Game Wrap 6/20/2023: Giants 4 Padres 3

The Giants ran a familiar script as they fell behind early but kept it close and wore down the Padres bullpen in the late innings.  Joc Pederson drew a bases-loaded walk off Josh Hader LHP for a different kind of walk-off win.  Key Lines:

Joc Pederson- 1 for 4, HR(8), BB.  BA= .266.  Joc hit leadoff after LMWJ was a late scratch.  He hit the game-tying HR in the 8'th inning then drew the walk-off walk in the 9'th.   

Luis Matos CF- 1 for 3, BB.  BA= .263.  Matos finally suffered his first MLB strikeout, but mostly put together good AB's and scored 2 runs including the game-winner after drawing a walk with one out in the 9'th.

Anthony DeSclafani RHP- 5 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 6 K's, GO/AO= 6/3.  ERA= 4.38.  Up and down performance.  Tony D looked sharp in the first two innings which may have been aided by glare off the batter's eye from the setting sun.  Then gave up a 2-spot in the 3'rd, then got through 2 more innings to avoid a bullpen game.

Tristan Beck RHP- 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 3.05.  Beck moves up the pecking order and pitches in a higher leverage situation. He responded with 3 shutout innings to keep it close and save the bullpen at the same time.

Tyler Rogers RHP- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K.  Rogers faced Matt Carpenter, Fernando Tatis, Juan Soto, Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts.  He gave up a single to Soto and Machado reached on a throwing error by Brandon Crawford SS, but he got Bogaerts to ground out to end the threat and set up the walk-off win.  Oh, and how are the Padres not running away with the division with Tatis, Soto Machado and Bogie at the top of the lineup?

With the Win, the Giants cut the D'Backs lead in the NL West to 2.5 games and close to 0.5 games behind the Marlins for the first Wild Card playoff spot.  They continue to lead the Dodgers by 1 games and stretched their lead on the Padres to 5 games. This was the Giants 9'th win in a row which I understand equals their longest win streak of 2021.

TBD takes on Yu Darvish tomorrow evening trying to win the series and stretch the win streak to 10 games.

Churn Watch:  As noted above, Lamonte Wade Jr was a late scratch with tightness in his right side.  Hopefully nothing more than that as the Giants can ill-afford to lost his lefty bat in the lineup for an extended period.