Let's call a truce in the Z Wars long enough to celebrate a nice little win for the Giants today. The first two batters in the Giants lineup, Steven Duggar and Brandon Belt drove in 3 runs each to account for the Giants. The bullpen shut the Rays down over the last 3 innings to hold on for the Win. Key Lines:
Steven Duggar RF- 1 for 3, 2B, SF. BA= .279. Duggar drove in the Giants first run with a sac fly in the 3'rd inning. He then hit a 2-run double which allowed the Giants to retake the lead 4-3 in the 5'th. Duggar is somewhat of a doubles machine. He hit 79 in 1402 PA or 34 per 600 in his minor league career. So far in the majors he has 15 in 191 PA or 46 per 600. He's like a tailor made hitter for the vast expanses of Oracle Park! And so far, The Duggah has been everything we hoped for and more. I think we have a keeper! Oh, and the double came off a LHP.
Brandon Belt 1B- 2 for 4, HR(3). BA= .250. Belt drove in the Giants second run with a single and the final 2 with an oppo-field dinger, again off a LHP. Those last 2 runs were the difference in the ballgame.
Joe Panik 2B- 0 for 2, 2 BB. BA= .208. Panik drew 2 BB's out of the 8-hole and scored 2 runs.
Kevin Pillar CF- 1 for 4, SB(1). BA= .103. Pillar bunted for a single in the 3'rd inning and stole 2B eventually scoring the Giants first run. He also made one of his patented highlight reel catches in CF on a wicked liner that would have gone all the way to the 421 ft sign had he missed it.
Conner Joe PH- 1 for 1. BA= .071. It was a parachute job into LF, but it still counts for his first big league knock. Hopefully this gets the monkey off his back and leads to better days for Conner Joe.
Jeff Samardzija RHP- 4.2 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 4 K's. ERA= 2.79. It as a battle for Shark but this time the offense picked him up.
Tony Watson/Reyes Moronta/Will Smith- 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K. The Trio shut down the Rays over the last 3 innings with Will Smith notching his 3'rd Save.
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The Win improved the Giants record to 3-6 and into a 4'th place tie with the Rockies 4 games behind the Dodgers and 3 behind the Padres who both won.
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Drew Pomeranz tries for the Giants first series win of the season tomorrow afternoon facing Yonny Chirinos.
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After all the talk - why is Duggar playing RF? Don't even care that Pillar is special in CF, Duggar is supposed to be the future there.
ReplyDeleteDuggar has more experience playing RF from minor league days.
DeleteReally excited by the immediate jump out by Duggar, but it's not entirely shocking. He's had a >130 wRC+ at all levels until his (tommy john?) major injury in 2016. Even then, he did very well for a defense-first CFer in AAA. His stint as we all remember, was fantastic in AA in his first go-around.
ReplyDeleteSo, this is a fantastic start for Duggar, especially considering he's not getting a lot of help except for from Brandon Belt.
I imagine he'll man RF as necessary this year, but he'll be just fine to step back into CF next year, or when something changes in the OF mix in 2019.
Belt has 40 HR potential in that bat. Note: Belt batting clean-up today - Posey rested an not in line-up.
ReplyDeleteYandy Diaz (HR in first) is one strong dude. I tip my cap to TB management - don't know what their roster building model
is but they know how to find young talent and unload older players!