BASEBALL: Giants notch first win under Gabe Kapler; A’s take a loss a day after Olson’s historic slam.
LOS ANEDLDS >> More than eight months after the Giants hired Gabe Kapler to succeed Bruce Bochy, the team’s new manager finally has a win under his belt.
Strong performances from a pair of rookie pitchers, Logan Webb and Caleb Baragar, and early rallies from the Giants offense helped the team secure a 5-4 win over the Dodgers after suffering through back-to-back blowout losses to open the season.
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“Everyone was just excited, there’s music blaring just like normal, but with distancing as well,” Webb said. “It’s just fun as well. We wall want to win so bad, that’s all we’re trying to do when we go out there. You have guys like Hunter and Pablo, and just seeing their excitement, it makes you excited. That was the vibe at the end of that game for sure.”
Baragar, who made his major league debut in Saturday’s victory, fired 16 fastballs in 19 pitches over two perfect innings of relief to pick up the win. The fearless left-hander showed no hesitation attacking the heart of the Dodgers’ order with his four-seamer and induced a 6-3 double-play lineout from Mookie Betts while also getting soft flyouts from Los
Angeles sluggers Cody Bellinger and Max Muncy.
“With Caleb, in particular, to go through that part of the lineup in a high-pressure situation and go back out and repeat the performance, he had some real good zip to his fastball. He filled up the zone and the moment was not too big for him,” Kapler said.
Trevor Gott, who entered the season with one career save in 131 appearances, allowed a leadoff home run to catcher Will Smith to open the ninth, but retired Muncy, Betts and Bellinger in order to pick up his second career save.
The Dodgers cut a 5-1 deficit to 5-3 in the eighth inning after a potential inning-ending grounder slipped right through the legs of third baseman Donovan Solano, allowing Corey Seager to drive in a pair of runs with a line-drive single to right field. After allowing the first two hitters he faced to reach base, Tyler Rogers induced a groundout from one of the Giants’ greatest nemeses, Kiké Hernández, to preserve a two-run lead.
After facing righthanded Dodgers starters Dustin May and Ross Stripling in the first two games of the season, Kapler unveiled a new look with his lineup on Saturday against Dodgers left-hander Alex Wood. Leadoff hitter Austin Slater and cleanup hitter Darin Ruf each made their season debuts and both contributed to the club’s best offensive performance of the weekend.
The top of the Giants’ order enjoyed a much better day against Wood than either May or Stripling as Ruf drove in the first run of the game in his first at-bat with the team. The slugger, who spent the last three seasons with the Samsung Lions in the Korean Baseball Organization, lined a single into right-center field to bring in Slater, who opened the game with a walk — one of three he drew Saturday — in the top of the first.
Two other right-handed hitters helped the Giants build an early four-run cushion. Second baseman Wilmer Flores launched a solo home run into the leftfield bleachers off Wood in the third and Solano ripped a two-run double into the left-center-field gap in the fourth.
Solano made his first start of the year because Wood was on the mound, but his double came against Dodgers right-hander Dennis
Santana.
Los Angeles had opportunities to keep the game tight against Webb, but the righthander showed off an improved slider and benefitted from uncharacteristic mistakes from his opponents. The Dodgers ran into three outs on the basepaths while Webb was on the mound, but all of those plays also required impressive defensive efforts from the Giants.
The first came in the third inning when Flores overran a soft line drive in shallow right field from Corey Seager before launching himself back toward the middle of the diamond to make a diving catch. Flores easily doubled off Justin Turner from second base, getting Webb out of a jam.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Giants secured the first out of the inning after right fielder Jaylin Davis overthrew third base, compelling Dodgers designated hitter Chris Taylor to break for third. A heads-up play from Webb put him in position to slap a tag on Taylor after Solano corralled the loose throw.
“I didn’t know why (Taylor) was coming because the ball went 3 feet away from him, but I yelled out (Solano’s) name and he threw it to me and he was out,” Webb said.
Webb’s outing ended moments later on a shallow flyout to center field that required Mike Yastrzemski to sprint toward the infield. After making the catch on the run, Yastrzemski fired to first base to double off Dodgers left fielder Joc Pederson.
“I thought it started with a high-quality outing by Webby,” Kapler said.
“His changeup was awesome. Executed it below the zone, it had some nice downward movement and he did a nice job pounding the strike zone.”
The fact Webb started Saturday’s game in the first place was a surprise to many, including Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who considered Kapler’s decision to announce each of his last two starters in the hours leading up to first pitch as “gamesmanship.”
The tactic didn’t work in the first two games of the series as the Giants were outscored 17-2, but young pitchers helped the team snap a six-game losing streak to Los Angeles in which they’d been outscored 40-4 dating back to last season.
Kapler has yet to commit to a pitcher for tonight’s game, but veteran Jeff Samardzija seems like the logical choice given he’s the only veteran Giants starter who hasn’t appeared in the series.