We may have witnessed the dawning of the Hwang Age. Jae-Gyun Hwang's first MLB hit in his first MLB game was a game winning HR in the 6'th inning leading the Giants to their first series sweep of the season against a division rival who dominated them earlier in the season. Key Lines:
Gorkys Hernandez CF/LF- 1 for 3, BB. BA= .225. Hernandez continued his hot hitting in June.
Austin Slater RF- 1 for 3, BB. BA= .333. Slater's hip is quite obviously not 100% as he was slowed in the OF, particularly on a ball that had he been able to charge more quickly might have prevented a runner from reaching 3B.
Jae-Gyun Hwang 3B- 1 for 4, HR(1). BA= .250. Hwang got his first RBI on a sharp comebacker that bounced off Freeland's glove. Freeland recovered in time to throw out Hwang, but Joe Panik was able to score the Giants first run on the play. The HR in the 6'th inning was called ahead by Mike Krukow who said on the 2-0 pitch that Hwang would be looking for a pitch to hit out of the park. No sooner were the words out of his mouth and bam! It was no cheapie either. The ball landed half way up in the LF bleachers. As we have seen over the years, great Giants have hit HR's for their first MLB hit in their first MLB game and others who have done that have ended up being busts. Let's hope this is the start of a long, successful Giants career for Jae-Gyun Hwang who said his only wish was to play in 1 MLB game. He's already done a lot more than that!
Ty Blach LHP- 6.1 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K's, GO/AO= 8/2. ERA= 4.60. Blach was coming off a terrible start against the Mets. Things did not look good when he gave up 2 runs before recording an out in the first inning aided by his own throwing error allowing leadoff batter Charlie Blackmon to reach base. Blach clearly did not have his best command but hung tough, got out of the inning and then held the Rockies scoreless until the 6'th inning when he made another throwing error on a Pat Valaika bunt which allowed Valaika to reach 3B and score on a basehit. The bullpen was short between the extra inning game yesterday and Mark Melancon hitting the DL again so Blach stretched it into the 7'th inning to complete a Quality Start.
Steven Okert LHP- 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K. ERA= 6.48. Okert needed this outing. He fell behind the first batter he faced in the 8'th 3-1 but made the pitches he had to and got 2 more big outs against LH batters in the 9'th.
Hunter Strickland RHP- 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, Save(1). ERA= 2.25. Sam Dyson is officially the Closer with Melancon hitting the DL, but he was apparently not available due to pitching in the extra-inning affair the night before. Strickland got the call and ended it.
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The Giants get a travel day and start a road trip in Pittsburgh Friday night with Johnny Cueto facing Gerrit Cole.
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Slater is playing like he is staying. His at bat in the 8th to battle it out for a walk was very impressive. Hwang gives the initial impression of being a emotional shot in the arm the Giants need. Such a great back story and positive attitude that makes you root for him. He was kind of cheated that last at bat by the HP umpire. Jones looks like he is starting to chase some balls looking for that first hit. Someone please tell Blach he is not Nolan Arenado and don't try to throw to first base like that again.
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