Game Wrap 9/8/2024: Giants 7 Padres 6

Fernando Tatis Jr broke up Joe Musgrove's perfect game in the 4'th inning when he lost Heliot Ramos' flyball in the sun.  That opened the floodgates to 6 consecutive hard hits including 3 HR's in a 6-run inning.  The Giants held on for the win.  Key Lines:

Heliot Ramos LF- 1 for 5, 2B.  BA= .273.  Heliot hit a can of corn to Tatis in RF who tried to shield his eyes from the sun with his right hand but flinched at the last second as the ball dropped right over his left shoulder for what was technically a double.  Heliot should have ended up at 3B but jogged down the 1B line in disgust with himself expecting the ball to be caught.  It ended up not mattering as Chapman followed with a HR but Heliot got some real time feedback from Bob Melvin in the dugout after he scored.

Matt Chapman 3B- 2 for 4, HR(23), SB(15).  BA= .251.  Chapman continues his torrid hitting.  .286/.366/.536 slash line since All-Star Break.

Jerar Encarnacion 1B- 1 for 4, HR(3).  BA= .257.  Jerar followed singles by Michael Conforto DH and Tyler Fitzgerald SS by sending one into the upper deck in LF giving the Giants a 5-0 lead.

Luis Matos RF- 1 for 4, HR(5).  BA= .211.  Matos went back-to-back with Jerar's blast to finish off the 6-run scoring in the 4'th inning.

Marco Luciano 2B- 1 for 4, 2B.  BA= .254.  Marco followed Matos HR with a scorching double down the LF line.  Later in the game a miscommunication between him and Fitz returned Tatis' favor and led to two unearned runs and narrowed the Giants lead to 7-4.  That led to some tense words between Marco and Fitz in the dugout.  When it was all sorted out it seems it was Luciano's ball all the way but Fitz, who ran a long way to try for it, didn't hear Marco call for it.  Luciano has been a little snakebit on D this season. Hopefully this does not derail him from getting MLB PA's ROS.  I still believe in his ceiling.

Curt Casali C- 1 for 3, HR(1).  BA= .178.  Casali's solo HR in the 6'th inning ended up being the difference in the game.

Spencer Bivens RHP- 4.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 3 K's.  ERA= 2.77.  Plucky start by Bivens who may have been thrown off his rhythm by the long break during the Giants big 4'th inning.  Bivens is living his dream and deserves to be in the mix for a role next season.

Camilo Doval RHP- 0.1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 0 K.  ERA= 4.94.  Big regression for Doval who was as bad today as he was great yesterday forcing Ryan Walker to pitch 1.2 innings for the Save.

Ryan Walker RHP- 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, Save(7).  ERA= 1.82.  What a season!  Walker is my nominee for the Willie Mac Award.  

Giants have a travel day to Milwaukee where TBD gets the start on Tuesday facing Aaron Civale RHP.