Giants, as visitors at Oracle Park, blast Mariners
SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco Giants wore their home cream color uniforms even though they were considered the road team. Seattle Mariners highlights were played on the big screen at Oracle Park just minutes before the start of the game.
When the Mariners made plays, fake crowd cheers were piped in. Walk-up music accompanied their batters as they strode to the plate.
There were a handful of peculiarities about Wednesday’s game at China Basin, no doubt. But here’s the bottom line: the Giants earned a badly needed win over a team they had to beat to keep pace in the National League’s wild card race.
Brandon Belt and Evan Longoria both homered in the third inning and Drew Smyly had another solid outing as the Giants walloped the
Mariners 9-3 to snap a three-game losing skid.
Alex Dickerson went 3-for-5 and Brandon Crawford hit two doubles and homered as the Giants, in just their third game in six days, remained in a wild card spot, tied with Philadelphia for the No. 7 seed.
After scoring two runs over 23 innings in three games vs. the San Diego Padres last week, the Giants had 12 hits against the Mariners in just the first four innings.
The Giants, who finished with 15 hits, improved to 3-0 against the Mariners this season with the two teams set to wrap up their season series Thursday afternoon. This season, the Giants now have a combined record of 13-7 against Seattle, Colorado, Arizona, Texas and the Los Angeles Angels — teams that began Wednesday out of a playoff spot.
The Giants, at 24-24, now have the same record
as the Phillies, who lost to the New York Mets 5-4 on Wednesday. The St. Louis Cardinals are now 22-23 and in third place in the National League Central.
Smyly shined in just his second start since he returned from a left index finder strain Sept. 10.
Smyly struck out eight over 3 2/3 innings, using his curveball as his out pitch seven times. In his Sept. 10 appearance against San Diego, Smyly also had eight strikeouts and allowed one earned run in four innings of relief in what was a 6-1 loss.
Caleb Baragar walked three in relief of Smyly as the three runs the Mariners scored in the fourth inning were all charged to Smyly.
The Mariners had the bases loaded with two outs in the fourth as Trevor Cahill took over for Baragar. Cahill then froze Dylan Moore with a curveball on a 3-2 pitch to end the threat.
Cahill threw two scoreless innings and struck out four Wednesday, a nice bounce back from his start Sept. 10 in San Diego when he allowed four earned runs in three innings.
Sam Coonrod was involved in a scary incident after he entered in the bottom of the seventh, accidentally hitting Dylan Moore in the head with a 99 mph fastball. Moore had no time to react to the pitch as he went down immediately after he was struck.
Moore, though, got up after a few moments and remained in the game for the rest of the inning. He was replaced by Dee Strange-Gordon at second base to start the eighth inning.
The Mariners put runners on first and second in the seventh, but Coonrod got Ty France to line out before he struck out Luis Torrens.
With air conditions considered unhealthy in the Seattle area, the two-game series between the Giants and Mariners that was scheduled to begin Tuesday at T-Mobile Park was moved to Oracle Park. The clubs both traded a mutual day off Thursday for a travel day Tuesday. Thursday’s game will start at 1:10 p.m.