Go with the Flo

SF 2  CLE 1

It was a day for VSC. Veteran Savvy Clutchness snapped the Giants skid and spared them from a sweep. The Guardians were pesky in all three games and had the look of a contender. The Giants looked like pretenders by comparison. They were 1-for-7 today with RISP, and the one was a big one, but that is still lame. Not just 1-for-7 (.143), but only seven chances in all. They had five hits and four walks, and Christian Koss reached on an error.

Logan Webb gets the first VSC star. He pitched a great game in LA last Friday which the Giants won. Then they lost the next two plus the first two back at home. So Webb knew he had to play stopper and he delivered the goods with seven strong innings. The Cleveland lineup rapped out seven hits (three by Steven Kwan), but a couple were dinkers. Two were doubles, both by Angel Martinez, and he scored the one run. But Webb whiffed nine and didn’t issue a freebie so that was it for them. He left with the team trailing 1-0 and it looked like another Caining.

The second VSC star goes to The Maestro of Clutch, Mr. VSC himself, Wilmer Flores. After Casey Schmitt opened the bottom of 7th with a single, Jung Hoo Lee walked. Patrick Bailey bunted them over. Wilmer pinch-hit for Koss and he stroked a double down the line that scored both runners. That’s 53 RBI for Flo, 10th-best in MLB. FNG Rafael Devers is 5th-best with 59 (Pete Alonso is #1 with 63).

Speaking of our FNG, Raffy had 13 PA in the series and was 3-for-11 (.272) with a double and an RBI. He added two walks and four strikeouts. Let’s hope our $250 Million Dollar Man goes nuts against his former team this weekend.

A little over 40,000 fans were at the ballpark this afternoon and after the Giants took a 2-1 lead they saw a couple of dominant relievers (Randy Rodriguez and Camilo Doval) close the door and wrap up the win. Boy, did they need that one! This hitting and scoring drought is really hard to take. Webb actually has two wins in his last two starts (14 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 3 W, 13 K) and is now 7-5. There are 13 MLB pitchers with seven wins, five with eight (Robbie Ray among them), and two with nine (Carlos Rodon and Max Fried of the Yankees). Webb leads everyone with 12 Quality Starts, is second with 101-1/3 IP, and his 2.58 ERA is the third-lowest. Today was his 16th start and his 159th overall in his 7th season, fifth in a full-time  starter role. He turns 29 in November and is signed through the 2028 season. I hope we all appreciate what a beast this guy is!

Hayden Birdsong goes tomorrow night against the Red Sox at 7:15 Pacific.

Go Giants!

–M.C.