Another split

The Giants won the opening game of the two-game set in Detroit 3-1 behind a dominant start from Carlos Rodón. He was really sharp and able to go a full seven innings (striking out ten) and not crack 100 pitches. John Brebbia handled the 8th and Camilo Doval got the save in the 9th despite scaring us half to death. You could see Wilmer Flores (who handled the final out) giving Doval some good-natured crap at the end of the game. Doval has all the weapons and sufficient sangfroid for the closer role but he’s still pretty raw and he needs to cut down on the wildness. Evan Longoria’s two-run homer in the 6th was the decisive blow. The win put the Giants back to .500 at 61-61.

Today was unfortunately another story. Logan Webb had a no-hitter going with one out in the 5th when everything fell apart. The Tigers got a couple of breaks and put two guys on and then put together a string of two-strike hits and batted around, chasing Webb from the game. That was all the scoring Detroit would need to seal a lopsided 6-1 win. Webb’s had a couple of rough starts since his brilliant effort against the Pirates on August 13th.

Once again the Giants had an opportunity for a sweep but settled for a split. Disappointing.

The Giants are off tomorrow and open a weekend set in Minneapolis against the Twins on Friday night (5:10 p.m. PT). Alex Wood gets the start.

Go Giants!

–M.C.

p.s. Brandon Belt, no surprise, goes to the 10-day IL. Bryce Johnson was brought up from AAA. He’s a speedy switch-hitter who can play all three OF positions. The Giants also picked up a lefty reliever (Jonathan Bermudez) and a catcher (Patrick Mazeika) off waivers. They also signed a minors deal with a righty reliever (Ken Giles) who had been DFAd.