San Francisco Giants 3 Up, 3 Down: The First Series Win
3 DOWN
1 – Swing and a Miss
Strikeouts continue to be a pretty big issue for the Giants’ lineup. Despite winning Friday night’s game handily, the batting order recorded 10 strikeouts. Saturday was the team’s worst strikeout day since 1959, with them going down on strike 17 times. That’s the most by the team in a nine-inning game since 1959, when Sandy Koufax punched 18 tickets in a complete game victory on August 31st. The Giants added nine more punchouts in the series finale on Sunday, and have struck out 10 or more times in 11 of their 21 games so far.
Among the regular starters, Longoria, Belt, Brandon Crawford, Andrew McCutchen, Austin Jackson, and Hunter Pence (currently on the DL) are striking out more than their career norms. Off the bench, Gorkys Hernandez, Pablo Sandoval, and Kelby Tomlinson are also in that group.
In the past, the Giants have normally been one of the harder teams to strike out, but this year they are tied for eighth-most strikeouts. This is the way the league has gone, with strikeouts and home runs both way up and the Giants have been hitting more home runs so far this year, but a few more productive outs would certainly help the offense score some more runs.
2 – Cold Crawford
Despite the nice weather, Brandon Crawford’s bat was cold in Los Angeles. He was out of the lineup on Friday (both Brandons got the day off), but came back on Saturday and struck out three times in four hitless at-bats. He did collect his first hit of the series on Sunday, but that was his only hit of the set.
Coming off his worst offensive season in five years, Crawford hasn’t roared out of the gates this year. Through 19 games, the Giants’ shortstop is hitting .215/.268/.308 with just three extra-base hits in 71 plate appearances, and he’s striking out 31 percent of the time. His wRC+ is just 54, second-worst on the current team.
Crawford did finish the series with a great at-bat, though. Facing Jose Alvarez, a very tough lefty, Crawford was in a two-strike count but was able to get around on a 93-mph fastball in on the hands and dump it into right field for his lone hit of the series. Coming into the game, Alvarez had allowed just two hits in 24 at-bats against left-handed hitters, so maybe that can be a confidence-builder for Crawford.
3 – Gone Fishing
Not surprisingly, the Giants just couldn’t handle Mike Trout in this series. The two-time American League MVP had his way with Giants’ pitching, hitting a home run in all three games and collecting three others hits (two doubles).
The home runs in particular were incredibly impressive. On Friday, he turned around a Pierce Johnson fastball that was way in on the hands and took it out. On Saturday, he hit a Derek Holland curveball that was down below the zone for a massive home run. On Sunday, he took a Cory Gearrin two-seamer (which really wasn’t that bad of a pitch) and absolutely crushed it for his league-leading ninth home run.
Next: Stratton Throws Another Gem
Trout is one of, if not the best hitter in the game right now, and he sure looked like it in this series. Watching him crush pitches, whether they were way down or way in, was a pleasure. He’s a special talent and only 26 years old, so it will be a lot of fun to watch him over the next 12 to 15 years.