Sometimes when a ship is floundering, sitting dead in the water with no momentum, they just need a little help from a tugboat to make it safely into the harbor. In 2026, the San Francisco Giants are that sinking ship. Wednesday night in Cleveland, Matt “Tugboat” Wilkinson was that tugboat.
Beefy 23-year-old rookie left-hander Wilkinson made his first major league start, delivering two efficient shutout innings against the lefty-heavy top of the Cleveland Guardians lineup. That set the table for a strong
tandem outing from Adrian Hauser (4-7), who threw five shutout innings and lowered his ERA to 1.50 since being relegated to the bullpen June 26.
Then, after Hauser walked Steven Kwan to lead off the 8th, Dylan Smith entered the game and struck out five in a dominant two-inning save. Throw in a Superman catch by Victor Bericoto to end Cleveland’s biggest threat in the 4th inning and the Giants had just enough pitching and defense to pull out a win against one of the American League’s best starters, Parker Messick (9-8), who probably deserved better after striking out 10 Giants in 6.2 innings.
Wilkinson already looks like a folk hero. He’s 6-foot-1 and 250 pounds and his face gets completely red when he pitches. Leaping out the way of a Nathaniel Lowe grounder in the first, which led to a hilariously poor Willy Adames throw, you could already see the stuffed tugboats glimmering in the eyes of the Giants marketing department.
With Brandon Belt retired and Klay Thompson cruising the waters of Texas, there’s a serious nautical vacancy in the Bay Area. That is, until Brandon Aiyuk announces he’s going to jet ski to Washington D.C.
Tugboat came over in the Patrick Bailey trade earlier this season, along with the 29th pick in the draft, that became Carson Bolemon. He’s not considered one of the Giants’ top prospects and probably needs more time in the minors, after making just 10 starts for the Sacramento Rivercats in AAA (43Ks in 43.2 innings, 5.15 ERA). Still, he misses bats, he’s still only 23, and he got a lot of outs with his four-seam fastball Wednesday night.
The Giants had to add him to the 40-man roster this fall anyway, so there was no downside in giving him a shot — especially when slotted to face four left-handed hitters and two switch-hitters.
Houser was throwing quite hard after entering the game in the 3rd, touching 98 MPH on his fastball. He ended up giving up only four hits and two walks in 5+ winnings, but two of those hits were ground balls to second where Osleivis Basabe couldn’t quite make a play. The Guardians’ only extra-base hit of the game followed one of those singles in the 4th, but Bericoto’s catch ended the threat.
He got clutch pitches when he needed to. Houser induced a double-play ball to end the 5th, and got Brayan Rocchio to pop out after an Adames error extended the 7th inning. Tony Vitello probably shouldn’t have had him start the 8th, but in the end it only made Smith look more awesome when he struck out the side, culminating in a very weird play where Angel Martinez tried to argue a called strike three while also running to first.
Adames returned to the lineup after missing a week and delivered three of the Giants’ seven hits in his four at-bats. Rafael Devers doubled in the 4th and came around to score the game’s only run on Bericoto’s grounder into the hole that Rocchio couldn’t handle, for an RBI single.
That 4th inning could have been more promising for the Giants had it not been for their abject fear of Kwan’s throwing arm. After Devers advance to third on a wild pitch, he held on Bryce Eldridge’s medium-deep fly ball to Kwan. Two batters later, Jung Hoo Lee doubled into the left field corner and Bericoto opted not to test Kwan’s arm by trying to come home.
Lee had two hits in his return from a one-game absence, showing promising signs of life against a difficult lefty. Devers seems to face nothing but lefties these days, going 1-for-4 with that all-important double. Drew Cavanaugh struck out twice but did very well on his ABS challenges.
The one Giants left in the fog was Jonah Cox, who left the field wearing the Golden Sombrero after striking out in all four trips to the plate. Bessick tortured him with high fastballs all night before whiffing him the third time with a truly unfair changeup on the inside corner. For his 4th K, it was a curve in almost the same spot, made crueler by the ABS reversal of the original call.
Houser got a win, Smith got his most impressive save of the season, and the Giants won for just the fifth time in their last 16 games. But it makes sense that in a city where the river used to regular catch on fire, filling the town with smoke, it was a Tugboat that righted the ship.
