Wilmer Flores hit a 3-run home run in the 9'th inning to cap a 4-run rally which gave the Giants their first lead of the game and they held on for the come-from-behind win. Key Lines:
Jung Hoo Lee CF- 0 for 2, 2 BB. Not the most exciting line of all time but the two walks led to 2 runs scored for Lee.
Heliot Ramos LF- 1 for 4, HR(1). BA= .250. Ramos K'd in his other 3 AB's but we really can't say enough about the HR which put the Giants back in the game and perhaps just as importantly ran up Hunter Greene RHP's pitch count. Greene's first 3 innings reminded me of peak Bob Gibson, painting the corners with 100 MPH heat helped by a generous strike zone by the ump. He looked unhittable and the Giants batters looked helpless. Then Lee drew a one-out walk and Heliot fouled off 5 straight 99 MPH 2-strike pitches then homered to RF on pitch #11 another heater on the outside corner. By the time he got out of the 4'th inning Greene was at 72 pitches which pretty much guaranteed he would not go past 5 IP. Just an epic AB which completely changed the dynamic of the game and ultimately led to the Giants win.
Patrick Bailey C- 1 for 4. BA= .250. Not only did Bailey nurse a clearly subpar Logan Webb through 5 innings but he came up clutch in the 9'th. Lee drew a 1-out walk followed by Chapman's single putting runners at first and third. Ramos struck out to take away the opportunity to tie the game with a sac fly, but Bailey picked him up big time with a hard groundball single which tied the game and set up Wilmer's game-winning homer.
Wilmer Flores DH- 1 for 4, HR(1). BA= .250. Wilmer didn't look great in his first 3 AB's but then nobody did. At least he only struck out once out of the Giants total of 17 on the day. But Wilmer has kind of become known for these situations. He came up right after Bailey's game-tying single and pulled one into the LF seats for a 3-run HR giving the Giants a 6-3 lead. After a rough season last year, Wilmer is back!
Logan Webb RHP- 5 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 5 K's. ERA= 5.40. After getting two K's to start the game, Webb struggled with what appeared to be not his best stuff nor best command, particularly when he had to pitch out of the stretch. He did run into some bad luck in the third inning when, with runners on first and second, Gavin Lux scorched one that seemed to deflect off the right side of the mound and was fielded by Adames on the right side of 2B in no-man's land. Adames tried to get the force at 2B but was too far away to beat De La Cruz who can fly coming from first. By the time he figured out he couldn't get the force at 2'nd, he was too late on the throw to first, bases loaded. Jeimer Candelario, who had all 3 Reds RBI's followed with a 2-run single giving the Reds a 3-0 lead. BTW, Elly De La Cruz looks crazy fast before he even takes a step.
Randy Rodriguez RHP, Erik Miller LHP and Tyler Rogers RHP pitched a scoreless inning each to keep the the score close. Ryan Walker RHP gave up a run in the 9'th but recorded his first Save starting with the 3-run lead.
What a great Opening Day game!
The Giants get to savor their win for a day before Justin Verlander RHP makes his first official start as a Giant facing Nick Lodolo LHP in Game 2 of the season Saturday at 1:10 PM PDT.
AAA season starts tomorrow evening so check back for our first Down On The Farm post of the season.
Ryan walkers run allowed was dumb. After getting the first two out, he hit the next batter. Then, the runner was allowed to advance on indifference. Then, a single scored the runner. Then, a fly out. Could have been worse.
ReplyDeleteWhy didn't Webb come out for the sixth? I don't really like burning up the bullpen. But, it worked out. Hopefully Webb will be able to stretch further the rest of the way.
A good victory for the Giants.
78 is not a huge pitch count after 5 innings but Webb was clearly not at his best, had several high stress innings and a lot of pitches out of the stretch...and it was his first start of the season. It was the right call to bring him out after 5. He'll have plenty of starts where he goes deeper.
DeleteSorry...how is it dumb?
DeletePulling Webb is fine, It's only April and pitchers are still building up their armstregnth in that month.
DeleteOK I am calling it: 162-0.
ReplyDeleteSeriously though, great writeup.
Is 17 K's overall concerning?
ReplyDeleteOr chalk it up to the strike zone, a strikeout pitcher, and kinda cold (58°F)?
After Greene's 8 K's in 5 innings, four pitchers got 2 in each in the next 4 innings followed by the final pitcher facing one batter and striking him out.
Young Hunter Greene, #2 overall pick in the 2017 draft, is really something!
BTW, he and Ramos were both picked in the same round in 2017.
Not sure how concerning but it's a lot of K's. Greene is understandable. His stuff and command was insane. Like I said, he reminded me of peak Bob Gibson. And relievers are always tough to make contact on. They are always looking for the K's. I think mostly K's are a big part of MLB right now. K's are King!
DeleteJust did a little quick research: There were 28 games played yesterday. Average Team K's was 9.25. Range was 3-19. Interestingly the two teams with the most K's by their hitters were the Giants(17) and Phillies(19) and the both won their games. The team that struck out the most won 5 games, lost 7 and in 2 games the teams had the same number of K's. Maybe a small correlation with winning but too small a sample to really make a conclusion.
DeleteAgreed on Gibson comparison, but Bullet Bob believed he owned the inside of the plate and he didn't hesitate to let batters know if he thought they were crowding it with high-and-tight "bullets"!
DeleteWhen Ramos struck out in the 8th leaving Lee at 3rd and Bailey coming up with 2 outs, didn't it seem hopeless?
ReplyDeleteShouldn't have: all the Giants runs came with 2 outs!
Great way to start the season..like the reversal/polar opposite of the Mark Melancon Arizona opener!..Hopefuilly good things follow!
ReplyDeleteSteveVA
Either Melvin or Verlander doesn't believe in pitching around the Reds' best player...
ReplyDelete