Fans have, unfortunately, grown accustomed to there being a gap in talent when the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers play each other. And that was once again the case on Friday, as the team’s squared off for the first of two Cactus League showdowns.
In a happy change of pace, however, the talent gap favored the Giants.
It’s not the shortest drive from Camelback Ranch to Scottsdale Stadium, and so the Dodgers left the bulk of their critical players behind to enjoy an off day. There were exactly
zero regulars in LA’s lineup, and only four of their nine hitters were players on the 40-man roster. The Giants, on the other hand, at home (their desert home, at least) and in front of their fans, sported mostly regulars. Their initial lineup card had the complete starting infield and two-thirds of the starting outfield, while starting catcher Patrick Bailey was the designated hitter and leading backup candidate Daniel Susac slid behind the dish.
So it was, in essence, a real Major League team against a AAA team, and the results were exactly what you would expect and hope: a 12-4 trouncing for the folks in orange and black.
That talent gap took a concerning hit in the opening moments of the game, though. Right before the game started, it was reported that first baseman Rafael Devers had been scratched due to a sore hamstring. He was replaced by Bryce Eldridge, he went 0-2 with two strikeouts against Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and 1-1 with a double against not-Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
And then, when the second inning began, it was not Harrison Bader standing in center field, but rather Grant McCray. That was especially concerning, as the first inning had ended on a Bader groundout, and the thought was that he had possibly hurt his lower body running to first. Thankfully that wasn’t the case: near the end of the game, it was revealed that Bader was dealing with a thumb contusion that had been bothering him for a couple of days.
While the two regulars provided a scare, it appears that there’s nothing to worry about. After the game, manager Tony Vitello called the ailments minor, and said both players might be available on Sunday.
As for the actual baseball? Well, it started well. A day after the Giants witnessed numerous Spring Trainingy home runs — balls that probably would have been routine fly balls at Oracle Park that somehow cleared the fence — they were treated to the opposite to begin this game. Robbie Ray opened the game by facing Alex Freeland, who on the second pitch of the afternoon hit the ball 104.4 mph and 417 feet. But it landed short of the fence, and in Bader’s glove, kicking off a 1-2-3 inning.
In the bottom half, the veteran Willy Adames showed the youngster Freeland how it’s done. Facing one of the best pitchers in baseball in Yamamoto, Adames — hitting leadoff — opened the inning with a 103.3-mph, 418-foot blast over the left field fence, giving the Giants their first of 12 runs on the day.
The Dodgers would tie it up in the second, in mildly painful fashion: after Ray issued a one-out walk to Keston Hiura, and after he struck out Ryan Ward, he faced James Tibbs III. You may know the Tibbs story, but if not, here it is: he was the Giants first-round pick in the 2024 draft, though he didn’t quite live up to expectations (and, funnily enough, looked like he might need to be platooned). The Giants included him in the trade for Devers, and the Boston Red Sox flipped him to the Dodgers for Dustin May where, conveniently, his prospect started to take on more shine.
While typically an outfielder, Tibbs played first base in this game, and on the second pitch from Ray he smoked a triple down the line to score a run. So it goes.
The Giants got their run back immediately, with Thursday’s stars back in action: Matt Chapman led off the inning with a single, and then Heliot Ramos, who is having a sensational spring, hit a 107.2-mph opposite-field double off of Yamamoto. Chapman had to hold at third, but would score on a productive groundout by Victor Bericoto.
Again the Dodgers wasted no time tying the game, this time against Carson Seymour. Michael Siani drew a leadoff walk (Seymour, as has been an issue for him, struggled to put the batter away, issuing four straight balls after getting up on the count 0-2), and then stole second base, putting him in position to score on a one-out Santiago Espinal single.
It wasn’t a particularly clean day for Seymour. He would hit a batter later that inning, and then give up a two-out double in the fourth before being lifted for a Minor Leaguer.
The Giants once again pulled ahead in the fourth, and looked poised for a big inning after four straight tremendous at-bats with one out: Ramos doubled, Bericoto singled, Susac singled Ramos home, and then Adames smoked a line drive. But Espinal made a delightful catch, and Susac — despite freezing — was easily doubled off at first. The big inning would have to wait.
