Splash Hits

[Manning2Harrison]

Walker Dominates G-Men, Snakes Snag Series

The San Francisco Giants have suffered their first series loss since that sweep by the Dodgers, falling 3-1 to the Arizona Diamondbacks in the rubber game. The Jints were shut down by ‘Zona starter Taijuan Walker, who pitched 6.1 innings, allowing zero runs and fanning 8. The D-Backs’ bullpen was also stout- it took Nick Hundley’s pinch-hit solo shot for San Francisco to avoid being shut out for the second time in April. Chris Stratton absorbed his third consecutive loss and allowed all of Arizona’s runs before getting the hook after 4 & 1/3 innings. Ty Blach went the remaining 3 & 2/3, working his ERA down to 3.94. Evan Longoria was, as he has been so many times this season, the only San Francisco batter to rake multiple hits, going 3-for-5, including his 5th double. Longo’s BA is a majors-leading .424, while no other Giants position player is hitting over .250.

The Giants will now head back to the coast to take on the hottest team in baseball.

[Manning2Harrison]

Blach Moves Into Rotation, Stratton Sent Down, Suarez Called Up

2015 second round pick Andrew Suarez has gotten the call to The Show.

Chris Stratton was the first Giants starter to log a win in 2018, but three outings later, he’s on the way to Sacramento. Since providing the team with its first quality start of the season the win over Seattle, Blach has lost three straight games and his ERA has ballooned to 6.27 while the rest of the rotation has been finding a groove. As a result of that, the decision was made to option Stratton to the AAA Sacramento River Cats. Ty Blach, who went 3.2 scoreless innings in relief of Stratton in a 3-1 loss to Arizona, is moving into the rotation to replace Stratton. With an open roster spot for a long reliever, the Giants called up their 2015 second round pick, Andrew Suarez, from Sacramento. In three starts for the River Cats, Suarez had an ERA of 1.41. Suarez was a 9th round pick of the Blue Jays coming out of high school, but the Floridian decided to play college ball at Miami. He played through his senior season, despite being a second round pick of the Nationals, in part to obtain his degree but also in the hope of improving his draft status. Since being the 61st overall pick of 2015, Suarez has advanced swiftly through the farm system. He reached the Class A-Advanced San Jose Giants in his first year, was promoted to AA in 2016 and to AAA in 2017. In order to facilitate the player movement River Cats outfielder Gorkys Hernandez was waived.

[Manning2Harrison]

G-Men Hope To Have Chilling Effect On Red-Hot Halos

The San Francisco Giants may be about to run into a buzzsaw as they travel to Anaheim for a three game series against the Los Angeles Angels, who have won 19 of 20 games. LA’s win streak sits at 10 games (during which no opponent has scored more than 4 runs) and it has 5 players who are batting over .300. Contrast that with a 10-9 Giants team which has only Evan Longoria hitting better than .250 and which has not had a streak longer than 4 games.

That one Halos loss was a 3-0 shutout by the A’s on April 8th, with Oakland’s Sean Manaea going the distance.

[Manning2Harrison]

Giants' Bombs Blow Up Halos' Win Streak

The San Francisco Giants blasted 3 home runs in the first three innings to propel themselves to a 6-3 victory over the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim. It was just the second loss in 21 games for the Halos, who saw their winning streak come to an end at 10 games. RBI singles in the top of the first posted the Giants to a 2-0 lead and the Angels plated a run in the bottom half. In the second, Gregor Blanco was the first to go yard for San Francisco, followed by Austin Jackson in the next at bat, and Buster Posey nearly made it back-to-back-to-back dingers, but Mike Trout caught up with the long fly ball at the edge of the warning track. In the 3rd, with 2 down, a wide throw by Ryan Schimpf pulled Luis Valbuena away from the bag at first base, and he made no effort to get back, allowing Joe Panik to reach safely. The Angels paid for Valbuena’s laziness when Brandon Crawford went deep to right in the next at bat. San Francisco rookie starter Tyler Beede (2-1) collected the win, going 5 innings in which he allowed 2 runs, and Hunter Strickland got a 2-inning save.

Cutch drives in a run. Next: the moon turns to blood.


Gregor Blanco goes yard.


Austin Jackson launches a back-to-back dinger.


