Category: MLB

San Francisco Giants hitter Matt Chapman (26) connects for a two run homer in the top of the ninth inning at Petco Park in San Diego on Fri Mar 29, 2024 (AP News photo)

Friday, March 29, 2024

Petco Park

San Diego, California

San Francisco Giants 8 (1-1)

San Diego Padres 3 (2-2)

Win: Kyle Harrison (1-0)

Loss: Joe Musgrove (0-1)

Time: 2:25

Attendance: 45,427

By Stephen Ruderman

Kyle Harrison pitched six strong innings, while allowing just two runs, and Matt Chapman went 3-for-5 with two home runs, a double and five RBIs to lead the Giants to their first win of the 2024 Season, as they beat the Padres 8-3 on a cool Friday night at Petco Park in San Diego.

The Giants dropped the opener yesterday after the Padres scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, but the Giants did not seem to be too bothered by it, and looked to get their first win of the year tonight. 

With Blake Snell not yet ready to go, Kyle Harrison begins the season as the number-two starter in the Giants’ rotation, and thus he got the start tonight. Harrison was opposed by the right-hander, Joe Musgrove.

Jung-hoo Lee signled to lead off the game, but Jorge Soler hit into a 6-4-3 double play. It appeared as if it was going to be a quick and quiet top of the first inning for the Giants. However, LaMonte Wade Jr. singled to center, and Matt Chapman hit a two-run home run to right-center field . 

Wilmer Flores was then hit in the elbow with a pitch. Michael Conforto got Flores to third on the longest single of the year that hit off the bottom of the wall in right-center, and Thairo Estrada singled to left-center to score Flores to make it 3-0.

Kyle Harrison survived a two-out double by Jake Cronenworth in the bottom of the first, and  both pitchers threw 1-2-3 innings in the second. The Giants were unable to do anything with a leadoff single by Wade in the top of the third, and Harrison gave up a one-out single to Jose Azocar, but pitched a scoreless bottom of the third.

Patrick Bailey walked with one out in the top of the fourth, and Nick Ahmed was hit by a pitch immediately afterwards. That put runners at first and second with one out for Lee, who hit a ground ball up the middle and into center field for a base-hit that scored Bailey to make it 4-0 Giants.

Manny Machado hit a bomb into the front of the second deck out in left to put the Padres on the board with one out in the bottom of the fourth. Ha-seong Kim followed Machado’s home run by lining a single to left. Harrison was being tested for the first time tonight, but he got Jurickson Profar to fly out to center, and got Luis Campusano to pop out to second to end the inning.

Musgrove pitched a 1-2-3 top of the fifth, and Eugy Rosario led off the bottom of the fifth by hitting a high fly ball to right-center that was dropped by right-fielder LaMonte Wade, but Wade regrouped and threw the ball in to second-baseman Thairo Estrada, who made the relay throw to throw to nail Rosario. Harrison then kept his groove going, as he retired the next two batters he faced to end the inning.

Bailey singled with two outs in the top of the sixth to knock Musgrove out of the game, and Padres Manager Mike Shildt went to Stephen Kolek, who got Ahmed to ground out and end the inning.

Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a home run to left to lead off the bottom of the sixth, this one deeper than Machado’s, as it sailed to the back of the second deck. Tatis’ home run made it a 4-2 game, but Harrison retired the next three men he faced. 

“As soon as I gave it up, it was on to the next [guy],” said Harrison. [I’ve] given up too many now to look down on it, or carry it on to the next pitch.”

That would do it for Harrison, who threw 76 pitches and gave up just two runs over six innings of work. One of Harrison’s struggles last season was his control, but tonight, he was in command, as he struck out five and didn’t issue a single walk.

“I’d say [I’ve] just been able to pitch; I’ve [been] able to slow the game down, and trust myself and trust my execution,” Harrison said of his differences between this and last season. “[It] felt good to be able to be in control of the game. I think that’s the big difference I felt.”

Kolek was back out on the mound for the Padres in the top of the seventh. Lee grounded out to second to start the inning, but Soler, who had grounded into a pair of double plays, doubled to right-center. Chapman then came up, and hit a double into the gap in left-center to make it 5-2. 

