Surging Giants take over first place in NL West
Take a look around the league with Big League Stew’s daily wrap up. We’ll hit on all of the biggest moments from the day that you may have missed, while providing highlights, photos and interesting stats.
Let’s be honest, it wasn’t exactly fun or interesting picking the San Francisco Giants to make the postseason again this season. After winning three of the last five World Series, we’d rather turn our attention to up and coming teams and the trendy picks of the season. But if we’re being smart, there’s no reason to pick against those Giants until they give us good reason.
The loss of Pablo Sandoval seemed like a good reason. The loss Hunter Pence for six weeks to an injury seemed like a good reason too. But they weren’t. The Giants have easily overcome both and a six-game deficit in the NL West to take first place away from the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Giants reached the mountain top with a 4-2 victory against the Atlanta Braves. Earlier in the evening, the Dodgers fell 3-0 in St. Louis. Buster Posey led the charge for San Francisco with two hits, including a home run and double, while driving in three. Tim Hudson limited his former team to one run on five hits over seven innings to earn his
The victory is San Francisco’s fifth straight and 21st overall in May, which make them the hottest team in the league. The return of Pence has helped. Despite going 0-for-4 on Friday, he’s hitting .273 and has scored 11 runs and driven in 12 in his first 13 games off the DL. But mainly it has been a pitching that has recorded nine shutouts this months alone. Three of those came in a recent series against the Dodgers.
The Giants are not a flashy group. At least not in the same vein as the Golden State Warriors.
Hello, Stephen Curry.
But they’re a talented squad with seemingly unmatched resilience. And this year they seem resolved to retain their crown.
[Listen up! We’ve got Rays star Evan Longoria on this week’s StewPod]
ROYALS SOAR AS CUBS STUMBLE
In a battle between franchises that recently shed the lovable loser tag or are in the process of shedding said tag, the Kansas City Royals knocked off the Chicago Cubs 8-4 at Wrigley Field.
The Royals used their power swing early to build a 4-1 lead, connected for three home runs of Cubs starter Jake Arrieta. Alcides Escobar led off the game with his second of the season, while Salvador Perez and Alex Gordon each followed with their sixth. The Cubs battled back with a pair of their own home runs. Jorge Soler’s two-run shot in the sixth brought Chicago within one swing, then rookie Addison Russell delivered with a solo shot.
The tie was short lived. In the eighth, Kansas City struck for three, which was aided by Dexter Fowler’s error in center field. Fowler first dropped Omar Infante’s sinking liner and then stumbled over the ball, allowing two runs to score.
With the win, Kansas City snapped a season-high four-game losing streak. The Cubs have lost five of seven and are now 6 1/2 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals.
MATT HARVEY LOSES THIRD STRAIGHT DECISION
New York Mets ace Matt Harvey had another interesting outing on Friday. Any concerns about his reported dead arm issues were seemingly put to rest as Matt Harvey struck out 11 over eight innings. However, the struggling Miami Marlins were able to make him pay for his mistakes, racking up four runs between the fourth and fifth innings to help secure a 4-3 victory.
The biggest swing of the game belonged to Justin Bour, who’s three-run home run opened the scoring. Entering the inning, Harvey had retired nine straight, but Dee Gordon ended that string with a bunt single. Perhaps slightly rattled, Harvey also walked Martin Prado leading up to the home run, and his inability to control that inning proved costly.
Harvey is now winless in five outings dating back to May 1. That string includes three losses to the Phillies, Pirates and now the Marlins. He’s posted a 3.82 ERA over 33 innings in that stretch while striking out 37. Dead arm or not, he’s still been pretty good. Meanwhile, the Mets offense has only scored nine runs during those games.
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WALKOFF GIVES BUCK SHOWALTER 400th WIN WITH O’S
Before a sold out crowd of 45,505, the Baltimore Orioles pulled off a dramatic 2-1 win against the Tampa Bay Rays that propelled manager Buck Showalter to a milestone.
With two outs in the ninth inning, J.J. Hardy delivered a walkoff single scoring Everth Cabrera, which gave Showalter his 400th win as Baltimore’s skipper. Overall, Showalter now has 1,282 career wins against 1,185 defeats, but he never won more than 319 games with the Yankees, Diamondbacks or Rangers.
In the win, Davis stayed hot hitting his fourth home run in as many games. He’s up to 12 on the season, which doubles the next closest Oriole. Darren O’Day earned the win after working out of a bases loaded nobody out jam in the top half of the ninth.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
