San Francisco Giants starter Blake Snell pitches to the Kansas City Royals in the bottom of the first inning at Kaufman Stadium in Kansas City on Sun Sep 22, 2024 (AP News photo)

Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024

Kauffman Stadium 

Kansas City, Missouri  

San Francisco Giants 2 (77-79)

Kansas City Royals 0 (82-74)

Win: Blake Snell (5-3)

Loss: Seth Lugo (16-9)

Save: Ryan Walker (9)

Time: 2:08

Attendance: 24,189

By Stephen Ruderman

A two-run second inning plus another dominant start by Blake Snell led the Giants to a 2-0 win and a sweep of the Royals Sunday, their first road sweep and sweep of a team other than Rockies this year.

After winning the first two games, the Giants had a chance at their first road sweep of the year. They came close on Thursday in Baltimore, but a walk-off home run by Anthony Santander denied the Giants the sweep. 

The weather was much cooler Sunday at Kauffman Stadium, as it was gray and misty with a gametime temperature of 64 degrees. Or in this writer’s view, a beautiful day for baseball. The Giants would be up against Seth Lugo, and though he would throw a scoreless inning in the top of the first, the Giants were able to get to him in the second. 

Jerar Encarnacion lined a base-hit up the middle into center field with one out in the top of the second. Grant McCray then hammered a triple out into the gap in right-center, and the Giants once again struck first. 

Tyler Fitzgerald struck out swinging, and then Brett Wisely singled in McCray to make it 2-0. The Giants would get three hits this afternoon, and every single one of them came in the top of the second.

Blake Snell made the start for the Giants, and he was once again superb, as he gave up just two hits, and he walked one and struck out nine over six innings. In his 14 starts since coming off the injured list on July 9, Snell had been the best pitcher in Baseball, going 5-0 with a 1.19 ERA and 114 strikeouts.

After Snell was done, Sean Hjelle struck out the side in a one, two, three bottom of the seventh. 

The Royals had a rally going against Tyler Rogers in the bottom of the eighth, as they had runners at second and third with two outs for the white-hot Bobby Witt Jr. Bob Melvin decided to put Witt on to face the struggling longtime Royal, Salvidor Perez, and Perez popped out to end the inning.

Ryan Walker then came in for the bottom of the ninth in his first appearance since giving up the home run to Santander on Thursday. Walker hit MJ Melendez to start the inning, but he settled down and retired the side to complete the save.

Blake Snell got the win; Seth Lugo took the loss; and Ryan Walker got the save.

The Giants have won five of their last six, and they improve to 77-79. They have also made their mark on the American League Wild Card race, as they have gone 5-1 against the Orioles and Royals.  

After the game, Grant McCray said on Giants Postgame Live that after the Giants were eliminated, the pressure was off. McCray said the Giants were having fun, and that they have been chanting “Rally Baby” at Matt Chapman, who has gotten a spark from his newly-born daughter, Alexandra. 

Now the Giants will head to Arizona to take on the red-hot Arizona Diamondbacks for three games, as they will get a chance to play spoiler in the National League Wild Card race. Hayden Birdsong (4-5, 4.74 ERA) will make the start for the Giants in the opener of the series Monday night. Left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez (3-3, 5.09 ERA) will take the ball for Arizona. 

As for the weather, it will be hotter than you know what, but don’t worry, they’ve got the roof at Chase Field. First pitch will be at 6:40 p.m.