The Giants have been fatigued by time zone changes, tarmac waits and early wake-ups, battered by injuries on both the position player and pitching side and short on power. They’ve mostly refrained from daydreaming about the upcoming All-Star break, but that intermission four days away remains a chance to reset.
“We can’t just tread lightly and take these games for granted,” third baseman J.D. Davis said Tuesday.
With their exhaust pipes working overtime, the Giants needed to reach way back to extinguish their four-game losing streak and avoid a series sweep. They needed to be resilient, to be grindy.
They got all of their favorite clichés from starter Alex Cobb. The righty spun six scoreless innings, constantly dancing around danger despite not having his best stuff.
“I just was battling some delivery things that, I really wasn’t getting the shapes that I kind of rely on,” Cobb said. “I can definitely navigate a lineup without my best stuff, but it makes it a little bit more challenging. Needed some big pitches and also some balls to find people, some good plays behind me — which we had tonight.”
Then Tyler Rogers notched his league-leading 18th hold to allow Camilo Doval to earn his league-leading 25th save. A night after getting shut out by Seattle, the Giants did the same to the Mariners.
Behind the tough pitching staff, the Giants (47-40) ended their losing streak before it reached five. Their 2-0 win makes them 12-4 in games that starts. Cobb now has a 6-2 record and 2.91 ERA.
Cobb felt much more comfortable throwing his sinker than his patented splitter or curveball, as over half of his offerings registered as fastballs. The Mariners put a runner on base in five of Cobb’s six frames, but the veteran limited damage by fanning seven hitters — often in pressure situations.
“It was great for him to come out and pound the strike zone, use all of his pitches, mix them well, hit spots,” Giants manager Gabe Kapler said. “I’m not sure that his stuff was like A+, it was solid. But plenty to get us through those six innings.”
The Giants supported Cobb by manufacturing a run in the third inning when LaMonte Wade Jr. managed a sacrifice fly. Then a key error from Julio Rodríguez in center field gifted the Giants another score in the fifth inning.
Last year’s American League Rookie of the Year, top-10 MVP finisher and All-Star has been catching fly balls for the better part of his 22 years on earth. But he took his eyes off the ball, allowing Austin Slater to score from second and give San Francisco a 2-0 lead.
That error was Tommy Milone’s last batter faced. The 36-year-old journeyman topped out at 87.3 mph on the radar gun, but still largely limited the Giants’ offense that has struggled.
Milone, who has played for the Twins, Mariners, Athletics, Nationals, Mets, Braves, Orioles, Blue Jays and Brewers, is more of a niche Immaculate Grid answer than a palatable starter in 2023. Yet the way the Giants have been swinging the bat, they made him look plenty serviceable.
Entering the Seattle finale, SF had averaged 3.1 runs per game in its past 12 contests. Milone limited the Giants to two runs (one earned) despite allowing four hits and four walks. In total against Seattle, they left 11 on base.
Cobb, and the Giants relievers who have propped up the team for almost the entire year, made the lackluster production enough. Kapler called the decision to pull Cobb after the sixth inning interesting, but Cobb was at 88 pitches — near his limit in his second start since coming off the IL — and the Giants had their full complement of leverage relievers available.
Taylor Rogers dealt a 1-2-3 inning and handed off to his submarining twin for a clean eighth inning. With an off day on Thursday, San Francisco had no issue using that duo and the All-Star Doval in the ninth.
Doval set down Mike Ford, Eugenio Suárez and Jarred Kelenic — three of SEA’s most dangerous hitters — down in order to end the game, fanning Kelenic to an Oracle Park ovation.
The Giants have now won nine of Cobb’s last 10 starts. At 35, he’s pitching as well as he ever has. And when the club needed someone to put a stop to what could have become a horrifying skid before the midsummer classic, Cobb stood tall.
