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Anthony DeSclafani, LaMonte Wade Jr. lead SF Giants to 7-3 victory over Cardinals

Another quality start from Anthony DeSclafani, alongside a pair of home runs, led the SF Giants to a 7-3 victory over the Cardinals.
Marc Delucchi|
Anthony DeSclafani, LaMonte Wade Jr. lead SF Giants to 7-3 victory over Cardinals
Anthony DeSclafani, LaMonte Wade Jr. lead SF Giants to 7-3 victory over Cardinals

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San Francisco GiantsSt. Louis Cardinals

The SF Giants defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 7-3 on Wednesday evening at Oracle Park. Giants starting pitcher Anthony DeSclafani continued building on his excellent start to the season in spite of a pair of home runs. With another solid performance from the team's pitching staff, the Giants offense blasted a pair of home runs and capitalized on some defensive mistakes to help the team extend their first winning streak of the season to five.

The Cardinals scored first for the first time in the series. Certified Giants killer Paul Goldschmidt squared up a fastball from DeSclafani on the inside part of the plate and sent it over the left-field wall for a solo home run. It was his 29th career home run and 74th career extra-base hit against the Giants. As it turned out, he was not done adding to those tallies.

Immediately in a 1-0 hole, the Giants offense had a fantastic chance to even things up in the bottom of the first. Recently activated outfielder Austin Slater led off the inning with a double off the right-field wall and stole third base on the next pitch. Yet, with nobody out and a runner on third, Cardinals starter Steven Matz induced a pair of groundouts from Thairo Estrada and Michael Conforto before striking out J.D. Davis to keep Slater from scoring.

Goldschmidt doubled the Cardinals lead with another home run off DeSclafani in the top of the third inning. His 30th career blast against the Giants gave him his first-career multi-homer game against San Francisco. It may not seem like that's true, but it is.

Slater walked with one out in the bottom of the third inning and moved into scoring position on a single by Estrada. Conforto failed to capitalize, striking out, but Davis walked to load the bases for Mitch Haniger. Haniger made solid contact against Matz, lifting a fly ball to the warning track in right field, but Alec Burleson settled under it and made an inning-ending catch.

LaMonte Wade Jr, who was a last-minute replacement for Mike Yastrzemski (who was scratched with side tightness) in the starting lineup, took advantage of his rare opportunity to face left-handed pitching. After walking in his first trip to the plate, Wade crushed a 3-2 sinker from Matz into the bullpen in right-center field.

Three batters later, Blake Sabol (Giants #33 prospect) sparked a two-out rally with a single. Sabol stole second base and came around to score on an RBI single from Slater.

Home runs have carried the Giants' offense all season long. Despite missing several prominent power hitters throughout the early part of the season, San Francisco still ranked fourth in the league in home runs entering play on Wednesday. However, they have struggled to manufacture runs in other situations. Even with all those homers, they entered Wednesday 17th in the league in runs scored.

There are multiple ways to look at those discrepancies. Perhaps the very tendencies that help the Giants hit more home runs make them less likely to be effective in clutch situations because they are more prone to strikeouts and pop-ups. On the other hand, the Giants could simply be suffering from bad luck that will improve with time. If they can combine their home run-hitting ways with even league-average clutch hitting, they would quickly become a top-10 scoring offense.

With the game tied in the bottom of the fifth, Cardinals reliever Jordan Hicks entered the game. Mitch Haniger recorded his first hit in a Giants uniform and advanced to third when Cardinals center fielder Lars Nootbaar dropped a fly ball from Wilmer Flores with two outs in the inning. The error proved costly as Haniger scored on a wild pitch, giving the Giants a 3-2 lead.

DeSclafani allowed a double to Goldschmidt, but that was the closest the Cardinals would come to a rally against the Giants starter. DeSclafani finished his outing with six strikeouts, having allowed two earned runs on six hits and a walk.

Giants manager Gabe Kapler turned to young Tristan Beck (Giants #19 prospect) with a one-run lead in the seventh inning. In his second big-league appearance, Beck allowed a walk and a pair of hard-hit balls, but the first resulted in a warning track flyout while he caught the second for an impressive double play.

Haniger led off the bottom of the seventh with a walk against Cardinals lefty Zack Thompson. While the southpaw retired Wade, Wilmer Flores sat on a 3-0 fastball, hitting his fourth home run of the season.

Giants setup man Tyler Rogers entered in the eighth inning after throwing a pair of shutout innings in Tuesday's 5-4 victory. Rogers immediately found himself in a jam. He allowed a single and walk to the first two batters he faced, just in time for the other Giants killer, Nolan Arenado came to the plate representing the tying run. Rogers, though, avoided disaster. He induced an infield pop up from Arenado before Willson Contreras grounded into a double play.

Estrada came a few feet away from a home run against former Giants pitcher Chris Stratton to lead off the bottom of the eighth. Forced to settle for a double, he came around to score one batter later on a single by Conforto.

With two outs in the inning, Wade gave the Giants another insurance run with an RBI triple, capping off his standout night. He was 2-for-4 on the night with a triple, home run, and walk.

The extra breathing room made Kapler comfortable trying to give closer Camilo Doval the night off. Doval was warming up to make his fourth appearance in five days prior to the two-run rally in the eighth. However, with a five-run lead, Kapler turned to Sean Hjelle (Giants #28 prospect).

Hjelle broke the cardinal rule of relief pitching with a sizable lead by walking the first two batters in the inning. The 25-year-old righty, who was a closer during his freshman year at Kentucky, recorded an out on a ground out by Brendan Donovan. However, an RBI double by Paul DeJong pushed Kapler to call upon Doval.

With runners on second and third with one out, Doval walked Nootbaar to load the bases for... Goldschmidt. But miraculously, the former Diamondbacks star had no magic left in his bat. He hit a first-pitch grounder to Estrada for a game-ending double play.

Now 11-13 on the season, the SF Giants will look to complete their first sweep of the season at Oracle Park tomorrow afternoon. Giants ace Logan Webb is scheduled to start against Cardinals righty Miles Mikolas. First pitch is scheduled for 12:45 PM Pacific.

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Marc Delucchi
MARC DELUCCHI

Marc Delucchi (he/they/she) serves as the Managing Editor at Giants Baseball Insider, leading their SF Giants coverage. As a freelance journalist, he has previously covered the San Francisco Giants at Around the Foghorn and McCovey Chronicles. He also currently contributes to Niners Nation, Golden State of Mind, and Baseball Prospectus. He has previously been featured in several other publications, including SFGate, ProFootballRumors, Niners Wire, GrandStand Central, Call to the Pen, and Just Baseball. Over his journalistic career, Marc has conducted investigations into how one prep baseball player lost a college opportunity during the pandemic (Baseball Prospectus) and the rampant mistreatment of players at the University of Hawaii football program under former head coach Todd Graham (SFGate). He has also broken dozens of news stories around professional baseball, primarily around the SF Giants organization, including the draft signing of Kyle Harrison, injuries and promotions to top prospects like Heliot Ramos, and trade details in the Kris Bryant deal. Marc received a Bachelor's degree from Kenyon College with a major in economics and a minor in Spanish. During his time in college, he conducted a summer research project attempting to predict the future minor-league performance of NCAA hitters, worked as a data analyst for the school's Women's basketball team, and worked as a play-by-play announcer/color commentator for the basketball, baseball, softball, and soccer teams. He also worked as an amateur baseball scout with the Collegiate Baseball Scouting Network (later renamed Evolution Metrix), scouting high school and college players for three draft cycles. For tips and inquiries, feel free to reach out to Marc directly on Twitter or via email (delucchimarc@gmail.com).

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