An unearned run scored in the third inning as all Alex Wood LHP and four relievers needed to avert a series sweep and send the team off to Philadelphia on a high note. Game Notes:
Alex Wood made his season debut after undergoing a medical procedure to relieve nerve pain in his lower back. When he's healthy, Wood is an ace-quality pitcher. He sure looked healthy today! 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K's, GO/AO= 7/1, 61 pitches. Kap lifted him for Wilmer Flores PH with the bases loaded and 2 outs in the top of the 6'th inning. That was a decision that could have been second guessed if the bullpen had another bad game, but it's doubtful Wood was going beyond 5 IP anyway and the bullpen was nails the rest of the way.
The combined bullpen line was 4 IP, 0 H, 0 R 0 BB, 5 K's. 4 perfect innings. The big news was an electric MLB debut by Camilo Doval RHP who drew a loud F-bomb from the first batter he faced, Jesus Aguilar 1B, after striking him out on 3 pitches. I mean, grab some pine meat! Doval comes at batters from a low arm slot. Which produces a lot of lateral movement on the slider. Think Sergio Romo but with a 98 MPH FB! IDK if that bad boy is a no-dot slider like Romo's but the arm slot and movement are similar.
Tyler Rogers RHP got his first Save of the season with 3 GO's in the 9'th inning. Rogers unscored on in his last 6 appearances covering 7 IP. His overall GO/AO is a dominant 2.00. Over his last 3 appearances his GO/AO= 8/0.
The Giants lone run scored in the 3'rd inning after Brandon Belt 1B smoked a 2-out groundball through Jesus Aguilar's legs(yikes!) for an error to get Tommy La Stella 3B to 2B for Alex Dickerson LF to single him home.
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The Giants move on to Philadelphia for a 3 game set against the Phillies. Kevin Gausman RHP get the first game against Chase Anderson RHP.
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The Giants placed Logan Webb RHP and Jake McGee LHP on the COVID IL due to vaccine reactions. Those moves made room for Alex Wood and Chadwick Tromp C. Since it was COVID IL, Webb and McGee can be activated anytime. Webb will almost certainly make his start game 2 of the Phillies series on Tuesday. Tromp will be sent down as soon as Buster Posey C is ready to go. Posey reportedly felt significantly better from his elbow contusion today. Got all that? Good!
Camilo Doval's one inning was a blast of optimistic air - admittedly a small sample, really small, but darn the little we saw was pretty electric. Sets the mind to wondering what other young talent we might see emerging from the farm system as the year progresses.
ReplyDeleteWhat might the Giants do if a team, say the Yankees (big hopes for a great season being undone by some of the worst starting pitching in baseball), or the Padres (seeing the stable of starting pitching the Dodgers have up close and recognizing they need to add a SP or two), or another team eyeing post season glory, gets to the Giants early and makes a push for Gausman, or Cueto (somewhat complicated by the lat injury currently), or DeSlafani, or even Wood? Should the Giants be willing to make a move that would signal the team is, for all intents and purposes, looking past this season if they can acquire high end young talent?
And, what if a team needing a bat came after Longoria, or the Braves came after Buster to stabilize their young young pitching staff, or a team with a specific need came after Crawford or Belt?
It's way too early for anything to happen......or is it? If the dominos started to fall in any, or several of these directions, how would the Giants fan base respond?