Yep, Spring Training games mean nothing. Less than nothing. But, still…. The Giants opened the 2017 Cactus League with two come-from-behind victories over the Cincinnati Reds and the defending World Champion Chicago Cubs (still can’t believe that’s not an #alternativeFact).
Chris Marrero
On opening spring day, they entered the ninth inning trailing the Reds 4-3. Chris Marrero hit a 3-run walk-off homer to give the G-Men a 6-4 victory. The next day, Saturday, the Cubs were in Scottsdale (Cubs were, however, split-squad). The Cubbies were up 3-0 in the fifth, but the Giants tied it in the bottom of the frame t=and then had a four-run sixth to put the game out of reach. The final: 8-6.
Then on Day 3, the Giants had a much easier day of it. They took the lead for good in the third and won it 9-5 pretty handily.
The good news is that the Giants’ offense has been performing well. Scoring 23 runs on 31 hits, which suggests timely hitting. The (not unexpected) bad news is that pitching has been a bit disappointing.
In Game 1, Madison Bumgarner gave up two runs in his only inning, for an ERA of 18.0. Then NRI Roberto Gomez came in and went one inning, giving up another run. Game 2 saw Matt Cain draw the start and toss two pretty nice innings. Ty Blach came on in the third and gave up another run over two innings but the biggest disappointment was Josh Osich, who yielded two earned runs in a single inning. Matt Moore started Sunday’s game and gave up one run in 1-⅓ innings of work. He gave way to Matt Reynolds, who didn’t help his cause any by giving up three earned runs in the remaining ⅔ of the second for an ERA of 40.50. So far, Manager Bruce Bochy and Pitching Coach Dave Righetti have taken a look at 23 different pitchers.
As I said at the beginning, these things tend to be meaningless until the last week or so of Spring Training, but hardened fans watch and fret over them anyway.