Blue Jays starter Chris Bassitt struck out 12 hitters for the first time in his career. J.D. Davis earned his first ever ejection. Patrick Bailey became the first Giants rookie since Buster Posey to record a 10-game hit streak.
Keaton Winn also made his first MLB start, adding his first career quality start with the opportunity.
But Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s seventh inning home run prevented Winn from getting the win, as Toronto held off a late Giants rally to win, 2-1. The Giants (45-36) struck out 14 times and went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position
The defeat gave the Giants their first series loss since June 11, ending their streak of five straight series victories. Winn found out that even if you pitch great, you can still get charged with a loss.
Thursday’s series finale featured Davis and Gabe Kapler becoming the first Giants to get tossed this season, Brandon Crawford tripping over his own feet, Joc Pederson reminding everyone why the Giants do everything they can not to play him in the outfield, the first 10-game hitting streak by a Giants rookie since Buster Posey and a second consecutive parade of strikeouts.
Winn, the Iowa native, made a compelling case for a spot in San Francisco’s rotation. Winn had been in the cadre of Giants starting-caliber pitchers who have been pitching in bullpen roles, along with Sean Manaea, Ross Stripling, Tristan Beck, Sean Hjelle, Jakob Junis and, most recently, Alex Wood.
With the chance to start the game, Winn touched 98.5 mph on the radar gun and used his fastball-splitter combination effectively.
Winn got hit hard, but was extremely efficient. He needed just 47 pitches to get through five scoreless frames, earning a longer leash and proving he didn’t need an opener to protect him.
Pederson, playing left field because Michael Conforto is day-to-day with a tight hamstring and MIke Yastrzesmki and Mitch Haniger are on the IL, made things interesting for Winn. Early in the game, he made a poor decision and an even poorer throw to first base, allowing a runner to advance to scoring position.
Then in the fifth, the ball found Pederson twice. On the first, he got a late and slow break to a dying line drive, but made a sliding catch to make up for it. As he found the ball in his glove, he stuck his tongue out in celebration.
Then Pederson took a first-step-in route to another ball in the gap but made a lurching grab anyways.
Thursday was Pederson’s first start in the outfield of 2023. One of the biggest ways the Giants wanted to improve defensively this year was to limit him strictly to designated hitter duty. San Francisco’s defense, ranked last in MLB last year, has vastly improved.
Winn, meanwhile, stayed mostly in control. He issued his first walk with two outs in the sixth inning on his 59th pitch of the game. Winn used less than 10 pitches in the first, third, and fourth innings.
Then Guerrero Jr., the toughest out in Toronto’s lineup, came up for a third time. The hulking designated hitter crushed a two-run homer to break the stalemate. The Giants trusted Winn to get the last out of the sixth inning, but the damage was done.
Guerrero’s nuke — a 111 mph, 413-foot behemoth — was the only source of runs for either team through eight innings.
Then the Giants’ rookies, the ones that have primarily ignited the Giants to the best record in MLB since May 1, came up against All-Star closer Jordan Romano.
Bailey just missed a home run, instead settling for a double that hit the top of the right field wall. Blake Sabol, who threw out a runner earlier in the game, drove him home with a lined single.
But Sabol tried swiping second base to get into scoring position with no outs. Second baseman Sergio Espinal made an incredible tag, scooping a low throw and tapping Sabol in one motion, to catch him. Luis Matos reached on an error, but Brandon Crawford, the Giants’ last hope, popped up to shallow center in a full count to end the game.
They nearly did it, but drumming up what has become a patented comeback for the Giants is much tougher when more than half the club’s outs are strikeouts.
