Some Hard Contact Going On

May 26, 2022 | 2022 Season, Latest Post

by
Greek Giant

Here Come the Bay Bombers Again!

Joc Pederson hit a two-run home run off left-hander Thomas Sczapucki in the bottom of the first inning to make the game 5-0 in favor of the hometown Giants. The home run, a long one, a no-doubter on a high and inside fastball (no, He has not cold zones right now), was his fourth in six at bats. In those six at bats he drove in ten runs including a game-tyer in the bottom of the ninth inning in yesterday’s epic win. We’re talking absolutely Bonds-like production folks.

I love this reaction from Gabe Kapler:


Not withstanding Jon Miller’s claim that the wind is giving the Giants “a little bit of a push” during the sunny afternoon game, the boys smoked some baseballs.

Evan Longoria went deep twice and finally broke out of his slump. He went 2-4 on the day with four ribeyes. His first dinger came in the bottom of the first and followed a Flores double and a Yaz walk off Mets starting pitcher Szapucki. With Pederson’s homer the Giants jumped out to a 5-0 lead to take command of the game.

Here is the first Longoria home run, a moonshot to center field that carried well past the 391 marker. It came off an outside corner fastball a bit up and which by no means was a bad pitch. It was an awesome, powerful piece of hitting by the Giant third baseman.

Here is Longoria’s second blast, another looooong bomb down the left field line. It came in the bottom of the second and put an exclamation point on Longoria’s breakout day.

Just before Longoria’s second bomb Yaz did this:


The Giants would end up with four in the bottom of the second and make the game 9-zip after two innings. Not a bad way to start a game and take the decisive game of the series against a very strong team in the National League.

The Giants were indeed aided by the Mets bullpen situation. New York Manager Buck Showalter needed innings from Met starter Thomas Szapucki which means he was not able to call for relief as early in the game as he probably needed. Showalter did not get those innings for his starting pitcher. It was Szapucki’s second big league start and after the what the Giants did to him he may never recover emotionally.

Junis for the Win

Jakob Junis pitched six innings allowing two runs on three hits, four strikeouts and one walk. His fastball was strong and he was more or less dominant. He had a very good fastball and was able to keep the Mets in check, particularly in the first when he had a three-up, three-down inning to start the game and get the Giants up in a hurry. It was, in my mind, a key to the game, particularly since it was the rubber game of the series, as I mentioned earlier.

A Word About Jeff McNeil

In the bottom of the third inning with one out and nobody out a Giant lefty hit a soft sinking flyball in foul territory down the left field line. The Met left field sprinted, dove, made a sensational catch and proceeded to crash into the wall with his entire body. It was sensation. It was brave. It was some kind of effort in a game already out of reach. Hat’s off to the Met left field. He is a gamer.

The Box

With the win the Giants are now 5.5 games behind the Dodgers, who lost.

The Giants are off on Thursday.