UPDATE, 2:20: Ex-Ray Evan Longoria said he was curious to see how the opener strategy works under NL rules. Cash said it is a bit more complicated because they don’t want the pitcher’s spot in the order to come up more than once (during the bulk inning guy’s stint) unless the game is separated one way or another. Here is the Giants lineup: Duggar rf Belt 1b Longoria 3b Posey c Crawford ss Parra lf Pillar cf Panik 2b Samardzija p UPDATE, 2:15: Here is the Rays lineup, with a day off for SS Willy Adames, who is 1-for-his-first-27. Said Cash: "We just need to put our arm around him and support him a little bit right now. It’s not coming easy for him.'' Meadows rf Pham lf Choi 1b Lowe 2b Diaz 3b Kiermaier cf Robertson ss Zunino c Stanek p DEVELOPING: Extending their franchise-best start to 6-2, the Rays take on the Giants again today in San Francisco. They are using their opener strategy, with Ryne Stanek set to get the first 3-6 outs, then Yonny Chirinos likely to handle the bulk of the innings, coming off his strong seven-inning showing Sunday as a starter. The Giants are starting veteran Jeff Samardzija, who made clear in spring training that he doesn’t care for the strategy, or the way the Rays pitchers went along with it without standing up for themselves, saying there should be more anarchy in baseball. Lineups when available.<doc-sep>Tampa Bay Rays look to win their third series in a row against San Fransisco Giants with Yonny “No Opener Needed” Chirinos going against Drew Pomeranz Yandy Diaz is a curious choice, but it would pay off quickly in the top of the 1st. Let's settle in for some nice afternoon baseball and oh.... Yandy Díaz gone. #RaysUp pic.twitter.com/jOkwIS1MLh — Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) April 7, 2019 Yandy Diaz (3) off LHP Drew Pomeranz (3) - 109.0 mph, 19 degrees (377 ft Home Run) 91.3 mph Four-Seamer#Rays @ #SFGiants (T1) — MLBBarrelAlert (@MLBBarrelAlert) April 7, 2019 L A U N C H A N G L E Rays would threaten in the 3rd inning with Yandy Diaz working a walk and stealing his first base of the year, and Tommy Pham singling to make it 2 on with nobody out. Rays couldn’t capitalize with a groundout, and 2 lineouts of Avi Garcia and Mike Zunino, although the latter sounded better than MLB Gameday leads on. Mike Zunino (1) off LHP Drew Pomeranz (4) - 107.5 mph, 41 degrees (371 ft Flyout, .460 xBA) 93.4 mph Four-Seamer#Rays @ #SFGiants (T3) — MLBBarrelAlert (@MLBBarrelAlert) April 7, 2019 Rays would put runners on again in the 4th inning with Kiermaier and Adames getting back to back singles. Christian Arroyo, who is starting to find his groove, hit a bloop single and was able to score a running-on-contact Kiermaier and make it 2-0 Rays. . @arroyo_c drives in @KKiermaier39 in the 4th inning! Watch @RaysBaseball go up against the SF Giants LIVE now on FOX Sports Sun and the FOX Sports App! #MLB #RaysUp pic.twitter.com/GeGvi4BLY0 — FOX Sports Florida (@FOXSportsFL) April 7, 2019 Yonny Chirinos Yonny proved that he didn’t need an opener for the 2nd start in a row. Going 5.0 IP with only 69 pitches, Yonny had only 2 hits, 1 BB, and 5 Ks. If we've learned anything from today it's that Yonny Chirinos deserves to be penciled into the rotation for a bit — DRaysBay (@draysbay) April 7, 2019 At first look it was a weird decision to pull Yonny in favor of Adam Kolarek, but the action paid off as Kolarek was able to have a 1-2-3 inning in the 6th with 1 K. Kolarek would come out in the 7th but would give up a leadoff single to Yangervis Solarte and Cash would do some lineup wizardry, Putting Chaz Roe to pitch against Longoria, moving Adam Kolarek to 1B, and Yandy Diaz to 3B, Robertson to 2B and Adames to SS and Arroyo coming out of the game. In The Bay, we have a Rays (•_•) PLAYING A / \ (•_•) POSITION / \ pic.twitter.com/JbQ1Ofci7u — Cut4 (@Cut4) April 7, 2019 The magic would work, as Roe struck out Longoria, and then more lineup switcheroos. Kolarek goes back to the mound to face more LHH. Brandon Lowe comes in to 2B, Daniel Robertson back to 3B, and Yandy back to 1B.] Still with us? Me, neither. Kolarek would get Brandon Belt to strike out swinging, but couldn’t get Brandon Crawford, and the Giants would get something going in the 7th with 2 runners on and 2 out. Kevin Cash would go to Diego Castillo to face Kevin Pillar, who would strike out to end the inning. Diego Castillo winner by KO over Pillar (by 91mph Cutter). pic.twitter.com/MeqN1Z1uR0 — Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 7, 2019 Kevin Kiermaier would continue his hot streak and be able to split the OF with a stand up triple in the bottom of the 8th. Rays would get a much needed run after Giants pitcher Nick Vincent would get called for a balk after an unexpected throw to Evan Longoria at 3B to check on Kiermaier. . @KKiermaier39 scores on a balk in the 8th inning! ‍♂️ Tune in to FOX Sports Sun and the FOX Sports App to watch @RaysBaseball face the SF Giants LIVE now! #MLB #RaysUp pic.twitter.com/y1pFmqcWsW — FOX Sports Florida (@FOXSportsFL) April 7, 2019 AND IF THIS GAME COULDN’T GET ANY WEIRDER WE HAD: Thats right. Diego Castillo hitting with 1 runner on. He worked a 1-2 count before striking out looking. After taking his first AB of his professional career, Diego Castillo come onto the 8th and sat down the Giants hitters 1-2-3, with his fastball hitting 100 MPH. Diego Castillo struck out three of the four hitters he faced and they really didn't even stand a chance — Juan Toribio (@juanctoribio) April 7, 2019 Jose Alvarado would come in the 9th to close out the Rays three run lead. This wouldn’t be a Rays game without making it nerve wracking right? Alvarado would work around a Solarte single with a Duggar groundout and a Longoria strikeout, but would walk Brandon Belt after working a full count, and the Giants would get Brandon Crawford to the plate. Alvarado walks Belt, and #SFGiants have Crawford at the plate with 2 outs in 9th as tying run — Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) April 7, 2019 But Alvarado would get the groundout and the Rays would win their third straight series to open the season, which is a franchise record. . @RaysBaseball get the series win in San Francisco! Catch the Rays all season on FOX Sports Sun and the FOX Sports App! #MLB #RaysUp pic.twitter.com/slv9xvQsbU — FOX Sports Florida (@FOXSportsFL) April 7, 2019 Rays are 7-3, and head to Chicago to take on Carlos Rondon and the White Sox. Game time is at 2:10 PM EST.