Giants get the getaway win

SF 3  SD 2 (10)

The Giants take two of three from the Padres and get their first series win of the young season!

Kevin Gausman out-pitched Blake Snell, going seven innings and giving up only one run on four hits. It was another excellent start. Kap pulled him after 96 pitches and trusted the 8th inning to Tyler Rogers. It worked for two outs and then Will Myers (who else?) hit the game-tying homer. This is a funny year. No one knows how the pitchers will respond to the full-season workload and teams are understandably cautious with their aces. All of their starters, in fact. I can’t fault the decision to sit Gausman after a superb day’s work. He’ll be stretched out as the season goes on. At some point the relievers have to get the job done. Rogers made a mistake, a fat pitch up in the zone, and he paid for it. Jake McGee, who threw 25 pitches on Monday, delivered a 1-2-3 9th inning and the Giants stayed alive. I thought it was interesting that Kap used McGee there, in a tie game. Perhaps he sees some increased urgency with the new extra-inning rules, or maybe he just wants multiple guys to be able to close games.

Darin Ruf hit a two-run homer off Snell in his first at-bat in the 2nd to open the scoring. Ruf’s job is to mash lefties and he has done so. The ball bounced out of the center fielder’s glove and over the fence so it was nice to catch a break there. It should have been enough with Gausman dealing, but the Padres and Myers forced it into extras. The Giants, miraculously, pushed the automatic runner across in the 10th on a sacrifice fly from Donovan Sandoval.

Wandy Peralta was called on to get the save, and he got it done, stranding the automatic runner in the bottom of the 10th. Peralta got a big strikeout for the second out and has really started to emerge as a bullpen weapon. Kap seems to have a lot of confidence in him. It was his first career save.

The Giants played three pitchers’ duels in San Diego and came away with two wins and finish the road trip 3-3. They’ve shown resilience since their opening day debacle. It was a massive win today!

Off-day tomorrow. The Home Opener is Friday at 1:35 Pacific. The Rockies will be in town for the weekend, followed by three with Reds and another off-day on Thursday (the 15th).

Go Giants!

–M.C.