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Streaky teams exist everywhere in sports, but perhaps they’re more common in baseball due to the rigors of a 162-game schedule. The streakiness exhibited by the Giants in recent weeks has mirrored confusion, and the trend continued on Sunday afternoon as San Francisco lost the series finale to the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-3 at Oracle Park.
The last 14 games for San Francisco (15-18) have featured a five-game winning streak, a four-game losing streak and a four-game winning streak shattered Sunday thanks to a pair of two-run blasts from the Brewers (19-15) off Giants starter Ross Stripling.
This story will be updated with quotes and post-game material from the Giants clubhouse at Oracle Park.
William Contreras was responsible for the first Milwaukee home run, cranking Stripling’s knee-high changeup to left field in the second inning to start the scoring. The 396-foot shot topped off a 30-pitch inning for Stripling (L, 0-2, 6.66 ERA).
Stripling has endured a rough go in his first season with the Giants, with a large reason being his lack of success at the bottom of the strike zone. Last season, opponents hit just .175 against the right-hander on the 61% of pitches he threw in the lower third of the strike zone or below. Entering Saturday’s action, hitters have hit .375 (15-for-40) on pitches in the same area – only 53% strikes.
Stripling said he probably had a stepback in crispness Sunday, like he was fighting some things out on the mound:
“You’re not gonna have your best stuff every night. I definitely felt like I was taking a good step forward every outing to stuff being zoned in and today, not quite the same, but still feel like I battled and made some good pitches. I think what we’re seeing on how I’m feeling so far is just kind of like no room for error really with me.”
With one on in the fifth, Stripling hung a changeup in Willy Adames’ happy zone. The Milwaukee shortstop blasted it over the left field wall with ease for his sixth homer of the season and 100th of his big league career to make it a 5-2 game.
Limiting the long ball was a strength of Stripling’s with the Blue Jays in 2022 – he allowed just 12 homers in 134-1/3 innings of work. So far this season, it has been the complete opposite, allowing six homers in his first 10 innings of 2023. No Giants starter has yielded so many dingers so quickly since Ryan Jensen in 2003.
Stripling has also been mixing in a different looking changeup, which hasn’t been nearly effective as he would’ve hoped:
“I will say in San Francisco, the flags will blow straight out, but if you’re pitching, it’s a back wind. So it really swirls. … So if there’s a back wind, my stuff kind of just gets pushed – like, from my arm angle, my changeup, which spins like a four-seam, just kind of gets pushed.”
In his first start Sunday against the Brewers since 2019, Stripling lasted five innings while allowing five earned runs, seven hits, two walks. He struck out three.
Brett Wisley and LaMonte Wade Jr., Wilmer Flores and Thairo Estrada notched two hits each. After Contreras’ two-run home run in the second, Wisely and Wade Jr. contributed with back-to-back RBI singles to tie the game at 2-2.
Blake Sabol mashed three hits; the third was a double off the right field wall in the eighth to set up a second-and-third situation for the Giants with one out. With the tying run at the plate, though, pinch-hitter J.D. Davis struck out looking before Wisely struck out swinging.
Sabol was back in the lineup behind the plate after missing the last few games with an illness that resulted in a 10-pound weight loss. The bug has been going around the Giants clubhouse in waves – the trip to Mexico City last weekend may have amplified it with the combination of food, travel and altitude.
Reliever John Brebbia hasn’t been feeling the greatest lately either, and received a visit from the Giants medical staff while on the mound during Saturday afternoon’s action. Kapler says he’s improving, but the bout also cost Brebbia some weight – he also lost somewhere in the ballpark of ten pounds.
On returning from sickness, Sabol said:
“I started feeling myself – probably yesterday was when I really felt normal. I still have a little bit of mucous, like sniffles and stuff, but I’ll take that over the stomach virus any day. So yeah, definitely felt a lot better. It was nice to get out there obviously and compete and have a good day.”
Cole Waites made his 2023 debut in the top of the ninth and allowed a pair of RBI singles to Christian Yelich and another to Adames to make it 7-2. Adames ended up 2-for-4 with four runs driven in.
Estrada added his sixth homer in the ninth against right-hander Devin Williams, the first homer Williams has allowed to a right-handed hitter since Sept. 2, 2021 when, crazily enough, Estrada took him yard. Estrada is also the only player to have taken Williams deep twice. Entering into the game, Estrada’s .907 OPS was 12th in the National League and his .336 average was fourth.
Up Next
The Giants welcome the Washington Nationals to Oracle Park for a three-game series. Right-hander Anthony DeSclafani (3-1, 2.13 ERA) will toe the slab after a masterful outing in Houston on May 2 when he tossed eight shutout innings. He’s slated to face Washington right-hander Jake Irvin (0-0, 2.08 ERA).
Notes
Left-hander Alex Wood pitched in a rehab game for Triple-A Sacramento on Sunday afternoon as he recovers from a left hamstring strain that has kept him on the shelf since April 19. Wood threw 3-2/3 innings, allowing six hits and one earned run. He struck out one through 46 pitches.
The Giants held a moment of silence before the game to honor former AL MVP and Cy Young Award winner Vida Blue, who passed away on Saturday at the age of 73. Blue was a beloved Bay Area figure who donned the uniform for both the A’s and Giants during his career. He pitched in San Francisco from 1978-81 and 85-86.
It was Youth Baseball Day at Oracle Park, which means the ballpark was filled with thousands of Little Leaguers from across the Bay Area and surrounding areas. Although most teams hold the same event every year, Kapler says the atmosphere at the ballpark contains “more energy” when the future stars of tomorrow are around the field. During his usual pregame sprints, Kapler listened in on a panel discussion with a handful of youngsters and pitching coach Andrew Bailey, who was asked what his favorite pitch was. Bailey, an analytical mind in his own right, answered with,“strikes.”
Kapler said:
“It was a great message to the crowd and everyone reacted really well. We get a lot of energy from that back and forth.”
