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A replay review of a play at home plate and yet another strong outing from the Giants bullpen was enough for San Francisco to secure their tenth straight victory, defeating the San Diego Padres 4-2 at Oracle Park Wednesday evening.
San Francisco has now stretched their record (42-32) to ten games over .500 for the first time all season – a milestone they hadn’t reached since they were 37-27 on June 18, 2022. It’s also their longest winning streak since May 20-31, 2004 and it’s currently the second-longest active streak in the big leagues behind Cincinnati’s 11-game streak.
This story has been updated with quotes and post-game material from the Giants clubhouse at Oracle Park.
It seems like the Giants have received superb innings from their bulk-inning relievers every night of their recent win streak. The strategy of constant bullpen games is often criticized because of how taxed relievers could feel as the season goes on – the wear and tear could be costly.
San Francisco has endured a much different experience, with key contributions – and length – from a plethora of different arms, especially important due to a lack of rotation depth at the moment.
Sean Hjelle was the latest Giants pitcher to shine in the long role, following a Ryan Walker start with four scoreless frames while only allowing three hits, two walks and punching out five Padres hitters. To go along with their MLB-best earned run average since the middle of May, three righties – Hjelle, Tristan Beck and Keaton Winn – have combined for 16 innings the last four games with one run allowed.
Despite starting games in the minor leagues, Hjelle is now an official member of a red-hot bullpen group:
“I made the joke in the bullpen the first day I got here – I was like, ‘you guys obviously hit the ground running.’ It’s kind of like merging into a freeway. I was like, ‘I hope I can merge at the same speed you guys are going because everything’s clicking on all cylinders here.”
To retire the side in the fourth, Hjelle escaped a jam with runners on second and third by striking out Fernando Tatis Jr. with a breaking ball down and away, generating a fist pump for the tall right-hander as he walked off the mound.
Half the swings on Hjelle’s breaking ball were whiffs. On his outing, he said:
“I think getting ahead and throwing strikes on these guys. Obviously, when you face over probably a billion dollars at the plate in the first few hitters in the lineup, you have to execute your pitches…”
In the 11 times the Giants have unleashed the opener, they’re now 8-3.
Camilo Doval entered in the ninth, recording his 20th save of the season.
To complement the efforts of the pitching staff, Kapler’s offense ignited some energy in the fifth by scoring four runs – three after a controversial call at home plate.
The Giants loaded the bases against Padres starter Yu Darvish — who they’ve hit fairly well against the past few seasons — when Brandon Crawford continued his recent clutch hitting with a sacrifice fly to open the scoring.
Two batters later, Joc Pederson smoked a two-out single to right. Equipped with a brillant arm in right field, Tatis fired a strike to the plate that appeared in plenty of time to nab Blake Sabol sprinting home from second.
Assuming it was the third out of the inning, the Padres had all walked off the field by the time Kapler came out of the Giants dugout to call for a replay review. He believed San Diego catcher Gary Sanchez was blocking the plate, an illegal move according to MLB’s rule 7.13.
The New York replay center agreed, overturning the out to award Sabol the plate. Padres manager Bob Melvin went ballistic, earning his third ejection of the season.
On the call Kapler said he’s not too subjective about rules:
“The rule as we understand it is if the catcher’s left foot is on the outside of the line without the baseball, he’s not providing a clear lane to the plate for the base runner. So that’s what we saw on video. That’s what it looked like in real time and seems like they got the call right on the field, but that’s just our interpretation.”
The hit parade kept going when Mike Yastrzemski and J.D. Davis added back-to-back RBI singles to their stat sheet. On Davis’ single to right-center, Yastrzemski chugged into third base limping – an apparent reaggravation of his left hamstring, according to the Giants. Kapler says he’ll be scanned tomorrow morning to see the full extent of the injury.
Up Next
Alex Wood (2-1, 4.11 ERA) will toe the slab for the Giants on Thursday afternoon against Padres lefty Blake Snell (3-6, 3.48 ERA). First pitch is 3.45 p.m.
Notes
LaMonte Wade Jr. is feeling better after being scratched ahead of Tuesday’s matchup with a right side injury he suffered during batting practice. He was available as a bench option for Kapler on Wednesday. … Ross Stripling (back) will be making another rehab assignment for Low-A San Jose on Thursday. … Wilmer Flores (foot) has been running and taking ground balls at first base, putting him on track to return to the club when he’s first eligible to come off the injured list on Monday in Toronto.
