Category: San Francisco Giants

San Francisco Giants pitcher Logan Webb pitches his first career shutout against the Colorado Rockies at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Sun Jul 8, 2023 (AP News photo)

By Lewis Rubman

Colorado (34-57). 000 000 000 – 0 7 0

San Francisco (49-41). 000 100 00x – 1 7 0

Time: 1:56

Attendance: 36,050

Sunday, July 9, 2023

By Lewis Rubman

SAN FRANCISCO–Baseball, they say, is a game of inches. It gets measured in statistics that are painfully precise. And yet baseball people use language, even when talking about basic arithmetical facts, that are obviously inaccurate. We say a batter is hitting at a certain level “against the league,” when he’s playing against every team in major league baseball (15=30?)

We say that the all-star break marks the season’s halfway point, yet today’s encounter between the Colorado Rockies and your San Francisco Giants, the last game before the much needed break, was the visitors’ 91st of the season, and the hosts’ 90th, in a 162 game season. Go figure.

The orange and black started the day in third place at 48-41, putting them third place in the NL’s western division, 3-1/2 games behind the division leading Arizona Diamondbacks. The 33-53 Rockies could only dream of reaching such heights. When all was said and done, the Giants still were in the third place, but could pick up a game on Arizona if the Pirates hold on to the 3-2 lead they had in Phoenix when the game here ended.

The Giants led with their ace, Logan Webb. arguably their best starter. His numbers this year aren’t exciting, 7-7, 3.38 at game time, but, given the weaknesses, both manifest and subliminal, in the Giants’ defense, aren’t a good indication of his quality. His career record against Colorado. was 6-2, 3.97, but it was 3-1, 2.67 at sea level.

Webb was great this afternoon. He pitched a complete game shutout in a game the Giants won, 1-0, capping his performance by striking out the side in ninth. He scattered seven hits and struck out 10 of the 31 batters he faced. 75 of his 103 pitches counted as strikes. The effort improved Webb’s record to 8-7, 3.14.

The Rox went with Kyle Freeman, an ok sort of a pitcher, whom you can’t take for granted, but he’s not someone who intimidates you by his mere presence on the mound. His repertory of sinkers, which hee throws 30% of the time), sliders (22.3%-note the precise numbers), four seamers (17.4%), curves (17.4%), and changeups (12.9%) earned him a 4-9, 4.93 record going into the game.

Freeland threw a beautiful game for the 6-1/3 innings he was able to pitch before he injured himself fielding Casey Schmitt’s bunt in the bottom of seventh, an attempted sacrifice that went into the books as the sixth hit allowed by the Rockies’ starter.

He was charged with one run, earned, which came on a home run, and didn’t strike anyone out. Of his 80 offerings, 41 were considered strikes. He was charged with the tough loss and ended the day with a record of 4-10, 4.72.

Justin Lawrence replaced him and pitched out of the two on and one away jam to keep the Giants from increasing their 1-0 lead. Lawrence followed that up by putting the home team down in order in the eighth. If it weren’t for his injury, Freeman, too, might have gone the distance.

The Giants had broken a scoreless tie in the bottom half of the fourth with JD Davis’s 421 foot home run to left center fielder. It came on Freeland’s first pitch of the frame, an 85.4 mph sinker that rose on a 30 degree angle leaving the Giants’ third baseman’s bat at 109.1 mph. The promising episode ended with an around the horn double play.

It was an exceptionally fine ball game. The Giants can now take their ASG break on an upnote. Their serious business will resume when they face the Pirates in Pittsburgh on July 14th. weren’t for his injury, Freeman, too, might have gone the distance.

The Giants had broken a scoreless tie in the bottom half of the fourth with JD Davis’s 421 foot home run to left center fielder. It came on Freeland’s first pitch of the frame, an 85.4 mph sinker that rose on a 30 degree angle leaving the Giants’ third baseman’s bat at 109.1 mph. The promising episode ended with an around the horn double play.

It was an exceptionally fine ball game. The Giants can now take their ASG break on an up note. Their serious business will resume when they face the Pirates in Pittsburgh on July 14th.

