Tag: Alex Wood

Dodgers Swat the Giants: 9-1 win part of LA’s emphatic early-season statement

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By Morris Phillips

The Giants were in a competitive ballgame Wednesday night, and then they were not. Simple as that.

In consecutive innings the Dodgers got a Mookie Betts home run, a two-run triple from Freddie Freeman, and another homer from Max Muncy and the Giants were trounced 9-1 at Dodger Stadium. In the brief, two-game set, the Giants scored just two runs, a continuation of their rough times that started on their previous, home stand.

Alex Wood breezed through the Dodgers lineup the first time through, but by the end of his stint in the sixth inning, his former club figured him out, scoring three times on four hits to lead 3-1.

Freeman’s breathless run around the bases was the centerpiece to Los Angeles’ four-run seventh that turned the game into a rout. Muncy’s home run with Will Smith aboard capped the Dodgers’ outburst in the eighth.

“I think collectively it was the best game we’ve played,” manager Dave Roberts said. “Just a well-played offensive game.”

The Giants have dropped five of six, and are finally showing the stress of all their personnel issues, although they did see Mike Yastrzemski return to the lineup on Wednesday. Evan Longoria, Tommy La Stella and Lamonte Wade Jr. are all expected to return within the next seven days.

“When we get leadoff runners on consistently, we’re going to score runs,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “Obviously didn’t happen in this game. They beat us throughout the night.”

The Giants return home for Thursday’s opener against the Cardinals, a four-game set that will take them through the weekend.

West Coast Chess: Brainy managers, twins highlight Padres 4-2 win over the Giants

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By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO–A match-up of high-minded managers that won’t give an inch while trying to swipe a couple of runs isn’t necessarily groundbreaking, but deploying competing, identical twins on a freezing cold night sure provides a unique edge.

That was the scene at Oracle Park on Monday as the Bob Melvin-led Padres pushed their way past the Giants and newly-minted Manager of the Year, Gabe Kapler, winning 4-2.

The NL West hopefuls, both trying to top each other while keeping the division favorite Dodgers within their sights, engaged in station-to-station baseball while searching for a breakthrough with San Diego’s Austin Nola the only slugger able to cut through the cold air with his solo blast in the fifth that gave the Padres a brief 2-1 lead.

The rest was a chess match, orchestrated by Melvin and Kapler and executed by the competing twins, Taylor and Tyler Rogers. In the seventh, Tyler allowed a tie-breaking run on two hits, and Taylor–recently acquired in a trade with the Twins–pitched a scoreless ninth and saved it for the visitors.

“We’re both trying to throw a lot of strikes,” Tyler said. “We both do throw a lot of strikes. We pitch different–I pitch different than everybody–but, really, if you look at it, we’re very similar pitchers.”

The twins were only fifth set to compete in a major league game and the first since Ozzie and Jose Canseco did it in 1990. The upcoming two games of the series won’t feature both as Tyler departed after the game to be with his wife, Jennifer, who is due to give birth in the coming days.

But the occasion was clearly energizing for both, and they’ll 16 more opportunities to compete this season after the trade brought them closer together.

“Normally we leave for the season and I don’t see him again for eight months,” Tyler said. “So I’m looking forward to seeing him throughout the year. Dinners are on him.”

More so than Tyler Rogers’ rough inning, the Giants saw their evening unravel with an 0 for 11 performance with runners in scoring position which wasted eight base hits, four walks and two doubles. San Diego’s Nick Martinez, making his first big league start since 2017, was the first to survive all the Giants’ traffic on the basepaths by pitching five innings while striking out six, walking one and scattering five of those Giants’ hits.

Alex Wood lasted just 4 1/3 innings in his first start, departing after he allowed Nola’s homer that put the Giants in a 2-1 hole.

The Padres and Giants pick it up again on Tuesday with Yu Darvish and Alex Cobb getting the starting pitching assignments.

