Game Wrap 5/27/2018: Cubs 8 Giants 3

The 2 starting pitchers struggled in this one as the Cubs and Giants traded 3-spots in the first inning and neither starter was around by the end of the 4'th inning.  Javier Baez' 3-run dinger in the 4'th inning effectively put the game away.  Key Lines:

Gorkys Hernandez CF- 2 for 5.  BA= .315.  Gorkys continued his hot hitting.  The first 3 batters in the Giants lineup reached base 7 of 15 PA's but only scored a collective 1 run.

Mac Williamson LF- 1 for 4, BB.  BA= .267.  Mac showed a nice piece of hitting in the first inning.  Hitting with the bases loaded and 2 outs, he took the ball the other way, lining a single to RF that drove in 2 runs to give the Giants an early 3-0 lead that would not hold up for very long.

Pablo Sandoval 2B- 1 for 3.  BA= .237.  Pablo has been working out at 2B in an effort to increase his playing opportunities.  He finally got the start there, which I think was the first of his career.  The pre-game chatter on ESPN was about how he probably would not get many chances on defense with the Cubs RH heavy lineup.  Not only did Pabs get a bunch of balls hit at him out of the gate, 3 of them were caroms off  Ty Blach, the mound or both.  Poor Pabs had no way of knowing where the ball would go next.  He did make one very nifty play on a deflected ball.  The other 2 carom balls were essentially unplayable.  Pabs also got down the line very quickly on an infield single to keep the first inning alive much to the surprise and enjoyment of the ESPN announcing crew.

Ty Blach LHP- 3 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 4 BB, 3 K's.  ERA= 4.90.  Blach was awful.  You could say he was a victim of BABIP with all the caroms off the mound and off him, but according to the ESPN crew, the average exit velocity off him in the first innings was well over 100 MPH.  There is a reason those balls were caroming around.  Blach has now had 4 consecutive starts in which he has failed to get out of the 4'th inning.  He might be the #1 candidate to go to the bullpen when Bummy comes off the DL, which should be Bum's next scheduled start.  I mean 70 Bummy pitches should be a whole lot more valuable than 70 pitches from any of the Giants current SP's.

Pierce Johnson RHP- 3 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 6.26.  Pierce Johnson was summoned in the 4'th inning after Blach allowed a leadoff walk and a double.  Johnson's first batter was Javier Baez who hit it out of the park.  That was pretty much the ballgame. Johnson stayed in to eat 3 innings and spare the pen.  Johnson has allowed multiple runs in 4 of his last 8 appearances and 3 of his last 4.

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The Loss dropped the Giants to 3 games behind the NL West leading Rockies who topped the Reds 8-2.  The D'Backs lost to drop 1.5 games back of the Rockies. The Dodgers beat the Padres 6-1 and are just 3.5 games out of the NL West lead, 0.5 games behind the Giants.  The Padres bring up the rear of the division at a 6.5 game deficit.

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The Giants get a chance to gain ground on the Rockies but have to face them in Coor's Field with Andrew Suarez getting the first start of the series facing RHP Chad Bettis.

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RHP Dereck Rodriguez will be called up today and added to the 40 man roster.  The corresponding drop from the 40 man has not been announced.  I don't think there are any more candidates for the 60-day DL.