“With runners in scoring position, “[I] try to remind [my]self not to do too much,” said Chapman. “I just tr[ied] to put a good swing on the ball.”

Flores then singled to center to score Chapman and make it 6-2, and the Giants had their four-run lead back.

Landen Roupp came in to make his major league debut in the bottom of the seventh. Roupp hoped to mirror Erik Webb’s big league debut yesterday, where Webb threw a 1-2-3 bottom of the eighth, but Roupp gave up a one-out base-hit to Campusano. However, Roupp retired Tyler Wade and Jackson Merrill to end the inning.

Enyel De Los Santos, who came in for Kolek after Flores’ RBI single in the seventh, was back out for the eighth. Bailey singled to right with one out, and when Tatis booted the ball, Bailey was fully expecting it, and did not hesitate in going to second. The Giants were in business to add to their four-run lead, but De Los Santos got out of the jam unscathed.

Tyler Rogers came in to make his 2024 debut in the bottom of the eighth, and went from a 3-0 count, to a 3-2 count, to a groundout to third from Xander Bogaerts to start the inning. Tatis then hit a line-drive home run to left that went into an open door and into the Padres’ team store at the base of the Western Metal Supply Co. Building for his second home run of the night to make it a 6-3 game.

Rogers has been very successful in his four-plus years with the Giants, but he has had a tendency to have those innings where everything went south on him. Rogers hit Cronenworth, and got Machado to a 3-2 count, as it appeared this was going to be one of those innings. However, Rogers threw a sinker that Machado hit to second for a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.

Pedro Avila came in for San Diego to start the ninth, and walked Jorge Soler, who later advanced to second on a wild pitch. LaMonte Wade struck out, but Matt Chapman hit his second home run of the night, a bomb that sailed into the upper deck of the Western Metal Supply Co. Building to give the Giants their biggest lead of the night at 8-3.

Giants Closer Camilo Doval had been warming up in preparation for a potential save situation, but with Chapman’s second home run, Bob Melvin went to Ryan Walker, who relieved Luke Jackson in the Padres’ four-run bottom of the seventh in the opener yesterday. 

Walker did give up a leadoff base-hit to Kim, but he then got Profar to ground into the not-so-common 5-6-3 double play to get the first two outs. Luis Campusano then grounded out to second, and the Giants had their first win of the season.

“I think yesterday, we took great at-bats, and we [were] still battling at the end of the game,” said third-baseman Matt Chapman. “Mikie [Conforto] hit that homer, and we were able to have that momentum going into today…..It’s nice when we can jump on them in the first inning like that.”

With the Giants in the in column for the first time this season, they are now 1-1. This is not only the Giants’ first win of the season, but this is Bob Melvin’s first win as the Giants’ manager. In his postgame press conference, Melvin gave all the credit to the team, particularly to Matt Chapman. It was only fitting that Chapman, who played for Melvin in Oakland with the A’s, was a big part of it.

Kyle Harrison got his first win of the season, and Joe Musgrove took the loss.

“The plan for me to[night] was to really just get ahead of guys and limit the walks,” said Harrison. “I was still pissed about the two bombs. Obviously, you don’t want to give those up as a pitcher, but we got the win, so that’s all that matters.”

Harrison also said that Logan Webb, who Harrison worked out and trained with in the off-season, was the first guy to reach out to him after his start tonight. Harrison expressed how grateful he was to have Webb on his side.

Over the first two games of the season, the Giants have been playing small ball and manufacturing runs. It’s a big difference from the over-reliance the team had on home runs under Gabe Kapler over the last four years. 

The Giants did play their fair share of situational baseball during their run in June last season, but for whatever reason, went back to overly relying on home runs. If the Giants can stay consistent with not overly relying on one approach this season, it will carry them a long way.

Jordan Hicks is scheduled to make his Giants debut tomorrow in what will be his first start of his reliever-to-starter experiment. Hicks pitched five no-hit innings in the Giants’ exhibition game in Oakland against the A’s on Monday night. 

Tomorrow’s game is set to be nationally televised by FOX with the first pitch at 4:15 p.m., but with rain in the forecast in San Diego, there is no guarantee that tomorrow’s game will be played.

News and Notes:

• The Giants made two roster moves prior to tonight’s game. 

