Nationals starting pitcher Mackenzie Gore left the game with an apparent leg injury after walking Jung Hoo Lee to lead off the 7'th inning with the score tied at zero. That proved to be a turning point in the game as the Nationals relievers were wild, allowing the Giants to score 4 runs while Landen Roupp and the Giants bullpen combined for the shutout. Key Lines:
Jung Hoo Lee CF- 2 for 3, BB, 2 R. BA= .282. It was Lee's leadoff walk in the 7'th that led to the Giants first run of the game but he also singled in the 8'th and scored one of the insurance runs. Jung Hoo is 5 for 14 over with 2 doubles over his last 4 games.
Willy Adames SS- 1 for 3, BB, R, RBI. BA= .216. The Giants had runners at first and second with no outs in the 7'th inning when Wilmer Flores grounded into a double play putting Jung Hoo Lee at 3B with 2 outs. Adames picked up Flores with a groundball single up the middle to score Lee. Adames would eventually come around to score after a series of 2-out walks by Nationals relievers. But it was a hard comebacker by Adames off Mackenzie Gore's leg in the second inning which may have been the turning point in the game. Although it is unclear if Gore's thigh tightness is related the trainers reportedly had him ice bruise between innings from the second inning on.
Landen Roupp RHP- 6 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K's, 10/0 GO/AO. ERA= 3.63. Although Gore appeared to have better stuff and be more dominant, Roupp matched goose eggs with him for 6 innings and actually had a lower pitch count because he was pitching to ground ball contact. Roupp had a long layover in the dugout in the top of the seventh due to all the walks and allowed a double and a walk to the first two batters of the 7'th inning which brought Bob Melvin out with the hook despite a pitch count of just 76. Roupp has a 1.64 ERA in 22 innings over 4 starts in May. He has not allowed a run in 12 innings over his last two starts. He's pitching like he wants to stay in the rotation.
Randy Rodriguez RHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K. ERA= 0.83. Rodriguez is Melvin's designated fireman and he didn't disappoint in this game striking out the first batter he faced and then inducing a GIDP to get out of the 2 baserunners with no outs jam he inherited.
Erik Miller LHP(1.56) and Camilo Doval RHP(1.16) pitched scoreless 8'th and 9'th innings respectively in non-save situations.
The Win improved the Giants record to 30-21. They are in second place in the NL West.
Kyle Harrison LHP makes his first start of the season tomorrow facing Jake Irvin RHP in a game that starts at 1:05 PM PDT.
Tristan Beck RHP got the call up from AAA Sacramento to replace Justin Verlander RHP on the active roster. Beck may be needed for a multi-inning relief role tomorrow since Harrison has been pitching 1 and 2 inning stints out of the bullpen for a couple of weeks and will likely be on a pitch count limit.
Flores effectively caused 2 double plays: in the 7th and earlier when he blocked the catcher's throw after striking out.
ReplyDeleteDouble plays are part of his game. He leads the team this year as he did in 2023 and was 2nd to Buster in 2021. He comes up with runners on base, he hits the ball hard, and he is slow afoot.
OTOH, he drives in a lot of runs, as Buster did. Third in the NL, he leads the team this year by a bunch: 43 to Jung Hoo Lee's 31. Season long clean-up hitter, Matt Chapman, is 4th with 25, followed by Adames with 23.
Not yet desperate, the Giants are needful of a true clean-up hitter: Flores is close, Chapman is not, if their career numbers are looked at. Is Encarnación? There is not enough ML data to know although he has mashed in AAA.
In a don't look now, LMWJ is coming to life!
ReplyDelete4 for 10 with 4 walks in his last 14 plate appearances,
If you take out his miserable Minnesota performance (0-9 with a walk and 3 K's), his May is 12 for 38 (.316) with 3 doubles and a triple, 5 walks and 1 K, and the Giants are 10-4 in those games.
In March, April and May: Wade's BA was/is .000, .149, and May slash .255/.340/.362/.702.
In his May starts, the Giants are 8-4 including the swept by Minnesota. In one of his non-starts he began the rally as a pinchhitter that beat the A's.
LMWJ hit in some bad BABIP luck in April. His BABIP for the season is just .221 way below his career average or .281. BABIP's almost always regress to mean over a full season. His average exit velocity is higher than Wilmer Flores or Jung Hoo Lee.
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