Category: San Francisco Giants

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.

San Francisco Giants’ LaMonte Wade Jr., left, scores past Philadelphia Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto during the third inning at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Sat Sep 3, 2022

Philadelphia (73-60). 4. 12. 2

San Francisco (63-68). 5. 11. 1

Saturday, September 3, 2022

By Lewis Rubman

SAN FRANCISCO-Baseball players and managers are notoriously superstitious. Think of all those players jumping over the foul lines and managers wearing out their clothing before changing it and their luck. Branch Rickey famously pronounced, “Luck is the residue of design.” Baseball is fraught with design.

Friday night’s stunning 13-1 Giant triumph over the visiting Philadelphia Phillies provided fodder for those participants, spectators, and other fans who know something of the history of the two teams.

The numbers 13 and 1 in the context of a late season rush to the league championship are catnip to the Giants. On August 11 (i.e., double one) of 1951, the Phillies defeated the New York Giants, dropping the New Yorkers to 13 games out of first with only 44 left on the schedule.

The Giants went on a tear and, with a little help from their outfield signal corps, caught up with, tied, and, on Bobby Thomson’s pop fly with two away in the ninth inning of the third game of a three game playoff, a pop fly the landed in the left field overhang, about 265 feet from home, went on to the World Series.

The Phillies, too, are no strangers to late season reversals of fortune. In 1964, they led the league by 6-1/2 games with only 30 to go and yet managed to blow that seemingly invincible advantage.

Saturday game recap: This Saturday afternoon’s tussle between the representatives of the Quaker City and the Quaking City took place with San Francisco an even ten games behind the Phils, who were hanging on to the last wild card slot by the skin of their teeth.

The newly re-energized Giants sent right lander Jakob Junis (4-4, 4.04 at game time) to the mound. He lasted 4-1/3 innings in San Francisco’s bitterly contested 5-4 triumph.

Junis allowed three runs, two of them earned, on seven hits, one of which left the park and another a double that was lost in the sun, and two walks. He threw 78 pitches, 52 of them strikes. His no decision gave him a record of 4-4, 4.05.

The Phils countered with another righty, Noah Syndergaard (8-9, 3.98 when the game began). He, too, got a no decision after hurling 4-1/3 frames. He surrendered four runs, three of them earned, on seven safeties and a walk.

He notched three strikeouts, throwing a total of 75 pitches, 52 qualifying as strikes. His no decision left his won-lost record at 8-9 but raised his ERA to 4.07.

As luck would have it, the home team escaped The Curse of the Leadoff Double when, in the bottom of the first LaMonte Wade, Jr., lined one to right and, following Mike Yastrzemski’s foul pop to third, Thairo Estrada hit a nubber to Syndergaard that would have been a close play at first if the Phillies’ pitcher hadn’t heaved it into the warning track.

Estrada wound up on second, and Wade took third on the infield hit and scored an unearned run on the throwing error. The inning ended with the orange and black leading, 1-0.

The worm turned with a vengeance in the top of the second. Bryson Stott beat the shift with a bunt single to the left that Brian Crawford fielded cleanly but threw wildly to first, allowing the Phils’ shortstop to take second.

Jean Segura’s double to right knotted up the score, and after Brandon Marsh whiffed for the first out, Matt Vierling’s Texas League single to right brought in Segura to put the visitors ahead, 2-1, where the score remained when the frame came to a close.

San Francisco loaded the bases with nobody out in the home third on back to back singles to right by Knap and Wade, followed by a walk to Yastrzemski. Syndergaard struck out Estrada, but Pederson hit the third single to right of the inning, bringing in Knapp with the tying run and leaving the basepaths still jammed with Giants.

First baseman Rhys Hoskins couldn’t handle Crawford’s hard bouncer behind the bag, allowing Wade to cross the plate with the leading run. A 6-4-3 twin killing, initiated with a spiffy behind the back toss from Stott to Segura, ended the frame, but the Giants were back on top, 3-2.

Stott didn’t stop there. He led off the fourth with a 412 foot roudtripper to right off an 84 mph change of pace on 1-1 count, tying the game at 3-3.

It didn’t look as though it would stay like that for long. Kyle Schwarber led off the fifth with a lost in the sun double to the left field warning track. Hoskins followed with a broken bat Texas League single to center that advanced Schwarber to third.

Alec Bohm then hit a grounder to Crawford, who threw Schwarber out at home while Hoskins moved on to second. That ended Junis’s tenure on the mound. Scott Alexander relieved him and induced Harper into a 1-6-3 double play that put out the fire and preserved the tie.

Knapp opened the Giants’ fifth by popping out to third. Then Yaz sent an automatic double to right center that hopped over the Visa sign. Estrada dropped a bunt single to third that put men on the corners.

At this point, Connor Brogdon replaced Syndergaard on the mound. Pederson lined a single to right that plated Yaz and moved Estrada into scoring position at second. They were stranded there after Brogdon fanned David Villar and Tommy LaStella grounded out to second. The inning was over, but the Giants had reclaimed the lead.

