood in the 4th and put two on in the 6th. Wood got a double play grounder (and a reprieve from the manager) and it looked like he would escape the inning. Alas, he gave up a two-run homer to the next guy and that was enough for a 3-2 loss. The hitters are not hitting the baseball very well and it is starting to show. This should have been a mismatch for the Giants. Beating up on weaker teams is a time-honored way to stay in a playoff chase. I thought we'd see a livelier effort from the home squad today!

Tomorrow is an off-day. They close out the month of June with a 13-13 record. Let's hope they get out of this funk and make July a winning month! The Chicago White Sox come to town Friday for three. Alex Cobb goes Friday night at 7:15, Logan Webb goes Saturday at 1:05, and Anthony DeSclafani goes Sunday, also a day game with a 1:05 start (all times PT).

Go Giants!

--M.C.

4th inning: 10-8

1st inning: 13-5

2nd inning: 9-9

3rd inning: 7-11

4th inning: 10-8

overall: 39-33, .542, 3rd place, 6 GB

Losing two of three to the Reds has to be the low point of the month especially after today's god-awful result (10-3 Cincy). Anthony DeSclafani continues to struggle—this time it was a seven-run meltdown in the 3rd.

The Giants lost on Friday night 4-2 in a game memorable for its lack of memorable-ness. The Giants offense simply could not handle Graham Ashcraft and they faded feebly after they fell behind in the 2nd. The lineup clobbered Mike Minor and reliever Jared Solomon 9-2 on Saturday so one could be forgiven for optimism about today's game. Alas, they stunk and failed to win their 40th game and fell further behind in the West. Last year at this time the team was 46-26 which was the best record in MLB.

At least this inning featured a very nice sweep of the Dodgers. And they've inched back above .500 and maybe we can see that pace pick up a bit and keep going. The Giants have played a lot of close games and are 9-14 in games decided by one run. Some of that is execution of course but some of it is bad luck and I think things will even out over the long haul and the team will catch some of the breaks that have gone against them.

Off-day tomorrow. The Tigers come to town for two starting Tuesday at 6:45 Pacific. Carlos Rodón takes the hill.

Go Giants!

--M.C.

Giants rue missed chances

Three losses in four games in Atlanta is a tough pill to swallow. It should have been a split at the very least and could easily have gone the other way. The Giants got two dominant starts and lost both games, last night in particularly gut-wrenching fashion. This afternoon they fell behind early and the comeback wasn't enough.

Carlos Rodón was superb on Wednesday allowing only three hits, one walk, and one run in seven innings. He struck out ten. Of his 91 pitches there were 23 swings-and-misses. Charlie Morton was also excellent, giving up three hits and two runs and whiffing eleven over seven frames. The Giants took a 3-1 lead to the 9th but a bullpen meltdown gave it away and the Braves walked off with a 4-3 win. The Giants have lost four of their last five and three have been walk-offs. Jake McGee made the mess and Tyler Rogers gave up the game-winning hit. Some really poor umpiring behind the plate cost the Giants at least one strikeout in that fateful bottom of the 9th.

Today Alex Wood had his worst outing of the season. He gave up six runs and didn't finish the 2nd inning. The bullpen did a great job (one run allowed the rest of the way) and the Giants fought back to make it close. The final was 7-6 Braves. The lineup had 13 hits plus two walks and two HBPs but also grounded into four double plays. The Giants were 5-for-13 with RISP and left eight men on.

In other news the Giants traded Steven Duggar. He was finishing his rehab assignment and due to return to the active list and with the injury to Luis González it seemed like they would just plug him in to that spot. But LaMonte Wade, Jr. is also nearing a return so perhaps they wanted him instead. With so many lefty hitters in the outfield mix it is not surprising they moved on from Duggar. What's weird is they traded him for Willie Calhoun, a lefty outfielder from the Rangers. Calhoun is from Vallejo and played baseball at Benicia High. He's a power hitter and lacks Duggar's defensive skills and versatility so I'm not sure where he fits. It looks like they are sending him to AAA (he has an option left). Maybe they can tweak his swing or something and get him back to where he was a few years ago when he hit 21 HR in 83 G. I like Duggar and hate to see him go but he will probably get a better opportunity in Texas (he's listed on their ML roster) so good for him.

The Reds come to San Francisco for the weekend. The series opens tomorrow night at 7:15 Pacific. Alex Cobb gets the start.

Go Giants!

--M.C.

All kinds of baseball

If you like an old-fashioned pitchers duel you would have loved Monday's 2-1 game in Atlanta. Max Fried started for the Braves and he kept the Giants off the board until the 8th inning. His final line (7 5 1 1 2 8) was almost identical to Logan Webb's (7 6 1 1 0 7) who was also brilliant, allowing just a solo homer in the 2nd. The Braves scored the game-winner in the bottom of the 9th off Camilo Doval. It was a nail-biter the whole way but frustrating as the Giants had lots of chances and couldn't seem to get the big knock.

