by
Greek Giant
Desclafani Cannot Escape the First Inning
After Anthony Desclafani’s first inning from hell in last night’s 5-1 loss to the Nationals, nobody in their right mind would have thought that the Giants hurler would outlast Washington Nationals starter Jake Irvin but that’s what happened. On this night, however, Jake Irvin was the better pitcher and the Washington Nationals were the better team, much better, to be sure. Desclafani would go on to pitch seven innings allowing those five runs in the first. He would recover to pitch beautifully thereafter but, unfortunately for the Giants, it was not enough. Jake Irvin was fantastic in his six and one third innings of shutout ball. The Nationals defense turned three rally-killing double plays and it was pretty much all Washington until Joc Pederson’s consolation homer in the bottom of the ninth on a 95 MPH belt-high outside corner fastball to the opposite field.
That nightmarish first inning went like this:
Single
Single
Single (on a ball that should have been a double but the Nationals ran into an out)
Single and RBI
Fly Out
Single and RBI
Double and RBI
Single and RBI
That’s seven hits for those of you keeping score at home! That’s as many hits as Desclafani has given up in any start this year!
Those last three knocks all came with two outs. The Nationals went opposite field on three of those hits. One hit was a blooper. None left the ballpark. It was just a weird, bad inning for Desclafani. It happens. The story of the game is that inning and Desclafani’s persererance thereafter that saved the bullpen and earned, I am sure, a ton of respect for his efforts by his teammates and Manager. It earned my respect.
Going into the game, this Nationals team with a record of 14-20 had the fewest strikeouts in baseball and one of the best infields in the game. Their dynamic shortstop, C. J. Abrams made spectacular play after spectacular play. He looked like a combination of Ozzie Smith and Alex Rodriguez with his athleticism and machine gun arm.
As for Jake Irvin, well that was his second career start! OMG! SMH!
The Giants dropped to 15-19 and lost for the second straight game. It was just not their night. We’re not going to cry about it. There’s no crying in baseball, anyway.
Haniger’s Catch
The only real highlight for the Giants, apart from Pederson’s dinger, was Mitch Haniger’s spectacular catch down the left field line. The left fielder flew in mid air and with full extension, caught a fly ball of the bat of Jeimer Candelario in the top of the seventh inning.
Tonight’s Game
The second game of the three-game series against the Nationals takes place tonight at 6:45 PM at Willie Mays Field. The pitching matchup should be super good. It will feature Patrick Corbin against Logan Webb.
Johnny Black’s Weekend Wrap
Johnny Black is under the weather and was not able to write his weekend wrap. He assures me he should be good to go next week. So it will be a short stay on the iL.