The dawn of the Marco Luciano era only lasted 2 AB's but the Giants came out a winner led by 2-run HR's by J. D. Davis and Austin Slater. Key Lines:
J. D. Davis 3B- 1 for 4, HR(13). BA= .259. Davis has been slumping a bit but his 2-run oppo-field blast gave the Giants a rare, at least lately, lead in the first inning.
Austin Slater PH/LF- 1 for 2, HR(5). BA= .298. Slater came in as a PH for Michael Conforto LF, the cleanup hitter in the lineup and as he has all season picked up his manager by driving in the tying and go-ahead runs with a homer in the 6'th inning.
Mike Yastrzemski RF- 2 for 4, 2B. BA= .233. YtY has also been slumping. Hopefully tonight's performance will be the slump-buster. That would be a huge positive development for the Giants chances over the final third of the season.
Marco Luciano SS- Luciano's first AB looked like it might be a homer or at least a XBH off the RF wall but it died just enough for the RF to make the catch against the wall. Second AB was a tapper back to the pitcher. Marco started 2 GIDP's from the SS position. I'm still scratching my head at why Kap took him out for Joc Pederson PH to lead off the bottom of the 7'th inning. Hey! If Kap can PH for his cleanup hitter, I guess a rook is not going to get any kind of preferential treatment. Still the situation was odd. I just hope it wasn't because Marco is hurt.
Ryan Walker RHP- 2.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 2.70. Walker opened the game. Hey! I told you they were stretching him out!
Jakob Junis RHP- 1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 1 K. ERA= 4.79. After a couple of scoreless appearances in non-leverage situations, Junis comes into a leverage situation and messes the bed.
Alex Wood LHP- 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K. ERA= 4.75. Wood pitched the most innings in a bullpen game and got credit for the win. He may not like it but I think his best role is 2-3 inning reliever at this point in his career.
The Dodgers and D'Backs both lost so the Giants are now in sole possession of 2'nd place in the NL West, 3 games behind the Dodgers. They are also in the top of 3 Wild Card playoff positions leading the Phillies and Reds by 0.5 games.
The Giants now get a much-needed day off at home before starting a weekend series against the Red Sox with....you guessed it, TBD starting Friday night against Kutter Crawford RHP.
Churn Watch:
The Giants worked out a trade for the DFA'd Mauricio Llovera RHP sending him to the.... Red Sox for pitching prospect Marques Johnson RHP. Johnson was drafted last year out of Long Beach St. and has a solid K rate but a high walk rate. He will report to the SJ Giants in A ball.
Trade deadline deals swung into action in earnest with the White Sox sending Lucas Giolito RHP and Reynaldo Lopez RHP to the the Angels for a couple of highly ranked prospects.
i feel like once brebbia is activated, junis will be DFA'd if not attached to a trade at the deadline. given the struggles of the starting pitching this season. the giants may need to be in the market for a new pitching coach next season, preferably one with experience.
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