Longo Takes Scherzer Out And It Stands Up!: Giants take Game 3 of epic, LA-SF showdown

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San Francisco Giant hitter Evan Longoria swings for the game’s only run in the top of the fifth inning for the Giants second win of the NLDS against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles on Mon Oct 11, 2021 (AP New photo)

By Morris Phillips

On an unusually windy night in Los Angeles, pitching ruled the evening in Game 3 of the NLDS. Heaters, thrown by numerous pitchers, darted, dashed and overwhelmed hitters, especially up in the strike zone. Those that were hit all came to rest near the warning track in a subdued Dodger Stadium.

Only one man on either team stood up: Evan Longoria.

“I didn’t want to get beat by another fastball,” Longoria said of his fifth inning confrontation with the incomparable Max Scherzer.

He didn’t. Scherzer threw an 0-2 fastball that grabbed too much of the plate, and Longoria launched it… 407 feet into the left field bleachers. Incredibly, that one run stood up in a 1-0 Giants’ win that has them one victory from taking the series with Game 4 in Los Angeles on Tuesday, and a potential, winner-take-all Game 5 in San Francisco on Thursday. There were 20 strikeouts in the game (14 suffered by San Francisco hitters), only one extra-base hit (Longoria’s) and after the Giants’ third baseman gave the Giants the lead, they never saw the base paths again: the last 15 Giants’ hitters were retired, most without a fuss.

So what had to happen for the NL West champions, did. Giants’ pitchers–starter Alex Wood and relievers Tyler Rogers, Jake McGee and 24-year old Camilo Doval–ruled the evening, shutting down the Dodgers for nine innings, despite some base traffic, and quite a few anxious moments.

Scherzer, who was previously foiled by the Giants in the 2012 World Series, was great again. The surefire Hall of Famer went seven, striking out ten, and walking one, but he couldn’t corral Longoria in the fifth. That one pitch unraveled his whole evening.

“He’s just a professional hitter who has done it very successfully for a very long time,” manager Gabe Kapler said of Longoria.

In the manner that Kapler has employed all season, his team switched roles and convention on the fly. Closer McGee, who had 31 saves this season, but was only pitching for the second time in a month on Monday due to an oblique injury, came on in the seventh in a big spot. With two runners on, McGee struck out Austin Barnes on three pitches, and got Mookie Betts to line out to shortstop Brandon Crawford, who climbed an imaginary wire to make the catch.

Doval, the closer of the moment, then came on to shut the door in the eight and ninth, needing just 22 pitches to retire the side in each inning, and give the Giants the win.

Bucking convention? Sure, but it all made sense, really. McGee was the NL Reliever of the Month in July, and Doval–sensational in 14 1/3 scoreless innings with 20 strikeouts–was the NL Reliever of the Month in September. In a bullpen filled with high-leverage arms, Kapler sensed the shift, and followed his instinct. In both Giants’ wins in the series, Doval was the one to close it, despite only having 29 appearances–all this season–in his career.

Wood, the former Dodger who still participates in fantasy football leagues with his ex-teammates, wasn’t looking around for familiar faces on Monday. He too was fantastic, working through situations and lengthy innings that drove his pitch count up. He pitched into the fifth inning, allowing just two base hits and no walks.

Fly balls populated the outfield throughout as everyone in the park, and watching at home, learned to train their eyes on the sold-out bleachers, and watch the reaction of the fans seated there. Every time, with the exception of Longo’s blast, there was no reaction. The fans in the outfield–and their inactivity–told the story. The final blow from Gavin Lux off Doval may have been the most threating, but it too found a home… in center fielder Steven Duggar’s glove.

“I think any other night, the (Chris Taylor) ball and the Gavin Lux ball would have been home runs,” Dodgers’ manager Dave Roberts said.

Homers in Bunches: Giants slug their way to 8-6 win over the Astros

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By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO–Could the power outage in the Giants’ clubhouse at Oracle Park continue for a fifth straight day?

No, and neither could Zach Greinke’s magical touch at Oracle Park.

Greinke has never lost a game at Oracle Park, posting a microscopic ERA in the process, and barely being tested in the majority of his six wins. But these days, the Giants have a brand new approach, and Greinke found out first hand that things might be different going forward. And when was Greinke notified of the change? Probably three home runs into the four homer barrage the Giants hit him with, all in the game’s first five innings.

