22

GIANTS       90-50                       First to sweep Colorado at home.

LA                 88-52      2    GB     Wainwright's effort just enough.

San Diego    74-65    15.5  GB     Lead the WC race again. 

Yesterday

Giants defeated Colorado, 7-4, scoring four runs in the top of the ninth.

LA lost at St Louis, 5-4, despite scoring two runs in the top of the ninth.

Today

Giants are idle. They're on their way to Chicago.

LA finishes up at St Louis; can Cards earn a helpful split?

Yesterday's Game

For much of the afternoon this game had "disappointing loss" written all over it. Anthony DeSclafani did not pitch well, and Jon Gray did.  The Rockies led 3-0 after five, with Gray set to cruise a while. Then Brandon Belt and LaMonte Wade singled, and Brandon Crawford hit Gray's first pitch for a three-run homer and a tie game. Buddy Black went to his bullpen, and the Giants left two men on base to end the sixth. In the bottom of the frame, Zack Littell gave up a home run to Elias Diaz and just like that, the Giants were back in a hole. And this one looked as though it would stand. The Giants left two more on in the eighth and faced Carlos Estevez, who has saved three games in the past week, to start the ninth. As do so many rallies, this one began with a leadoff walk-- to Buster Posey in a rare pinch-hit role. Then it was like a flash fire: Thairo Estrada singled, Belt singled, bases loaded. Wade ripped a single to right for two runs and the Giants had the lead. Estevez got Crawford, wild-pitched the runners up a base, but struck out Kris Bryant for the second out. Then Evan Longoria, also pinch-hitting, capped it off with the knockout blow, a two-run double to center, and that gave Jake McGee the elbowroom he needed to work an uneventful bottom of the ninth for his 30th save. That's a sweep, folks, and it's four straight wins and six out of seven, and it's 90 wins and a two-game lead with 22 to play. 

23

 

GIANTS        89-50                       15 hits for the second straight game.

LA                  88-51      1    GB      Inadvertently helping San Diego, too.

San Diego     73-65   15.5  GB      Back in a tie with Reds for WC.

Yesterday

Giants bombarded Colorado again, 12-3.

LA defeated St Louis, 7-2.

Today

Giants finish up at Colorado; 1:15 PM local time, 3:15 EDT. Anthony DeSclafani against Jon Gray, who is 1-1 against the Giants this year. His win came at Coors Field back on May 5.

LA continues at St Louis. It's a four-game series with a game on Thursday.

Last Night's Game

Logan Webb, like Kevin Gausman the day before, was sailing along with a terrific start when the altitude of Coors Field evidently got to him. Through six Webb had a two-hitter and a 11-1 lead. He ran out of gas and gave up four hits and two runs in the seventh, which raised his ERA a tiny bit and lowered his Game Score. But it hardly mattered. Swinging the bats with abandon for the third consecutive game, the Giants had made short work of Rockies starter Chi Chi Gonzalez by the second inning with a 5-0 cushion, and it just got more lopsided as it went on. Steven Duggar was a one-man highlight reel, and right now it's impossible to imagine him being sent down again. He makes things happen. His triple on Sunday was the loudest hit in the Giants' victory over LA, and yesterday he had three extra-base hits including two more triples. His second triple, a bases-loaded rocket to the gap in right-center, was the loudest hit of this game, too-- unless it was Mike Yastrzemski's majestic 433-foot homer in the seventh, his team-leading 22nd. Also like Gausman the day before, Webb had some fun at the plate: he drove in Duggar after the latter's first triple in the second, and came in to score on Tommy LaStella's RBI single. On a 15-hit day, Evan Longoria had the most interesting batting line: three runs scored and one RBI without benefit of a hit. Every Giants starter on the day scored at least one run. 

22-year-old rookie fireballer Kervin Castro made his major-league debut in relief of Webb, pitching two scoreless innings. He allowed two hits and got his first career strikeout. 

24

 

GIANTS        88-50                       Power burst carries over into Coors.

LA                  87-51      1   GB        Cards were no trouble for Scherzer.

San Diego     73-64   14.5  GB      Angels come to town.

Yesterday

Giants defeated Colorado, 10-5.

LA defeated St Louis, 5-1.

Today

Giants at Colorado; 6:40 PM local time, 8:40 EDT. Logan Webb goes for his 9th win while Chi Chi Gonzalez opposes. 

LA is at St Louis. J.A. Happ brings his 6.20 ERA up against the Dodgers, who have yet to name a starter.

