A complete game shutout from Ty Blach and an offensive onslaught from the Giants led the team to a series-opening 10-0 win over the Phillies on Friday night to kick off the road trip.
Blach was phenomenal yet again in what was his first career shutout and first complete game. The lefty tossed a quality start and pitched at least seven innings for the fifth start in a row. He was efficient and worked the strike zone all night. Blach allowed seven Phillies hits and struck out four while issuing no walks. He made just 112 pitches and even helped himself a bit at the plate by walking three times and scoring twice.
The Giants scored runs in five different innings, including a pair in both the 1st and 2nd. A leadoff single by Denard Span followed by a double from Eduardo Nuñez got the Giants in business and both eventually came around to score. San Francisco even loaded the bases again in the inning before Austin Slater, making his MLB debut in right field, grounded out to end the frame.
In the 2nd, an RBI single from Nuñez and a second RBI sacrifice fly by Brandon Crawford doubled the Giants’ lead. The Giants added a run in the 3rd inning and Phillies starter Jerad Eickhoff was chased from the game after just 2.2 innings pitched and five runs (four earned) allowed. Mark Leiter Jr. came in to replace Eickhoff and held the score at 5-0 for a bit with 2.1 scoreless innings.
But a big 6th inning from the Giants bats blew the game wide open and featured Slater’s first career MLB hit. After Crawford walked to lead off the inning and Joe Panik reached on an error, Slater stepped up two batters later and knocked a base hit up the middle to score Crawford. A Span RBI single and a two-run double from Nuñez tacked on more runs in the inning and the Giants led 9-0. San Francisco tacked on another run in the 9th.
Span and Nuñez combined to reach base nine times in 12 plate appearances at the top of the order and scored four runs between the two of them. The rookie Slater finished his first major league game with a 1-for-5 line that included an RBI and a run scored.
San Francisco will look to keep the offense rolling tomorrow and pick up a series win as Johnny Cueto takes the hill for a 1:05 p.m. PST first pitch.
