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What we learned when Chapman’s heroics saved the Giants’ win over the Marlins Originally appeared in NBC Bay Area Sports
SAN FRANCISCO– Matt Chapman He’s done it all for the Giants this season. On Friday night, he salvaged what was shaping up to be the worst loss of another disappointing season.
Chapman’s deep double into the gap cleared the bases in the bottom of the eighth inning and sparked a 3-1 victory over the Miami Marlins, the worst team in the National League. San Francisco had had just three hits in seven innings, but old friend Mike Baumann loaded the bases when Marlins manager Skip Schumaker tried to get a second inning out of him. After Michael Conforto struck out, Chapman lined a two-out, two-strike slider off right-hander George Soriano.
CHAPPY CLEARS THE BASES TO TAKE THE LEAD 💥 pic.twitter.com/6Akgn22urg
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) August 31, 2024
San Francisco (68-68) sits 6.5 behind Atlanta for the third and final NL wild-card spot with 26 games remaining.
He The Giants’ playoff hopes They are on life support and certainly need a sweep this weekend. They took the first one, although they did not regain any ground. Earlier in the day, the Atlanta Braves beat the Philadelphia Phillies, the New York Mets beat the Chicago White Sox and the Chicago Cubs beat the Washington Nationals.
Here are three takeaways from Friday’s game.
Snells is good
Since coming off the injured list in early July, Blake Snell has made five starts at Oracle Park and has pitched as well as humanly possible. In 31 1/3 innings, he has allowed just one run on 10 hits. With eight more strikeouts on Friday, he has reached 42 in those five starts. He has not been the winning pitcher in any of them, though.
Snell displayed his usual second-half brilliance Friday, allowing just four hits and issuing one walk. Two of the hits were well-sequential, allowing him to score a run in his final inning. Still, he lowered his ERA to 3.56, an impressive feat considering it was 9.51 in late June.
#GiantsForever
The Marlins had Derek’s Hill batting fourth and Otto Lopez batting behind him. In the seventh, they turned to Baumann. It was an amazing night for Giants fans who like to remember some guys.
Lopez, a second baseman, was in training camp with the Giants but never appeared in a major league game. Hill made five appearances for San Francisco last month and has four homers and 17 RBIs in his first 23 games in Miami. He scored the first run of the night after reaching base on a single to lead off the seventh inning.
Baumann, who has appeared for five teams this season, took over in the bottom of the inning against the team he made one appearance for in July. He threw 45 pitches — 13 more than in any previous outing this season — and inexplicably stayed in the game long enough to load the bases with a pair of walks.
Not exactly Cy Young
On Thursday, Milwaukee’s Aaron Civale pitched a season-high seven innings and allowed a season-low two hits while handing the Giants a series loss. The offense was no better at home against right-hander Adam Oller, who had a 6.90 ERA in 30 previous major league appearances.
In his third start of the season, the 29-year-old struck out a career-high eight and allowed just two hits in six scoreless innings. It was just the second scoreless start of his career; the other was when he was with the Oakland Athletics in 2022.
