Game Wrap 7/7/2024: Guardians 5 Giants 4

They say 3-run home runs win ballgames and the Giants found themselves on the wrong side of one when Guardians Manager and Forever Giant Stephen Vogt saw an opportunity and pinch-hit lefty-hitting Bo Naylor C for No-hitting Austin Hedges in the 6'th inning to give them the Guardians a 5-3 lead which the Giants were not able to overcome.  Key Lines:

Michael Conforto LF- 1 for 4, HR(10).  BA= .240.  Conforto's 2-run blast in the second inning traveled an estimated 440 ft and gave the Giants an early 2-0 lead.  Conforto is batting .353 over his last 7 games.

Brett Wisely 2B- 2 for 4, 2B.  BA= .278.  Wisely negated one hit when he got picked off 1B by Carlos Carrasco RHP but he was the only Giant with 2 hits in the game and teamed up with Nick Ahmed SS to give the two batters at the bottom of the order 3 of the team's 7 hits and 2 of the 3 doubles.

Hayden Birdsong RHP= 4.1 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 5 K's.  ERA= 4.40.  Birdsong looked tremendous through 3 innings including at least one almost perfect looking changeup.  He ran into trouble in the 4'th allowing 2 singles and 2 doubles to the first 4 batters.  To his credit, he pitched his way out of hit with only 2 runs allowed and still holding the lead at 3-2.  He came out of the game 1 out short of 5 IP after he walked a batter with 2 outs and a runner on base.  Sean Hjelle RHP came in and struck out Jose Ramirez to end the inning but then gave up the 3-run HR in the 6'th.

The Loss left the Giants 3.5 games behind in the Wild Card Race(The Cardinals jumped ahead of the Padres by 0.5 games as the Cardinals won and the Padres lost).

The Giants get on off day at home tomorrow before starting a series against the Blue Jays with Blake Snell LHP slated to fact Yusei Kikuchi LHP.

Congratulations to Logan Webb RHP and. Heliot Ramos OF for making the NL All-Star Team.  Heliot becomes the first "homegrown" Giants OF to make the All-Star team since Chili Davis.

PS:  Churn Watch:

Late last night after I posted this the Giants traded Austin Slater OF to the Reds for Alex Young LHP.  The Giants also sent cash to the Reds in the deal.  Up until the emergence of Heliot Ramos, Slater was the most successful "homegrown" Giants OF since Chili Davis after he was an 8'th round draft pick out of Stanford in 2014.  He was quite productive in RH platoon role but struggled to find traction this season with a .200/.330/.244 slash line in 112 PA's.  He missed a month with a concussion earlier in the season.  He was also the Giants Player Association representative and a quiet leader in the clubhouse.  Forever Giant!

This is Alex Young's second gig with the Giants.  He was previously acquired in 2022 from the Guardians for cash and posted a 2.39 ERA over 26.1 IP in a relief role.  I was a bit surprised and disappointed when he was non-tendered after the season.  He's been with the Reds since but mostly in AAA this season where he has a 1.19 ERA in 23 appearances.  The Giants immediately optioned him to AAA Sacramento where he will serve as lefthanded pitching depth.  Now THAT is churning!