The Giants arrived back in San Francisco from their eight-game road trip at 4:45 a.m.. Mechanical issues with their plane extended an already rocky journey.
And they met a juggernaut of an Atlanta Braves team, boasting a lineup of multi-time All-Stars, hulking sluggers and rookie phenoms. A threat in practically every spot in the order.
The Braves rank second in MLB in runs, home runs and OPS. Starter Alex Cobb shut them down.
With seven scoreless innings, Cobb looked refreshed and powered the Giants to an impressive 3-2 win. It didn’t come without late-inning drama, as Zack Littell surrendered two runs and exchanged words with manager Gabe Kapler after getting lifted in the eighth.
Despite mostly strong performance, Cobb improved his season record to just 6-6. He generated 18 whiffs, 12 of which came on his splitter.
San Francisco’s three runs came off the bats of Willie Calhoun, Luis González and Thairo Estrada.
Calhoun, in the lineup for the first time as a Giant, made a strong first impression with an RBI single off the right-field brick in his first at-bat. Calhoun’s single — 97.6 mph off the bat — scored Brandon Crawford and put the Giants up 1-0.
Calhoun, a former Ranger, started against Spencer Strider because of his career success against right-handed pitchers. In 2019, he hit 21 homers for the Rangers — 14 of which came off righties.
The Giants added another run after Calhoun’s single in the second when Luis González found a hole up the middle.
Estrada scored on that single and then got involved in SF’s next score when he legged out a single in the fifth. His hustle down the first base line made rookie second baseman Vaughn Grissom hurry an inaccurate throw that skipped into foul territory, scoring Mike Yastrzemski.
With a 3-0 lead in the sixth, Cobb retired the top of Atlanta’s lineup in order, striking out Ronald Acuña Jr. and Dansby Swanson on splitters.
Back out for the seventh, Cobb looked more hittable, but Michael Harris Jr. made a costly baserunning mistake. The Rookie of the Year contender curiously rounded first on a single up the middle and got tagged out trying to scamper back.
Cobb worked through the inning to finish with seven scoreless innings in which he fanned seven and walked none.
Cobb has been one of the most snakebit pitchers in baseball. His ERA hasn’t matched his FIP all year. Balls in play that should be converted into outs routinely drop. This was Cobb’s 10th quality start of the season; of those, he’s now only recorded three wins.
As soon as Cobb exited, the Braves looked like they were going to continue the trend of empty quality starts. A double, walk and two singles against Zack Littell scored two. When Gabe Kapler went to Scott Alexander to face lefty Matt Olson, Littell and his manager exchanged words.
Alexander got Olson out to end the inning, justifying Kapler’s decision. Back out for the ninth, Alexander earned the save.
Nobody is rooting for the Giants more than the Mets, who are locked in a battle for the National League East with Atlanta. Except for maybe Cobb, who by the time Littell and Kapler reconvened on the dugout steps and Alexander recorded the final out, had settled in the clubhouse to anxiously watch.
