Giants' wins, runs and injuries mount as sweep of Dodgers completed
LOS ANGELES — Top young talent reaching the upper levels of the minor leagues has provided the San Francisco Giants with some outstanding and much needed depth this season all over the diamond.
This past week, the outfield was the latest unit to gain a standout prospect, with Luis Matos continuing to impress in Sunday’s 7-3 win over the Dodgers that wrapped up San Francisco’s first sweep in Los Angeles since Aug. 20-22, 2012.
On a 3-2 count in the sixth inning, Matos ripped a splitter from Tony Gonsolin down the left-field line for a two-run double, and he scored on a base hit by another rookie, Blake Sabol. Matos’ seven runs match Willie McCovey’s Giants record for most in a player’s first four games.
San Francisco went 15-for-43 with runners in scoring position and put up 29 runs in the sweep, the team’s most ever in a three-game series at Dodger Stadium. The Giants’ seventh straight win — they opened their trip with three wins over the Cardinals in St. Louis — hurdled them past the Dodgers into second place in the NL West. This is just the fifth time in franchise history the team has gone undefeated on a road trip of six or more games.
“It was awesome,” San Francisco starter Logan Webb said. “It was a collective bunch of group wins on the road trip in general. We did a really good job, played a lot of good baseball and the boys were swinging it throughout.
“I think we’re more excited about the road trip itself than the three games here.”
The Giants lost another of their superkids in the seventh, when third baseman Casey Schmitt took a fastball off his right elbow. As he was being examined on the field, Dodgers fans began booing, apparently thinking the proceedings were taking too long, which seemed, to put it as politely as possible, inhospitable. “I’m not too happy about that, to be honest,” Webb said. “But whatever.”
Schmitt stayed in to run, but David Villar took over in the field in the bottom of the field. Manager Gabe Kapler said that X-rays were negative but did not provide any other information about Schmitt’s status.
Left-handed reliever Scott Alexander, a former Dodgers pitcher who has been sensational for the Giants, left the game in the ninth after covering first base (and the Dodgers fans booed again). He has been dealing with some hamstring discomfort and Kapler said that was again the case.
Camilo Doval took over and walked in a run before getting the final two outs. Earlier in the day, starter Alex Cobb went on the IL with an oblique strain. It’s possible the team will have to make another move or two before Monday’s game against the Padres.
Tuesday, the Giants lost their top free-agent acquisition, outfielder Mitch Haniger, when he was struck on the right forearm by a pitch that broke his ulna, requiring surgery.
Giants 7, Dodgers 3 San Francisco Los Angeles ab r h bi ab r h bi Totals 34 7 8 7 Totals 35 3 9 3 Wade Jr. 1b 4 1 1 2 Betts ss 5 0 0 0 Pederson dh 2 1 0 0 Freeman 1b 5 1 1 0 Davis ph-dh 2 0 0 0 Smith c 3 0 2 1 Estrada 2b 4 0 0 0 Peralta lf 4 1 2 1 Conforto lf 4 1 0 1 Martinez dh 4 0 1 0 Yastrzemski rf 4 1 2 1 Outman cf 4 0 2 1 Matos cf 4 1 1 2 Vargas 2b 3 0 0 0 Sabol c 4 1 2 1 Heyward rf 3 0 0 0 Crawford ss 3 1 1 0 DeLuca ph 1 0 1 0 Schmitt 3b 3 0 1 0 Busch 3b 3 0 0 0 Villar 3b 0 0 0 0 Rojas ph 0 1 0 0 San Francisco 000 214 000 — 7 Los Angeles 000 110 001 — 3 E_Schmitt (4), Wade Jr. (5). DP_San Francisco 1, Los Angeles 0. LOB_San Francisco 6, Los Angeles 11. 2B_Crawford (8), Yastrzemski (12), Matos (1), Freeman (25), DeLuca (1). SB_Estrada (17). SF_Conforto (3). S_Vargas (1). IP H R ER BB SO San Francisco Webb W,6-6 7 8 2 2 2 5 Jackson 1 0 0 0 0 2 Alexander 1-3 1 1 0 1 0 Doval S,19-21 2-3 0 0 0 0 1 Los Angeles Gonsolin L,4-2 5 2-3 6 7 7 3 7 González 1 1-3 1 0 0 0 3 Almonte 1 1 0 0 0 0 Phillips 1 0 0 0 0 1 HBP_Gonsolin (Pederson), Webb (Smith), Almonte (Schmitt), Doval (Smith). Umpires_Home, David Rackley; First, Edwin Moscoso; Second, Nate Tomlinson; Third, Chris Segal. T_2:33. A_52,307 (56,000). See More Collapse
The Giants’ outfield already was much improved this season, but with Matos getting called up after Haniger’s misfortune the team might be even better defensively. Matos is a plus defender in center field, which means Mike Yastrzemski can move to right, where he is stellar, and Michael Conforto moves to left. That gives the Giants strong arms on both corners. One veteran scout called the current outfield alignment “sneaky good.”