That feeling you get when you give up back-to-back homers and there’s nowhere to hide.


Brandon Crawford’s 4th homer of April put the G-Men up 6-1.

[Manning2Harrison]

G-Men Are First To Take A Series From Angels

With a 7th inning sacrifice fly by Gregor Blanco making the difference in a 4-3 decision, the San Francisco Giants have become the first team in either league to win a series against the Los Angeles Angels. The Halos were hotter than hell coming into the 3-game date, having won 10 straight and 19 out of 20, but have taken back-to-back losses for the first time in 2018. San Francisco’s other 3 runs came in the 2nd against Otani-san. Two of those came when Kole Calhoun dove at and missed an Andrew McCutchen Texas-Leaguer and had the ball bounce over his outstretched body. Cutch’s 2-RBI double came on an 0-2 pitch with the bags filled. Reliever Derek law picked up his first win of the campaign, while Mike Melancon notched his 7th save.

[Manning2Harrison]

Hit Parade:
15 Hits, 10 Runs And A Brooming

The largely-silent bats of San Francisco Giants found their voices in a big way in the final game of the G-Men’s series against the LA Angels. The Jints spat out 15 hits in a 10-5 win over the Halos, earning their second series sweep of 2018. Five Giants, representing the 3 through 7 positions in the batting order, had a multi-hit game, and only Brandon Crawford was hitless. The best of the bunch was Hunter Pence, who was 4-for-5 with 2 RBI and 3 runs scored. All all of the Halos’ runs came via three long balls, and they had only one other hit in the contest. Johnny Cueto’s strikeout stuff was muted, but he still managed another quality start and collected win no. 3 as he continued lowering his ERA. He walked only 3 in 6 innings, and his only real mistakes were the two solo shots he gave up. LA’s 3-run shot, by Rene Rivera, marred the major league debut of Andrew Suarez, who was allowed into the game with the Giants safely ahead, but looked a little out of his depth playing with the big boys. He did strike out two, but he also walked both of the men who were on board when Rivera went deep. Angels starter Andrew Heaney was rocked for 6 runs in 4.1 innings, but his ERA was only elevated to 3.26, while reliever Matt Shoemaker surrendered 3 in 2 & 2/3, but his ERA is still under 2.00 at 1.61.

[Manning2Harrison]

Washington Nationals at San Francisco Giants
Apr 23, 2018	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Washington (14-9)	0	0	0	2	0	1	1	0	0	4	7	1
San Francisco (14-9)	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	2	5	6	0

Jackson's Walk-Off Single Lifts G-Men Over Gnats

Bottom of the 9th, down by 1. Bases loaded, 2 outs. Coming up clutch, San Francisco Giants center fielder Austin Jackson turned a kid’s fantasy scenario into a real-life game winning base hit, driving in two runs to give the Giants a 5-4 victory over the Washington Nationals. The hit was the third in 5 at bats for Jackson, who had knocked in another run earlier. It was a no-decision game for Jeff Samardzija, who allowed 3 runs and struck out 9 in 6 innings. An error and 5 walks cost Washington, as only 2 of San Francisco’s runs were earned.

The Giants were down 2-0 going into the bottom of the 5th, where they scored 3 runs. The go-ahead run came on a RBI triple by Andrew McCutchen. Runs allowed by The Shark and Derek Law put the Nats up 4-3 and the win went to Tony Watson (1-0), who lowered his ERA to 0.66 by working 2 scoreless innings.

After Watson retired the side in order, fanning two, in the top of the 9th, the Giants half of the inning started out with Buster Posey stroking a single to right off of Trevor Gott. Gregor Blaco went in to pinch run for Posey and Hunter Pence struck out swinging, after which Joaquin Benoit (1-3, 8.38) took the mound for Washington. Brandon Crawford lined a single to left, then Brandon Belt flew out to right. The Panda drew a 3-1 walk, and Benoit was relieved by Brandon Kintzler, who gave up the game-winning hit.

The Giants have matched their season-high winning streak of 4 games. They were riding the first one before they dropped 2 games and the series at Arizona, which immediately preceeded this streak, which makes them winners of 8 of their last 10 games.

[johnstone1987]

Nice sweep over Halos. Keep it going buddy!