Mason Black struggled through 3 innings and fell behind early but the lineup brought their hitting shoes and picked him up led by Thairo Estrada's 3-run home run and Luis Matos' 5 RBI's. Key Lines:
Jorge Soler DH- 1 for 4, BB. BA= .203. You knew Soler's rehab assignment would not last long. Batting him leadoff is a curious move by Bob Melvin. There is a theory out there that the leadoff batter sees the best pitches to hit because the pitcher is trying to not walk them so it's a good spot in the order to put a batter you are trying to get going. Of course, that is 180 degrees opposite of every stats based theory of lineup construction. Hey! A single and a walk in 5 PA's is a .400 OBP!
Thairo Estrada 2B- 3 for 5, HR(7). BA= .250. 3-run HR's are a very good way to score runs and win games. In the 5'th inning, Soler and Lamonte Wade Jr who batted second reached base with single and Thairo, the #3 batter, drove them in ahead of his 3-run HR. That's the way it's drawn up. Thairo has been a bit streaky this season but he's now tied with Michael Conforto for the team lead in HR's.
Matt Chapman 3B- 3 for 4, 2 2B, HBP, SB(4). BA= .218. Solid game for Chapman who batted cleanup despite an OPS hovering a bit above .600. Maybe Melvin showing faith in him will get him going?
Mike Yastrzemski RF- 2 for 4, 2B, BB. BA= .234. Third straight 2-hit game for Yaz the Younger.
Luis Matos CF- 3 for 5, 2 2B. BA= .333. What a night for Matos. He even got an RBI on a swinging bunt single. As they way, when you're hot, you're hot. Two games ago Matos looked completely lost in CF. A great catch in the final game of the Dodgers series seemed to give him a boost of confidence. Let's see if he can keep it going and play up to what appears to be tremendous potential.
Marco Luciano SS- 1 for 4. BA= .200. Put Luciano in the 9-hole and let him play seems to be as good a plan as any. Another young player with tremendous potential.
Mason Black RHP- 3 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 0 BB, 2 K. ERA= 7.71. Black was not fooling anyone. The way the Rockies were teeing off, you have to wonder if they knew what was coming.
Sean Hjelle RHP- 2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, GO/AO= 4/1. ERA= 2.81. Hjelle stopped the bleeding and allowed the lineup to get back in the game. He's become a solid multi-inning relief option.
Randy Rodriguez RHP- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K. ERA= 3.12. Rodriguez was hitting 100 MPH with the FB and had the Rockies flailing at his slider, although he spiked a couple too.
The Win kept the Giants 8.5 games behind the Dodgers in the NL West and just 1.5 games behind in the Wild Card race.
Kyle Harrison LHP tries for the Giants first 3-game win streak today facing Forever Giant Ty Blach LHP in an afternoon game.
Churn Watch:
As expected, Keaton Winn RHP went on the IL. Mason Black was recalled from AAA Sacramento and Jorge Soler was activated off the IL. Casey Schmitt IF was optioned to AAA Sacramento after hitting just .136 over 6 games. It looks like the Giants are giving Marco Luciano a chance to find traction on what they hope will be a great MLB career.
Sadly, but not unexpectedly, Jung Hoo Lee and the Giants announced he will undergo surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left(non-throwing) shoulder ending his season. See you next season, Jung Hoo!
Bad news on Lee, but expected....Good night from the bats...Love seeing MATOS and LUCIANO contributing.....can the team get on hitting roll somehow? Doc's boy Sean Hjelle doing a good job in releief.....Black with the typical unevenness of a young kid which the Giants can't really have right now as they desperately try to right the ship...With SNELL"s dominant performance in SAC, does Black go down for a reliever with Snell up to start in 5 days? or do they still need a 5th starter (non-opener type) and give him another start?
ReplyDeleteSteveVA
Most everyone would have preferred signing Brandon Nimmo in 2023 rather than Michael Conforto, and last year the Giants would have been better off. This year, not so much with Conforto leading in most offensive categories and Nimmo ahead on defense. Perhaps more importantly, Nimmo @31 yo seems to be on a decline while drawing $20,500,000 per year for the next 6 years and Conforto being gone, or, perhaps signed for less, maybe depending on how the outfield youth movement progresses.
ReplyDeletei think you swap black for romero for winn's spot and have tommy romero be the bulk innings guy for the bullpen game. as much as i dislike bullpen games, this may be the route to go until winn or cobb is healthy.
ReplyDeleteJust saw on X today that Cobb is shut down indefinitely. Still feels something in his shoulder.
Deletenow they may need to think of getting an insurance starter before the trade deadline. i'm worried that cobb may now need to consider retirement.
DeleteDoc, when you wrote: "Thairo Estrada 2B- 3 for 5, HR(7) ... is now tied with Michael Conforto for the team lead in HR's" you pretty much explained what is wrong with the Giants' offense.
ReplyDeleteEstrada and Conforto are tied for 32nd in HRs in MLB (with many others).
Matt Chapman and Jorge Soler with 5 HR's each are tied for 75th place in MLB.
Overall the Giants are 22nd in team HR's.
With last night's outburst, SF is 21st in MLB in runs scored (179), 6th in runs allowed (220). At 21-25 they are 2 wins ahead of their Pythagorean W-L (19-27).
They are 13-10 at home which may be why they are 5th in the NL in attendance.
They are off to Pittsburgh and New York (Mets) next week against teams with losing records, then home for Philadelphia and New York (Yankees) the following week against the 2 teams with the best records in MLB.
Hopefully they can get fat enough in the next 8 games to withstand what could be a terrible week beginning May 22nd...
Injuries are always painful! Brutal about Lee, he was so much fun on the field. Let’s hope that something in modern shoulder surgery and therapy can fix what we’re all thinking in the back of our minds, especially those of us that have torn a shoulder labrum before… And lets hope the other rooks took note!
ReplyDeleteUnderstood the technical reasons why Matos started off in the minors but man, so glad he’s back. He’s got a lot to learn but he just seems like he’s ready to play everyday.
How big is the Casali signing? Maybe it’s just me projecting, but some of the vets look like they got a second breath these last couple days. I think it was a savvy move by FZ to bring in a guy that not only cleans up the catcher mess but shows the vets that during these tough times they’re not going to just flood the team with kids and gold chains. We may be cringing a month from now every time Casali steps up to the plate but I got this gut feeling he’s going to bring a sense of leadership that this team is sorely lacking. If Cobb can somehow come back, he can also be in that mix.
Awesome to see Chapman and YtY finally start to hit like their talent suggests they should.
I also think watching the Bad Guys put on a hitting clinic shook ‘em up too. How can you not learn how to hit a ball after watching Betts and Ohtani for three days straight?
Rob in Vancouver