It only had to wait one more inning, though. Nursing a 3-2 lead, the Giants exploded in the fifth inning, with plenty of help from the defense of LA’s B squad. Eldridge opened the inning with something truly wonderful: an opposite-field double off a left-handed pitcher (the cold water that you didn’t ask for is that the ball absolutely and positively should have been caught, and the left-handed pitcher in question hasn’t advanced past AA, but still).
After Bailey was retired, Luis Arráez did something he only did 34 times last year and drew a walk. McCray then loaded the bases with a rather hilarious walk: a 2-1 pitch was called a strike, but McCray successfully challenged it. Then the 3-2 pitch was called ball four, only for the Dodgers to unsuccessfully challenge it. I quite enjoyed that.
With two outs and the rally threatening to come to an end before anyone scored, NRI right fielder Jared Oliva saved the day with a two-run infield single that the defense really should have done something about. We don’t apologize for those, though, and Bericoto understood that: two pitches later, he belted a mighty impressive home run, though for some reason the Statcast data never came through for it.
It was a funny moment for the broadcast crew, though. Seemingly no one had realized that Oliva’s single had scored a pair of runs, so Bericoto was — to those of us watching at home — celebrated for hitting a grand slam when he had only knocked in three runs. Hey, whatever works.
That was Bericoto’s second home run of the spring, making him the first Giant to have multiple dingers. He is certainly making a strong impression in camp, and that’s great to see. It’s looking more and more like Bericoto may end up being the star of the team’s 2018 international signing class, which included Marco Luciano and Luis Matos. Go figure!
The Giants had taken command of the game with one big inning, and they would stack a second one to blow the game wide open, again with help from the Dodgers. Casey Schmitt, who replaced Eldridge at first base, drew a leadoff walk and stole second, then scored on a Bailey single. Nate Furman, who replaced Arráez at second, was plunked by a pitch. An error on a pickoff attempt allowed the runners to each move 90 feet, leaving first base open for another McCray walk. And, in the same situation as before, Oliva delivered the same result: a two-run single. The Dodgers would have their second pickoff error of the inning, and McCray scored the fourth and final run of the inning, and the 12th and final run of the game.
Some more notes — good and bad — from a win that moved the Giants to 5-2.
- Lefty Matt Gage had a stellar game. He pitched the fifth inning, and struck out all three batters he faced. With Sam Hentges unlikely to be healthy by Opening Day, and Erik Miller still ramping up, Gage has a very clear and clean path to a spot on the Opening Day roster.
- Righty Gregory Santos, an NRI, once again impressed. He handled a scoreless sixth inning, allowing one baserunner (a single) and striking out a batter. Five of his 12 pitches hit 99, with two of them eclipsing triple figures. I’ve maintained since the Giants brought Santos back that he might be their best reliever this year, and I’m not moving away from that.
- Four pitchers came over from Minor League camp and got into the game: righty R.J. Dabovich took over for Seymour, and ended the inning with a strikeout. Righty Greg Farone pitched a scoreless frame with a hit and a strikeout. Lefty Nick Zwack gave up two runs in an inning of work — including a very spring home run — but also struck out two. The star was righty Marques Johnson, who pitched a perfect eighth inning with a strikeout. Johnson — one of the top relief prospects in the system — only needed seven pitches, six of which were strikes.
- With his pair of doubles, Ramos now has four extra-base hits through five spring games. All four of those hits have come against right-handed pitchers, three of the four have been opposite-field knocks, and two of the four have been against All-Stars. He also hasn’t made any defensive foibles yet.
- Tyler Fitzgerald, who replaced Chapman at third base and later moved to left field, had a very difficult game. He had five swings-and-misses, and twice came up to bat with the bases loaded and less than two outs, and failed to get the runner home. He also lost a challenge. It’s obviously very early, but he’s just 1-11 with three strikeouts this spring (and his one hit was a pop-up that no one caught).
- Jhonny Level, one of the team’s top prospects, made his spring debut! It was very brief for the infielder who is over from Minor League camp: he pinch-ran for Eldridge, scored, and then was replaced on defense by Schmitt.
- Susac continued his strong spring by hitting 2-3 with a double. He did give up a stolen base, but I thought it was a fairly good throw.
- It’s Spring Training for everyone! In addition to the mis-labeling of Bericoto’s home run, there were these two fun hiccups:
Spring Training: there’s nothing like it.
The Giants visit the A’s tomorrow at 12:05 p.m. PT. Tyler Mahle is expected to make his Giants debut.
