Seven In The Eighth: Big inning leads Padres past the Giants, 7-4

By Morris Phillips

The Giants most excruciating losses in 2022 have come to the Padres. That pattern continued on Monday night.

Jake Cronenworth’s two-run double and Wil Myers’ three-run homer highlighted San Diego’s seven-run, eighth inning that broke up a scoreless ballgame and pushed the Padres past the Giants, 7-4.

The Giants (80-80) fell back to .500 with the loss, and still need one more win to avoid a losing season. The Padres have already punched their post-season ticket but will likely need one more win to clinch the fifth-seed and a trip to either New York or Atlanta to a start a best-of-three, opening round series starting Friday.

The Giants got the best imaginable in their battle with Padres’ starter Joe Musgrove, who threw six, scoreless innings but left with the game scoreless and no opportunity to get an 11th win on the season in his final start. Musgrove allowed two hits and two walks, with the hits coming in the fifth when David Villar and Lamonte Wade Jr. both singled. In four, previous starts against the Giants this season Musgrove allowed four runs in 27 2/3 innings pitched.

“It seemed really easy there for a while. Had really good command of his breaking ball. Good change-up today. Good fastball when he needed it,” manager Bob Melvin said of Musgrove.

The Giants matched Musgrove by getting a scoreless inning from opener John Brebbia followed by five, impressive innings from Sean Hjelle. Shelby Miller pitched a 1-2-3 seventh but fell into trouble in the eighth.

Trent Grisham and Brandon Dixon doubled to start the inning and put the Padres up 1-0. With one out, the Giants opted to put Juan Soto on base with an intentional walk, but Miller went 3-0 on Chris Drury before walking him as well and loading the bases. Jarlin Garcia was summoned by manager Gabe Kapler but he gave up Cronenworth’s double and Myers’ home run.

The Giants rallied in the ninth first with Brandon Crawford’s bases loaded single, then two batters later, Joey Bart’s two-run single. Bart’s hit was just the second time he’s delivered an RBI hit since August 10. Bart’s hit chased Tim Hill, but Josh Hader came on to strike out Austin Slater and induce J.D. Davis to fly out to end the game with the tying run on base.

The Giants will turn to Carlos Rodon on Tuesday in his final start of the season. The Padres have not as of yet named a starting pitcher.

EVAN LONGORIA: The Giants veteran third baseman was placed on the injured list on Monday with a fractured thumb. That ends his season, and begins the speculation as to whether he’ll return to the Giants in 2023.

The Giants hold a team option for Longoria at $13 million. His buyout number is $5 million, and that is the most likely option. But Longoria said his family is open to him continuing his career, and he would consider renegotiating a deal at lower price than $13 million.

“I’m a Giant until I’m not a Giant anymore. I don’t have any desire to go anywhere else. I’m very comfortable here,” Longoria said.

San Francisco Giants podcast with Daniel Dullum: Giants couldn’t convert 107 win 2021 season to a playoff team this year

Daniel Dullum takes a look San Francisco Giant catcher Joey Bart and other Giants as to their progress and their season. Here Bart slugs a two run home run at Wrigley Field in Chicago in the top of the second inning against the Chicago Cubs on Sat Sep 10, 2022 (AP News photo)

On SF Giants podcast with Daniel Dullum:

#1 Daniel, just to review a bit as the season winds down the Giants Joey Bart hit .217, 31 runs, 53 hits, and 11 home runs and 23 RBIs. He did get sent down during the season to fix his hitting and also got a concussion when he was hit by a foul tip. How did you see his performance this season?

#2 How much did Brandon Belt’s absence impact the Giants. Belt had knee surgery that forced him out for the rest of season. How much was he missed from the line up?

#3 Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford is really impressed by the job that Thairo Estrada did at second base.

#4 Crawford himself had a nice season on defense making barehanded plays on choppers, making a diving back hand play and throwing off his right knee to get the force play to mention a few of his fine defensive highlights.

#5 Daniel, taking a look at tonight’s starting pitchers for the Rockies righthander Ryan Feltner (3-8, 5.91) and starting for the Giants Carlos Rodon (13-8, 2.98) a 6:45pm PDT first pitch.

Join Daniel for the Giants podcasts each Thursday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

San Francisco Giants podcast with Michael Duca: Longoria to miss six weeks from finger surgery; Can Bart step up to fill Posey’s shoes?

San Francisco Giant third baseman Evan Longoria will be on the injured list for six weeks had surgery on his right index finger on Tue Mar 29, 2022. Longoria is seen here at Oracle Park on Fri Apr 8, 2022 (file photo NBC Bay Area)

On the Giants podcast with Michael:

#1 Michael, San Francisco Giant third baseman Evan Longoria had surgery on Tuesday for his right index finger. Longoria was hit while at bat last August and needed surgery. Talk about the impact of not having Longoria in the line up for the club?

#2 Longoria has been taking batting practice against Giant pitchers at Scottsdale’s backfield on Tuesday had to have surgery and will be out for six weeks.

#3 Longoria didn’t have the surgery right after he was hit on the hand after Met’s pitcher Edwin Diaz hit him in August. Longoria said that he and the doctors thought that the hand would heal by March and that Longoria could avoid surgery but that didn’t happen hence the Tuesday surgery this week.

#4 On LeMonte Wade Jr is suffering from bone bruising and inflammation in his left knee after a MRI on Tuesday Wade said that he was feeling a little better. Wade hurt his knee when running the bases on Monday.