“I think it’s one of the better ones,” Matos said. “Everyone out there plays good defense, and we always help each other, we always communicate.”
Kapler likes the alignment a lot, but he’s going to take a little bit of a long-view approach.
“We have a lot more to see with Matos before we get a final evaluation on him and where he fits best in our outfield,” Kapler said. “Right now, it’s probably ideal to give him a chance to play center field regularly. And I thought the configuration looked good Saturday, it worked well. Yaz is in his best position when he’s in right. Conforto is comfortable in left, Matos is clearly comfortable in center so far.”
Matos made a nice jumping catch in front of the wall to take an extra-base hit away from Jason Heyward on Saturday. “I felt great after that catch,” Matos said.
The key to that catch was a great jump, and Kapler said, “I think his body moves well in any direction; he’s got a pretty good first step and I think his routes are generally good.
“There’s a lot of time to kind of evaluate what sort of center fielder he’s going to be at the major-league level but I think he has a potential to be great.”
Matos’ ability to draw walks is what’s surprising the big-league team so far. He has improved his selectivity this season, with 24 walks to 20 strikeouts in the minors, and he’s the first player in big-league history with five walks and five runs in his first three games.
“The zone discipline has been an awesome surprise,” Conforto said. “It’s kind of a big thing that he is able to control the zone, that puts a little extra pressure on the pitchers. Typically, when you come up, they’re going to test you away and then if you cover away, they’re going to come in.
“This kind of just cuts through all that — Luis is looking for his pitch and he’s put some really good swings on the ball. He looks really, really calm. The moment isn’t too big for him, especially in a big series like this. And he’s playing the same way in the outfield.”
Haniger will miss at least 10 weeks after surgery to repair a displaced fracture of his right ulna after getting hit by a pitch Tuesday at St. Louis.
“It’s a bad one,” Conforto said. “I went back and looked at the replay and you could see his arm vibrating; it’s one of those injuries that make you sick to your stomach. And Mitch has worked so hard, every part of his day is geared towards getting ready to play. He’s just had bad luck throughout his career with a lot of things that are out of his control, and that sucks.”
Webb might not have been at his best Sunday, but he held firm despite a lot of traffic after allowing eight hits — only two with runners in scoring position — and two walks in seven innings. He had five strikeouts, the biggest of which came in the first with the bases loaded and two outs, when he got James Outman looking.
Webb said he didn’t care too much for his changeup, at least in the early going, but he liked his slider and his sinker was working pretty well. He induced 12 grounders, including a double-play ball by J.D. Martinez with two on and one out in the fifth, and Thairo Estrada helped with a nice play in the fourth, when, with two on and one out, Heyward hit a bouncer to the right side. Estrada, playing in a few steps, grabbed it and fired home to get Martinez at the plate, and Michael Busch grounded out to end the inning.
The play of the game came from Mookie Betts, who is usually an outfielder but has been at shortstop and second base at points this season. Sunday, at shortstop, he went up the middle for a sharp grounder by Conforto, picked it up, spun and fired to third to get Estrada.
The Giants were in negative run-differential territory last month, but they’re now at a division-best +48 after winning 22 of the past 31 games.
“I just think you’re starting to see a cohesive unit, one where one batter passes the torch to the next batter, believes in the guy behind him,” Kapler said. “From a pitching perspective, we’re really beginning to trust our bullpen arms in the biggest moments — not just one or two guys but the entire bullpen, which I can’t say it was true all the way through this season is definitely true now.”
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
