Houston Astros pitcher Ronel Blanco works the first inning against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Tue Jun 11, 2024 (AP News photo)
Houston (31-37). 001 020 000. 3. 7. 0
San Francisco (33-34). 001 000 000 1. 3. 1
Time: 2:16
Attendance: 32,853
Tuesday, June 11, 2024
By Lewis Rubman
SAN FRANCISCO–Fresh off their exhilarating ten inning rabbit out of the hat triumph over the visiting Houston Astros on Monday night, the Giants were three hit by four Houston pitchers on Tuesday, foiling the home team’s attempt to return to the .500 mark and generally dampening the spirits at 24 Willie Mays Plaza.
Matt Chapman was back in the Giants’ lineup after missing two games because of a hamstring injury.. He made a nifty grab and throw to get José Altuve out on the very first play of the game but later on made a crucial throwing error. At the plate, he went 0-4 ending his 25 game on base streak.
Jordan Hicks, who went seven innings and yielded only one earned run and was the winning pitcher in San Francisco’s home opener back in April, brought a 4-2, 2.82 record to this game. He uses the sinker a little more than half the time and also throws the split finger fastball, sweeper, and the four seamer.
This is a bit paradoxical because opposing hitters had a .292 batting average against his sinker before today, while .182 was the best they could muster against any of his other deliveries. On this warm Tuesday evening, the 27 year old righty started out strong but couldn’t get through the fifth inning.
He lasted 4-2/3, in which he allowed three runs, all earned but one, at least that could have been avoided with a better defense, on five hits and a walk while striking out five. He lost his third game against four wins and saw his ERA rise to 3.01. He had exhibited flu like symptoms before the game, and they might have been a factor in his performance.
Ronel Blanco, who signed with the Astros as an undrafted free agent in April 2016 and worked his way through their system, mainly as a reliever, to become a 4-A player in 2022. After earning a steady spot on their roster, he seems to have established himself as a member of the big team’s rotation.
Blanco certainly acquitted himself well this evening, holding the Giants to a single run, earned, in six full innings of work, the 21st century equivalent of a complete game. He allowed three hits, one for all the bases, and a walk while striking out eight. His pitch count reached 96, 57 for balls. The win left him with a balance sheet of 6-2, 2.67.
Houston jumped to an early lead in their half of the third on Mauricio Dubón’s leadoff automatic double that escaped The Curse when he advanced to third on Victor Caratini’s ground out to short and scored on Altuve’s ditto to second. San Francisco got that run back in their half of the frame. Brett Wisely did it with his second round tripper of the season, a 385 foot solo shot t0 right that came off a 93 mph four seam fastball.
The top of the fifth was Hicks’ undoing. It wasn’t entirely his fault. Trey Cabbage led off with a single to right and advanced 180 feet on Dubón’s two bagger off the centerfield wall. Cabbage scored on Alex Bregman’s infield hit to third, on which Chapman made a nice play.
A nice play but marred by an errant throw that allowed Dubón to scamper home with Houston’s third run of the game. That ended Hicks’ work before the sun had set on McCovey Cove. Taylor Rogers entered the game and stayed on until Sean Hjelle replaced him to open the seventh with Houston still ahead, 3-1.
Hjelle stayed on for two innings, retiring all six batters he faced. Luke Jackson allowed a single in the top of the ninth but faced only three batters thanks to an inning ending 5-6-3 double play, something we hadn’t seen since the exaggerated shift was outlawed.
Tayler Scott took over for Blanco in the Giants’ half of the fatidic fifth, held the Giants to a walk, and gave way to Bryan Abreu in the eighth, who set the orange and black down in order in spite of hard line drives off the bats of Wisely and Ramos.
San Francisco sent the heart of the order—Bailey, Chapman, and Conforto—against Ryan Pressly, who was attempting to achieve his second save in seven opportunities. He earned it with a line out followed by two Ks.
The rubber game of this series will start Wednesday at 12:45. The ace of the Giants’ staff, Logan Webb (5-5, 2.92) will try to ensnare the Astros, who will counter with Framber Valdez (5-3, 3.53).
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