Evan Longoria and Kevin Pillar hit home runs to support the ace-like pitching of Jeff Samardzija as the Giants took a 2-1 lead in the 4 game series against their rivals for a Wild Card playoff spot. Key Lines:
Evan Longoria 3B- 2 for 3, HR(14). BA= .243. Longo bounced back from a rough night Friday to send a longball over the LF fence to give the Giants a 2-1 lead in the second inning. Longoria was one of the main architects of the Giants terrific run in July before going on the DL with plantar fasciitis. Getting back to some semblance of that would be a huge boost to their stretch run.
Kevin Pillar CF- 2 for 3, 2B, HR(15). BA= .248. 2'nd HR in as many games for Pillar who is slashing .379/.400/.724 over 10 games in August so far. He is one HR short of his personal season best and is tied for his personal season best in RBI's.
Jeff Samardzija RHP- 8 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 5 K's. ERA= 3.55. Shark was able to command his FB both up and down in the zone and kept Phillies hitters off balance all afternoon. A first inning HR to Corey Dickerson was the only significant blemish on his pitching line.
I think fans have been pretty down on Shark and feel like his contract is an albatross. If you believe in the fWAR to salary link, he more than earned his keep his first two seasons with the Giants. He lost last year due to injury and had a very shaky first 3 months this year and was looking like a "5 and dive" pitcher at best. However, since July 1, he's thrown 6 QS out of 8 with a 1.95 ERA in that span. If he continues pitching like this, he will easily earn his keep this season. Although there are never guarantees, if he has an average Shark season next year, he will have paid for his 5 yr/$90 M contract in on-field production.
Shark is one contract Zaidi could probably move over the winter, and if he can get enough in return, it may be a smart move, but most GM's would consider a 1 year contract of $18 M for a pitcher of Shark's caliber to be a good deal.
One more thing, the Giants may be just a couple of weeks away from having their pitching core of Bumgarner, Cueto and Samardzija intact since early in 2017. If they can somehow hang in the Wild Card race until then.......
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Despite the Win, the Giants remain 4 games behind the BrewCrew for the 2'nd Wild Card playoff spot. They are 3.5 game behind the Mets, 2.5 games behind the Phillies and 1.5 games behind the D'Backs.
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Conner Menez will try to lead the Giants to a series win tomorrow afternoon facing RHP Jake Arrieta.
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The Giants signed RHP Kyle Barraclough off waivers and optioned him to Sacramento. They also shipped Sam Selman back to Sacramento but somehow still have 26 players listed on the 25-man active roster including RHP Logan Webb, who I assume is on the "taxi squad."
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