Wednesday, July 25, 2018

Game Wrap 7/24/2018: Giants 4 Mariners 3

After trading single runs with the Mariners in the 3'rd, 4'th and 6'th innings, the Giants took a lead in the top of the 9'th inning on a throwing miscue by Dee Gordon.  Will Smith shut it down in the bottom of the inning to preserve the Win.  Key Lines:

Steven Duggar CF- 2 for 4, SB(1).  BA= .262.  Duggar singled at the end of a very tough AB against Mariners Closer, Edwin Diaz, with 1 out in the 9'th inning.  He took 2B on a groundout by Alen Hanson.  Pablo Sandoval then hit a bouncer to the right side that Dee Gordon got a late jump on.  Duggar came around to score when Gordon inadvisedly threw wildly trying to nab Pabs who was absolutely booking it down the line.

Kelby Tomlinson 2B- 2 for 3, 3B. BA= .225.  Kelby led off the scoring after a triple to the Safeco Field version of Triples Alley in L-CF.  He came home on Chase d'Arnaud's single.

Austin Slater LF- 1 for 4.  BA= .319.  Slater did not figure in the scoring, but saved a run when he unleashed a throw just under 100 MPH to nail Kyle Seager at the plate.

Hunter Pence DH- 1 for 4, HR(1).  BA= .228.  Pence showed he still has some toonder in the bat with a line drive HR that went an estimated 445 ft.  I don't recall if it was the 3'rd or 4'th longest HR by a Giants hitter this year, but it was a monster.  Pence is hitting .368 over his last 7 games.  He is also hitting .364(16 for 44) since his BA reached a nadir of .181 on June 19.

Andrew Suarez LHP- 5.2 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 1 K, GO/AO= 8/3.  ERA= 3.99.  A bit of an uneven performance by Suarez.  Austin Slater saved him a run in the 4'th inning with his epic throw.  Then in the 6'th, Suarez gave up a 2-0ut walk to Denard Span and Boch brought in Reyes Moronta who gave up a walk and a single to allow the inherited runner to score which gave Suarez his final line for the night, 1 out short of a QS.

Sam Dyson/Tony Watson/Will Smith- 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K's.  The lads were lights out over the last 3 innings with Smith recording his 4'th Save.

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The NL West leading Dodgers lost to the Phillies 7-4 so the 4'th place Giants gained a game and are now 4.5 games out of the lead.  The D'Backs beat the Cubs 5-1 to close to 0.5 games out in 2'nd place.  The Rockies lost to the Astros 8-2 to remain 2.5 games behind the leaders in 3'rd place.

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Derek Holland rejoins the rotation to try for sweep of the 2-game set today facing former Giant Mike Leake.

9 comments:

  1. Pence bringing his A Game lately - to my surprise - I thought he was done.

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    1. pence could have a future in a dh role for an al team next season

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    2. Bob Nightengale mentioned on Twitter that they are shopping Pence and a prospect. So far no takers.

      LG

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  2. Slater: Statcast is calling it a 100 MPH throw though they're rounding from their 99.6 measured. I'll take a 100.. :)

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  3. I think Hunter said: "The rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated!"

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  4. Pence's last 7 games, 1 HR, 3 RBIs: .368/.368/.684 (SSS) is incomparably better than last 7 for Belt, McCutchen, Posey, and Crawford.
    That the Giants have won 3 of their last 7, and 6 of their last 11 is a testament to their -- pitching -- which will only hold up if the "Big Four" add a little production to Pence, Pabs, and the rookies.
    Do you think the Pirates might take Cutch back for, say, Brian Reynolds?

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    1. Reynolds is showing decent plate discipline in AA, but with almost no power.

      One of the beats suggested the Giants could get a compensatory draft pick if they gave Cutch a Qualifying Offer. I'm thinking Cutch would accept a QO in a flash.

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    2. Pence: Last 30-days he's hit over .300 but still has terrible defensive stats. However, all things considered, he's playing better than Hernandez & McCutchen.

      Hernandez: Gorkys has been regressing hard to his mean and is a liability at this point. Around the end of June his fWAR was 0.9. Now it's 0.6 as his shoddy defense isn't being overcome by his hot-streak hitting. Over the last 30 days his fWAR is -0.2.

      McCutchen: .247 BA. Negative defense. Barely any positive increase in fWAR (+0.1) for the month.

      Based on their play of the last 30-days, the best OF we have right now is Slater, Duggar, Pence in that order.

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    3. McCutchen and the QO: would he or wouldn't he?
      He would be foolish not to accept it but P-R-I-D-E, and he has that! Surely he must think he can get more than one and done, at least 3 years?
      If he gets HOT down the stretch and moved to LF now, so he knows what he would play in SF should he accept a QO, subbing him with Hanson against tough RHP (in LF), he might be less inclined to take the QO.
      Let's hope he gets hot and hits a few HRs.
      In comparable PA's, he has more than twice the HRs on the road than AT&T where he is a decent for-average hitter -- into the inevitable shift. His last HR at home was June 4th, more than 40 games ago while hitting 5 away and 0 home!

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