Last night we got the opposite story: a 12-10 slugfest, this time the Giants coming out on top. FNG catcher Austin Wynns had a career game, going 3-for-4 with four runs batted in. His three-run bomb in the 2nd off rookie phenom Spencer Strider staked the Giants to a 4-0 lead. The Braves battled back to a 5-4 lead and the Giants countered with two more but the Braves answered again and it was 7-6 Atlanta in the 6th when Mike Yastrzemski plated two with a double. Joc Pederson's 15th homer made it 9-7 in the 7th. The Braves added a run in the bottom half but the Giants got two big hits in the 9th to make it 12-8. Good thing. Doval gave up two before closing it out. Whew! It's not the sort of game you expect the Giants to play (or to win) but they pulled it off.

The Braves are the hottest team in baseball (16-3 in June) so this is a great matchup of two potential post-season clubs. They are within percentage points of each other for the NL's fourth-best record (ATL 39-30, .565; SF 38-29, .567). The Giants of course are in a three-way fight in the West with the Dodgers and Padres while the Braves have to chase the Mets and fend off the Phillies in the East. Should be plenty of exciting baseball this summer.

Carlos Rodón gets the start at 4:20 Pacific.

Go Giants!

--M.C.

Rookie slugger makes his mark

PIT 4  SF 3

Lefty-hitting 23-year old newbie Jack Suwinski hit three homers today in his 47th major-league game. The Giants were up 2-1 in the 4th when he tagged starter Alex Cobb with the tying blast. He dinged Sam Long in the 6th with his second, and won the game in the bottom of the 9th with his third, this one off Tyler Rogers. Suwinski was drafted by the Padres out of high school (he's from Chicago) but went to the Pirates in the Adam Frazier deal. That turned out be be a bit of a bust for the Padres as they traded Frazier to the Mariners a year later! Anyway, Pirates fans look like they have an exciting young player to root for.

The Giants got Cobb back from the IL and he threw 60 pitches and gave up two solo shots in his four frames. Let's hope he can get back on the beam and be an effective starter real soon. Today the lineup scored a quick two in the 1st, mostly due to two walks from Pirates starter Mitch Keller, but couldn't do much else. Keller put up zeroes through six and reliever Cam Vieaux pitched a scoreless 7th. Closer David Bednar handled the 8th but gave up a game-tying homer to Thairo Estrada in the top of the 9th before Suwinski's game-winner in the bottom half. Giants had four hits total, hit into three double plays, and left seven men on base (1-for-6 with RISP). They'll have to do better than that in Atlanta.

Logan Webb starts tomorrow at 4:20 Pacific.

Go Giants!

--M.C.

Giants subdue pesky Pirates

SF 7  PIT 5

The Giants offense woke up this afternoon in Pittsburgh and bailed out a laboring Alex Wood. The Pirates bullpen helped out, too. It was another one of those games that should have had a lopsided score. Giants hitters got nine walks to go along with their ten hits. I can't complain about seven runs, especially after this long stretch of low-scoring games, but it felt like it should have been more. Regardless, the Giants finally surrendered some runs after a long stretch of low-scoring games. Starting with the sweep of LA here are the runs allowed in the last seven contests, all wins except one: 2, 2, 0, 2, 2, 3 (loss), 0. That's some good pitching!

Today Wood kept getting to two strikes but could not close the deal. He gave up six hits, two walks, and four runs in 5-1/3 IP. Dominic Leone had a rough 8th, giving up a leadoff homer and loading the bases, but Jake McGee got the third out in an epic, 10-pitch battle with Tyler Heineman. After the Giants tacked on to take a two-run lead in the 9th Camilo Doval came in to get the save. He faced the top of the lineup, whiffing Ke'Bryan Hayes, getting Bryan Reynolds on a weak grounder, and whiffing Daniel Vogelbach (he hit the homer off Leone) to end it.

Alex Cobb gets back to the mound tomorrow after his IL stint. First pitch at 10:35 a.m. Pacific.

Go Giants!

--M.C.

Bucs blanked

SF 2  PIT 0

Carlos Rodón pitched his best game of the season and the Giants scored just enough to take the opener in Pittsburgh. The Pirates saw the best version of Rodón--98 pitches to 27 batters in eight innings--and could not get anything going against hm. The big southpaw allowed only two hits and two walks and struck out eight. The Giants got a leadoff homer from Luis González and another solo shot in the 4th from Joc Pederson and that was all they needed. They should have scored a lot more but they hit into three double plays in the first three innings against Pirates starter Zach Thompson. Camilo Doval got the save with a 1-2-3 9th. It's the second team shutout. The first was Rodón's last start--Sunday against the Dodgers--but that one took some bullpen legerdemain. The Giants hit two homers in that one, too.

Alex Wood starts this afternoon, 1:05 Pacific.

Go Giants!

--M.C.