You could call this night the Revenge of the Core or The Core Won't Die as Evan Longoria, Brandon Belt and Brandon Crawford went a combined for 11 hits in 15 AB to lead the Giants over the Dodgers in extra innings. Key Lines:
Evan Longoria 3B- 4 for 5, BB. BA= .292. Longo is red hot, hitting .429 over his last 7 games of which the Giants have won all 7.
Brandon Belt 1B- 4 for 5, 2B, 2 HR(5), BB. BA= .313. Huge night for Belt who had his third multi-hit game in a row and had 3 XBH's out of 4 hits. This is the Belt we all imagined when he was a breakout prospect. We've seen flashes in the past. Is this another flash or finally his true breakout? He's hitting .600 over his last 7 games. I could be wrong about this, but it looks like Belt has backed off the plate by maybe an inch or two and in one close up on the TV, it looked like he was choking up maybe a half inch on the bat handle. If so, those two changes my be just enough to keep him from getting jammed quite so much.
Donovan Solano 2B- 1 for 6, HR(2). BA= .351. Donnie Barrels was slumping and was 0 for 5 before he hit a walkoff HR in the 11'th inning to complete the Giants epic come-from-behind win.
Brandon Crawford SS- 3 for 5. BA= .256. He didn't figure in the scoring but Brandon Crawford stayed hot and is hitting .320 over his last 7 games. All told, the "Core" has a combined 32 hits and 10 walks in 83 PA during the 7 game winning streak. Add in Pablo Sandoval who is another 6 for 22 with a BB in his last 7 games.
Johnny Cueto RHP- 4 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 6 K's. ERA= 5.40. Cueto was hurt by the long ball giving up a 3-run job to, you guessed it, Max Muncy in the first inning which seemed like the end of the game before it started. Have I ever said how much I hate Max Muncy?
Bullpen- 7 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 7 K's. The bullpen did not give up a run until extra innings when the rules changed and a runner started at 2B. Sam Coonrod , who hit 101 on the TV radar gun, and Caleb Baragar were particularly impressive in 0.2 IP each.
*************************************************************************************
The Win was the Giants 7'th in a row and left them 1 game short of .500. If the season ended today, they would have the 8'th and last playoff spot.
*************************************************************************************
Kevin Gausman RHP tries to clinch a series win and keep the winning streak going against Clayton Kershaw LHP tonight.
The game ended late at 11pm PST. What a great win! Came back and Donny Barrels put it away!
ReplyDeleteWhat can you say except the Giants are battling their butts off. Getting contributions from lots of guys and finding ways to win. You can’t discount Gabe Kapler’s role. It would have been easy to trow in the towel after the A’s series. Instead, the team has really come together.
ReplyDeleteWhen you're hot, you're hot — you want to play every night.
ReplyDeleteWhat effect will not playing tonight have?
"Opting not to play" certainly makes a statement — but in this shelter-in-time, it punishes us old fans the most: we don't have a lot else to do.
Still have the A's tonight (NBC Sports California), and any game on MLB-TV (subscriber), but it's fun to watch these Giants use everything they have and then some on this streak.
Oh, well, I guess it's all about me.