Yesterday's Game

Lefthander, righthander, day of rest, sleepless night-- none of it seemed to matter. The Giants blew out the Rockies early, taking a 10-1 lead by the sixth inning. Darin Ruf led off the game with a home run, Thairo Estrada, last week's home run hero, belted two out of Coors Field, and Buster Posey hit his 17th. Mauricio Dubon had three hits and two RBI, and everyone in the starting lineup had at least one hit except Brandon Crawford, who did help turn a double play in the field. There were fifteen hits in all and a nice cushion for Kevin Gausman, who won his 13th game. He also had some batting fun, driving in one run and scoring another in the four-run fifth. Gausman pitched as well as he has all season through five, then gave up single runs in the sixth and seventh. Trevor Story homered off Caleb Baragar in the eighth to make the score a little more palatable for the locals.   

25

 

GIANTS        87-50                     Bats break through when needed most.

LA                  86-51      1  GB      Five games behind projected W-L record. 

San Diego      73-64    14  GB     Back in the second wild-card lead.

Yesterday

Giants defeated LA, 6-4, to take the series, and the season series, and to hold first place.  

Today

Giants at Colorado; 2:10 local time, 4:10 EDT. Quick turnaround after a early-evening game. Kevin Gausman starts against Kyle Freeland, another lefthander. He pitched well against the Giants at the O three weeks ago (Game Score 62).

LA is at St Louis; also a daytime start. The Cardinals have cooled off a bit, but they're still only three games behind San Diego in the wild-card race. 

Yesterday's Game

It's about time! The Giants' impotent offense came alive with a roar against the best pitcher in the league, and carried away a resounding victory while supported by no less than nine pitchers. San Francisco put eight men on against Walker Buehler in three innings, and six of them scored. Brandon Belt homered in the first, Steven Duggar, late of Sacramentio, ripped a two-run triple in the second and scored on Darin Ruf's single, and LaMonte Wade, Brandon Crawford, and Curt Casali finished Buehler off with two runs on three hits in the third. The Giants did all this without Buster Posey in the lineup, and Mike Yastrzemski showed signs of leaving Slumpville behind with two hits, including a wall-scraping double to deepest center, and a walk.  

With Buehler (now 13-3) thoroughly done after three, Dave Roberts summoned his bullpen, and they held the fort and eventually allowed the Dodgers to get back in it. Jake McGee was on in the ninth despite no save situation-- that's how seriously Kapler took both game and opponent-- and big Albert Pujols belted a two-run homer, the 678th of his career, to cut the lead to 6-4 with nobody out. The rally had  started when Kris Bryant, who'd made a brilliant defensive stop in the eighth, threw wildly on Austin Barnes' leadoff grounder. 

Max Muncy, hitless thus far in the series, singled with one out to bring the tying run to the plate. McGee then got Mookie Betts on a "borderline" strike three call that made up for several such calls which gave LA a run in the fifth. That brought the terrifying presence of Giant-killer Justin Turner to the plate. Swinging late on a 1-2 pitch, Turner faded a pop fly down the right-field line that Yastrzemski nabbed just before it hit the protective netting. Roberts properly appealed, and for the second time in three days replay affirmed a Giants victory after the fact.

 Not every manager has the cojones, or perhaps the desperation, to plan out back-to-back "bullpen games", but Kapler does. Here's how yesterday's nine fared:

Dominic Leone opened, and got three popups from the Dodgers' fearsome top of the order. 

Jose Alvarez started the second. Single, walk, RBI single, and he's outta there.

Zack Littell came in with first and second, nobody out. He immediately wild-pitched the runners into scoring position. Then: popup, strikeout, strikeout. Neither man scored, and the Giants scored three in the bottom of the inning, and that earned Littell the win.

Jay Jackson for the third. He wasn't quite as bad as he'd been on Saturday: a walk and a hit, but he did get two outs this time. With two on and Corey Seager up, Kapler made the switch to a lefty.

Jose Quintana walked Seager, the man he was expected to get, on some extremely "borderline" pitches. The three-batter rule obliged Kap to leave him in against Will Smith, and Quintana got him on a fly ball. The veteran lefty junkballer then pitched a quiet fourth, and struck out Max Muncy (!) in the fifth. With two out, though, Betts singled and Turner walked. Kapler came out and turned up the heat.

Rookie Camilo Doval, he of the 99-MPH fastball and recent arrival from Sacramento, followed three outside sliders with two flaming unhittable strikes before "strike three" was called "ball four" and Seager walked to load the bases. More strike-zone chicanery followed during Will Smith's at-bat, resulting in a walked-in run and a 6-2 score. With the crowd booing and catcalling umpire Tony Randazzo, Doval held his water and fanned Chris Taylor on a called third strike, leaving 'em loaded.  And Doval then came out for the sixth and retired the side in order.

Tony Watson retired the side in order in the seventh. Tyler Rogers did the same in the eighth, before McGee came on in the ninth and it got dicey. 

Doval, Watson, and Rogers retired ten straight batters against the best lineup in baseball and ensured the Dodgers would need more runs in the ninth than they had outs to spare. With all the welcome attention drawn to the Giants' long-overdue offensive outburst, this stretch of outstanding pitching was key to the win. 