San Francisco Giants Michael Conforto runs the bases after slugging a two run home run off Colorado Rockies pitcher Connor Seabold in the bottom of the first inning at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Sun Jul 9, 2023 (AP News photo)

On the San Francisco Giants podcast with Stephen Ruderman:

#1 Stephen, Giants get the long ball from Michael Conforto and Austin Slater each had two run home runs on Saturday against the Colorado Rockies at Oracle Park in their 5-3 win.

#2 Blake Sabol has been making good contact of late and Saturday was no exception Sabol slugged an RBI single to contribute towards the cause.

#3 The Giants started pitcher Ryan Walker who threw for two innings and gave up two runs and was relieved by Alex Wood who went five scoreless innings and picked up his first win of 2023.

#4 One of the big topics has been AI in baseball and your listeners know you do some part time umpiring away from podcasting and covering the Giants Stephen how realistic is it that you see umpires in MLB being replaced by AI umpires and auto umpires.

#5 Starters for today’s contest: Left hander Colorado Rockies Kyle Freeland (4-9 ERA 4.93) Right hander Logan Webb (7-7 ERA 3.38) first pitch at 1:05pm

Join Stephen Ruderman for the Giants and MLB podcasts Tuesdays at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

The San Francisco Giants Austin Slater (left) is tagged out at the plate by Colorado Rockies catcher Elias Diaz (35) in the bottom of the sixth inning at Oracle Park in San Francisco (AP News photo)

Colorado (34-55). 200 000 300 – 5. 9. 0

San Francisco (48-40) 000 002 000. – 2. 5. 0

Time: 2:15

Attendance: 33,886

Friday, July 7, 2023

By Lewis Rubman

SAN FRANCISCO–The 2023 season has been a nightmare from which the Colorado Rockies have been trying to wake. They came to Oracle Park today in fifth place in the NL West, with a record of 33-55, having lost seven of their last 10 contests and 10 games in a row on the road. After much tossing and turning, Bud Black announced that his starting pitcher would be Austin Gomber.

His lifetime record at game time was 27-26, 5.05 over nine and a fraction years in the show, and his season’s mark was 6-7, 6.64. He features a four seamer, which he throws 41.9% of the time, a change of pace (20%), curve (18.9%), slider (17.8), and a sinker (1.4%),

It’s not as if the Giants have been getting many good nights’ sleep recently either. But in their case, it’s literally so. Time zones, distance, and the calendar have conspired with injuries to make San Francisco go 5-8 since June 21. Even before their recent fall from grace, the Giants had been plagued by sloppy fielding, with misplays that didn’t count as errors but which still cost the team runs.

I’m thinking of things like uncompleted double plays, throws to the wrong bases, and Alphonse and Gaston acts on pop flies. In addition, they began play today leading the majors in errors committed. The Giants’ combination of young players still learning the game and veterans playing out their last seasons won’t go away with a few days’ rest.

In this context, Gabe Kapler and Andrew Bailey’s choice for their starter, Ross Stripling, who had an 0-2, 6.51 record when he toed the rubber in the top half of the first of what turned out to be 5-2 Giants loss wasn’t one that inspired confidence in the team’s ability to hang on the two more days before the all star break provides a respite for the everyone on the roster except Camimo Doval.

Two more days of poor play won’t make or break the season, but it sure can affect the team’s playoff chances. After all, the orange and black went to work this evening three games out of first place 3-1/2 behind the division leading Diamondbacks.

In any case Stripling’s performance this evening was less than good but not horrid. He threw 65 pitches, 43 for strikes, over 3-2/3 innings two runs, both earned, on four hits, one of them a four bagger, striking out three and not issuing a walk.

He didn’t figure in the decision but lowered his ERA to 6.37. There had been no announcement of a bullpen game that I had been aware of, but it sure felt like one when Scott Alexander relieved him with no one on base in the top of the fourth.

On the other hand, Stripling was only 12 days off the IL. Beck allowed a single before closing the inning and struck out Harold Castro to open the fifth before giving way to Tristan Beck, who, with the help of a nice running catch at the base of the center field wall, got the two remaining outs.

