After a historic tear, it looked like the Giants would end June not with a bang, but with a whimper and a three-game losing streak.
Rookie receiver Patrick Bailey had other ideas.
As the Giants trailed by two runs in the eighth inning, Bailey smashed a three-run homer that led to an eventual 5-4 victory over the Mets at Citi Field.
Alex Cobb (ND, 5 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 3 K) returned from the injured list and pitched well despite traffic on several occasions, but the Giants offense couldn’t generate much until the eighth return innings.
Here are three takeaways from the Giants’ series-opening win over the Mets.
When there is smoke there is fire
Thick smoke covered the sky above Citi Field as New York continues to deal with the effects of Canadian wildfires in the north. The scene was lousy, as was the Giants’ ability to generate offense for seven innings.
San Francisco has scored one point apiece in two losses to the Blue Jays on Wednesday and Thursday and seven points combined in the past four games. The Giants offense struggled for most of the game before (surprise, surprise) a late-game rally propelled them to victory.
With the Giants trailing 1-0, Brandon Crawford tied the game in the top of the second with an RBI single. Wilmer Flores hit a solo home run against his old team in the top of the fifth, but that would be it for the Giants offense until the top of the eighth.
Leading 4-2 with one out in the inning, Joc Pederson hit a field error and JD Davis walked, putting two runners for Bailey, who gave the Giants a 5-4 lead with a heroic batting.
Bailey’s heroism wouldn’t end there. Leading by one run in the bottom of the ninth, Bailey kicked out Starling Marte who was trying to steal second base, which would have put the tying run in goal position for the Mets with one out. The game wasn’t even close, which is hugely impressive against a runner like Marte.
It will be on the flagship shows
Just a day after Pederson had the time of his life in left field against the Blue Jays, the Giants outfielders continued to put on a show in Game 1 of the series against the Mets.
Luis Matos had an impressive diving catch to deny Jeff McNeil a hit late in the third before Blake Sabol made a slippery catch to deny Pete Alonso a hit a batter later.
Fast forward two innings and Matos drove a line to deep center field off Francisco Lindor’s bat to make an impressive play on the warning run.
Resurgence of rotation
Traditional baseball fans rejoice. The Giants’ starting rotation is healthy, which means bullpen games should be rare at the moment. We could think.
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Cobb returned from the injured list on Friday and pitched well despite just five innings. With the emergence of Keaton Winn, who impressed in his first MLB start on Thursday, as well as the recent returns of Ross Stripling and Alex Wood, all five (or six) San Francisco starters — whatever that combination — have now lots of options. to advance.
There’s no denying the Giants’ impressive record in “pen games,” but when the relievers start three games in one rotation, something is wrong.
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