#5 Michael, Giants catcher Joey Bart is looked at the as the next man up to replace retired catcher Buster Posey. Giant pitcher Carlos Rondon says that Bart has a good head on his shoulders and has a good mindset. Can Bart get there?

Join Michael for the Giants podcasts each Thursday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Bart’s debut a breeze, as the Giants cruise again, 10-5 over the Angels

By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO–Joey Bart’s anticipated major league debut came with a pointed piece of advice from teammate Brandon Belt.

“Don’t mess it up.”

And Bart didn’t, contributing his first, major league hit–a double into the left field corner–after the Giants built a comfy 9-4 lead in the sixth.

The message to the No. 2 overall pick in the 2018 Draft could have been worded a little less blunt, without changing the content: “Kid, we’ve got a good thing going. Just follow our lead.”

Even for someone talented enough to do damage immediately, taking the pressure off was a good deal. Bart got a first hand look at a hot lineup bashing and circling the bases–then jumped in after the major damage was done in the Giants’ 10-5 win over the Angels. Bart’s double was the Giants last of 12 hits on the evening, the third night in row of Giants on Angels violence that saw the home team score 31 runs in taking three of four.

Bart had been touted as the missing bat, but the Giants aren’t actually missing one right now. They scored five runs or better for the 15th time in 27 games, and their run scoring average at Oracle Park is nearing seven runs per game.

Directing the pitching staff as an everyday presence in the lineup was the expectation for Bart as soon as franchise legend Buster Posey opted out of 2020, but until now GM Farhan Zaidi maintained the Georgia Tech product wasn’t ready. Before Thursday’s game, Zaidi and manager Gabe Kapler summarized Bart’s role.

“It’s serendipitous timing that the offense has been scoring some runs. We’ve won a couple of games,” Zaidi said. “It’s certainly nice to call them up when there’s some positive momentum. I do think with any young player, you don’t want a guy to feel like he’s coming up and has to like carry the offensive load.”

The pitching staff, which has allowed the third most home runs in baseball, and just ended a franchise-record 21-game streak of allowing at least one home run, needs help. Kapler would be satisfied if Bart provides that help.

“We may have to just monitor his workload early on based on how much work he got in Sacramento,” Kapler said. “Catching nine innings is a stressor, catching nine innings in a major league season is more of a stressor than it is in a secondary camp. We need to be cognizant of all those things. However, the goal is to build him to be our everyday starting catcher.”

Tyler Heineman was optioned to the Sacramento camp to clear space, and Chadwick Tromp is expected to continue in his role of catching Johnny Cueto when the veteran pitcher’s turn in the rotation comes up.

Bart had no complaints about the timing of his callup, saying “my time is going to come, and when it is here, I’m going to make the most of it.”

Bart did that in the sixth, keeping his hands back and exploding through the baseball, on a slower than slow 78 mph slider from Julio Teheran. The exit speed for the liner was nearly 110 mph, the hardest hit baseball by any Giant this year that didn’t result in a home run.

Wilmer Flores had three hits for the Giants, homering for the second consecutive game. Austin Slater scored twice and had two hits to raise his average to .347. And Brandon Crawford homered in the fourth to make it 9-1 Giants. The home run was the 100th of the shortstop’s career.

The Giants have won three straight for the first time in 2020. They welcome the Diamondbacks to Oracle Park on Friday for the first of a three-game series. Robbie Ray will face the Giants’ Logan Webb in a 6:45pm start.

San Francisco Giants podcast with Michael Duca: Can Cueto stay healthy for 2020; Will Bart be the starting catcher this season?

sfchronicle.com photo: San Francisco Giants pitcher Johnny Cueto (72) talks with infield coach Kai Correa (50) during a spring training game Wednesday at Scottsdale AZ

On the Giants podcast with Michael:

#1 Talk about Johnny Cueto is he back healthy again he says he ready to come back, can he stay the test of time for a whole baseball season?

#2 Cueto pitched for 2 2/3 innings on Wednesday then gave up four runs but Cueto said he was happy to get 49 pitches in.

#3 The Giants catcher Joey Bart ranked number seven on ESPN’s 100 prospect list and Giants TV analyst Mike Krukow said Bart should not be brought up to the show just to sit on the bench.

#4 The Giants pitcher Tyler Beede had an MRI on Tuesday and it revealed that he had a flexor sprain and UCL sprain and he could be considered for Tommy John surgery.

#5 What’s up with Yapson Gomez’s delivery in relief for the Giants he has that hesitation delivery and moves the suspended leg and then delivers.

On the Giants podcast with Michael on http://www.sportsradioservice.com

San Francisco Giants podcast with Michael Duca: Joey Bart is all the rage, just how soon will he come up to the show?

sfgate.com photo: San Francisco Giants catcher Joey Bart has already established himself for his hitting but needs to polish up on some defensive catching. He could very well get called up during the Giants regular season.

On the San Francisco Giants podcast with Michael Duca:

#1 All the talk has been about young Giants prospect catcher Joey Bart. How soon do you think it will be until he will be in the show on a regular basis?

#2 Once promoted, will he be catcher Buster Posey’s regular back up? There’s so much expected of him, can he live up to the hype?

#3 Bart can swing the bats he had an OBP of .369 and hit .296 in spring training.

#4 Giants announcer Mike Krukow said that Bart has some bad habits. This spring, he has allowed six passed balls and committed six errors, but with some coaching, he can break those habits and with his bat and be a big piece of the Giants future.

#5 Once the National League adopts the Universal Designated Hitter rule, could Bart be a starting as catcher and Posey moving to the DH slot?

Michael Duca covers San Francisco Giants baseball for http://www.sportsradioservice.com