Mac Williamson broke a 3-3 tie in the 6'th inning with his 3'rd HR in 5 games since being called up from Sacramento. The bullpen made it hold up. Key Lines:
Joe Panik 2B- 3 for 4. BA= .286. I watched almost the entire game on TV and did not notice that Panik got on base even once. Shows how close I watch the game! His teammates helped him turn that into 2 runs scored. Panik is now 6 for 13 over his last 3 games.
Brandon Belt 1B- 1 for 3, HR(6), BB. BA= .292. Belt hits his 5'th HR in his last 6 games. This one was extra good because it came with 2 outs and a runner on 3B, a situation that has not been kind to the Giants in the early season.
Mac Williamson LF- 2 for 4, HR(3). BA= .316. This was more of an ordinary HR as his Exit Velocity was only 104+ MPH on a drive that came off a hanging breaking ball. Oh, and this one also came with 2 outs in the inning. Mac had earlier singled on a smoked groundball off the glove of 3B Adrian Sanchez. One thing about Mac's groundballs is they are often hit so hard, they bounce off gloves which results in a hit or safe on error. Oh, and Mac escaped serious injury when he stumbled head first into the padded wall down the LF line when he tried to catch a foul pop in the bullpen area. The Giants have now won 4 of 5 games since Mac was called up. Gotta think it's going to be awfully tough to send Mac back to Sacramento when Hunter Pence is ready to come off the DL.
Ty Blach LHP- 5 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 3 K's, GO/AO= 11/0. ERA= 4.31. Blach sailed through 3.2 IP, but then gave up a 2-out walk to Ryan Zimmerman. Moises Sierra then BABIP'd a ball through the RF hole and Michael Taylor poked one down the RF line that landed on the metal flashing at the top of the brick wall for a 3-run dinger. That was the only scoring for the Nationals all evening. Blach came back out and got through the 5'th inning without anymore damage.
Reyes Moronta RHP- 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 0.64. Another terrific job of middle relief by Moronta which earned him the W for this game.
Sam Dyson RHP- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K. ERA= 4.66. Dyson looked sharper than the line would indicate. The hit was a seeing-eye ball that just got past Crawford, then split the gap in left-CF for a double. Bochy held up 4 fingers to get past Bryce Harper and Ryan Zimmerman made it pay off with a GIDP. Dyson had a 93 MPH sinker pounding the bottom of the strike zone.
Hunter Strickland RHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, Save(5). ERA= 1.64. Strickland was way sharper tonight than yesterday. He had much better command of the FB and a sharp, biting slider. The slider he struck out Michal Taylor on was downright Romoesque. Taylor swung at a pitch that came in looking like it could be a strike and ended up almost 2 feet outside. Strick threw just 8 pitches in the frame.
*********************************************************************************
The D'Backs and Rockies both won so the Giants remain 5.5 games behind the NL West leading D'Backs who lead the Rockies by 4.5. The Dodgers lost to the Marlins 3-2 and now lead the Giants for 3'rd place by just 0.5 games. The Pathetic Padres lost to the Rockies 8-0 and are 8.5 games off the pace.
*********************************************************************************
Jeff Samardzija tries for the Giants first series sweep of the season tomorrow afternoon facing Mighty Max Scherzer.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Kinda amazing what power does for an anemic offense!
ReplyDeleteAlthough next to last in the NL in runs scored (just 1 more than the pathetic Marlins), the Giants are tied for 9th in MLB (4th in NL) with 25 HRs.
The Giants! Power!
Needless to say, it has led to the first 3-game winning streak, to a game below .500, and a chance for a sweep.
The Giants with power?
Whodda thunk!
They're still of course very much in the Division race and actually looking like they can compete. I strongly expect Cutch to eventually bring his average and power back near his career averages, which will involve a long hitting and power streak, and Longoria to continue to bring the bat around. It's a long season and they have the signs of life, just not the BA to back it up at this juncture.
DeleteWOW though, just really impressed with what a different player Mac Will is; the guy who recently got called up from AAA is a completely different player than the one whom we've seen over the last bunch of years. Really happy, actually, to see him get just a regular single in this game, showing that he can sustain the average with regular hits in addition to just running into a pitch every now and again; he's better than just a 3-true-outcomes hitter.
As for Brandon Belt, I wouldn't say that I saw this coming, but he was struggling mightily coming into the game on April 18 when it all changed. In his at bat in the 10th inning he was busy having a tough time fouling off pitches, doing nothing with some 92mph fastballs right down inner plate. He took an easy ball on pitch 5 which didn't seem particularly meaningful, but on pitch #6 he had a great take on ball just barely above the strike zone; However, it was how he looked taking the pitch - suddenly he seemed a different player. It seemed his pitch recognition suddenly kicked on and he didn't even balk at the ball though it was only 2in above the strike zone right over the plate - a pitch he OFTEN struggles with. I took note of this and thought something like, "huh, that looked much more confident and decisive."
On the very next pitch, a change-up right over the plate Belt planted the ball firmly into the RF bleachers. I'm telling you all, he looked like a different player from 1 pitch to the next, and man he seems like he's really got it going now. I hope he can make it last.
JUST NO ONE HIT BELT IN THE HEAD WITH AN ERRANT THROW THIS YEAR!!
They may be below .500 right now, but this is an interesting team. Go Giants!
Plausible.
DeleteIf our rotation and bullpen don't keep the score low; we don't win either! a team effort is keeping us together until fully healthy.
ReplyDeleteRichard in winnipeg
Who is going to protect Mac? He needs to move down in the order - I m afraid of pitch arounds now.
ReplyDelete