San Francisco Giants 3 Up, 3 Down: Last Meeting with LA
The San Francisco Giants met the Los Angeles Dodgers for the final time in 2017, and lost two of three games. Here’s 3 Up, 3 Down from the series.
3 UP
1 – What a Relief
The Giants’ bullpen turned in three straight strong efforts against the Dodgers, and the tone was set by Josh Osich on Friday. Osich entered in a sticky situation after Jeff Samardzija couldn’t get through the fifth, but struck out a pair to escape the jam. He was back out for the fifth and added two more punchouts, totaling four strikeouts to match his career-high, which he had reached twice previously.
Reyes Moronta and Derek Law each threw scoreless innings on Friday, then Hunter Strickland and Sam Dyson combined for four outs to preserve a win for Madison Bumgarner. On Sunday, Ty Blach went three innings in his first appearance in nearly two weeks before Kyle Crick and Steven Okert combined for a clean inning.
Overall, Giants relievers went nine innings in the three-game series and didn’t allow a single run Only four hitters reached base, three via single and one via walk.
2 – Strong Up Top
Gorkys Hernandez is playing through a wrist injury that has kept him off the field for a lot of the month, but he put in a strong effort against the Dodgers. He singled and scored to lead off the game on Friday while also adding a walk. He doubled and came home to score to start Saturday’s game, and later singled, stole second base, and scored on another single.
In three games, Hernandez picked up five hits, including three doubles, and scored three times. He also added a pair of walks as he attempts to make some noise heading into 2018.
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There was a mental mistake, as Hernandez tried to take third on a grounder to short after he doubled to start the inning. Maybe the inning turns out differently if he doesn’t have that lapse, but he played well enough all weekend to show that he can be a solid big leaguer.
3 – Mac Attack
Sometimes, it’s better to be lucky than good. Mac Williamson got pretty lucky twice on Sunday as he got a start against Clayton Kershaw. In his first at-bat, he placed a ball just up the first-base line that was far enough away from the catcher to allow him to reach on a single. In his second chance, he lined a shot up the middle that just shot by Chase Utley‘s glove.
There wasn’t any luck involved with his third hit of the day. When Kershaw threw Williamson a first-pitch fastball, the hitter jumped on it and crushed it to center field. It was his third home run of the season, and ruined Kershaw’s shot at a shutout.
Though his chances have been mostly limited, Williamson has played pretty well since coming back up for September. He’s hitting .333/.355/.600 in 31 plate appearances (he leads the team in slugging percentage this month), and has started to play better defense. He nearly threw out a runner at home on Sunday, and gunned one down at third base later in the game.