Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Game Wrap 4/30/2018: Giants 6 Padres 5

Nick Hundley hit a 2-out, bases-loaded, walk-off, 2-Run single to cap a 3-run 9'th inning rally to give the Giants the win against the Pesky Padres.  Key Lines:

Andrew McCutchen RF- 2 for 4, 3B, BB.  BA= .212.  Cutch came back strong after his first game off on the season.  His career split for the month of April is about 30 points lower than any other month, so maybe we'll see the real Cutch starting right about now?  His triple was the big hit in the 3-run first inning driving in Gorkys Hernandez.  Cutch then scored on Posey's double.

Buster Posey C- 1 for 3, 2B, 2 BB.  BA= .273.  Buster had an RBI and scored in the first inning.  He drew a 2-out walk in the 9'th to keep the line moving and eventually came around to score the tying run on Hundley's single.

Evan Longoria 3B- 2 for 5, 2 E.  BA= .255.  Longoria had a rough night on defense. I don't remember the throwing error, but I'll give him a mulligan on the fielding error as that ball was roasted and took a bad bounce off his leg.  He'd say he should have had it, but it was a very tough play.  I thought he might pick himself up with a 3-run walkoff bomb in the 9'th, but his bloop over the 3B head kept the line moving and helped set up the walk-off.

Nick Hundley PH- 1 for 1.  BA= .268.  I can't say I saw the game winning rally coming, but by the time Hundley came up, I was pretty confident because Hand had pretty much lost his command of the strike zone and Hundley seems to have a knack.

Jeff Samardzija RHP- 5 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 5 K's.  ERA= 5.27.  Samardzija loaded the bases in the first inning with 1 out, but worked his way out of the jam.  He then settled down and pitched pretty well for 5 innings.  It seemed like he could probably go another inning on a night when Dyson, Watson and Strick were all coming off 3 consecutive days of work, but he's still stretching out from his time on the DL.

Reyes Moronta RHP- 1.2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 K.  ERA= 1.72.  Moronta walked the first batter he faced in the 6'th inning which is never a good thing.  A couple of balls bounced off infielders, but they were both hit very hard.  The Giants got 1.2 innings out of Moronta but a 3-2 lead was now a 5-3 deficit. It wasn't quite clear why Bochy lifted Moronta with 2 outs and a runner on 1B in the 7'th.

Cory Gearrin RHP- 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K.  ERA= 4.66.  Gearrin got out of the 7'th but allowed 2 baserunners in the 8'th and Bochy was not going to let him face the lefty batting Eric Hosmer.

DJ Snelton LHP- 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 0.00.  Snelton had one job:  Get Eric Hosmer out!  He did that with aplomb.

Pierce Johnson RHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K.  ERA= 2.57.  Johnson held the line in the top of the 9'th in mop-up time.  Hundley's walk-off turned him into a winner.

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The Win put the Giants over .500 for the first time since the opening series and jumped them over the Rockies into 2'nd place in the NL West.  The Dangerous D'Backs kept winning to stay 5.5 games up on the Giants.  The 3'rd place Rockies are 6 games behind the D'Backs.  The Dodgers lost to the D'Backs 8-5 fall 8 games behind in 4'th place.  The Pathetic Padres bring up the rear at 11 games off the pace.

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Andrew Suarez will be activated today and try to secure the Giants 4'th consecutive series win facing the always tough Tyson Ross.

5 comments:

  1. A book could be written about this game with the Giants having the first and last chapters but, simply put, it wouldn't have been written last year.
    Kudos to Belt and Posey for coaxing walks in the 9th and Slater getting in the way of a pitch and Longoria's bloop. It was certainly a Hand(y) meltdown, thanks for the gift(s).
    Truly, I thought it was over when McCutchen took strike 3, fooled with 2 strikes on a Hand's last great pitch.
    On to May -- is this real?

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  2. Longoria, McCutchen, and Jackson have played important roles in the Giants' (second) 3-game winning streak.
    It's beginning to make sense!
    Bochy will use the MI trio very well, mixing and matching them for rest and advantage. Really helps that Tomlinson is an adequate SS and Hanson switch-hits -- and on a day of rest, Crawford came in late to bat left and stayed to play SS.
    Hopefully, Moranta's foibles are temporary -- his and Shark's walks were hurting the Giants until the Padres came to their rescue and Handed them the game!

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  3. Corey Seager To Undergo Tommy John Surgery, Miss Remainder Of 2018

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  4. I was listening to the radio this morning. Last year no team below .500 on May 1st made the playoffs. I can't help but notice the Dodgers are below .500 and have lost Cory Seager for the season (Tommy John) which only hampers their chance of crawling back into it.

    I went to bed at 3-1 Giants, but I watched the replay of the 9th inning. That 9th inning rally took about half-an-hour and it was a testament to guys not giving in. So the two-out knock.. That was sweet.

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  5. McCutchen has actually been batting well (and hitting just enough) for the past two and a half weeks, since April 14, he has been hitting .224/.415/.429/.844 (career .863 OPS), and with 16 walks vs. 14 K's in 65 AB, it seems like he's been getting into a lot of long battles with pitchers, often sucking up 8-12 pitches and getting the starter out sooner, it seems.

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