“Three of them might have been home runs still in any situation,” Greinke said of his start, the first time he’d allowed four home runs to the Giants, and the first time he’d allowed any club that many homers since 2019. “They weren’t cheap.”

In 53 innings pitched at Oracle Park, the 218-game winner described as a future Hall of Famer in the Astros’ media notes, had never allowed a home run. In fact, his dominance was the essence of velvet: Greinke averaged little more than six strikeouts in his previous eight starts along McCovey Cove, showing that he was content to let the Giants get themselves out without needing to display a dominant stance.

What’s new is the Giants are swinging harder. Among the few quality home run hitting teams not to feature one, standout slugger, the team’s across-the-board approach is to look for pitches to launch, swing hard, and don’t get discouraged by strikeouts or meager batting averages. Against Greinke, who’s not only unlikely to allow a big fly, but also stingy with teams trying to string together base hits, the approach works. Maybe not everytime, but during a day game in a park where the park needs ideal conditions to surrender big hits, it worked on Saturday.

“We put some really good swings on the ball. All the homers were pretty much no-doubters,” Ruf said. “Although it was a nice day to hit and the ball seemed to be traveling well, those would have been homers in any other day game.”

The Giants’ homer drought–none over the first four games of the homestand–ended with a bang. The four, consecutive games without at least one home run was a first in manager Gabe Kapler’s run of 164 games at the helm.

The Astros, considered MLB’s top-rated offensive club, attempted to keep up the pace. They homered three times, two of those from Aledmys Diaz, and during a stretch of nine half-innings in which runs were scored in eight of them, the teams went back-and-forth, wiping out any leads that one of clubs established. But that pattern broke in the sixth when Brandon Crawford singled home a run with two runners aboard to give the Giants a 7-6 lead they wouldn’t relinquish. The only run on the afternoon the Giants would produce without hitting a home run was the difference, and it came after Greinke departed, allowing him to escape with his undefeated record in San Francisco in tact.

Alex Wood, described as the Giants’ stopper with his excellent record in games following a Giants’ loss, was anything but, allowing six hits–two of them home runs–in his abbreviated 68-pitch outing. But often, it’s better to be lucky than good, and Wood benefitted from the Giants’ offensive breakout, and a bullpen effort that saw four relievers following him and allow just one, meaningless base hit. Jake McGee capped that effort with a perfect ninth to earn his 22nd save.

Ironically, the Giants played without newly acquired Kris Bryant from the Cubs, who was flying to San Francisco during the game Saturday. Bryant will be in uniform on Sunday, and will assume a lofty position in a lineup where he will lead the Giants in hits (87), be tied for the lead in home runs (18), and second in doubles (19). To say the Giants lineup will be not only loaded, but versatile, would be understatement. But the objective is to do it on the field, and not on paper, over the season’s final 59 games.

In a final move before the trade deadline the Giants reacquired Tony Watson from the Angels with Sam Selman the key piece headed to Anaheim. Watson has a recent, string of exemplary outings but he also moves into a crowded situation in the Giants’ bullpen. Currently, the Giants have relievers Dominic Leone, Jack McGee, Tyler Rogers, Jarlin Garcia and Jose Alvarez with ERA’s under 3.00. Reliable arms Caleb Baragar and Reyes Moronta could also be the mix as well at some point if they recover from injury.

On Sunday, the Giants have Logan Webb starting in a matchup with Houston’s Luis Garica at 1:05pm.

Echoes of 1993: The Giants beat the Cardinals, 5-2 and avoid a sweep with historical significance

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By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO–Avoiding being swept is part of the championship equation with the key being don’t make it a major part of your diet. The Giants did that Wednesday night, besting the Cardinals 5-2, and winning the finale of a three-game set.

The win kept the Giants atop the NL West ahead of the Dodgers, who lost to the Marlins in Miami. The Giants also maintained baseball’s best record, and–with the All-Star break three games away–their win total continues to be reminiscent of their 1993 squad that won 103 games.

