Grand slam tops Giants’ eventful 10 road games
include him on the lineup card.
In a string of decisions that didn’t go well, Kapler took some heat for the timing in which he pulled his starters.
There also was Luis Gonzalez, who became just the third Giant to win a Rookie of the Month award but exited that night’s game with an injury. And Walton making his pitching debut with some 33.7mph cheese.
The Giants finished the trip 5-5, and while .500 normally is acceptable on the road, more was expected considering all three opponents own losing records.
“It’s been a grind,” Kapler said when asked to assess the journey through Cincinnati, Philadelphia and Miami. “These trips are hard, a 162game schedule is hard. We always like to think there are softer parts of the schedule, more challenging parts of the schedule. Truth of the matter is, it’s all challenging. There are no stretches that are like, ‘Oh, this is the smooth stretch.’
“Sometimes you make plans, and your plans get blown up, and that creates more challenges. Some things happen off the field that you just can’t predict. You have to really, really enjoy this for 162 games, plus a long spring training and playoffs. You have to really love the rockiness that happens and embrace it and also embrace kind of the suck of it. We love the grind. I personally love the grind.”
Grand slam man:
Walton hit his grand slam in the fourth inning off lefty Braxton Garrett, who threw him nothing but sliders in the second inning, a five-pitch strikeout. Next at-bat, the first pitch was a slider, and Walton hit it 421 feet.
Walton had the rare opportunity for another grand slam the next inning when the Giants loaded the bases with two outs, but he grounded out against Tommy Nance, a righty who also threw mostly breaking balls.
“Walking out there, you’re like, ‘Here we go again,’ ” Walton said. “But you don’t try to do anything different, you try to stick with the same approach and game plan.”
No Giant has hit two slams in the same game. They once were victimized by an opponent who did so: the Braves’ Tony Cloninger on July 3, 1966, at Candlestick Park, off Bob Priddy and Ray Sadecki.
Did we mention Cloninger also pitched nine innings that day? Madison Bumgarner could only dream of such a feat.
Walton isn’t much for singles. He has nine hits as a Giant, including seven doubles and the slam. One of those doubles came Saturday with — you guessed it — the bases loaded. It drove in three runs in a game the Giants went on to lose 5-4.
“That’s my first grand slam ever, so it was pretty cool to do it as a Giant,” Walton said. “Youth league, I never had a grand slam.”
The Giants’ other run came on Austin Slater’s eighth-inning single. Jakob Junis struck out eight batters in six innings, his only blemish being Garrett Cooper’s homer, and Dominic Leone, Tyler Rogers and Camilo Doval finished up.
Not quite whole: The Giants’ lineup was far from complete on the trip. Brandon Belt and LaMonte Wade Jr. remained in the Bay Area, and Darin Ruf missed the last six games after his father died.
“We believe in all the players that have helped us win games and have been good for us over the last week to 10 days,” Kapler said. “It’s nice to know in the near future, we have many of our regulars coming back.”
Slater missed the first eight games of the trip before pinchhitting Saturday and starting Sunday, and Gonzalez returned to Sunday’s lineup though not at 100% after getting drilled on the shin Friday. Steven Duggar has started his rehab assignment.
On the pitching front, McGee returned early in the trip. Starter Anthony DeSclafani remains shelved but is throwing bullpen sessions, and Alex Cobb missed his last scheduled start with lower back and hamstring issues.
Kapler said Cobb felt good throwing from 75 to 80 feet and could make his next scheduled start Thursday against the Rockies, though the righthander also is dealing with neck stiffness.
Kapler gave a promising outlook on Matt Boyd, who’s throwing bullpen sessions in the wake of his flexor tendon surgery and is “not that far away.”
“We’ve got some reinforcements coming,” Kapler said.