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Anthony DeSclafani had been nails all season. He hadn’t allowed more than four earned runs in a start all year, until the Nationals tagged him for a destructive first inning en route to a 5-1 victory over the Giants Monday evening at Oracle Park.
Washington’s offense came out swinging, opening with four-straight singles off DeSclafani (L, 3-2, 2.80 ERA). Jeimer Candelario would fly out before the conga line of offense continued with three more hits, including an enormous two-run single up the middle off the bat of CJ Abrams.
This story has been updated with quotes and post-game material from the Giants clubhouse at Oracle Park.
When it was all said and done, the Nationals racked up seven hits and five earned runs – all charged to DeSclafani’s statline.
As a natural strike thrower, DeSclafani is hardly someone who allows many free passes. Entering Monday he had only issued three walks in six starts, leading the big leagues with 0.71 walks-per-nine average. Washington simply put the ball in play with the amount of strikes they received, with nine of 10 hits against the Giants right-hander coming as singles.
To DeSclafani’s credit, he limited the damage and found a way to provide much-needed length. He fired a shutdown second inning, rolled past a leadoff single in the third, and a 1-2-3 fourth inning. Because of the early swings in counts, DeSclafani completed seven innings on just 92 pitches, despite the rough start. He’s now completed five innings in all of his seven starts this season.
DeSclafani credits the smooth sailing to a mechanical adjustment identified by pitching coach Andrew Bailey after the first inning:
“It was just kind of the takeaway out of my glove. The last couple of games, I was taking the ball out of my glove a certain way to kind of help with two-seam shape. And I just kind of stopped doing the second inning.”
DeSclafani received some help to retire the top-half of the seventh. With runners on first and second, Candelario popped a ball up down the left field line. Mitch Haniger, who made a spectacular catch on Friday night, once again laid out far to his right for a sparkling diving grab for the third out.
On the effort DeSclafani had praise for his left fielder:
“That was really cool. That was a crazy, really good play. I loved it.”
From an offensive standpoint, the Giants were shunned by rookie Jake Irvin (W, 1-0, 0.84 ERA) in his second big-league start. The right-hander held San Francisco to four hits over 6-1/3 innings while striking out five. San Francisco was not without their chances, however, the Giants hit into four double plays to eliminate any chance of damage.
Joc Pederson broke the silence in the ninth with his fourth homer of the year to make it 5-1 on an opposite-field blast that traveled 399 feet.
With a single on Monday, Thairo Estrada has now hit safely in 17 of his last 19 games and continues to rank among the National League leaders in key offensive categories.
Brett Wisely continued his hot hitting, adding a multi-hit game – the first of his career – to his resume.
Up Next
An achilles heel of the Giants to start the 2023 campaign has been hitting against left-handed pitching and they’ll have a chance to flip the script on Tuesday when they face veteran southpaw Patrick Corbin (1-4, 5.17 ERA). San Francisco will send the best they have to offer on the mound with ace righty Logan Webb (2-5, 3.80 ERA).
Notes
Outfielder Bryce Johnson was activated off the injured list and was optioned to Triple-A Sacramento. He’s been out since April 13 with a concussion he suffered while banging up against the center field wall in a loss against the Dodgers.