There’s just one distinction the 2021 Giants want that eluded the ’93 club: a postseason appearance.

The Giants rolled into September 1993 with an 89-48 record and a 3 1/2 game lead on the Dodgers. But they couldn’t maintain that pace. A loss to the Pirates preceeded a four-game sweep at Candlestick Park by the Cardinals, then three more losses to the Chicago Cubs. Despite a huge win streak that saw them win 14 of 15 after that, the Giants fell on the season’s final day to the Dodgers and went home empty with 103 wins.

That was the last time the Cardinals swept the Giants in a four-game series, and they last beat the Giants in a three-game set in San Francisco in 1991. Thirty years later, the Giants avoided reliving any of that history on Wednesday.

The indelible lesson: avoid lengthy, losing streaks. Thus far in 2021 the Giants have lost three straight once, and just suffered a four-game slide last week.

Alex Wood pitched seven innings, allowed three hits and a run, and picked up his eighth win of the season. After Nolan Arenado doubled home Paul Goldschmidt in the first inning for a 1-0 St. Louis lead, Wood took control. He departed after the seventh, leading 3-1. Mike Yastrzemski and Donovan Solano doubled home runs in the second and fifth innings to put the Giants ahead, and Darin Ruf added a two-run homer in the eighth to provide some cushion.

“(Wood) had all of his pitches working well,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “He had good command and control of all three of his pitches and mixed it up well. That was a pretty gritty and tough outing from him. It was exactly what we needed.”

“I felt like I commanded my fastball really well and stuck the slider,” Wood said. “Good overall night, that’s for sure. Games like that are important. I was happy to come out and do my job tonight.”

The Giants reverted to their winning pattern of taking control of games in the middle innings, a formula the Cardinals adopted in winning the first two games of the series. This time, the Giants took advantage of hard luck starter Johan Oviedo, who has failed to win any of his first 16 starts at the big league level, including all 12 this season. Oviedo showed some distraction early when he jawed with Yastrzemski after his RBI double in the second with the issue being that the pitcher felt the Giants were relaying information to their hitters. Yastrzemski, who carries himself too quietly to get caught up in petty beefs, acknowledged Oviedo’s tough words, but offered few back.

“Any advantage that we can take, whether teams are paranoid, whether they think we’re doing something that we’re not, it’s just a way to hopefully get a distraction off the hitter and to get it onto the baserunner so they can’t make their pitches. I definitely think that he had a lot of intent thinking that I was relaying signs, which I wasn’t. I had nothing.”

The Giants are off on Thurdsay and finish the first half of the season with a three-game set with the Nationals. No pitcher has been announced for Friday, but the possibility that Tyler Beede could make his season debut after missing more than a year due to Tommy John surgery is getting some steam.

Craw By Law: Giants, Crawford keep the D’Backs reeling in 5-2 win

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By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO–The Diamondbacks came to Oracle Park on Monday as a collective bundle of energy, singularly focused on ending a pair of once in a baseball life losing streaks: a 10-game slide approaching two weeks in length, and a 19-game slide on the road that dates back to April 25. Earlier on, they ran the bases and defended with the purpose needed to end their misery.

But the Giants had simpler motivation: stay in first place by taking advantage of a struggling opponent.

As the hits piled up–and Brandon Crawford delivered a big homer–the Giants’ desires won out.

Crawford homered in the fifth to break a 1-1 tie, and the Giants raced to a 5-2 win, their National League-best 19th win after a loss this season. The team’s leader in home runs and experience was almost a late scratch due to needing a day after a lengthy cross-country flight and no day off. But Crawford answered the bell, hitting fourth, and delivered.

“(Brandon) and I talked a little bit about the potential of a day off when we got back from this trip,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “Maybe today, but then we agreed that perhaps we would try to push him for the next couple of games. He felt great about that, I felt good about it and his presence in the lineup was certainly needed tonight.”

