Christian Koss 2B broke up a perfect game by Chris Paddack RHP in the 6'th inning and Matt Chapman 3B hit a solo HR an inning later but the Giants managed just one other hit all evening in a loss we can mostly blame on lineup futility. Key Lines:
Jordan Hicks RHP- 6 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 6 K's, 7/2 GO/AO. ERA= 5.82. Yesterday we talked about the importance of Quality Starts and Hicks delivered one. Per Baseball Reference, QS results in team wins approximately 70% of occurrences. Of the 30% that don't, about 70% occur when the opposing also pitches a QS which is what happened here. It's also seems to be true that a high percentage of minimum QS's in which the pitcher allows 3 runs in 6 IP result in team losses, so perhaps the definition should be adjusted to 2 runs allowed or less. But in the end, Hicks and the bullpen would have to pitch a shutout to win this one so we'll pin this loss on the lineup.
As for Chris Paddack, he's had his moments, particularly in his rookie season. He's been plagued by injury and bouts of ineffectiveness since. The Giants made him look like a Cy Young candidate in this game which he almost certainly is not. He's a 2-pitch, flyball pitcher with approximately league average HR/FB so HR's are his Kryptonite. The Giants didn't hit enough of HR's or get enough batters on base in this game.
Kyle Harrison LHP- 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 0.00. Melvin again uses Harrison in a low-leverage situation(although the Giants theoretically still had a decent chance to come back and win the game). He wasn't quite as electric as his first appearance but he was good and is likely to move into higher leverage and/or extended roles in the near future.
Logan Webb RHP tries to even the series this evening facing Joe Ryan RHP. Ryan could be described as the Twins ace and comes in with a 2.93 ERA.
Doesn't help with Christian Koss (.473 OPS) and Brett Wisely (.000 OPS) splitting time at second base with Tyler Fitzgerald on the IL.
ReplyDeleteInteresting scoring on Minnesota's 3rd run: It was ruled that the runner got to 3rd on Buxton's hit and then advanced from 3rd on Ramos' error, so no RBI, but the subsequent wild pitch seems to have made it an earned run (charged to Hicks), which assumes that had the runner not already scored he would then?
Well, Koss got one of the 3 hits including the first one so what does that say about the rest of the lineup?
DeleteKoss's hit seemed, albeit with 2 outs, the possible beginning of a rally with the top of the lineup coming up. YtY hit it well but to no avail.
DeleteThe 3 hits, from the Koss single to the Ramos single encompassed only 7 batters — it did seem the Giants were coming to life, even after Wade hit a ball hart to RF, but no, it wasn't to be.
Ramos not really passing the eye test as a defender. Defensive metrics don't like his play much either.
DeleteI disagree. Ramos looks like a step up in LF defense over what we've seen in recent years to my eye.
DeleteDefinitely an improvement over Dave Kingman, Pat Burrell, Aubrey Huff, Michael Morse, and Connor Joe!
DeleteRamos is very likely going to be the FIRST repeat LF season starter since ...
DeleteBarry!
Anon, you might be a little suprised to learn Huff was a slightly above average defender in LF in 2010.
DeleteThe horrors came in '11 & '12.
We watched the Apple telecast, and they were crowing about how Paddack had changed his offseason workout routine and added another off-speed pitch. The analyst said he's feeling better than he has in years. They didn't say much about his not getting past the fifth inning in any of his previous seven starts this season. (I think his record was 0-3 coming into the game.) Giants' bats should've been much more lively against a pitcher like this.
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