Luke Jackson was placed on the 15-day Injured List after tweaking his back in the Giants’ opener yesterday; and Mike Yastrzemski, whose wife is expected to give birth to the couple’s second child, has been placed on the paternity list. 

Luis Matos and Kei-Wei Teng were called up. Teng, a right-handed relief pitcher, was born in Taiwan, and if he appears in a game with the Giants, he will be the first taiwanese-born player in franchise history.

San Diego Padres Jurickson Profar (10) hit an RBI single in the bottom of the fifth inning at Petco Park in San Diego against the San Francisco Giants on Thu Mar 28, 2024 (AP News photo)

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Petco Park

San Diego, California

San Francisco Giants 4 (0-1)

San Diego Padres 6 (2-1)

Win: Yuki Matsui (1-0)

Loss: Luke Jackson (0-1)

Save: Robert Suarez (2)

Time: 2:34

Attendance: 44,953

By Stephen Ruderman

The Giants sputtered late on Opening Day, as after what was mostly a seesaw battle, the Padres scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, and the Giants ended up losing 6-4 to open the 2024 Regular Season.

Today was the start of a new season and a new era for the Giants. A whole number of people were making their Giants debut today, including most notably, Manager Bob Melvin. Melvin was returning to San Diego, where he managed the Padres to the National League Championship Series in 2022, but left for the Giants after an 82-80 season last year.

For the Padres, they were playing their third game of the season, as they opened the season by splitting two games with the Los Angeles Dodgers in Seoul, South Korea.

Speaking of South Korea, their native son, Jung-hoo Lee, who was signed by the Giants over the off-season, led off the game to make his major league debut. Lee saw three pitches from Yu Darvish and struck out, as Darvish threw a 1-2-3 inning.

Darvish was opposed by Logan Webb, who was making his third-straight opening day start for the Giants. Webb also threw a 1-2-3 inning in the first, and both pitchers threw 1-2-3 innings again in the second.

Michael Conforto lined a double down the right-field line to start the top of the third. Patrick Bailey flew out to center-field, but Nick Ahmed took a high fastball from Darvish, and smoked it down the left-field line for a double to score Conforto, as the Giants struck first.

Webb threw a 1-2-3 bottom of the third, and set down the first nine men he faced. LaMonte Wade Jr. and Matt Chapman singled to start the fourth, but the Giants were unable to do anything with it. Xander Bogaerts hit a bloop single to center on the first pitch of the bottom of the fourth, but that was followed up by a 4-6-3 double play off the bat of Fernendo Tatis Jr. Nick Cronenworth then grounded out to short, and Webb was cruising through four innings.

With two outs in the top of the fifth, Lee lined his first big league hit to center, but he was immediately picked off by Darvish to end the inning.

“I did get my hit, but right after I got picked off by Darvish, so I never really got that time to feel that I actually got a hit,” said Lee through his interpreter, Justin Han. “The most memorable moment has to be the packed crowds. The level of baseball is way higher here in the major leagues. The level of fans is [at] a higher volume, also.”

Things got tough for Webb in the bottom of the fifth. Manny Machado walked to start the inning, and Ha-seong Kim singled Machado to third. Jurickson Profar then hit a weak ground ball in the vicinity of second base, but it found its way into right-center for a base-hit, as Machado scored to tie the game. Luis Campusano followed that up with a base-hit to load the bases.

The Padres had the bases loaded with nobody out and a run already in with Tylor Wade at the plate. Tylor Wade hit a little ground ball along the first-base line that was picked up by first-baseman LaMonte Wade, who applied a tag on Tylor Wade, but missed it according to First Base Umpire Adam Hamari. Kim scored to give the Padres their first lead of the game, but the umpires conferred, and determined that Wade had run outside the baseline, and thus Wade was called out.

The Giants had just caught a massive break, as the Padres sent in Jose Azocar to pinch-run for Profar at third. The Giants then played the infield in for Jackson Merrill, who hit a sharp ground ball to the right-side; second-baseman Thairo Estrada ranged to his right to grab it and fire a throw home to get Azocar at the plate for the second out. Bogaerts then popped up to shortstop Nick Ahmed on the first pitch to end the inning.