That was nice while it lasted, but JT Realmuto led off the visitors’ sixth with a single to left. Bryson Stott forced him at second on a nice play from Villar to Thairo Estrada in the shift.

Jean Segura’s double to left center tied things up again at four. After Scott Alexander got Brandon Marsh to go down swinging, Zack Littel came on to retire Matt Vierlilng to end the inning. He wound up getting the win, bringing his record to 2-2, 4.38.

Lefty Brad Hand took over pitching duty for Philadelphia in the bottom of the sxith. Lewis Brinson, pinch hitting for Luis Gonazález, greeted him with a double off the top of the Toyota sign in left. After walks to JD Davis and Evan Longoria, with a strikeout of Wilmer Flores – all of them, by the way, pinch hitters – the bases were fraught with Giants.

Estrada forced Brinson out at home, 4-2. The bases still were loaded now, with two out, and. Pederson at the plate.

He worked the count to 3-2 before walking to drive in Davis with the leading run and avert The Curse of the Leadoff Double. Hand struck out Brandon Crawford on three pitches, but SF had a tenuous lead of 5-4.

Workhorse John Brebbia took over mound duties for the Giants in the top of the eighth, and Schwarber greeted him with a line drive triple that bounced off the gates between the State Farm and AAA Insurance advertisements in right center.

Brebbia then fanned Hoskins and got Bohm to ground to Crawford while Schwarber held his ground 90 feet from home before yielding the rubber to Jarín García. He granted a semi- intentional walk to Harper before ending the threat by overpowering Realmuto with an 0-2 95mph four seamer.

After the seventh inning stretch, Andrew Bellatti faced leadoff hitter Austin Wynns, now catching for the Giants and batting in Villar’s spot after the massive pinch hit outburst in the bottom of the sixth.

Wynns got the second lost in the sun double, both of them leadoffeers, with a fly to left that left Schwarber helpless. LaStella, up next, sliced a fly to left that wasn’t high enough to blind Schwarber, and there was one out.

A set of effective sliders, and Brinson went down swinging. The Curse of the Leadoff Double was fulfilled when Bryce Johnson, the right fielder who replaced the pinch hitting Davis, took a called third strike.

Alex Young became San Francisco’s fifth relief pitcher of the afternoon when he took the mound in the top of the eighth and gave up a leadoff single to right center to Scott. Segura then singled to left. Danny Sands hit for Marsh and worked a full count before bouncing into a tailor made 6-4-3 double play. Out went Young; in came Camilo Doval. It took him four pitches to dispose of Matt Viering.

José Alvarado held the boys from the bay scoreless in their half of the eighth, and we went to the ninth with Doval still on the mound for San Francisco to face the top of the Phillies´order. Helped by a spectacular diving catch by Austin Slater, who had just replaced Pederson in left, of a sinking liner by Hoskins for the second out, he set them down in order, notching his 19th save in 22 opportunities.

Hand was charged with the loss. His record now stands at 3-2, 2.21.

Tomorrow at 1:05 we’ll see if the Giants can keep up their momentum. Staff ace Carlos Rodón (12-7, 3.03) will face off against fellow portsider Ranger Suárez (8-5, 3.42)

San Francisco Giants’ Joc Pederson (23) celebrates with Andrew Knapp (33) after hitting a three-run home run against the Philadelphia Phillies during the second inning at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Fri Sep 2, 2022 (AP News photo)

Philadelphia (73-59). 1. 5. 1

San Francisco (62-68). 13 11. 0

Friday, September 2, 2022

By Lewis Rubman

SAN FRANCISCO–It’s the start of September, the beginning of the stretch drive that will determine which teams will participate in the crap shoot known as the MLB playoffs. This context gave added meaning to tonight’s confrontation between Your San Francisco Giants and the visiting Philadelphia Phillies.

The Phillies came to town at 73-58, occupying second place in the race for a wild card spot, half a game ahead of the San Diego Padres, who in turn were leading the Milwaukee Brewers by two and a half. The Dodgers were leading the pack, eight games in front of the Phils.

The 61-68 Giants had a different struggle on their hands, the fight to finish the season at .500 or better. Their rivals weren’t Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, or any other team. Their own worst enemy was themselves, their pitching, especially out of the bullpen, their hitting, and their fielding, which has been worse than their numbers would make it appear.

Slow throws, missed double plays, Alphonse and Gaston routines with fly balls, missing the cutoff man, all these hidden errors and others camouflage shoddy glove, arm, and brain work. Injuries haven’t helped the situation any. The outlook wasn’t brilliant.

“But,” as W.H. Auden wrote in “Spain, 1937).” “to-day the struggle.” The Giants, surprisingly massacred the crew from the City of Brotherly Love, disposing of them by a score of 13-1.

The Giants sent their number three starter, Alex Cobb, to the mound. Opponents had been batting .248 against him., The Phillies’ team BA was .254 coming into the game, which was two points higher than San Francisco’s OBA of .252 for the 129 they’d played before today. The Giants, by way of contrast, had a team batting average of .233.

