Home sweet home, but it’s a road victory
S.F. bangs out 15 hits with homers by Belt, Longoria and Crawford
The Giants were the road team in their own ballpark Wednesday night, and because it’s 2020, it all seemed perfectly normal.
If fan cutouts and pumpedin sound are going to be part of the Oracle Park experience, the Giants might as well play a couple of games at Second and
King in which they’re the “visitors.”
Call it business as usual for the Giants. That certainly was the case for their offense in a 93 rout of the Mariners, who officially were the home team because the air in the Northwest was too smoky for baseball, forcing the twogame series in Seattle to be moved
south.
The Giants were wellrested after playing in just one of the previous five days in the wake of a positive coronavirus test that proved a false positive, forcing the Giants to quarantine two days until their Sunday doubleheader in San Diego.
The offense took that day off, too, which has become standard operating procedure in doubleheaders, given how the Giants have totaled one run in their two twinbills.
On Wednesday, it was like old times. Not only were the skies refreshingly clear and the fog a welcoming sight, but the Giants banged out 15 hits, scored in each of the first four innings and showed why they’re far more proficient at the plate than in recent seasons.
Alex Dickerson had singles in his first three atbats, Brandon Crawford doubled in his first two trips and later homered, and Brandon Belt and Evan Longoria homered in the third inning.
Longoria’s cleared the wall in left, and Belt’s and Crawford’s sailed into the new bullpens beyond the extended centerfield wall, Belt’s traveling 423 feet and Crawford’s 407.
It was 80 before the Mariners finally scored in the bottom of the fourth — yes, the
bottom of the fourth. Drew Smyly gave up Luis Torrens’ RBI double and handed the bullpen an 81 lead with two outs and two aboard.
It was just the third start of the season (first since Aug. 1) for Smyly, who missed several weeks with a finger injury and returned in relief last Thursday. In his two outings since coming off the injured list, the lefty struck out 16 batters in 72⁄3 innings.
Caleb Baragar replaced Smyly and needed to retire one batter to avoid further damage, but he walked all three men he faced, two with the bases loaded, a rare wild display for the lefty who had issued just two walks before Wednesday.
That made it 83, and Trevor Cahill got out of the inning and pitched into the sixth. Sam Selman and Sam Coonrod followed, and Coonrod immediately threw an errant 99 mph fastball and beaned his first batter, Dylan Moore, a scary moment for all concerned.
Luckily, Moore got up, was checked and took first base but eventually left the game, a wise move.
Despite the lack of sharpness by some of their pitchers, perhaps a result of the long layoff, the Giants walked off the field with a sense of accomplishment after winning the first of 13 games over their final 12day stretch that will determine whether they’re a playoff team.
Thanks to the Seattle series relocating to San Francisco, the Giants don’t leave the Bay Area for the remainder of the regular season. Their only road games are this weekend in Oakland.
Unless we count Thursday’s matinee at Oracle Park, which technically will be a Giants road game. Tyler Anderson will start for the Giants. From there, Smyly and Anderson will have two more starts and are in line to pitch the final weekend against the Padres.