“Without Brandon Crawford we aren’t where we are right now,” catcher Curt Casali said in part referencing a struggling lineup for the home team that had a number of guys scuffling after a weekend in Washington D.C. where the Giants were shutout twice and scored just three runs in four games.

Alex Wood pitched six innings, long enough to be the beneficiary of Crawford’s timely blast, and well worth it as the former Dodger won for the first time since May 16 in his fifth try at picking up a sixth win on the season. Wood had some shaky moments, but settled in, retiring seven of the final eight hitters he faced.

The D’Backs made some plays early, and almost were awarded a 2-1 lead, but a replay showing that a ball originally ruled a past ball actually hit Nick Ahmed’s trail foot in the batter’s box. That gave Ahmed first base, but denied Carson Kelly a free pass from third base to score. Tim Locastro, the next hitter, grounded out to third base to end the inning.

In the seventh, with Arizona trailing 3-2, Ketel Marte had an opportunity to knock in a run or two with a pair of baserunners aboard, but the D’Backs’ leading hitter popped out to shortstop while facing Giants’ reliever Dominic Leone.

But as the game wore on the D’Backs reverted to form, now approaching a major league record for consecutive road losses held by the ’63 New York Mets at 22.

“We’re in a grind right now,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “I don’t know where it’s at, what’s been happening or the reasons, but we’re working hard to figure that out.”

The Giants maintained their one-game lead on the Dodgers, who won at home against the Phillies on Monday night. But instead of focusing on the monster in their rear view, the Giants seem locked in on keeping Arizona reeling.

On Monday night, that objective was mission accomplished.

Neither the Giants or D’Backs have announced a starter for Tuesday night’s 6:45pm scheduled start.

Wood, Giants find the time and the place to get past Texas, 3-1

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By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO–The Texas Rangers have been rough on left-handed starting pitchers this season, so Alex Wood and the Giants knew they’d need a special performance on Monday night.

Special and timely.

The Giants waited until the last possible moment to pounce, but they did just that with a two-run, seventh inning rally that carried them past the Rangers, 3-1 at Oracle Park.

With Wood lifted from the game for pinch-hitter Darin Ruf, the Giants lefty appeared destined for a no-decision despite allowing just four hits and a run in seven innings of work. But Ruf singled, following Austin Slater’s walk and preceding Mauricio Dubon’s tie-breaking base hit. Suddenly, Wood was in business, cheering loudly from the dugout and leading 2-1.

For those scoring at home, that’s three, consecutive right-handed hitting pinch-hitters–with spotty records–coming through with two outs and the game on the line.

“I liked that (Giants manager Gabe Kapler) used all his pinch hitters there. If they had not scored, then we had them in trouble,” Texas manager Chris Woodward recounted. “We just didn’t execute a pitch there at the end.”

How spotty? Ruf had managed just one hit in ten pinch-hitting appearances coming in, and Dubon, the last guy any manager would want hitting deep in a count, had just one hit in 31 plate appearances this season with a two-strike count.

So what does Dubon do with the game in the balance? He fouls off five, consecutive pitches and singles to center field on the eighth pitch of the at-bat to give his team the lead.

“If you don’t end up scoring a run, you’re almost out of players,” Kapler said. “Dubon’s at-bat was excellent, that’s the one that’s going to stand out. But Slater’s was equally as good and Ruf’s was awesome.”

The Rangers then contributed to the Giants’ fortunes when third baseman Charlie Culberson one-hopped his throw across the diamond for an error that allowed Mike Yastrzemski to reach and Ruf to score.

Wood improved his record to 4-0 (in just five starts) by avoiding any explosive hits outside Khris Davis’ triple off the bricks in the fifth, and hanging around in a matchup with Texas’ Kyle Gibson, who has a similar reclamation story to Wood’s and was almost as good on Monday.

Gibson pitched six innings, allowing four his and a run while striking out six. He did surrender a solo shot to Brandon Belt, the game’s first run in the fourth inning.

Wood became just the third lefty starter to defeat the Rangers joining Steven Matz and Mike Minor, who both accomplished the feat in the season’s first week. Since then, the Rangers have compiled a major league-best 12 wins against left-handed starters, including the last six opportunities consecutively.

