San Francisco – The Giants made the series entertaining for a second time in this series. San Francisco rallied back for the 3-2 victory Sunday afternoon over the Padres. This is the second come-from-behind win in the latter innings of the series.
“It was similar to Opening Day here,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said. “If we can do the little things and create this kind of identity and win games, I think we’ll be tougher for it.”
The Giants showed that toughness in the eighth inning. Down 2-1 San Francisco rallied against San Diego reliever Jhony Brito starting with a one-out, pinch-hit single by Wilmer Flores (who was replaced by pinch-runner Tyler Fitzgerald), then a soft single over second by Jorge Soler to put runners on, sending Fitzgerald to third.
Then, what can only be described as a miracle, happened. Michael Conforto, who was held in check on Sunday, hit a grounder to Jake Cronenworth at first. Cronenworth made the out at first, however, shortstop Ha-Seong Kim dropped the throw from Cronenworth at second, allowing Fitzgerald to score from third to tie the game.
“Sometimes you need a little luck too,” said Melvin.
Matt Chapman, who scored the winning run Friday afternoon, then hit the go-ahead single through the infield gap in right to score Soler for the go-ahead run.
“Everybody in this lineup has experience,” Chapman said about the slow start and comeback ability of the lineup early on. “Guys have been taking good at-bats. I don’t think we’re giving up, that’s the way we are hitting balls hard, we just haven’t gotten some of those balls to fall but I think if we continue to stay the course and stay positive and the guys have the right mindset.”
Camilo Doval earned his first save of the season after striking out pinch-hitter Luis Camusano to end the game.
For the third straight game, the Padres lineup got going early off Giants starting pitching, this time off of ace right-hander Logan Webb.
Cronenworth hit a deep ball to the centerfield wall to score Fernando Tatis Jr. with one out after Tatis Jr. singled in the previous at-bat. San Francisco’s center fielder Jung Hoo Lee almost had another highlight-worthy catch in deep center but lost the ball out of his glove after colliding into the wall trying to make the catch.
Webb settled down afterward, retiring 10 of the next 13 batters from the second through the fifth frames. He ran into more trouble, in the sixth inning, allowing three straight singles with one out including Kim’s RBI single to score Cronenworth to extend the Padres lead to 2-0.
“I just started to feel comfortable,” said Webb. “It was important to get going.”
Webb finished the day going seven innings and grabbing the no-decision allowing two runs on 10 hits with three strikeouts.
The Giants lineup struggled for the second day, to really get anything going at the plate. San Diego’s starter Matt Waldron kept the Giants in check, holding them to just three hits through 5 ⅓ innings on the mound.
“I was expecting to probably see more knuckleballs,” Melvin said of Waldron’s outing. “He surprised us with some of the hard stuff and then a lot of the 2-0 sweeper.”
Even with yet another slow start by the lineup on Sunday, Melvin remains confident that the team will start to get into rhythm offensively soon, based on each player’s track record.
“They’ll come around,” he explained. “If you’re looking at it, there’s length to our lineup too, all the way down. It’s going to come on.”
San Francisco pulled a run back against the Padres reliever Stephen Kolek after Matt Chapman grounded into a fielder’s choice to second. He scored in Lee from third after Lee reached first on an error by Kim to lead off the inning. However, with runners on the corners, Thairo Estrada struck out swinging to end the rally and the inning.
Today’s win gives the Giants their first series win of the season as they took two of three from the Padres.
All eyes now turn to Monday night’s weekday series opener against the Washington Nationals as Blake Snell is set to take the mound for the first time in a Giants uniform. While many are excited to see the reigning National League Cy Young winner to take the mound, none are more excited than Chapman.
“I’m excited that I don’t have to face him,” he said. “This will be the first time I’ve seen him pitch and not have to face him, so I’m super excited.”
Photo by SFGiants/Twitter
Bob Melvin looking forward to Snell’s debut on Monday night
The San Francisco Giants fan base, and manager Bob Melvin (who spoke to media pregame today before the Padres game) are looking forward to Blake Snell’s debut on the mound for Monday night’s series opener against the Washington Nationals on Apr. 8, 6:45 p.m.
“I’m glad it’s at home so our fanbase gets to see him too,” said Melvin said. “It was an unorthodox spring for him, trying to get him up; he hasn’t really pitched in a game, so some unknown is going out there as well.”
Snell, 31, signed a one-year, $32 million deal with an option for 2025 during the middle of Spring Training with the Giants. He has yet to pitch for the team this year despite potentially having the opportunity to during the team’s two season-opening road series at San Diego and at the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“He just didn’t feel ready,” Melvin explained on Snell’s delayed start to the season despite throwing in a few simulated games. “He wanted to throw to some major league hitters, but still hasn’t pitched in a real game yet, so we’ll see (how Snell performs Monday night).”
Melvin said that there’s no pitch count set just yet for Snell for his first start of the season on Monday, or if there will be.
“I haven’t been asked yet,”. “It’s more about how he feels. He’s gotten up five times, he’s still 70 pitches, maybe that’s a good number. There’s going to be a lot more intensity going on out there. You can’t really simulate what you’re going to have to do in a big-league game.”
Snell won the National League Cy Young award last year, his second career Cy Young award, after going 14-9 with a 2.25 ERA and a career-high 234 strikeouts. His 2.25 ERA was his lowest since he posted a 1.89 ERA with the Tampa Bay Rays back in 2018, the first time he took home the Cy Young Award.
He went on one of the hottest pitching runs in baseball last year, allowing just five total runs through a span of two months from May 31 through July 30. In September he found his rhythm on the mound again as he allowed just two runs total through his last five starts of the season in September.
“He was amazing,” Melvin said. “Brilliant, amazing run he went on for what felt like months.”
