The Giants offense picked up the pitching and outscored the Rangers despite facing the newly acquired Cole Hamels in his first game with the Ranger and his first since his no-hitter with the Phillies. Key Lines:
Joe Panik- 2 for 5, 2 2B. BA= .309. Panik had kind of a rough game yesterday so this was a nice bounceback effort.
Matt Duffy- 2 for 5, 2B. BA= .305. Duffy seems to be doing this almost effortlessly now.
Buster Posey- 3 for 5, 2B, HR(15). BA= .328. Just when things were looking grim for the Giants as the Rangers took a 5-3 lead, Buster got part of if back with his HR. He still trails Brandon Crawford by one for the team lead.
Hunter Pence- 2 for 5, HR(6). BA= .301. Pence would undoubtedly be leading the team in HR's had he not been injured most of the first half. His dinger was the go-ahead run in the top of the 11'th inning.
Brandon Belt- 2 for 4, 2 HR(12), BB. BA= .277. Belt found the range on his longball and ended up with 2 dingers.
Chris Heston- 4.2 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 3.24. Not Heston's best effort, but this stadium is a real SOB to pitch in.
Yusmeiro Petit- 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K. ERA= 4.23. Petit stopped the bleeding and gave his team a chance to get back in it.
Hunter Strickland- 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K. ERA= 1.61. Strickland was filthy with a terrific 4 pitch mix, FB, cutter, slider, change. He might be the Giants most lights out reliever right now.
Santiago Casilla- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's, Save(27). ERA= 2.89. Not quite a clean inning, but the hit came after 2 outs and he blew Prince Fielder away to end the game. Rangers TV feed showed a stat that the Giants have the fewest Blown Saves of any team in baseball with 5.
The Win enabled the Giants to keep pace with the Dodgers, 1.5 games behind the leaders in the NL West. The also remain 1 game ahead of the Cubs in the race for the final Wild Card playoff spot.
Newcomer Mike Leake tries for a series win facing Martin Perez in an afternoon game in Arlington Texas, which should be illegal(the timing of the game, that is).
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When the Giants are hitting, they just have too many weapons. This is probably one of the best offensive teams in terms of balance they have had in many years. Just a lot of fun to watch and they are never out of a game. Good to see Strickland maturing as a pitcher too as I get the feeling they are going to really need him down the stretch.
ReplyDeleteBilly Baseball
Definitely the best offensive Giants team since the Bonds era. Do they have enough pitching?
DeleteThere is an article on Strickland and his new approach to pitching on MLB.COM. http://m.giants.mlb.com/news/article/140563594
ReplyDeleteIn the playoffs last year Strickland seemed to not have any confidence in anything but his FB. So he threw a lot of them. The results were not pretty. This year he's been working hard on his other pitches. And even in Spring Training it was showing and has, for the most part, only gotten better during the season. So I'm really happy for Strickland and the Giants. If it were up to me, I think I'd move him to the closer spot at this point.
Maybe it's better to use Strickland in high leverage, non-Save situations? Casilla makes me nervous every time he goes out there, especially if it's just a 1 run lead, but for the most part he's gotten the job done.
DeleteYup. Giants #1 in Team Save percentage (30/35 = 85.71%).
ReplyDeleteYou can check it out yourself, here: http://www.sportingcharts.com/mlb/stats/team-save-percentage/2015/
From 2009-14, only two teams have finished a season over 84% Team Saves (2012 TB & 2011 PHI).
Great win, great comeback. I thought the fight and spirit of this team yesterday was a great introduction to Mike Leake and what he's now become a part of. In fact, I think it was one of our best wins this season. Consider that we just saw Bumgarner get lit up, Heston gets pulled early, we're facing Cole Hamels, and our bullpen is now in a stretch of 39 games in 41 days. In hot climates. Every game counts. So many exciting moments, everybody contributed.
I am looking forward to watching Mike Leake pitch in the Orange & Black! Go Giants.
I agree, the stars were all aligned against a comeback in this one yet the Giants persevered and ended up with a very key win. Should give them added courage to keep fighting through a very tough road trip.
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