The Giants lineup took advantage of several fielding lapses by the Brewers to put up a 4-spot in the 6'th inning the survived another bullpen meltdown by Ryan Walker to come away with a win. Key Lines:
Willy Adames 1 for 4, R. BA= .198. Adames made his hit count as he started the 6'th inning rally with a leadoff single. He also made a sparkling defensive play at SS contributing to much improved team defensive effort.
Jung Hoo Lee CF- 3 for 4, R. BA= .333. Lee followed up Adames single in the 6'th with a line drive single to RF to put runners at first and second with no outs.
Wilmer Flores DH- 2 for 4, R, 2 RBI. BA= .258. After Chapman drew a walk to load the bases, Flores hit singled to CF on a groundball deflected off the SS to drive in the first two runs of the game.
Christian Koss 2B- 1 for 3. BA= .176. An error by Brice Turang 2B added another run for the Giants sandwiched between K's by Ramos and Bailey which brought up Christian Koss with runners on first and second with 2 outs. He fell behind in the count 0-2 but fought his way back and managed to put the ball in play with something on it. He beat the throw to first for a in infield hit but the throw was offline and got away from Rhys Hoskins 1B allowing Wilmer for come all the way around to score the fourth run. Koss also fought his way back from an 0-2 count to 3-2 in an earlier AB which set up a hard-hit groundball to SS for an out but 2 good AB's on the game. He also made a sparkling defensive play going to his left and throwing cross-body to get the out at first.
Logan Webb RHP- 6.1 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 6 K's, 8/2 GO/AO. ERA= 1.98. Webb threw 41 pitches in the first two innings but did not allow a run. He then settled down to retire the next 11 batters in a row. He came out for the 7'th inning and allowed a single/walk to open the inning. He got a flyball out and Melvin went to Erik Miller to face the lefty-hitting Brice Turang. Miller got Turang on a force out then got Jackson Chourio on a comebacker to get out of the 7'th inning.
Ryan Walker RHP- 0.1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 1 K. ERA= 7.27. Melvin went to Walker in a non-save situation probably thinking it would be a good spot to get him back on track. Wrong! Walker proceeded to replay Sunday's 9'th inning down to the hit batter. By the time Melvin took him out for Camilo Doval, 2 runs were in and there were runners at 2'nd and 3'rd with just one out. Yikes! Not sure what Walker's problem is. He has crazy movement on both his fastball and slider. Maybe too much movement to command them? Tipping pitches?
Camilo Doval RHP- 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, Save(4). ERA= 2.45. Doval stranded the two runners with a K and a groundout. Looks like Doval has his Closer job back. He worked out his issues in lower leverage situations. Maybe Walker can do the same?
The Win improved the Giants record to 16-9.
Landen Roupp RHP tries for a 3-1 series win tomorrow afternoon facing Tobias Myers RHP who is making his first 2025 appearance.
Maybe let Walker resolve his problems in Sacramento. Beck and Hjelle are available.
ReplyDeleteThat would probably be seen in the clubhouse as a regression to the FZ era if he isn't given a chance to work it out in lower leverage MLB situations first.
DeleteHope for big leads and have the hook ready.
Deletewalker hasn't looked right all year and i suspect that he may be pitching hurt. the back issues may be worst than what we thought and this may be the time to shut him down if he is pitching through an injury.
ReplyDeleteI suspect when pitchers inexplicably fail to perform, its probably either a mechanical glitch, occult injury or tipping pitches.
DeleteKrukow says that Walker has a big crossover step that when it gets out of sync, he loses velocity and command. He may have picked up some bad habits after injuring his back or, as some posters have mentioned, he still might be injured. I think Dr B is correct in thinking its a mechanical issue. This front office is big on consistency. The struggling players earned their way onto the big league roster and will get every opportunity to fix things on the big league level first. With the record at 17-9, everyone will get some slack for the time being.
DeletePut Walker on the 10 day. Bring up Beck (or a lefty). Swap Birdsong for Hicks (and if Hicks doesn’t like that trade him to someone who will let him start). V and Ray are coming around. Need to shore up the back of the rotation
ReplyDeleteThe Giants are 16-9 for crying out loud. Why is everybody panicking?
DeleteNo Panic here..just amazement that that Giants continue to win or, at the least, break .500 when the hitting shoes for quite a few players aren't really on..Whether they can be is still the bigger longer term question to me, not the pitching. But, early season always an issue with pitchers rounding into shape, mechainical or injuries.
DeleteThat said, not out of question to worry about WALKER becasue of how good he cn be, but they are lucky to have DOVAL and a few others..No SAc for me,,...either IL if needed or work the kinks out in lower leverage..
Let's go for the series WIn today.
SteveVA
Exactly!
DeleteOTOH, the Giants have 3 Starters with WHIPs at or better than 1.00 not including Harrison, plus 4 relievers better than 1.00 (WHIP), all in the hitters paradise called the PCL.
Buster is aware of the problems but is trying to not be overly reactive based on a bad couple of games. The I-80 shuttle between San Francisco and Sacramento will be utilized more deliberately than with Farhan and demotions will be used more as a last resort. Farhan used to try to weaponize the 26 man roster by keeping it stocked with fresh bodies but Buster is aware that it’s hard for players to be shuffled back and forth like that.
DeleteCertainly Hicks has some "lease" but it probably extends for a couple or a few more starts.
ReplyDeleteThat said, he does seem to be putting his all out early and unable to do that for extended innings. Certainly could come in and reliably throw his hardest/best for an inning or 2. Yes, he did get a first inning bombing at least once.
The Giants' promise to let him be a Starter cannot sustain this result.