It took the lowly team from the Mile High City exactly 19 pitches to grab a 2-0 lead. With one out in the initial frame, Kris Bryant coaxed a grounder up the middle into center field for a single, and Ryan McMahon smacked a 93 mph sinker over the National Car Rental sign in left center for his 14th home run and 44th and 45th RBI of the season. It was a ten pitch at bat.

The Rox continued to lead by two runs until Casey Schmitt led off the bottom of the sixth with a single and Brandon Crawford sent a 103.4 fast ball into McCovey Cove to tie the score at two all. Gomber plunked Slater, and Flores moved him to second with a single to left.

Wade laid down a bunt that enabled Gomber to throw Flores out at second, but Slater made it to third. With runners at the corner, JD Davis hit a fly to medium deep center; Slater made an ill-advised attempt to score, and the ensuing 8-2 double play ended the Giants’ rally.

Taylor Rogers assumed mound duties for the home team at the start of the visitors’ seventh. He threw 21 pitches, got two outs, but walked a couple of Blake Street Bombers and yielded to his right handed submarine ball throwing brother Tyler.

Ezequiel Tovar drove the second Rogers’ first pitch deep over the National Car Rental sign, 410 feet deep. The pitch, a slider, was thrown at 71.4 mph. It left Tovar’s bat at 103.9 mph. Rogers eventually took the loss, making him 4-3, 3.30 for the year.

Daniel Bird relieved Gomber in the bottom of the seventh and held the Giants scoreless for the rest of the game, earning his first save.

He had a 5-2 lead to protect. The Rockies’ starter had thrown six full innings and held the Giants to two runs, both earned, and both coming on Brandon Crawford’s homer, which was one of the five hits he surrendered. Gomber notched only one K, but he didn’t walk anyone. Of his 82 pitches, 51 met the criteria for strikes. He W ND and went home with a slate of x-x, 6.40.

Mauricio Llovera kept the Rox off the board in their last two turns at bat.

The encounter for tomorrow, Saturday, is scheduled for a 1:05 start.. The Rockies’ Connor Seabold (1-05, 6.62) will face the Giants, whose starting pitcher is yet to be announced.

San Francisco Giants pitcher Ross Stripling will get the call against the Colorado Rockies on Fri Jul ,7 2023 at Oracle Park in San Francisco (San Francisco Chronicle file photo)

San Francisco Takes on Colorado Rockies Friday Night at Oracle

By Barbara Mason

The San Francisco Giants (47-40) finished off a three game series this past week with the Seattle Mariners (42-43). The Giants lost a close one in game one losing 6-5 on Monday. The game was lost in the ninth inning when the Mariners put four runs on the board in the top of the ninth to lead 6-2. The Giants scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth but came up just short. In game two, the Mariners shut out the Giants 6-0 on Tuesday. San Francisco avoided the sweep with a win in game three 2-0 on Wednesday.

The Giants also lost a series over the weekend against the New York Mets. The standings in the NL West are tight with the Diamondbacks hanging onto first place, a game and a half ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Giants are three games out of first place. San Francisco will be looking to turn things around in their next series with the Colorado Rockies (33-56) which gets underway Friday night for a three game series.

The Giants will have a huge hole to fill with the left hand fracture suffered by second baseman Thairo Estrada which could sideline him for four to six weeks. He was struck in the hand on Sunday by a pitch from Mets reliever Adam Ottavino. Estrada had been batting .272 with nine home runs and 18 stolen bases. It is not only his offense but his defense that will be missed. A couple of rookies, Casey Schmitt and Brett Wisley could be used to fill the gap.

The Giants home run leader is Michael Conforto and J.D. Davis has the most RBIs and his batting average is .282. San Francisco will counting on both of them as well as a very strong batting lineup which features Austin Slater, Michael Yastrzemski, Wilmer Flores, Lamonte Wadę Jr. J.D. Davis and Patrick Bailey. They do have the offense to get the job done.

The Rockies are coming into this game with a four game losing streak. They will be looking to get some better offense going after being handled by the Houston Astros last Tuesday and Wednesday.

Ross Stripling will get the call on the mound for San Francisco with a 0-2 ERA 6.51 record. Austin Gomber will be on the hill for the Rockies with a 6-7 ERA 6.64. First pitch is scheduled for 7:15 PM.