DeSclafani, aided by Ol’ Blue Eyes, caps weekend sweep of Colorado
Anthony DeSclafani joined the Giants this winter with an eye toward bouncing back and reigniting his career, a la teammate Kevin Gausman.
DeSclafani might just be igniting the Giants, instead.
The righthander has made two strong starts so far, and Sunday’s was particularly inspiring. He worked six innings in San Francisco’s 40 victory over Colorado at Oracle Park and did a phenomenal job getting out of trouble in the sixth, with two key strikeouts to strand Rockies at second and third.
“Particularly in the sixth, it looked like he was reaching back to empty the tank,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “Just encouraging from start to finish.”
DeSclafani’s effort helped finish off a sweep of the Rockies and also made it nine games in a row the Giants have had a starter go at least five innings and allow no more than three runs, the team’s best stretch to start a season since 2002 (12 such games). A similar effort
Monday night from Aaron Sanchez against the Reds would tie the secondbest mark in franchise history, accomplished at the start of the 1937 season. The team’s 2.70 ERA is the second best in baseball.
DeSclafani, who declared it “Sinatra Sunday” in the bullpen and listened to Ol’ Blue Eyes as he was warming up (“I like that vibe before a game,” he said), allowed six hits and a walk. He struck out eight, five with his knuckle curve, including Dom Nuñez with a runner at third in the fourth and Josh Fuentes in the tightrope situation in the sixth. Sam Hilliard struck out swinging at a sinker to end the sixth.
In his two starts, DeSclafani has worked 11 innings and allowed only one run and struck out 12.
Catcher Curt Casali also comes into praise for DeSclafani’s day, particularly after an agile block on an 02 bouncer from DeSclafani with a man at third in the sixth.
Brandon Belt got into the Old Giants theme of the week. He had a terrific plate appearance in the first inning, drawing a walk after falling behind 02. “That was the key atbat in the game, going from 02,” Kapler said, noting that Germán Márquez wound up throwing 36 pitches in the inning. “That atbat set the tone for the rest of the day.”
Belt added a headsup steal while not being held on and with no one covering second, to set up the Giants’ second run, scoring on a base hit by Evan Longoria. Belt said that firstbase coach Antoan Richardson “kept telling me to get off the base, and eventually, I looked up and I felt like I was halfway there, so I just went ahead and took off . ... Probably not something I’m going do all the time, but it worked out today.”
In the sixth, Belt cracked his first homer of the season onto the walkway beyond the wall in right.
Alex Dickerson got the Giants started with a homer to center on a 32 fastball from Márquez in the first.
The Giants excelled at the little details, with the Casali block, the Belt steal and two perfectly placed sacrifice bunts by DeSclafani among them — one toward first to move a runner to second, another toward third to move a runner to third. And then there was shortstop Brandon Crawford somehow keeping his foot on the bag on a high throw from pitcher José Álvarez in the seventh.
The Giants have won four in a row and all three home games, though the offense is batting .204 and averaging 3.4 runs per game. The pitching staff, however, gave up only four runs in three games against Colorado, and the team has made only two errors in nine games.
“We know from back in the day when we were winning championships that pitching and defense win a lot of baseball games,” Belt said. “We’ve seen that early on here. They’ve really picked up our offense.”