Michael Conforto hits a key double for two RBIs in the top of the first inning against the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field in Cleveland on Fri Jul 5, 2024 (AP News photo)

Friday, July 5, 2024

Progressive Field

Cleveland, Ohio

San Francisco Giants 4 (44-45)

Cleveland Guardians 2 (54-32)

Win: Ryan Walker (5-3)

Loss: Tanner Bibee (7-3)

Save: Camilo Doval (17)

Time: 2:57 (:26 rain delay)

Attendance: 36,769

By Stephen Ruderman

The Giants came into Progressive Field, and fought to grind out a big 4-2 win against one of the best teams in Baseball in the Cleveland Guardians on Friday night.

The Giants have gotten hot since they came back to beat the Chicago Cubs last Monday, as they have won seven of their last ten. They’ve also done this against good teams. They took two of three from the Dodgers, and they also took two of three from the Braves.

Now, they were headed to Cleveland to take on a young and powerful Guardians’ team, who came into Friday night with the best record in the American League, and the second-best record in all of Baseball at 54-31. The Giants would be up against Tanner Bibee, who has had a solid season with a 7-2 record and an ERA of 3.47.

A 26-minute rain delay pushed the start of this game back. Once the tarp was cleared, the Giants were ready to go against Bibee in the top of the first inning. Jorge Soler reached on an infield hit to start the game; LaMonte Wade drew a walk; and the red-hot Heliot Ramos lined an opposite-field base-hit to right field to load the bases.

Patrick Bailey put the Giants on the board with a sacrifice fly to center to knock in Soler. Matt Chapman walked to reload the bases, and Michael Conforto shot a hanging curveball from Bibee over the glove of Guardians’ right-fielder Daniel Schneemann out in right-center to knock in a pair and make it 3-0.

Blake Snell, Robbie Ray and Alex Cobb are all expected to return to the Giants’ rotation soon, but until they do, there will be some more bullpen games. Friday night was one of them, and the left-handed flamethrower, Erik Miller, was the opener.

The first batter Miller would face in the bottom of the first was the American League batting average leader, the scrappy young outfielder, Steven Kwan. Kwan came into tonight hitting .367, and he is having the type of season that has not been common in Baseball in the Three True Outcomes Era.

Kwan hit a fly ball down the left field line that hooked foul and was headed out of play, but third-baseman Matt Chapman made a running catch and ended up on the tarp afterwards. It was reminiscent of a catch that Nolan Arenado made against the Giants at then-AT&T Park back in 2015 when tumbled onto the tarp to make a catch.

Anyway, Miller ended up pitching a scoreless inning, and Bibee settled with a 1-2-3 top of the second. Spencer Bivens, who made the start and got the win in a strong five-inning performance against the Dodgers on Sunday, came in for the bottom of the second, and he ran into trouble.

David Fry grounded out to third to start the inning, but Andres Gimenez singled to right, and Schneemann walked. The Guardians had runners at first and second with one out, but Bivens was able to take control. Bivens struck Gabriel Arias swinging, and he got Bo Naylor to ground out to end the inning, as he got out of it unscathed.

Both pitchers pitched 1-2-3 innings in the third, and the Giants would be back in action in the top of the fourth. Conforto led off the inning with his second double of the night, and he got to third when Brett Wisely reached on an error by shortstop Gabriel Arias.

Nick Ahmed then laid down a safety squeeze that was made harder by the fact that he got a curve that was up and in from Bibee, which caused Ahmed to bunt the ball up in the air. The ball landed just fair on the first base line, and Conforto scored to make it 4-0.

Josh Naylor led off the bottom of the fourth with a towering home run to center field to put the Guardians on the board. Fry and Gimenez then both singled to put runners at first and second with nobody out.

Once again, Bivens was able to regain control in a jam. He got Schneemann to fly out to center, and he got Arias to ground into a double play to end the inning.

Bibee and Tim Herrin combined to throw a scoreless top of the fifth, and left-hander Taylor Rogers pitched through a two-out double in a scoreless bottom of the fifth. Herrin struck out the first two men he faced in the top of the sixth. Ahmed walked, and then Guardians Manager and Former Giant Stephen Vogt brought in Cade Smith, who got out of the inning.

Randy Rodriguez came in for the bottom of the sixth, and he was in trouble right away Josh Naylor lined a base-hit to left to start the inning, and Fry doubled to left to put runners at second and third with nobody out. Gimenez got Naylor in with a sacrifice fly to right to make it 4-2, and Schneemann walked.

Bob Melvin then brought in Ryan Walker, who was able to get out of the inning with the Giants’ lead still at 4-2. Smith threw a 1-2-3 inning in the top of the seventh, and Walker worked through a one-out walk to pitch a scoreless bottom of the seventh.

Sam Hentges came in to throw a 1-2-3 inning in the top of the eighth for Cleveland, and submariner Tyler Rogers came in for the Giants in the bottom of the eighth. Fry grounded out to short to start the inning, and then Gimenez reached on a seeing-eye single along the third base line.

Schneemann grounded into a force out that second-baseman Brett Wisely took a gamble on by trying to get the lead runner at second for the second out of the inning. Bryan Rocchio then lined a double down the right field line to put the tying runs on second and third with two outs.

A Giants’ pitcher had to escape yet another jam, and that is precisely what Rogers did. Bo Naylor grounded out to second to end the inning, and the Giants kept their lead going to the ninth.

Nick Sandlin pitched a scoreless top of the ninth for the Guardians, and Melvin brought in Doval to try and convert the save in the bottom of the ninth. However, as Doval has done many times this season, he made things dramatic.

Kwan led off the inning, and he reached on an infield hit, when he hit a ground ball to Wade at first, but Doval was late in breaking for the bag. Angel Martinez walked, and the Guardians had runners at first and second with nobody out.

The Guardians were threatening again. Jose Ramirez struck out swinging for the first out, and up came Josh Naylor, who was up to do one thing and one thing only: hit one out. However, Naylor grounded to double play to end it.

Ryan Walker got the win, and with the Giants’ opener, Erik Miller, going only one inning, the decision on who got the win was at the discretion of the official scorer. Tanner Bibee got the loss, and Camilo Doval picked up his 17th save.

The Giants really had to fight this one out against one of the best teams in Baseball, and they did so beautifully. Plain and simply, it was a big win for the Giants, who have been beating some of the best teams in Baseball, and who have now won eight of their last 11 to improve to 44-45.

The Giants will be right back at it for a late-afternoon game Saturday with the left-hander, Kyle Harrison (4-3, 3.96 ERA), on the mound. Harrison will be opposed by left-hander Logan Allen (8-4, 5.75 ERA). First pitch will be at 4:10 p.m. in Cleveland, 1:10 p.m. back home in San Francisco.