Bottom line: six of the nine did their jobs.  A seventh labored, but got the third out. Two others had days to forget. Oh, it's a different brand of baseball, all right, but at the moment the San Francisco Giants do it better than anyone in the business. And now they have to do it all over again on short rest in the unfriendly confines of Coors Field, and 24 more times before the race is complete. 

26

 

GIANTS        86-50                        "Bullpen game" didn't work so well.

LA                  86-50            GB       Going for first place with Buehler. 

San Diego      72-64    14    GB      Cards, Phillies, Mets also contend.

Yesterday

LA beat the Giants, 6-1.

Today

Giants host LA in the series finale: 4:05 at Oracle Park to accommodate a national-TV audience. Cy Young Award candidate Walker Buehler (13-2) starts for LA, the first right-hander to face the Giants since Tuesday. No word on a Giants starter.  Both Jose Quintana and Sammy Long pitched yesterday, neither of them well.

Last Night's Game

Well, the "opener" strategy didn't work, at least not with Jay Jackson. Trea Turner opened the game with a homer, and one out, two walks, and a stolen base later, Jackson was lifted for Jarlin Garcia, who allowed both runners to score for a 3-0 LA lead. That was pretty much it. The Giants went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position again, though Buster Posey was a ray of sunshine with three hits. We can hope he's broken out of his slump, and with a righthander going today we can hope Mike Yastrzemski will break out of his.  LaMonte Wade had a pinch-hit double, Brandon Crawford sat the game out, and Alex Dickerson is on the IL. Expect Tommy LaStella to join Wade, Crawford, Yaz, and Brandon Belt in the starting lineup this evening alongside Posey, Kris Bryant, and probably Evan Longoria.

27

 

GIANTS        86-49                        How does it feel?

LA                  85-50      1    GB      Used nine pitchers in loss.  

San Diego      71-62     14   GB      Half a game behind Cincinnati.

Yesterday

Giants defeated LA, 3-2, in eleven innings.

Today

Giants host LA; 9:05 at the O. The Giants have not named a starter, though Sammy Long would appear to be a possibility. Julio Urias starts for LA, his fifth start this year against the Giants. He's pitched excellent ball in three previous starts, and was shelled in one. He's the fourth straight lefthander the Giants will face. 

Last Night's Game

We probably should have seen this coming, but who would have believed our report? Buster Posey beat out an infield single in the bottom of the 11th inning with the winning run on third, and he did so because the throw from Trea Turner pulled impromptu first baseman Will Smith off the bag for a split second. And there it was, confirmed after replay, the Giants' latest can-you-believe-this win, in a game they had to win, to get off first against this powerful opponent in this critical series.  

Anyone who thinks Dave Roberts doesn't take the Giants with utmost seriousness may now be excused. The Dodgers burned through their entire lineup and bullpen plus Walker Buehler (who pinch-ran in the tenth and scored a run), trying to win this series opener and take full possession of first place. That will have to wait at least two more days. But their effort was a relentless and frightening one, as they rallied in the ninth to wreck Jake McGee's save and erase San Francisco's oh-so-fragile 1-0 lead. They survived two-- and almost three-- runners thrown or tagged out on the bases. And they got two-- well, almost two-- innings out of a pitcher who joined the team just this week, one Evan Phillips, who if not for that errant throw might still be pitching this morning because they had nobody left.

Let us praise Anthony DeSclafani's outstanding return to the rotation, at the time he was needed the most, as he pitched six shutout innings against the team that's tormented him twice this year.  But let us also acknowledge the Giants went an appalling 3-for 22 with runners in scoring position. Yes, you read that right: two runners per inning for 11 innings reaching second or third, and three runs to show for it. This has to stop, and it has to stop soon. Our opponents will not always oblige us by putting catchers at first base in every critical situation.

If there were hitting stars, they were Austin Slater and Brandon Crawford. "Craw" went 3-for-5 and drove in the tying run in the tenth after LA had finally seized the lead. Slater, who pinch-hit for LaMonte Wade in the third when the Dodgers changed pitchers-- a nervy move by Gabe Kapler-- came through with a RBI single, the second time in two days he's put the Giants on the board first. It held up until the ninth thanks to Tony Watson and Tyler Rogers, and McGee really deserved better in the ninth.

With one out and Justin Turner on first, Corey Seager dropped one into left-center and Darin Ruf took a bad angle to it, then threw late and wide to third, allowing Seager to take second. Smith grounded sharply to second and Thairo Estrada's throw home had Turner dead to rights. He retreated back to third just as Seager reached the bag himself, and Posey tagged both runners. Umpire  Nestor Seja properly called Seager out. And then both runners stepped off the bag thinking they were out! Posey swung his glove and tagged Seager, and Turner quickly jumped back on third. Had Posey tagged Turner instead, the game would have been over and the weirdest of double plays a matter of record. Instead, with two out, Chris Taylor singled Turner home and off we went into extra innings-- after the Giants left two men on in the bottom of the ninth against Kenley Jensen, of course. Turner would be thrown out at the plate again, for real this time, in the eleventh. So it went, and so it goes. 

