by
Greek Giant
In the Giants 4-3 loss in eleven innings last night at Willie Mays Field we saw once again, the limitations of so many of the Giants hitters when faced with a particularly strong opponent, especially a dutiful relief corps like the Arizonans posses. The Giants lost last night because, once again, either they were bested by an opponent’s pitching crew or they cannot hit. It doesn’t matter what interpretation we choose. It was a tight game.
Wilmer Flores homered again and nearly had another homer. But other than that the Giants had four hits and drove in one run. DBacks starter Ryne Nelson was very good but the key to the game was the work of the Arizona bullpen made up, on this night, of Nelson, Castro, Ginkel and McGough. They pitched a total of 4 1/3 innings of shutout baseball after the Giants took an early 2-0 lead with lone runs in the third and fourth innings.
For their part, the Giants used a coterie of bullpen arms, as they do in more than 60% of their starts. On this night the law firm of Junis, Wood, Jackson, Rogers, Alexander and one more Rogers was solid enough but undone by a double from Ketel Marte in the top of the 11th inning.
This DBacks team has some giddyup to them, particularly in the outfield. They are young and they are a bit more well-balanced than our Giants team is, when it comes to the hitting attack.
Patrick Bailey had two hits, so there’s that.
This is cool:
Last night, Brandon Crawford drove in the 733rd RBI of his career to move into 5th place all-time in #SFGiants history đź‘Ź pic.twitter.com/hpBpbZafAD
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) August 1, 2023
Congrats BCraw.
The D-backs (57-50) pulled within one game of the Giants (58-49) having gone 5-3 in the season series matchups so far and 2-2 in San Francisco.
Oh, and I nearly forgot:
The Giants Acquire A.J. Pollock
The Giants announced last night that they  acquired outfielder AJ Pollock and utility player Mark Mathias from the Mariners in for a player to be named or cash. Pollock has struggled in his only season with the Mariners, hitting .173 with five homers and 15 RBI in 49 games and has been on the injured list with a strained left hamstring but is eligible to return Tuesday. This deal is just a flyer and nothing to get excited about. If Pollock hits a lick, great. He is a place holder until Haniger returns, if ever, this season. Nobody should get too excited about it and it cost the Giants nothing. I am, however, a little tired of these garbage dumpster deals for former Dodgers. At some point I am hoping Farhan Zaidi realizes the Dodgers are the Giants BIGGEST RIVALS and not their feeder team.
Tonight’s Game
Alex Cobb faces Zac Gallen at 6:45 PM tonight at Willie Mays Field in game 2 of the four-game series.