Panik, Blach help upstage Kershaw, L.A. in opener
LOS ANGELES » Joe Panik stared in disbelief. Clayton Kershaw laughed it off. It was one of those moments that didn’t seemreal. Until it was.
With a high, arching flyball that hooked just inside the foul poul, Panik pushed the Giants ahead in the fifth inning of a 1- 0 Opening Day win over the five-time defending National League West champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
“I guess I stayed inside the ball well enough to where it straightened out at the end, so hey, I’ll take it,” Panik said.
Panik’s home run was hardly the most surreal aspect of Thursday’s season- opener.
After Giants’ ace Madison Bumgarner fractured his pinky last Friday, left-hander Ty Blach was thrust into the role of Opening Day starter and expected to take the reins in front of 53,595 rival fans.
His opponent? Two-time Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw.
It’s the type of opportunity players grow up dreaming about. On Thursday afternoon, Blach did more than just dream. He delivered.
“That’s what this game is about, it’s about competing,” Blach said. “I love the opportunity to go up against one of the best in the league and just a great opportunity and loved every moment of it.”
A season after posting a 4.78 ERA, the third worst mark among qualifying pitchers in the National League, Blach tossed five scoreless innings to outduel the best regular season pitcher of the last decade.
Dominance against the Dodgers is nothing new for Blach, who now owns a 1.96 ERA in 41.1 career innings against the Giants’ rivals.
In his second Major League start, Blach threw eight innings of three-hit ball to eventually help the Giants capture a 2016 wildcard berth. When asked why he maintained confidence in Blach to handle the Opening Day stage in Los Angeles, Giants manager Bruce Bochy cited the left-hander’s performance in that pressure- packed outing as one of the primary factors.
“That game was October 1st trying to get into the playoffs,” Blach said. “It definitely was one of those games where you take that momentum to kind of fuel you. I definitely knew I was going to have some adrenaline today on Opening Day so I was able to harness that today.”
Once again, ice water rushed through Blach’s veins.
His five-inning, threehit outing was all the more impressive considering he wasn’t even slated to begin the season in the Giants’ rotation. After the Giants’ win, Bochy revealed he planned to have Blach start the year in the bullpen as a long reliever.
“It couldn’t have worked out better for his first start because again, he was not the guy going out there every fifth day at the end” Bochy said.
After Kershaw threw 21 1/3 scoreless innings in Cactus League play and 4 2/3clean frames on Thursday, Panik stepped to the plate and lofted a long flyball that appeared destined to land to the right of the foul pole.
Instead, it curled just inside of it. For the first time in 2018, Kershaw had an ERA.
“When (Panik) hit it, I thought he hooked it,” Bochy said. “It was going to hook foul but it was a little strange the way it straightened out there. But it stayed fair, which is a good thing.”
Armed with a 1- 0 lead, Bochy pulled Blach after an 81-pitch outing that went as well as the Giants could have hoped for.
The stress on the Giants’ pitching staff didn’t end there, though. After losing closer Mark Melancon to the disabled list Thursday with a right elbow flexor strain, Bochy needed to pull all the right strings in a bullpen that’s spurred hair loss over the last two seasons.
The first reliever, Josh Osich, began a redemption tour this spring by ditching his breaking pitches in hopes of finding more consistency with his hard stuff and changeup. In the sixth, the left-hander allowed a free pass, but notched a pair of strikeouts to post a zero.
The second arm, Cory Gearrin, allowed a pair of singles, but Gearrin froze leadoff hitter Chris Taylor with a slider to end the inning.
The third reliever, Tony Watson, entered after crossing sides in the rivalry. Following fiveWorld Series appearanceswith Los Angeles last season, Watson painted the corners of home plate orange and struck out the side in the eighth.
At last, it was time for Bochy to turn the ball to his closer. Enter Hunter Strickland.
With five career saves on his ledger entering Thursday, Strickland’s scoreless spring convinced Bochy to tab him for the role Melancon’s injury prevented the $62 million man from fulfilling.
There’s never a dull moment for Strickland, who allowed a leadoff single to Matt Kemp to spark a Dodgers’ fire.
“Honestly it’s just a job to do,” Strickland said.
After the single, Strickland grabbed a hose and did his job.
He struck out Grandal, induced a Logan Forsythe popout and retired pinch hitter Joc Pederson. He put out the flames, and put the Giants in the win column.