Joe Panik 2B- 2 for 4, 2B. BA= .289. Joe Panik has now reached base 6 times in 9 PA's since coming off the DL. He scored both Giants runs tonight. The first run of the game, in the 6'th inning, came when Panik broke for home on a contact play and juuuuust slid under the tag on the Fielder's Choice. He added an insurance run in the 8'th inning after taking the extra base on a soft liner single to CF by Brandon Crawford. Andrew McCutchen delivered the Sac Fly.
Andrew McCutchen RF- 0 for 3, SF. BA= .243. Cutch drove in both runs on a FC and SF. He also went a loooong way to track down a drive in Triples Alley to save a run in the 3'rd inning.
Andrew Suarez LHP- 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K's, GO/AO= 12/3. ERA= 4.74. I've figured that if Suarez could get through the first inning unscathed, he could pitch a shutout. He did just that tonight, at least for 7 innings which is more than good enough. This should be a huge confidence booster for the kid. Suarez combined a pinpoint FB that reached 94 MPH and a darting curveball to dominate the Phillies.
Tony Watson LHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K. ERA= 2.33. Watson needed just 6 pitches to get through the 8'th inning with the shutout intact.
Hunter Strickland RHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, Save(12). ERA= 2.42. Is it just me, or has Strick kicked his game up a notch since Mark Melancon came off the DL? He just pounded the fastball tonight and when he did unleash a backfoot slide piece on Odubel Herrera, it was a 12-6 bad boy that Herrera looked like he had never seen before.
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Everyone on the NL West won tonight except the Rockies who dropped into a tie for first place with the D'Backs after a 12-4 loss to the Dodgers. The Giants and Dodgers are tied for 3'rd place, 2 games behind the leaders. The Padres are 5 games off the pace in last place.
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Dereck Rodriguez tries for a sweep tomorrow afternoon facing Jake Arrieta who is coming off 2 scoreless starts in a row. Big, big test for the kid!
Suarez pitched like a seasoned veteran spotting good fastballs with pinpoint control and putting the hitters away with his good breaking ball. I thought he was gaining confidence from his last start when he said something like pitching at Coors field is similar to pitching at other stadiums in the PCL. Cutch made an awesome catch and had 2 rbis despite not having any hard hit balls. I stepped out a minute and couldn't believe how fast Watson got thru the 8th inning. Nice game to watch, well played and pitched on both sides, quick game lasting a little over 2 hrs, and Giants win. That phillies pitcher Velasquez was also very impressive. I guess John Smoltz deserves credit for helping Strick become a closer.
ReplyDeleteLG
McCutchen: Made a gem of a defensive play last night. One of the crazy-making things about him. He'll do something spectacular like that, yet he'll flub something relatively simple and routine.
ReplyDeletePanik: He's playing like he hears Hanson's footsteps behind him...
Suarez: The last two games, after the 3-run HR in the first in Colorado, have been pitched really well. Hopefully this trend will continue.
Strickland: A couple of nights ago, with runners on 2nd & 3rd, I got the Casillia vibe. He'd been letting too many guys on base after getting ahead in the count. So I really liked the drama-free close last night.