The Giants beat the Padres behind the command of the ace of the squad, Logan Webb, who opened the game giving up a double to Manny Machado and an RBI-triple to Jake Cronenworth, Padres 1, Giants 0, but then killed the scoring and went eight innings on 96 pitches, allowing just two hits, walking none and striking out seven.

It was a dominant performance at such a comfortable pace, Kapler abandoned pitch-count restrictions and left him out there. Love it.

Meanwhile the Giants offensive lineup was totally unique – no Brandons, as Belt and Crawford were off. No Evan Longoria. No Tommy La Stella. No Mike Yastrzemski. Former Phillies right fielder Luke Williams played third.

Like last year, it feels as if spring training for us lasts until June as Gabe Kapler and co. experiment with players and combinations, moving guys liberally from the minors to the majors and back until the trade deadline.

In the bottom of the second, these Giants attacked Padres starter Sean Manaea’s steady dose of change-ups to get the run back. Heliot Ramos drew a lead-off walk. Mauricio Dubon moved him over with a single up the middle. Then newcomer Luke Williams, in his debut as a Giant, ripped a double to left – where there was absolutely no one – to drive in Ramos and Dubon and take the lead Giants 2, Padres 1.

That was it for the scoring in this one as Manaea knuckled down to go four more scoreless innings – six Ks – and the Padres Steven Wilson threw a scoreless seventh and eighth.

Doval Escapes High Drama in the Ninth for First Save

Camilo Doval came in to close the ninth for the Giants with the one run lead. He induced a ground out from Machado but gave up a hard-hit grounder that not even Thairo Estrada could corral, to allow Cronenworth on as the tying run. Doval then struck out Luke Voit swinging on three straight sliders.

Doval peppered Wilmer Flores at first with checks to keep Cronenworth close and the two were comfortable with the back-and-forth. Doval and Eric Hosmer battled to a full count and Doval walked him on a pitch that was a questionable call. It was the first walk issued by the Giants the whole game, as Webb had been clean. Two out, two on for Jurickson Profar. Doval goes way inside and hits him, bases loaded.

But with the bases juiced behind him, Camilo Doval got ahead of Matt Beaty and struck him out with a nasty slider to end the game. whew. Camilo’s line is like a roller coaster: one inning pitched, two strikeouts, one walk, one HBP. ha! Webb gets his first win and Doval gets his first save. whew x two.

The Giants won both of their two first series and started the season 4 – 2 on the opening home stand. It is off to Cleveland to face the new-look Guardians then the East coast to face the Mets and Nats before stopping in Milwaukee for just one game, weirdly. We play a game against the Brewers on the 25th and fly back home. Scheduling’s weird in the post lockout season.

Let’s rest Giants! Have a great road trip fellas!

love,

mtk