San Francisco Giants Luis Matos whacks a fly to left field that scored ghost runner Tyler Fitzgerald from third base in the bottom of the tenth inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at Oracle Park in San Francisco (AP News photo)

Philadelphia (38-18). 000 000 000 0. 0 7 0

San Francisco (29-27). 000 000 000 1. 1 4 0. 10 innings

Time: 2:32

Attendance: 34,653

Tuesday, May 8, 2024

By Lewis Rubman

SAN FRANCISCO–Thrilling as it was, the Giants’ 1-0 10 inning triumph over the Philadelphia Phillies at Oracle Park Tuesday night was less significant that what occurred in medical examination rooms and the Giants’ front office.

LaMonte Wade, Jr., who aggravated his left hamstring strain running out a double last night, was placed on the 10 day injured list, but imaging showed that he had a grade two strain, making his placement on the 30 day list inevitable.

The probable month long loss of Wade, arguably the Giants most reliable hitter and a steady presence at first base, reverberates against the season-long loss of the sparkplug Jung-Hoo Lee, who is awaiting surgery on his dislocated shoulder.

But those weren’t the only transactions of note that came down today. The Giants promoted three players from Sacramento. Trenton Brooks, a career minor leaguer who was hitting .308 in the hitter friendly PCL yesterday, was playing first base and batting in the ninth position when the orange and black took the field this evening.

Spencer Howard, a right handed pitcher who throws a sinker, cutter, change of pace, and knuckle curve, got a break and pitched four innings of shutout ball in the show Tuesday night. Tyler Fitzgerald, who had played in 22 games for the Giants earlier this season and was the most recent PCL Player of the Week, joined the caravan of River Cats down I-80 to McCovey Cove and scored the winning run.

San Francisco also designated two players for assignment, the well paid and unused veteran hurler Drew Pomeranz and outfielder Ryan McKenna.

Here’s a little more detail about the newcomers fared tonight. Brooks went hitless in four at bats, striking out once. Howard surrendered four hits and struck out four batters in his effective four innings on the mound, throwing 49 pitches, 36 for strikes.

Fitzgerald entered the game as a pinch hitter in the bottom of the eighth, when he walked. He struck out in the ninth and was the zombie runner whom Luis Matos drove in with his game winning sacrifice fly in the tenth.

The Giants used five pitchers to shut Philadelphia out in this bullpen game, opening with Erik Miller, who left after an inning. Then came Taylor Rogers. He stuck around for two frames, followed by Alexander, who kept Philadelphia off the board in the fourth through seventh frames.

Ty Rogers gave up a hit in the one inning he pitched, the eighth. Sean Hjelle, who got the win, and now is 2-1, 2.95, put the Phils down. in order in the ninth, and didn’t let the ghost runner get past third in the tenth.

Philadelphia’s starting pitcher, Zack Wheeler, a veteran of 10 major league campaigns and last years Gold Glove winner in the. National League, pitched six strong innings, in which he allowed only two hits and an equal number of walks while striking out nine of the 21 Giants he faced.

Orion Kerkering and José Alvarado each pitched a hitless inning, although the latter issued a pair of bases on balls. Jeff Hoffman gave up a couple of hits, one a broken bat single by Thairo Estrada, but emerged unscathed. Matt Strahm, who took the loss, issued an intentional walk, but managed to lose in the one scoring inning of the entire night. Here’s how it came down:

Fitzgerald was placed on second. The Phillies chose to grant Héliot Ramos an intentional pass to set up a double play. It was the standard move in situations like this. It backfired. WilmerFlores, who had entered the game a pinch hitter in the eighth, flew out to center, deep enough to let Fitzgerald advance to third. Matos then few out to medium deep left, deep enough for Fitzgerald to beat the throw home and give the Giants a tremendous victory

Wednesday Matinee, will see the final duel between these two teams, barring a playoff encounter Kyle Harrison (4-1, 3.90) will face off against the Fighting Phillies from the City of Brotherly Love’s Cristopher Sánchez (2-3, 3.15) at 12:45pm PT.