Giants Baseball Insider

LaMonte Wade Jr., bullpen lead SF Giants to 4-3 victory over Phillies

Alex Cobb labored through 3.1 innings of work, but the SF Giants still came out on top against the reigning National League champs.
Marc Delucchi|
LaMonte Wade Jr., bullpen lead SF Giants to 4-3 victory over Phillies
LaMonte Wade Jr., bullpen lead SF Giants to 4-3 victory over Phillies

In this story:

San Francisco Giants

The SF Giants defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 4-3 on Tuesday night, pulling just one win away from sweeping the reigning National League Champions. While the matchup of starting pitchers Alex Cobb (the most underrated pitcher in MLB) and Zack Wheeler suggested baserunners would be scarce, neither righty delivered a standout performance.

Cobb found himself in trouble as soon as the game began. In the top of the first inning, Cobb failed to put away Bryson Stott and Trea Turner with two-strike counts, surrendering a walk and single. Facing Phillies slugger Bryce Harper, Cobb induced a groundball to shortstop Casey Schmitt (Giants #3 prospect) that turned into a rally-killing double play.

After the Giants stranded first baseman LaMonte Wade Jr. against Wheeler in the bottom half of the first, Cobb quickly found himself in another jam.

Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto snuck a ground ball down the third-base line past a diving J.D. Davis for a one-out double. Cobb lost focus of Realmuto at second base and allowed him to steal third base. The Giants brought the infield in, and Cobb induced another ground out to Schmitt that kept a run from scoring.

Cobb walked five batters through his first three innings of work, tying his career high for walks in a single appearance. It would be an overstatement to say he had his C-level stuff on Wednesday night. He induced just three strikeouts and five swinging strikes over the course of his outing. The Phillies never whiffed against his splitter once on 12 swings (opponents had a 22.6% whiff rate against the pitch entering the day).

Blake Sabol (Giants #33 prospect) led off the bottom of the third with a single for the Giants first hit of the game. Sabol opened a single-heavy rally, with Wade, Thairo Estrada, and Michael Conforto adding base hits that propelled the Giants to a 2-0 lead.

Cobb's successful dance around baserunners would come to an end in the fourth inning. The first three Phillies hitters in the inning squared up Cobb's pitches for hard-hit line drives. While a good play by left fielder Mitch Haniger robbed Alec Bohm of a hit, the other two fell for singles. Bryson Stott brought in the Phillies' first run of the game with an RBI base hit.

Then, Philadelphia tied things up on a balk call. Cobb appeared to pick Stott off first base, but umpire Rob Drake called a balk. Cobb's pause was short before his move to first base, but as with many rules in sports, there's a fine line between an excellent move and breaking a rule. Cobb was incensed by the call and was separated from Drake by Wade and Giants manager Gabe Kapler.

After a wild pitch allowed Turner to reach on a strikeout, Cobb was replaced by Taylor Rogers. With one out and runners on the corners, the southpaw struck out Harper and retired Castellanos to keep the score tied at 2.

Without a deficit, the Giants got right back to scoring in the bottom half of the fourth. Schmitt beat out an infield single with one out that prolonged the inning long enough for catcher Joey Bart to come to the plate.

With two outs in the inning, Bart hit a high pop-up toward first base. Phillies first baseman Kody Clemens ran into foul territory but was clearly ill-prepared for the Oracle Park winds, which push most foul balls back toward the field of play. The ball flew back into fair territory and landed, turning into an RBI double as Schmitt raced around the bases. Then, Bart scored on an RBI single by Wade.

John Brebbia relieved Rogers in the fifth, allowing a single before retiring five straight hitters. With the Giants ahead 4-2 heading into the seventh, Kapler turned to Tyler Rogers. Rogers surrendered three hits and a walk across two innings of work but did not allow a run to score. The length from Brebbia and Ty. Rogers set the stage for Camilo Doval to record his 10th save of the season. Pitching for the second day in a row, Doval did allow a solo home run to power-hitting lefty Kyle Schwarber. But he still finished off the win.

The SF Giants will look to finish off a series sweep against the Phillies with a win tomorrow afternoon. Kapler said during his postgame media availability that Ross Stripling will start Wednesday's game. He will face off against Phillies righty Taijuan Walker. First pitch is scheduled for 12:45 PM Pacific.

Published
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).

Share on XFollow maddelucchi
Home/San Francisco Giants News