Another Winn!

SF 3  PIT 2

The Giants got another strong start from Keaton Winn and they just nipped the Bucs to take the series. That’s 6-4 for the homestand: a 2-2 split with Arizona and 2-1 against both New York (N) and Pittsburgh. The Pirates featured rookie phenom Jared Jones (just profiled this morning by David Laurila at FanGraphs!) who came into the game with 39 strikeouts in 29 IP and only nine runs allowed. His arsenal includes a 100-mph heater. The Giants dinged him in the 3rd with back-to-back homers from Thairo Estrada and Mike Yastrzemski. They tacked on another (which proved to be the difference-maker) with singles from Tyler Fitzgerald (he had three hits on the day) and Jung Hoo Lee followed by a sacrifice fly from LaMonte Wade, Jr. The young righty was done after five (83 pitches) but relievers Luis Ortiz and Kyle Nicolas kept the lid on the scoring.

The Pirates got a run off Winn in the 5th and he was done after six (3 H, 1 W, 5 K, 80 pitches). He’s lowered his ERA to 3.18 with three straight 6 IP, 1 R performances. Erik Miller and Ryan Walker handled the 7th and the 8th. Camilo Doval was summoned for the 9th and he gave up a run and loaded the bases with two outs but induced Joey Bart (of all people!) to ground out to end it. Whew. Good thing Camilo is tranquilo because I was getting nervous.

I like to see good starting pitching. Kyle Harrison did well last time out, Winn as we’ve seen is emerging, Jordan Hicks has been really good, and Logan Webb is doing the Logan Webb thing. It’s a travel day tomorrow. They open a three-game set in Boston on Tuesday at 4:10 PT (Webb’s on the hill).

Go Giants!

–M.C.