San Francisco Giants 3 Up, 3 Down: Series Loss in Atlanta
Another series, another series loss for the San Francisco Giants. They dropped three of four to the Atlanta Braves, so here are three ups and three downs from the series.
3 UP
1 – The Long-Awaited Debut
It took a lot longer than it was expected to, and some thought the day might never come, but on Thursday, Kyle Crick made his long-awaited major league debut. After reinventing himself as a permanent reliever in Spring Training and Sacramento, Crick impressed by throwing 2.1 innings out of the bullpen in his first outing.
He immediately came out firing strikes, and fell into a familiar pattern for Giants’ pitchers by allowing a single on an 0-2 that was far too hittable, but it didn’t take long for him to settle in. He would retire the next seven batters in a row, using a hard, heavy fastball and tight slider with downward bite to force a whole lot of weak contact. He didn’t strike anyone out, but with his pedigree, they will come soon.
Most importantly for a pitcher that had so many problems with his control, to the point that it almost derailed his career completely, Crick didn’t walk anyone. He only went to three balls in a count once in his eight batters faced.
Though he won’t be a front of the rotation starter like once thought, he certainly has potential to be a backend of the bullpen guy in the near future.
2 – Slater Makes it Count
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Austin Slater has been handed the majority of the playing time in left field, and he’s making it count. He only picked up three hits over 14 at-bats in Atlanta, but they came in big spots. On Tuesday, he hit an eighth-inning, three-run home run that turned out to be the game-winner. On Thursday, he scored after sneaking a single to right field, and would later drive a run-scoring double off the wall.
In his young career, Slater owns a .323/.382/.484 slash-line and has driven in 12 runs in only 17 games. He’s making the most of his opportunity, and is starting to look more and more like a big part of the Giants’ future.
3 – The Longballs
San Francisco found their power stroke in Atlanta’s new ballpark. They hit six home runs in the final three games of the series, starting with the aforementioned Slater blast on Tuesday. Brandon Belt gave the team an insurance run on Tuesday with his 12th home run, and tried to help the comeback effort with his 13th on Thursday. Joe Panik also left the yard on Thursday, one of his 12 hits on the eight-game road trip. Buster Posey reached double-digits with a wall-scraper down the right field line on Thursday for his 10th homer of the season.