Dandy debuts

SF 1  MIA 0

Alex Wood, in his Giants debut, was superb over five innings. Kap pinch-hit for him in the 6th with the Giants clinging to a 1-0 lead but Wilmer Flores flew out to end the inning. Wood had only thrown 61 pitches, 42 for strikes, but the opportunity to score some runs–the bases were loaded–was too big to ignore. “National League rules” force that sort of decision on the manager, obviously. Wood probably could have continued even though he’s fresh off the IL, but I can’t fault Kap’s choice. Sometimes you have to go for it even if it potentially costs you somewhere else. The lineup was 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position on the day, continuing their season-long poor hitting.

The bullpen, however, stepped up. Four pitchers retired the next twelve batters and nailed down a terrific 1-0 bounce-back win. After last night’s agony, it was a huge performance. Jose Alvarez pitched the 6th, getting three outs on 17 pitches. Rookie Camilo Doval made his major-league debut and blew away the opposition on only 11 pitches, getting two strikeouts. He has some seriously nasty stuff! It’s exciting when young players get a chance in a big spot and come through. Caleb Baragar also used 11 pitches and got two whiffs in the 8th, and Tyler Rogers used 11 pitches to get the save in the 9th.

A lot of little things went right for the Giants today and they avoided the sweep. Miami, for some reason, is not a happy place for road trips. I’m sick of the damn Marlins and of course they are coming to San Francisco for four on Thursday. In the meantime we get to enjoy a dandy win.

Kevin Gausman gets the start in Philadelphia tomorrow at 4:05 Pacific.

Go Giants!

–M.C.