The Giants overcame a 2-run blown save by Camilo Doval to come back and win the 10'th. Key Lines:
Mike Yastrzemski RF- 1 for 5, HR(8). BA= .243. Merrill Kelly RHP has been a Giants nemesis his whole career, but Kelly likes to throw strikes early in the count and force batters to chase out of the zone late. YtY set the tone by attacking the first two pitches he saw and homered on the second one to give the Giants an immediate 60% chance of winning the game.
Jung Hoo Lee CF- 3 for 5, 2B, 3B, 2 R, RBI. BA= .246. Jung Hoo came back with more energy after a day off. In the first inning and after a 2-out walk to Wilmer Flores 1B/3B, Lee was first pitch hunting and drove one off the R-CF wall for RBI triple. He came up on the 9'th with a shot at a cycle but flied out to RF well inside the warning track. Maybe a day off here and there should be the plan for JHL going forward?
Brett Wisely 3B/2B- 2 for 3, 2B. BA= .192. Wisely had a nice night at the plate and added a couple of slick plays in the field.
Landen Roupp RHP- 4 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 4 BB, 4 K's. ERA= 3.48. Roupp pitched 4 shutout innings although he allowed a couple of baserunners in the 4'th. He gave up a leadoff HR to Alek Thomas, who is turning into a Giants killer, leading off the 5'th then walked the next two batters. A single by Marte loaded the bases and Melvin went to Erik Miller LHP. Miller went K, SF, K to limit the damage to just 1 run.
Camilo Doval RHP- 2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 3 K's, BS(4), W(4-2). ERA= 3.03. You can't really call Doval's 9'th inning torture because it happened so quickly. Oppo-field slap single to LF by Perdomo then bam! HR by Ketel Marte. And while we're at it, can the Giants please find a player like Ketel Marte? Despite his struggles with runners on base, Melvin brought Doval back to pitch the 10'th after the Giants took the lead. This time he delivered. A fly out advanced the designated runner to 3'rd then struck out Jake McCarthy and Alek Thomas, no small feat, to end the game.
The Giants try to get out of town with a series split tonight with Robbie Ray LHP facing Brandon Pfaadt RHP who comes in with a 5.38 ERA.
Finally, a bit of relief from the "June Swoon," we have been suffering through. Here is a question: Why not play Rafael Devers at 3rd base since Chapman, Schmidt and Koss are all injured?
ReplyDeleteProbably because Devers is dealing with a low grade groin strain and he hasn't played 3B since last season.
DeleteBoston saw enough of him at 3B to sign Alex Bregman.
DeleteA.I. Overview:
While there's no single, universally agreed-upon "worst" regular third baseman in the American League over the last 7 years, based on available data and various sources focusing on defensive performance, Rafael Devers is frequently cited as one of the players with the most significant defensive struggles at the position in the AL. Several sources point to Devers' consistently low Outs Above Average throughout most of his career. He has also frequently led the American League in errors committed by a third baseman in multiple seasons within the last 7 years.
Max Muncy was injured last night and left the game after collapsing to the ground in obvious pain and eventually requiring assistance to leave the field.
ReplyDeleteShould he go on the IL, he'll not bring his 25 HR's and .939 OPS career smacking against SF next weekend. He has done well in Oracle slashing .274/.390/.568/.958 with a bushel of extra base hits and RBIs, second only to Coors Field for him on the road.
For all of the grief Melvin has taken recently, I thought it was a pretty class thing for him to give Doval a chance to get the win in the 10th inning. His stuff is still electric and the manager putting that much faith in him after such a disastrous 9th had to give him a confidence boost. The Giants are going to need Doval to keep growing as a closer in the second half.
ReplyDeleteDoval was Melvin's best bet for the 10'th inning. Alternate choices were Walker, Lucchesi and Mason Black.
DeleteDoval asked Melvin for a chance to pitch the 10th
DeleteEncouraging to see Doval regain his focus and composure.
ReplyDeleteAlso, as Doc noted, Ketel Marte is one of the best hitters in the game. Yes, it was a solid single hit before Marte's HR. I would put Marte in the top ten hitters in mlb.
ReplyDeleteBuster seeks a lefty:
ReplyDeleteThe Giants and Matt Gage have agreed to a minor league contract. Gage has been assigned to Triple-A Sacramento for the time being. Gage was designated for assignment by the Tigers last week and elected free agency rather than accept an outright assignment. 32-year-old Gage threw 5⅔ shutout innings for the Tigers this season, bringing his career totals to 25⅓ innings of 1.42 ERA ball. That’s come in small looks across parts of three seasons with Toronto, Houston and Detroit.
Could he be worse than the resurgent Joey Lucchesi?
Buster seems to be taking a page from, er, his predecessor...