The Giants continued struggles at the plate sank another strong effort from the pitching staff. Key Lines:
Thairo Estrada 2B- 1 for 3, BB. BA= .273. Estrada is back from the IL and filling a position and lineup slot that became a black hole in his absence. The lineup probably would have been whitewashed without some heads up baserunning by Thairo on a bloop single by Wilmer Flores DH. Running from 1B, the ball was in front of Thairo who read it as a hit all the way and kept running all the way to 3B to set up a Joc Pederson LF's Sac Fly.
Ross Stripling RHP- 5.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 7 K's. ERA= 5.21. Stripling has a 3.38 ERA over his last 7 games, 32 IP. This is the Ross Stripling the Giants thought they signed to a free agent contract and bodes well for the stretch run.
Sean Manaea LHP- 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 5.25. Manaea seems to have found success in a "Swiss Army Knife" role. His last 4 appearances have been 7.2 scoreless innings divided into 4.2, 0.2, 0.2 and 1.2 IP. Kap's been calling on him more often which likely limits his pitches in any one appearance.
Ryan Walker RHP and Scott Alexander LHP combined to give up the winning run in the 8'th. Both have been excellent for an extended run so were probably just due. The loss is once again on the lineup.
Paul Blackburn RHP(A's)- 6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 7 K's. ERA= 4.35. The Giants lineup is struggling but in fairness, it was a late-afternoon game with the usual glare and shadows and Blackburn had a very nasty looking changeup with both fade and dive to it that looked like it would play against any lineup. The Giants did well to run his pitch count over 100 after 6 innings to get him out of the game.
The Padres beat the Dodgers so the Giants remain 3 games behind in the NL West and here come the Padres who are 7-3 over their last 10 games and just 3 games behind in the Wild Card race. The Giants also remain a game ahead of the Phillies for the first Wild Card playoff spot and 3 games ahead of the Reds and 3.5 games ahead of the Marlins.
Alex Cobb RHP tries for the split in the 2-game series today facing Luis Medina RHP.
After today, Aug 6, thru Sep 6: SF plays:
ReplyDeleteLAA(56-56), TEX(65-46), TBR(67-46),
ATL(70-38), PHI(60-51), ATL(70-38),
CIN(59-54), SDP(55-56), CHC(57-54)
Although San Diego is under .500 by 1 game, the Padres have won 6 of 8 including a sweep of Texas.
The last 2 series (above) against SD and the Cubs could determine the NL Wild Cards.
I wanted to see the Giants make moves at the trade deadline to improve the team for the playoff push. I'm good with one minor trade for Pollack and Mathis. Who knows what players they were trying to get and what other teams were asking for. Also heard players invoked their no trade clauses. It wouldn't like it if they had traded good prospects for a mediocre starting pitcher .making a trade just to make one.
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