28

 

GIANTS        85-49                       Thrilling win sets up the big series.

LA                  85-49           GB      Price gets first crack at Giants. 

San Diego      71-63    14   GB      Statcast gives them 50% shot at playoffs.

Yesterday

Giants defeated Milwaukee, 5-1, to save the series.

LA was idle.

Today

Giants host LA in the opener of a three-game series, the last time these clubs will face each other in the regular season. David Price starts for the Dodgers; he's started against the Giants twice this year, with one loss and one no-decision in which he pitched well. For the Giants, it might be newcomer Jose Quintana; anything's on the table when three starters (Wood, DeSclafani, Cueto) are on the IL.  

Yesterday's Game

How to describe it? "Well, it may be a cliche, but there was a playoff-game atmosphere at Oracle Park yesterday..."  Or, "Entire seasons may turn on one individual play, even one umpire's call..." Or even the old standby, "Oh, those bases on balls."

All true, all somehow inadequate. The Giants saved the Milwaukee series, their first-place standing, and maybe the division pennant with a four-run rally in the eighth inning, a rally that almost wasn't. It was classic Giants-- tie game, nobody on, two out, and Kris Bryant, the superstar the Giants traded for at midseason, at the plate against Milwaukee's tough reliever Devin Williams. Bryant walked on four straight pitches, setting up a glimmer of hope, but a situation the Giants have failed at time and again this past week of woe. With Brandon Belt at the plate and a 2-0 count, Bryant took off for second. It was a photo finish and he was called out, ending the inning just like that, another failure. But immediately heads started nodding in the San Francisco dugout, and the replay challenge was on. It took a long time, with Bryant and Wiley Adames kidding around at second base, the restive fans beginning a raucous chant of "Safe! Safe! Safe!", endless replays replaying on screens all over America, and finally the call. Safe! The inning went on. 

Williams appeared perfectly composed, but he walked Belt, which drew a mound visit. Darin Ruf stepped in. On a 1-1 pitch he absolutely clobbered one to deep left. It ricocheted off the wall as Bryant scored to give the Giants the lead, Belt stopping at third. Now Thairo Estrada, fresh up from AAA ball with Wilmer Flores going on the IL. Estrada, 0-for-3 on the day, with a chance to punch one through the infield and bring in two desperately-needed runs. Estrada-- who launched a 2-2 pitch high and deep and up and over the same plane Ruf's hit had described, half a dozen rows up into the seats as the crowd went completely crazy. After five runs in four games the Giants had five runs in this game and victory was at hand.

It wasn't quite over at that point, though. Kolten Wong opened the ninth with a single off Jake McGee. With two out, Adames faded one high and deep down the right field line. It cleared the wall, hit the promenade and caromed into the Bay, a two-run homer-- but almost immediately the umpires waved it off. Foul ball. A huge sigh settled over the park, then the crowd erupted again as Brewers manager Craig Counsell got himself ejected for arguing the second call that had gone against his club in ten minutes. McGee then got Adames to ground out, Estrada to Belt, and it was over. 

A brisk ballgame by today's standards, it lasted 2:31, and was already into the eighth at the two-hour mark. That notation brings us to Logan Webb, and it's absolutely criminal his name should be this far down here. The Giants' ace, for that's what he is, pitched seven innings of one-run four-hit ball, striking out ten. "Reminds me of Matt Cain," texted an astute Giants fan. Webb didn't get the win; that went to Tyler Rogers, who was basically unhittable as he struck out the side in the eighth. And Webb's effort was ably matched by Milwaukee's Eric Lauer, who pitched seven innings of one-run three-hit ball himself. Before the eighth-inning heroics, the Giants' only run was supplied by Austin Slater, who hit Lauer's first pitch for a home run.  Webb, pitching the game of his young career so far, made that run hold up as long as he was in there.  Congratulations all around!

Facing a third lefthander in three days, Gabe Kapler will probably devise a lineup similar to yesterday's, with Crawford and Belt the only left-handed bats and Buster Posey back behind the plate. Interestingly, Posey has yet to start a game at first base this year, not that he will tonight, necessarily, but it is an option if Kap wants to maximize his right-handed platoon advantage. Sammy Long will probably get a start this weekend and it could be tonight. If there's to be a "bullpen game," we'd expect it tomorrow. No indication yet whether Alex Wood, on the COVID list since Monday, can safely come off it and pitch Sunday. A manager's job is a lonely one sometimes.