© Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports
SAN DIEGO – Ladies and gentleman, the Giants are on the board. With one sixth-inning explosion, the Giants tagged the Padres for three runs, and made manager Andy Green pay for pulling his rookie debuting pitcher Nick Margevicius after 72 pitches.
Bruce Bochy looked poised to face a similar fate when he pulled Dereck Rodriguez for Travis Bergen in the sixth inning after allowing a leadoff double and single. Unlike his successful Friday night, one-batter performance, Bergen was immediately tagged for a two-run double by Eric Hosmer, and there was suddenly a 3-2 Giants’ lead to protect with a runner on second base and no outs.
Bochy knew exactly who he needed in the pinch: Reyes Moronta. That decision defined tonight’s game.
Moronta was electric, lethal
For all his erratic, often walk-prone performances, the hard-throwing Moronta was generally effective last season, securing a 2.51 ERA in 65 innings of work. His 2.51 K/BB rate (79 strikeouts, 37 walks) wasn’t stellar, but his pitch speed and movement were both encouraging.
Watching him tonight, you’d have to say he looks poised for an even better 2019 campaign. The 26-year-old right hander hailing from Santiago, Dominican Republic, shut down the heart of the Padres order with four-straight (yes, four) strikeouts, and a career-high fifth to bookend his two innings of attention-gripping relief.
If you weren’t able to catch Moronta’s performance – which, if you didn’t, I highly recommend you do – here’s a pitch tracker of his five strikeouts on his seven-batters faced night which went strikeout, strikeout, strikeout, strikeout, double, 6-3 groundout, strikeout. He had 38 pitches with 25 strikes:
First, he got Manny Machado:
#SFGiants Twitter, you're gonna want to see these Moronta pitch locations if you haven't. 1st, on the Machado strikeout: pic.twitter.com/TYfqi1wrLP
— Jake Hutchinson (@hutchdiesel) March 31, 2019
Next was Wil Myers:
Second, on the Myers strikeout: pic.twitter.com/Ruj0RMGSqp
— Jake Hutchinson (@hutchdiesel) March 31, 2019
The third-straight strikeout victim was Hunter Renfroe:
Third, you guessed it, the Renfroe strikeout: pic.twitter.com/CSkvDSWFFv
— Jake Hutchinson (@hutchdiesel) March 31, 2019
Then, Tatis Jr. was left fooled to continue the streak to start the seventh inning:
That is FOUR-straight strikeouts for Moronta, this time on a low-inside four-seam clocked at 97.3 MPH. Had Tatis Jr. with no answers, down looking #SFGiants pic.twitter.com/wDXz1OotP1
— Jake Hutchinson (@hutchdiesel) March 31, 2019
After a brief, double, groundout intermission, Moronta capped his night the same way he started it, with his a strikeout swinging on Manuel Margot:
Moronta gets his career-high 5th strikeout with this seven-pitch sequence on Margot. Hell of a start to his 2019 #SFGiants campaign pic.twitter.com/jTxPguxXdQ
— Jake Hutchinson (@hutchdiesel) March 31, 2019
Longoria pulled for Crawford
Evan Longoria has been one of the Giants’ most imposing batters. Steven Duggar (who I’ll get to later) looked just as, if not more threatening tonight, but the point remains that Longoria had a healthy spring, and it’s been clear. Last night, after putting the Giants’ first and only run on the board, Longoria spoke about the value of coming in healthy and becoming more comfortable with the Giants and within the clubhouse.
“It was tough last year and it was even tougher than I thought it was going to be more mentally than anything,” Longoria said. “You try to prepare as much as you can for it, but a lot of the time, the unknown is something that you have to just kind of go through and figure out how to cope with.”
That comfortability, even with a National League West stadium like PETCO Park – somewhere Longoria had incredibly never played in his 10 years with the Rays – has made a difference.
“This year has been much different, from just kind of knowing the guys and being in the clubhouse and feeling more comfortable in the division,” Longoria said. “Coming into last year, I had never played a game here (at PETCO Park), so it’s a little bit easier knowing where the entrance is to this place and just feeling a little bit more comfortable walking in the doors.”
Bruce Bochy was complimentary of Longoria’s two-game start and solid spring ahead of tonight’s game, crediting much of the same things Longoria mentioned the night prior.
“He’s in great shape, put a lot of hard work in this winter,” Bochy said. “I think he’s a little more settled in. It’s quite a change, especially for a guy that was the face of a franchise, so I think he’s gotten rid of the unknown factor on a lot of things, and… a lot more comfortable.”
Considering that added comfortability and apparent level of good health, it was a concerning sight to see Longoria pulled in the bottom of the sixth inning, after he’d scored the Giants’ third run in the top half of the inning. There is no word from the Giants as of yet, but it would seem odd for the team to pull him for Brandon Crawford and leave in Yangervis Solarte (who moved to third, but made a pair of throwing errors at shortstop tonight).
Duggar, the perfect leadoff man
Without Steven Duggar, it’s hard to see the Giants winning tonight’s game. Duggar was stellar, getting on base with a hit-by-pitch (literally on the nose) in his first at bat, and a pair of singles in his next two. He stole a base after his first single, and advanced on a wild pitch after his second, moving into scoring position to set up the Giants’ first run of the night.
Yangervis Solarte knocked Duggar in, but it was Duggar’s energy which seemed to spark signs of life from an offense which has a tendency to stagnate. After Solarte doubled, he was singled home by Longoria. Then Buster Posey drew a walk, as did Gerardo Parra following a fly out from Brandon Belt and a strikeout from Connor Joe.
With the bases loaded, Joe Panik ripped a single to drive in Longoria (where it would seem he may have injured himself) and not-so-nearly Buster Posey, who had little choice but to try and come home with Dereck Rodriguez on deck. The hope of a poor throw was just that, and Posey, who’s not exactly known for his blazing speed, was tagged out easily.
The fact that such a rally took place was a credit to Duggar’s consistency. His ability to reach base and challenge the Padres on the basepath is exactly what the Giants need from a leadoff man, especially when the other two rookie outfielders, Michael Reed and Connor Joe, have failed to secure a hit and have a combined nine strikeouts in three games. While the Giants are far from figuring out their corner outfielders, Duggar’s ability to threaten offensively while maintaining fantastic defensive range, is something to feel good about.
