by
Greek Giant
Brandon Belt hit a two-out two-run double in the top of the 7th inning to propel the San Francisco Giants to a thrilling 4-2 victory over the hated Dodgers of Los Angeles and Hades. Belt’s dramatic shot was preceded by a Pablo Sandoval two-out, two-strike RBI single to tie the game at 2. Steven Duggar would follow the Panda’s hit with a sharp double to the right field gap putting runners on second and third for the Giant first baseman’s heroics. All three runs scored with two outs and the top of the 7th became the biggest inning for the Giants in this young season.
In the top of the sixth the Giants would answer two solo homers by the Dodgers with a solo shot by Brandon Belt on the first pitch of the inning. Mr. BB9 was the player of the game and basically put the Giants offense on his back on this Spring night.
The Giants played particularly well defensively, with spectacular plays by Evan Longoria of special note. Longo looks like a different player compared to last year’s sad sack of a season for the perennial All Star.
Now about the pitching: we, meaning Giants Nation and the TWG Faction, pretty much all agree that the bullpen will be the team’s strength and last night that prediction came true again. The relief corps pitched four scoreless innings with Will Smith picking up his second save. Drew Pomeranz pitched a superb, if sometimes inefficient ballgame, going five innings and allow the two aforementioned solo home runs. The tall left hander was especially lethal to right and left-handed hitters both with his big curveball. Trevor Gott picked up his first win as a Giant with a perfect sixth inning.
With one turn through the rotation the Giants starters have given up very few runs and no more than 2 for any start: 2, 2, 0, 0, 2.
The Dodgers came into this series having scored 7,544 runs in their four game set with the Diamondbacks to start the season. We all saw how the Giants hitting attack was struggling in San Diego. For the first five innings, the boys from San Francisco could do almost nothing against Julio Urias, who was dominant in that time span. It appears the Dodger weakness is its relief corps, particularly the middle innings bullpen workhorses as the Giants scored all four runs of Joe Kelly, last year’s World Series hero for the Red Sox.
In other news: Joe Panik hit a double and looked solid at the plate. He should not be batting eighth, ever.
The Giants turned two double plays. They have a very good infield baseball fans.
Brandon Crawford and Brandon Belt both hit their 200th doubles as Giants. What an interesting night indeed.
The Box
Tonight Madison Bumgarner (0-1, 2.57) faces Hyun Jin-Ryu (1-0, 1.50) at Dodger Stadium. Game time is 7:10 pm.