Philadelphia (73-61). 3. 9 0
San Francisco (64-68) 5 8. 0
Sunday, September 4, 2022
San Francisco Giants come away with a two run 5-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies at Oracle Park in San Francisco to conclude the three game series Sun Sep 4, 2022 (photo by @SFGiants)
By Lewis Rubman
SAN FRANCISCO–A three game winning streak is nothing to write home about, but for the current version of your San Francisco Giants coming to work today with a record of 64-68, painting a triptych of triumphs was a consummation devoutly to be wished.
The visiting Philadelphia Phillies, at 73-61, were fighting to maintain their 2-1/3 game lead over the Milwaukee Brewers for the final NL playoff spot.
When the last out was recorded, it was the Giants who were successful, vanquishing the visitors from The City of Brotherly Love before a sellout crowd of 41,181.
The Giants sent their ace, southpaw Carlos Rodón (12-7, 3.03 at game time) to face their Quaker City foes, who also chose a left handed starter, Ranger Suárez (8-5, 3.42 before today).
He had been a reliever until August of last year. Since then, he had started 35 games and achieved a noteworthy ERA of 2.76. A pitchers’ duel seemed likely, and that’s what we got for the first 3-1/2 innings.
Rodón pitched beautifully. He ran into trouble in the sixth, loading the bases with no outs, but got out of that mess with a string of strikeouts. He shut the Phillies out over his six inning stint, in which he threw 106 pitches, of which only 36 were balls. He allowed five hits and two walks. He wasn’t involved in the decision, but his ERA fell to 2.92.
Suárez started off masterefully but stumbled through the fourth inning and didn’t go any further. He gave up three runs, all earned, on four hits, two walks, and a wild pitch striking out four. Of his 69 deliveries, 44 qualified as strikes. He escaped with a no decision and saw his ERA rise to 3.52.
The Phils outhit the Giants 3-1 through 3-1/2 scoreless innings and would out hit them 9-8 for the game. In the bottom of the fourth, LaMonte, Jr .’s grounder threaded the needle between short and third for San Francisco’s second hit but, what was more important, it drove in JD Davis with the game’s first tally.
Davis had been on second base after Suárez had walked him and Thairo Estrada. Indeed, the Philadelphia starter’s control deserted him in this inning, and both Estrada and Wade advanced a base on a wild pitch to Austin Wynns, who eventually singled to right, plating Estrada.
Wade scored the Giants’ third run of the frame on a single to right by Bryce Johnson. Wynns was cut down at third trying to advance an extra 90 feet on that hit.
Suárez didn’t come out to pitch the fifth. Right hander Nick Nelson replaced the southpaw. Luis González greeted him with a first pitch single to left. That brought up Lewis Brinson, so left handed swinging Mike Yastrzemski pinch hit for him.
A wild pitch and a strikeout later, Pederson pinch hit for JD Davis. He, like Wilmer Flores before him, took a called third strike. So did Estrada. Villar and Wynns were now the only right handed batters remaining in the Giants’ lineup.
The Phillies were down but not out. Rhys Hopkins sent a Rodón four seamer up against the left field wall for a leadoff double in the sixth. Alec Bohm´s single to left just eluded Estada’s glove, so the runner stopped at third.
With runners at the corners and no outs, Rodón fanned the dangerous Bryce Harper on a 97 mph four seam fastball. Realmuto worked a full count walk to fill the footpaths with Phillies. Then Rodón whiffed Jean Segura, notching his 200th K of the season. He got his 201st on Stott to close out the frame. The pitch was a 98mph four swinger and Rodón’s 106th of the game.
Vinny Nittoli took over mound duties for the visitors in the home sixth. He set down the side in order.
It was no surprise that Alex Young replaced Rodón on the rubber for the top of the seventh. Sam Coonrod pitched the bottom half of the frame for Philadelphia. Both of them had 1,2,3 innings.
John Brebbia made his 63rd appearance of the season, After whiffing Hoskins, he yielded a single to Bohm that just whistled by his head on the way to center field and then another, a Texas Leaguer to right, by Harper.
It was the first time this afternoon that the lefty had faced a right handed pitcher. Then JT Relmuto lowered the boom. He tied the game with a 423 foot blast into the left center field bleachers off a hanging slider.
David Robertson faced the newly tied Giants in the home eighth. He surrendered a two out single to left by Estrada. Then Wade sent a line drive against the brick wall over the State Farm advertisement in right center that sent Estrada to third while Wade stopped at first.
David Villar was due up, and Brandon Crawford pinch hit for him. He drew a walk to clog the basepaths. Evan Longoria became SF’s fourth pinch hitter, stepping in for Wynns. He fanned, and the game remained tied, not just in runs scored at three, but in men left on base at seven.
Camilo Doval pitched the top of the ninth for the orange and black, allowing only a two out broken bat infield single.
Robertson returned to the mound for home ninth. He walked Johsnon and fanned González. Yaz went down flailing at a knuckle curve for the second out. On the next pitch, Wilmer Flores launched a drive over the happy Chevron cars billboard in left, giving the Giants a thrilling 5-3 victory.
Doval, now 5-6, 2,73, got the win. The loss went to Robertson, who saw his record fall to 3-2, 2.35.
The Giants head to Los Angeles on Monday night at 7:10 pm PDT to open a three game series. Starting pitchers for the Giants Logan Webb (11-8, 2.89) and for the Dodgers (2-1, 2.12) at Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles.
The Giants will be on the road until September 12, when they will return to Oracle Park to face the Atlanta Braves. The probable starters are TB.
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