Jorge Soler walked to lead off the top of the sixth, and that knocked Darvish out of the game. Padres Manager Mike Shildt brought in the lefty, Tom Cosgrove. Melvin countered by pinch-hitting Wilmer Flores for LaMonte Wade, but Flores struck out swinging, and Cosgrove set down all three men he faced to end the inning.

Webb ran into trouble again in the bottom of the sixth. Tatis led off the inning with a base-hit to center, and very alertly went from first to third on a weak ground out between the pitcher’s mound and first off the bat of Jake Cronenworth. Webb got Machado to pop out to second, and then chose to put Kim on. Azocar then struck out swinging in his first plate appearance to end the inning.

That would do it for Webb, who threw 97 pitches over six innings. Webb set down the first nine men he faced, and faced the minimum through his first four innings. He gave up two runs in the fifth, but braved in there to go six.

“It was nice today to get out there and get the adrenaline going,” said Webb. “Even after I came out there were a lot of broken-bat base hits, not a lot of balls hit hard. That’s baseball, though. Sometimes baseball is cruel like that.”

The Padres brought in Johny Brito for the seventh. Estrada and Conforto singled to start the top of the seventh. Bailey then laid down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners over to second and third. That brought up Ahmed, who had the lone Giants’ RBI to this point, and Ahmed lined a single to left to score Estrada to tie the game.

Yuki Matsui, the left-hander whom the Padres had signed from Japan, was brought in to face Lee, who hit a sacrifice fly to center to knock in Conforto and put the Giants back ahead for his first major league RBI. However, Ahmed, who had advanced to second on a wild pitch by Matsui, got caught in a rundown between second and third after the throw from center-fielder Jackson Merrill was cut off, and was tagged out to end the inning.

Melvin brought in Luke Jackson for the bottom of the seventh, and Jackson gave up singles to Campusano and Wade to start the inning, which put runners on the corners with nobody out. With Merrill up, Wade took off for second, but Ahmed dropped the throw from Bailey, and the ball ricocheted into shallow left-center field, which allowed Campusano to score to tie the game and Wade to get to third. Jackson then walked Merrill, and left the game after he tweaked his back on the pitch.

Ryan Walker came in for Jackson, and the Padres kept going. Bogaerts singled to score Wade and give the Padres the lead. Tatis grounded out to third, but Cronenworth doubled to the wall in right to score two and extend the Padres’ lead to 6-3.

“Webby pitched his ass off. I wish we could’ve gotten him the [win],” said Jackson. “I felt great the whole outing and then, I think it was a fastball to Merrill, something happened. I tried to throw another pitch because it didn’t feel as bad as last year and had no idea where it was going. Other than that I felt fantastic. Nothing lingering from last year. Just one of those outings where I wish we could’ve gotten Webby the [win].”

Walker escaped the inning without any further damage, but the damage had been done, and the life was sucked out of the Giants, who went down 1-2-3 against Matsui in the top of the eighth.

Melvin then brought in the lefty Erik Miller for his major league debut. Miller pitched a 1-2-3 inning, and capped it off with a strike out of Eguy Roasario on a high fastball.

Robert Suarez came in for the ninth, and set down the first two men he faced. Conforto hit a home run to right-center to make it 6-4, but Bailey grounded out to second to end the game.

The Giants fall to 0-1, and while it is March 28, it always hurts to lose on Opening Day, because 1-0 looks a lot better than 0-1. This is the second-straight opening day loss for the Giants, and their fifth over the last six years.

The good news is that there are 161 of these things left, and Kyle Harrison will take the hill tomorrow night against Joe Musgrove. First pitch will be at 6:40 p.m.

News and Notes:

Despite a strong spring in which he hit .302, Luis Matos did not make the Opening Day roster. Less surprisingly, Marco Luciano, who had a rough spring, but turned things around during the final week of camp, did not make the roster either.

The Giants decided to carry three catchers, as Patrick Bailey, Tom Murphy and Joey Bart all made the Opening Day roster.

According to Alex Pavlovic, the Giants Beat Writer for NBC Sports Bay Area, Blake Snell was at Petco Park today for Opening Day, but will return to Scottsdale tomorrow to get work in, and could be ready to join the rotation as soon as the end of next week, when the Giants open the home part of their schedule against the Padres.

Jackson will undergo an MRI on his back. As of now, no roster move has been made.