San Francisco Giants Finish Busy Sunday with Win over Cardinals

From a big trades to call-ups to injuries, Sunday was a busy day for the San Francisco Giants and they ended it with a win over the Cardinals.

Sunday was an extremely busy day for the San Francisco Giants. The day opened with a trade, one they used to clear up some salary space. They traded away right-hander Cory Gearrin, who had been with the big league club since 2015, and outfielder Austin Jackson, whom they signed to a two-year contract this past offseason. Both players had been disappointing to start the year, but the Giants were able to ship them out.

They weren’t able to just offload those two players, though. The Giants had to throw a prospect in, and right-handed pitcher Jason Bahr is an exciting one. Bahr was the Giants’ fifth-round pick last year out of Central Florida, and had recently earned a promotion up to High-A San Jose. In 16 starts between Augusta and San Jose, Bahr had a 2.55 ERA and 1.028 WHIP, and led the Giants’ organization with 103 strikeouts.

But most importantly, that trade opened up two spots on the 40-man roster and the 25-man roster, and the Giants used those two spots for exciting, younger players. The player that has been called the center fielder of the future, Steven Duggar, was brought up from AAA, while right-handed reliever Ray Black, the oft-injured hurler with a disgustingly hard fastball, was recalled as well.

Both made their big league debuts on Sunday. Duggar started the day by going 0-3 with a couple strikeouts, but started a five-run rally with a leadoff double in the sixth for his first hit, then showed off his speed with an infield hit in the eighth. Black’s debut wasn’t quite so successful, as he walked two before giving up a long, long home run, but the fastball velocity is enough to get excited about.

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During the middle of the game, a pair of Giants were named All-Stars. Shortstop Brandon Crawford was deservedly voted a starter by the fans, while catcher Buster Posey was named the backup backstop by a player vote. For Crawford, this is his second All-Star selection and first start, while Posey is headed to the Midsummer Classic for the sixth time, and the fourth straight year.

First baseman Brandon Belt still has a chance as well. He’s one of the five players in the final vote, along with the Dodgers’ Max Muncy, the Brewers’ Jesus Aguilar, the Cardinals’ Matt Carpenter, and the Nationals’ Trae Turner.

With all the extracurricular activities going on, the Giants won on Sunday. It was an important win, as their offense broke out of their six-game lull to score 13 times and secured a split with the Cardinals. That kept them over .500 and within reach of the NL West.

As far as weirdness goes, this game was right near the top on the weirdness scale. Between the bottom of the sixth inning and top of the seventh, three players were visibly hurt at first base. Giants’ left fielder Gorkys Hernandez was pulled for a pinch-runner with a tight left calf. The Cardinals’ Harrison Bader came up a bit lame at first after a single, but stayed in the game. The next batter, Tommy Pham, fouled a ball off his foot, appeared to further injure it running down the line on a close foul ball, and was eventually lifted after striking out.

Pablo Sandoval had a huge day, but was hurt during the game as well. While making a diving play in the fourth inning, he jammed his thumb and could miss a day or two. He didn’t miss Sunday, and had one of his biggest games of the year. He launched a go-ahead, three-run home run in the fifth inning, turning a one-run deficit into a two-run lead, then added a pair of insurance runs on a two-run single in the sixth. That’s not half bad for a guy who wasn’t swinging at 100 percent.

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It was a successful day for the Giants. They shed some of the dead weight on their roster, and filled the spots with a couple deserving players while a couple other deserving players were named All-Stars. They’re hanging around in the postseason races, and have some younger reinforcements to help along the way.

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