The Giants’ game notes unfailingly remind us of how deceptive his numbers (like the team’s fielding stats) are. Tonight, they informed us that “while his ERA is currently 3.81, his ERA is 3.14 … his FIP is currently 2.94 and his FIP sits at 2.85.” Maybe fielding independent pitching and expected ERA and FIP are concepts that need some adjustment.

Cobb pitched beautifully, earning his fifth win and lowering his ERA to 3.58. He went seven strong innings and didn’t allow a run, surrendering only three hits and a walk. He threw 88 pitches, 55 for strikes. He stayed focused on his job even though his teammates scored early and often and finished his work with a 12-0 lead.

The Phils also called on a righty. Kyle Gibson, at 9-5, 4.08, was making his 26th start of the year. Once Gibson threw his first pitch, he and Aaron Nola were tied for the team leadership in starts and wins.

Gibson’s performance tonight was horrendous. He threw 65 pitches in 1-2/3 innings; 28 of them were balls. Those aren’t bad numbers, but these are: seven runs, all earned, on five hits, includes a homer, four walks, and a wild pitch. He managed to strike out two. The loss dropped his won-lost record to 9-6 and raised his ERA to 4.48.

The combination of September roster expansion and Joey Bart’s concussion led the Giants to make some roster changes yesterday and today. The most notable was the promotion of veteran major league bench warmer Andrew Kapp from Sacramento.

He started tonight’s contest as catcher, batting ninth. Yermín Mercedes, who was San Francisco’s emergency back stop, was optioned back to the River Cats. The orange and black also purchased Lewis Brinson’s contract from Houston and placed the outfielder on the club’s active roster. Joining him there was David Villar, promoted from Sacramento.

Two southpaw hurlers, Andrew Vasquez and Jonathan Bermudez were sent outright to the Giants’ AAA farm team. Brinson entered the game in the bottom of the fifth, hitting for Pederson, and got his first big league hit of the season, a Texas League single to center. Villar also saw action, entering the game to give Crawford a little down time in the seventh. The Giants jumped off to an early lead.

With one down in the bottom of the first, Mike Yastrzemski blasted a double off the bottom of the 354 foot sign just to the right of the Toyota advertisement in left field. After Wilmer Flores walked, Joc Pederson took an 85 mph change of pace to the top of the same marker, driving in Yaz and sending Flores to third. He scored on Brandon Crawford’s solid single to left, which sent Pederson to second.

Each of those runners moved up a base, Crawford scoring, on a wild pitch to Evan Longoria. Longoria, batting in the sixth position, was fourth on the hit parade, lacing another two bagger, this one down the line to left, and Pederson crossed the plate.. Thairo Estrada reined in the parade, whiffing on a 3-2 count, and Luis González grounded out to short, ending an inning that put San Francisco up, 4-0.

The Giants continued their attack in the second. Knapp made his San Francisco debut with a walk. After Wade took a third strike, Yaz walked and was forced out at second on a ground ball to the pitcher. Pederson then whacked his 21st home run of ’22, 415 feet into the right field seats.

That gave four RBIs in two turns at bat, bringing his season’s total to 57. After Crawford walked to first on a base on balls, Gibson walked to the club house for a shower. Sam Coonrod replaced him and got Longoria out on a fly to left. SF now was up, seven zip.

No sooner had Cobb retired the Phils in order in the top of the third, than Coonrod found himself in hot water. He hit Estrada with a 96 mph sinker to start the frame and threw the ball away on a pickoff attempt for an error that sent the Giants’ second sacker to third. After González walked, Estrada trotted home on Knapp’s sacrifice fly to center.

Wade sent a single to right and advanced 180 feet on Yastrzemski’s Texas League single to right before Flores loaded the bases with a walk that sent Coonrod out of the game, giving way to Cristopher Sánchez.

Sánchez gave Pederson a free pass on four pitches. The Giants now had reached double digits in the run column; half of the ten were driven in by Pederson. A walk to Longoria gave San Francisco an 11-0 margin and kept the bases loaded, which is how they remained after Estrada fanned. All four third inning tallies were charged to Coonrod.

San Francisco tacked on a tally in the fifth to make it an even dozen. Sánchez lasted until the notes of ¨Take Me Out to the Ball Game” had died down. He did a credible job in his 3-2/2 innings on the mound, containing the Giants to that fifth frame run, which was earned. Andrew Bellatti became the Phillies’ fourth pitcher of the game when he relieved Sánchez and retired the side in order in the seventh.

Jarlín García did the same for San Francisco in the top of the eighth.

Back up catcher Garrett Stubbs was the position player pitcher for the Phillies in the final San Fran frame. He allowed a triple to González, who scored the Giants’s 13th run on a ground out by Knapp.

Philadelphia notched a meaningless run in the ninth on a double by Nick Maton and a single by Alex Bohm.

They’ll get another shot at the Giants at 1:05, when they’ll face San Francisco’s Jakob Junis (4-4, 4.04). The home team will hope to continue showing its prowess at the plate,, this time against Noah Syndergaard (8-9, 3.98)