Excellent team pitching and a hustling double by Rafael Devers led to a narrow win for the Giants. Key Lines:
Rafael Devers DH- 1 for 4, 2B. BA= .244. I've been as critical of Devers as anyone this season but credit where it's due. Ever since the finger-wagging incident, he cleaned up his game, mostly hustled and actually looked like he's having fun out there. His 4'th inning double was a deep liner to CF but one that looked like a long single but Devers busted it out of the box and when it briefly got away from the fielder, he stretched it into a double and scored the Giants only run on a single by Victor Bericoto LF.
Willy Adames SS- 3 for 4. BA= .229. Adames was back in the lineup for the first time in week. He looked much better at the plate but had a ball kick off his glove straight up in the air for his 17'th error which put runners on first and second with 2 outs in the 7'th inning. As a fan watching, you couldn't help but think "uh-oh, here we go", but Adrian Houser got the final out of the inning on a pop up to preserve the shutout.
Matt "Tugboat" Wilkinson LHP- 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K. ERA= 0.00. The Giants braintrust decided to make Wilkinson's MLB debut a lefty opener assignment with Adrian Houser doing the bulk-innings. Hey! It worked! Wilkinson's FB topped out at 91 MPH but he delivers it at a similar angle as another lefty named Kyle Harrison and induced 2 flyouts and 3 pop ups against a single ground out in 2 innings of work.
Adrian Houser RHP- 5 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K's, 6/1 GO/AO. ERA= 4.08. Since moving to the bullpen on June 26, Houser has the second best ERA in MLB(40 IP min.). He did make one start on August 12 and pitched 6 shutout innings, but the Giants have brought him in after on Opener several times with success. This one made sense because of the 7 batters Wilkinson faced, 4 batted left and 3 were switch-hitters. The first batter Houser faced batted R. So, Houser seems to have put himself in position to be either a SP or bulk-innings man next season. Either way, he fills 1/5 of a pitching rotation.
Dylan Smith RHP- 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K's, Save(3). ERA= 2.73. Smith entered the game in the 8'th inning after Houser allowed a leadoff walk to Steven Kwan and promptly threw a wild pitch, but then struck out the side with a riding 96 MPH FB that Guardians batters swung under and an occasional split or sweeper. Dave Flemming mentioned that the FB velocity dipped by a tick or two to the last two batters of the 9'th but Smith struck both of them out for a very nice 2-out Save. Is he now the presumptive Closer for next season?
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