A very questionable call by the second base umpire to start the 7'th inning started a disastrous cascade of plays leading to the Royals scoring all 5 of their runs which was enough to spoil and otherwise solid game by the boys in orange and black. Key Lines:
Casey Schmitt 3B- 1 for 4, HR(20), R, RBI. BA= .273. Schmitt's solo HR came in the 9'th inning after the disastrous 7'th and was too little, too late.
Jung Hoo Lee RF- 1 for 4, 3B, R, RBI. BA= .302. Lee's triple in the top of the 7'th inning drove in Rafael Devers who was on base with a walk. Willy Adames then drove in Lee with a ground-rule double to extend the Giants lead to 3-0.
Landen Roupp RHP- 6 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 7 K's, 7/1 GO/AO. ERA= 3.93. Roupp pitched better than the line as he breezed through 6 innings of shutout ball on just 2 hits. Vinnie Pasquantino 1B doubled into the R-CF gap but appeared to come off the 2B bag. Willy Adames quickly slapped a tag on him. The ump called safe and the play appeared headed to review, but then stopped everything by ruling that Adames pushed Pasquantino off the bag, something it seems nobody else saw. Tony Vitello came out to argue and was ejected. The next batter was Sal Perez DH of course and none of us need to look up th Game Summary to know what happened. With the score now 3-2, Sam Hentges LHP came in, gave up a bunt single and threw the ball down the RF line putting the runner on 2B and the game unravelled from there with Keaton Winn RHP joining the meltdown party.
I don't have time to go through every Game Summary and tally up what percentage of runs scored against the Giants have been on similar meltdown innings but I sure seem to remember a lot of them. It seems the Giants have a specific problem with the transition from SP to RP. If true, is it because Tony Vitello leaves the SP in too long? Is it because the Giants just don't have any relievers capable of shutting down a rally when they enter the game with runners on base(that was not the case in this game). Or is it just a symptom of a generally undertalented pitching staff?
The Giants get tomorrow off at home before starting a weekend series against the Angels with Logan Webb RHP facing Grayson Rodriguez RHP who comes in with an ERA of 8.23 which means he'll probably look like a Cy Young Award candidate against the Giants.
Listened to today’s meltdown on the radio while driving. The sense of foreboding at this point is palpable. When anything goes wrong you can just feel the whirlpool sucking them down. I don’t recall any Giants team like this in the last half century.
ReplyDeleteThe fact the Giants played soft after Vitello's ejection is worrisome. The trade deadline is a referendum on ownership.
ReplyDeleteThe Red Sox lost their winning streak yesterday, their first loss since July1.
ReplyDeleteThis 15 games-in-a-row was the cap of a longer winning way as Boston has gone 23-5 since June 19th when they were 15½ games behind following losing 8 of 10.
An unlikely 15-game win streak for the Giants would still leave them underwater plus they would have to jump past 8 teams, 5 of which have winning records, to make the 2026 play offs.
Luis Arraez did play yesterday going hitless while driving in a run with an SF, so holding him out the previous day when the tying run was on base in the 9th inning is more puzzling.