The Giants lineup fell just short of overcoming a disaster start by Jordan Hicks and Hayden Birdsong was not able to put out the fire in time. Key Lines:
Heliot Ramos LF- 2 for 4, 2B, SF, 3 RBI. BA= .288. Heliot Ramos continued his resurgence and is red hot, batting .478 over his last 7 games and .404 over his last 15.
Jung Hoo Lee CF- 1 for 5, HR(6). BA= .286. Lee's second HR in as many games was a monster shot that landed in the bleachers above Triples Alley. Not an easy reach on any day. It narrowed the deficit to 8-6 in the 7'th inning.
David Villar 1B- 1 for 2, 2 BB, R. BA= .250. Anybody else want to see Villar get more PA's between now and when Jerar comes off the IL?
Christian Koss 2B- 1 for 4, BB. BA= .241. Wouldn't you know, Christian came up in the second inning with the bases loaded again. No grand slam this time but he did make contact and dumped a soft liner into the OF to drive in one run. He came up again with 2-outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the 9'th inning. He again made contact but this time the ball held up and was caught for the final out. Quite a series for Christian Koss, though.
Jordan Hicks RHP- 2 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 1 BB, 1 K. ERA= 6.55. It may have started with some bad BABIP luck but most of them were hit hard and he got lucky in the second inning when Corbin Carroll lined into an unassisted DP by David Villar at 1B. He only walked one batter but command within the zone was not good and he paid for it. At this point, Hicks is headed down the same trajectory as last season. With several young pitchers knocking at the door, I'm not sure how much longer the Giants will let this go on but I feel like Hicks really needs to have a strong start next turn or the wolves will be at his door.
Hayden Birdsong RHP- 3 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 3 K's, 2 HR. ERA= 2.31. Birdsong inherited two runners from Hicks in the third inning and promptly gave up a bomb to Eduardo Suarez. He also gave up a 2-run shot to Ketel Marte in the 4'th inning.
The Giants lost the series and now have lost 5 of their last 6 games. They get the day off tomorrow before a weekend series against the A's with Logan Webb RHP facing TBD Friday night.
Yes on Villar. And more Matos, please. (Even though he didn't produce a hit today, Matos did figure in the scoring.)
ReplyDeleteMost of the time the Giants were winning one-run games, now they are losing them.
ReplyDeleteIs this just natural balancing, suggesting they are approximately a .500 team, or has it been bad luck lately?
It was a lot more fun winning and having walk-offs than what's been happening the last week!
Hicks is simply not a starter, I think he can be a great late innings guy. Melvin and Posey need to turn to one of Harrison and Birdsong.
ReplyDeleteHIcks has never been a great late-innings guy. He's never had an ERA less than 3.00 even when he was a closer. As Alex P described in detail over on NBC Sports Bay Area, Hicks uses his heavy sinker to pitch to contact and get groundball outs. The problem is the groundballs have been hit a little too hard and have found a few too many holes. He might get better results with more consistent triple digit velocity in relief situations but he's still basically a pitch to contact/ground-ball guy which is not ideal for late inning roles.
DeleteIn his previous 3 starts before yesterday, Hicks went 5 IP/2 R, 5 IP/3 R, 6 IP/3 R. While not great it's decent for a 4'th or 5'th starter. Can Birdsong or Harrison do better? They are both promising but not sure things either.
DeleteI haven't gone through to check the game logs but my impression is Hicks tends to pitch better in night games.
DeleteNot sure if Birdsong or Harrison can do better then Hicks also, but I"m curious as to what their plan is for using Harrison and Birdsong this season? I don't remember the team ever having their 2 best starting pitching prospects pitching out of the bullpen at the same time. What if a veteran starting pitcher gets hurt, later in the season, hope not, they can't expect Birdsong or Harrison to give them too many innings a start, since their arms won't be built up for it.
DeleteLooking at baseball-reference splits, Hicks has pitched better in night games (ERA 4.24 vs 7.94 day) and his BABIP is still high. The $12.5 million/year contract might be untradeable.
ReplyDeleteThis morning, Krukow felt that Hicks is not coming out of the rotation. Hicks is still getting ground balls and Krukow felt that Hicks was throwing too hard. It is causing him to lose command and he is throwing so hard that he is throwing past the break. He felt that Hicks would benefit by dialing it down one or two MPH.
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