The Rangers lost in interleague play for the 13th time in their last 14 matchups. The Giants improved to 13-4 at home, tying their best start to a season at home in their San Francisco history.

The teams conclude their brief series Tuesday afternoon with Texas’ Jordan Lyles facing Logan Webb.

Giants rained out in Denver, DH scheduled for Tuesday

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By Morris Phillips

Cold temperatures and rain kept the Giants and Rockies from play in the opener of their three-game series in Denver on Monday.

The clubs–and their pitching staffs–get a soft landing with a doubleheader scheduled for Tuesday with both games shortened to seven innings.

Alex Wood is the scheduled starter for the opener at 2:40pm, and Aaron Sanchez, Monday’s scheduled starter, will pitch the nightcap.

The postponement is welcome news for Trevor Story, Brandon Crawford and others on both teams who are nicked up and could use an extra day to heal.

The Dodgers were postponed in Chicago, and the Padres won at home over the Pirates, a combination that keeps the Giants in first place in the NL West at 17-11.

Welcoming Walks: Rockies provide gifts, as Giants roll to a 7-2 win

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By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO–Well, it’s like a walk in the park, or even better, like walking your dog.

Just know, when it goes down at a Major League park, it’s only good for the walkers… seeing highly paid competitors on the other side of a walk parade standing around their infield positions, slumped with their heads down, trying to figure out how their big league clubs reverted to Little League all of a sudden will simply make you uncomfortable.

The Rockies did all of that Wednesday night, as Colorado pitchers issued nine walks–and surrendered nine singles–in their 7-3 loss to the Giants. Alex Wood no-hit the visitors into the sixth inning as well, but now we’re just dumping on the dog. The Giants are playing well, but this one was really about how poorly the Rockies competed.

“That’s unacceptable for a big-league pitching staff to walk nine guys,” manager Bud Black said.

Three of the walks came with the bases loaded–that’s only happened three times in the history of the Rockies–and each one sucked the life out of the team starting in the second inning. Starter German Marquez issued a pair of the costly walks, essentially half of a four-run inning that put the Giants comfortably in front.

The Rockies fell to 1-8 on the road this season, one night after they hit three homers after the eighth inning and drew seven walks, all signs of a club being dialed in even with a string of undesirable results. But Wednesday, the Rockies dialed out and the Giants pounced.

In the seventh, Mike Tauchman, in his three-hit Giants’ debut, reached on an infield single that scored Evan Longoria. The next batter, Curt Casali drew the third, bases loaded walk from Yency Almonte, and the Giants led 6-2. Wilmer Flores, not patient enough to see a couple of balls, concluded the scoring with a hard hit single that plated Brandon Crawford.

“He was exactly as advertised,” Giants manager Gabe Kapler said of Tauchman, acquired from the Yankees in s deal for reliever Wandy Peralta. “Comfortable in the outfield. In the batter’s box, he’s a fighter. Very competitive.”

Wood did what many were anticipating, he added a third, brilliant outing to his brief career with the Giants, improving to 3-0 with 20 strikeouts and three walks. The 30-year old was sharp throughout with his slider, and just needed a near diving catch from Darin Ruf to extend his spell on the Rockies to seven innings. The eighth however was a struggle for Wood, who was lifted after allowing three singles and a walk consecutively.

“I feel like I’m dialed in, and I had all three (pitches) working tonight,” said Wood, no longer burdened by the back and shoulder issues that caused the Dodgers and Reds to lose patience with him in recent seasons. “Just commanding the ball well right now.”

The Giants improved to 16-9, tied with the Dodgers atop the NL West. Pitching continues to be their calling card, they rank second in team ERA at 2.93. But the potential of their offense, with 31 home runs despite an anemic, team batting average of .224 gives them hope for even greater growth once their bats gain efficiency.

After winning 5 of 7 at home, the Giants start a stretch of 20 of 28 on the road starting with a Friday night date with the Padres at Petco Park.

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