Wednesday, March 27

SF Giants march closer to .500 with trio of home runs vs. D-backs


The Giants overcame an off night from Carlos Rodón Friday against the Diamondbacks and blew an early lead but reclaimed it for good in the top of the ninth to pull out a win, 6-5, running their streak to five in a row and pulling them closer to .500 than they have been since the first week of this month.

JD Davis made Arizona pay for a defensive miscue, doubling home the go-ahead run with two outs, after third baseman Sergio Alcantara bungled the surefire third out on a ground ball as Mike Yastrzemski hustled into second base. Davis hooked a ball into the left-field corner, and Yastrzemski scurried home from second.

Camilo Doval closed out the game for his 25th save, tossing his fastest pitch of the season — 104 mph — in the process.

The Giants improved to 74-77, 4.5 games ahead of fourth-place Arizona, with 11 games left to play.

Here are some takeaways.

Home run hitting: The Giants got a trio of home runs from Brandon Crawford, Austin Wynns and David Villar — their 18th time launching three in a game this season but only the fourth time since the All-Star break.

When getting at least one home run, the Giants improved to 58-39 this season; without one, they are 16-38.

After leading the National League with 241 bombs last year, their three shots Friday increased their total this season to 168, still a sixth in the NL but well off last year’s pace.

After a dazzling display of defense in Colorado, Crawford got the Giants on the board with a solo shot in the second inning. Wynns made it 2-0 with a 394-footer to lead off the third. A two-run shot from Villar in the fourth reclaimed the lead for the first time, 4-2, after Stone Garrett tied the game with his own two-run shot off Rodón in the bottom of the third.

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Villar, who’s combined for 34 across all levels this year, is closing in on his own personal accolade. His next home run from him will tie him with Buster Posey in 2010 for the most by a Giants rookie in September. Since being recalled at the start of the month, Villar is batting .254 with six home runs, a team-leading .888 OPS this month.

K-race: Rodón didn’t factor into the decision but did reclaim the National League lead in strikeouts. He was clearly displeased with his outing when manager Gabe Kapler came to get him with one out in the fifth inning, after working through 93 pitches to that point.

Rodón struck out seven — raising his season total to 227, past Milwaukee’s Corbin Burnes (224), whose next start is Saturday — but appeared to be bothered by the same blister/cracked nail that pushed his start back from Tuesday.

He walked three, all with two outs, including one to Ketel Marte in the third that came back to bite him. The next batter, Garrett, sent a letter-high fastball into the left-field seats. Reliever Yunior Marte allowed both runners he inherited to score, leaving four earned runs charged to Rodón, increasing his ERA to 2.98.

Camilo’s heat: On the penultimate of Doval’s 15 pitches while recording the save in the ninth inning, the fireballer reared back and unleashed one like none before. 104mph.

The four-seamer sailed wide of the strike zone outside, but everyone’s attention turned to the reading on the scoreboard.

It wasn’t only the fastest pitch thrown by Doval this season — his previous high was 102.9 — but matched St. Louis gunslinger Ryan Helsley for the fastest pitch recorded in the majors this year. His 102.9 mph offering from him was already the highest number a Giants pitcher has clocked in the pitch-tracking era (since 2008).

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Since incorporating a sinker, which checks in a few ticks lower than the four-seamer, just before the All-Star break, Doval has a 1.40 ERA and turned in scoreless outings in 22 of 25 of his appearances.

Newfaces: In the same stadium where his career went sideways, Shelby Miller got his latest fresh start, making an impressive first impression with the Giants, striking out seven over 2⅔ scoreless innings of relief.

Miller became the 64th player used by the Giants this season, tying a franchise record also set under Farhan Zaidi. In fact, the three full seasons played since Zaidi became the top baseball boss account for the three seasons with the most players used in franchise history.

For Miller, who converted to a bullpen arm full-time this season, the outing represented a milestone in his attempt to revitalize an once-promising career. Before Tommy John surgery in 2017, Miller had started 116 games with a 3.66 ERA, been traded twice and named an All-Star at 24 years old. Since, he has thrown 72⅔ big-league innings (with a 9.17 ERA) between Arizona, Texas, Chicago (NL) and Pittsburgh and hadn’t appeared in a game this season.

Arizona traded its first-round pick, shortstop Dansby Swanson, to Atlanta for Miller. But in three health-riddled seasons in Arizona, Miller went 5-18 with a 6.35 ERA.

The Giants signed him to a minor-league contract in June after he was released by the Yankees.

He’s narrowed his arsenal to a mid-90s fastball and a slider, which has found some more bite this season with a tweak to his grip. In 53⅓ Triple-A innings this year — his most in a season since 2016 — Miller posted a 2.87 ERA (including a 3.62 mark since joining Sacramento in the notoriously hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League) and saved 12 games, the first of his career .

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