Game Wrap 9/10/2019: Giants 5 Pirates 4

Johnny Cueto shimmied and shook and quick pitched his way to a 5-0 lead after 5 innings and the Giants makeshift bullpen staved off disaster to hold on for the win.  Key Lines:

Mauricio Dubon 2B- 2 for 4, 2B.  BA= .308.  Dubon, who has pulled the ball for most of his hits,  showed he could go the other way leading off the bottom of the first inning with a single through the hole in right side to start a 3-run rally.  He later doubled on another groundball to the right side.

Steven Vogt C- 2 for 4, HR(9).  BA= .274.  Vogt's HR added on 2 runs in the 5'th inning which proved to be the difference in the ballgame.  Vogt is a FA after this season at age 35.

Johnny Cueto RHP- 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K's, GO/AO= 8/3.  ERA= 0.00.  Cueto had all his signature moves going plus a few non-signature ones.  His FB topped out a 93 MPH which is back to pre-2018 levels.  He left to a huge cheer from the crowd of 27 K.  When was the last time Bumgarner, Cueto and Shark were all healthy at the same time?

Andrew Suarez LHP- 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 6.49.  Suarez has had a rough season, but his ERA is 3.12 over his last 7 appearances, 8.1 IP.  The Giants are clearly auditioning LHP's for next season's bullpen and Suarez make a good impression here.  He inherited 2 runners with no outs in the 6'th and added 1 more to load the bases.  He got out of it with a pop up and a GIDP against none other than Josh Bell for the final 2 outs.

Wandy Peralta LHP- 0.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 0 K.  ERA= 6.55.  Speaking of auditions......

Shaun Anderson RHP- 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K's, Save(1).  ERA= 5.14.  Speaking of auditions.....the Giants are likely going to have a new Closer next season.  As someone pointed out, Anderson was a Closer in college.  He's since polished up a SP repertoire and gains a couple MPH on the FB out of the bullpen.

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Logan Webb tries to recover from his disaster start last appearance facing RHP Dario Agrazal in the series finale tonight.

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The Giants DFA'd LHP Williams Jerez to make room for Johnny Cueto on the 40 man roster and to make room for Wandy Peralta's audition.

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The Giants fired 8 of 20 full-time scouts including several recognizable names such as Matt Nerland, Bob Mariano and Andy Skeels.  Farhan Zaidi stated he plans to hire additional scouts, but was vague about how many and for what assignments.  He did say that on-demand video has changed scouting needs but the Giants will continue to send scouts to see players in person.  He also talked about placing more emphasis on scouting the lower minors, which is something I agree is needed.

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Christian Yelich fouled a ball off his patella and fractured it, ending his season.  I am in severe pain just thinking about what that must feel like.

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For those of you who still think the Giants window for contention closed forever when they traded away Kyle Crick, he required surgery to repair a tendon in his index finger from an injury suffered in a fistfight with Pirates Closer Felipe Vazquez who one report had throwing the first punch and reportedly had obvious swelling and bandages on his nose.  This gets really ugly when you consider Crick reportedly got into it in the past with Bullpen Coach Euclides Rojas who Crick accused of giving Vazquez preferential treatment.  It's not clear what "preferential treatment" entails, but it might have something to do with Vazquez' 26 Saves and 1.71 ERA and Crick's own 4.96 ERA?  The Pirates have also reportedly experience clubhouse violence issues involving RHP Keone Kela who seems to also have issues with Vazquez.  Wow!