Thomas Harding đ€
Red Sox Nation StatsAt the plate: #Royals Starling Marte is in his 15th big league season, first with #Royals. 2-time All-Star made his #MLB debut with #Pirates in 2012 and played there 8 seasons followed by stops at #Diamondbacks, #Marlins, #Athletics, #Mets, and now KCR.
Steve's PlaceIn addition to any pitcher who craves getting their hands on the ball in the 9th inning, the Giants could use any hitter who relishes late-game heroic opportunities, especially at the extremes of their batting order.
Diamondbacks 6, Giants 3, final. A quiet loss, after the 5th inning.
The announcers seem quite proud of Bryce Eldridge's 113.4 MPH double, pointing out that it is the hardest hit by a Giant this year.
A quiet top of the 6th. 6-3 Diamondbacks, coming to bat.
Due to a series of unfortunate incidents, the 3-3 tie between the Giants and Diamondbacks is now a 6-3 Diamondbacks advantage. It's the top of the 6th inning, with the Giants batting. We now return you to less important business, like Der Fuhrer.
San Francisco's Drew Gilbert singled to RF, scoring Matt Chapman, and moving Daniel Susac to 2nd base, tying the score at 3. Heading to the bottom of the 4th.
Ketel Marte just slugged a 2-run HR to CF. It's the 2nd time in as many days that he has hit a multi-RBI HR to snatch the lead from the visitors. Yesterday, it was a walk-off HR. It's now a 3-2 DBacks lead with 1 out and nobody on base in the bottom of the 3rd.
The Diamondbacks tried to pick Arraez off of 1st base on an 88 MPH outside change-up with a batter in the LH batter's box. An interesting choice to do it then, and with that pitch. It's a longer snap throw than it is with a right-handed batter, and a FB might catch the runner napping. Didn't work.
The Giants did not score in the top of the 3rd. It's still 2-1 in their favor.
A few more doubles like that one, over the head of the center fielder, and opposing outfielders will be moving back when he's up. That increases the gap between OF and IF, usually leading to improved batting averages. Hitting them to CF helps reduce shifts. He's figuring out the pitchers. They were a bit ahead, thanks to plenty of scouting.
The umpire behind the plate has been the worst against ABS challenges. Daniel Susac was right once, and wrong once. The Diamondbacks strand a runner at 1st. On to the 3rd with the Giants ahead, 2-1.
With 1 out, Matt Chapman singled. Up to the plate strode lefty Bryce Eldridge, who slugged a double to CF, scoring Chapman. The Giants have retaken the lead, 2-1. 113.4 MPH exit velocity.