<doc-sep>“Any time you get an early lead, it’s great,” said Kiermaier. “But with what our pitchers have been doing, it’s one of those things right now where we once again felt like we had enough right then and there. I know it’s such a small sample size, but this could be a taste of what our pitchers can do throughout a full season.”<doc-sep>Click here if you are having trouble viewing the slideshow on a mobile device. SAN FRANCISCO–In the midst of an offseason where just about anything that could go wrong did, the Giants were pining for the day something would eventually go right. During a 45 minute-ceremony before Friday’s 5-2 loss to the Rays, the Giants made attendees laugh and cry and finally had the chance to reignite the emotional connection between their devoted fans and a storied franchise. Broadcaster Mike Krukow gave a poignant, touching remembrance of the late managing general partner, Peter Magowan. Public address announcer Renel Brooks-Moon voiced a beautiful tribute to Hall of Fame first baseman Willie McCovey, who passed away last fall. The 2019 Giants gathered behind the mound as Bruce Bochy threw out the first pitch before his 25th and final home opener as a major league manager. “It was just really emotional,” said Bochy, who teared up during a lengthy pregame introduction. “That’s overwhelming what happened there and it’s something that I’ll never forget.” For so many in the Giants’ organization, Friday’s festivities were the perfect way to put the sad and in some ways troubling recent past behind them. Finally, everything went according to plan. Then the game began. On the strength of back-to-back home runs by Yandy Díaz and Kevin Kiermaier, the Rays took a 4-0 first inning lead and never looked back. As an organization, the Giants have worked diligently in recent weeks to turn the page and write a more compelling story. President of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi has scoured the waiver wire, traded for new center fielder Kevin Pillar and promised a more fruitful future. Interim CEO Rob Dean has stepped into the spotlight and become the new public face for the ownership group, filling a void left when Major League Baseball suspended Larry Baer for his role in an altercation with his wife, Pam, at the beginning of March. Even a roster that offered few glimpses of hope in a series loss in San Diego to open the season improved its efforts in recent days. The Giants lost their series against the Dodgers to return home at 2-5, but they were outscored just 13-12 in three closely-contested games against the six-time reigning National League West champions. Though wet weather and morning showers threatened to delay or even postpone Friday’s opener, Mother Nature cooperated and gave the Giants a chance to do what they do best. Few organizations in all of sports honor legacy and tradition quite like the Giants, and that started with the dedication and appreciation for history displayed by Magowan. A long-time face of the franchise and a savior of baseball in San Francisco, Magowan died on January 27 at the age of 76. April 5 marked the Giants’ 20th home opener at the privately-funded ballpark he helped erect along the San Francisco waterfront, and as Krukow pointed out, Friday would have been Magowan’s 77th birthday. “Peter, you will never leave us,” Krukow said. Krukow’s remembrance of Magowan preceded the Giants’ video tribute to McCovey, who died on October 31 at the age of 80 after a battle with ongoing health issues. The Giants and first baseman Brandon Belt presented McCovey’s grandchildren and his widow, Estela, with a base featuring McCovey’s No. 44 on it. “It’s hard to imagine what (Estela) is going through,” Belt said. “I know it’s got to be tough for her. It’s tough for me to sit there and watch his family go through that. I just tried to assure them that Willie meant to a lot to this organization. He means a lot to the Giants and he’s going to live on forever with the Giants.” The deaths of Magowan, McCovey, former broadcaster Hank Greenwald and former manager Frank Robinson left the Giants with heavy hearts this offseason, but the home opener offered the franchise the opportunity to celebrate their legacies and to honor one of the club’s most iconic figures in Bochy. “You can tell how much the fans appreciate what he’s done here in San Francisco,” catcher Buster Posey said. “But I think San Francisco Giants fans are so baseball-knowledgeable as it is but I think there’s an appreciation for how long Boch has been doing it and the type of commitment that takes to manage at this level for 25 years.” During pregame introductions, the crowd at Oracle Park stood and cheered for Bochy for 90 seconds as broadcaster Jon Miller allowed the ovation to continue long after Bochy motioned for Miller to move onto announcing the starting lineup. The Giants asked Bochy to throw out the first pitch to Pablo Sandoval, who barely snuck onto the roster at the end of the spring despite being one of his manager’s favorite players. “We had a tough year with the passing of Peter and Willie and so many others, there were a lot of tributes up there,” Bochy said. “There’s so much history to this franchise and we got to see a lot of it today. It was really a special ceremony.” Shortly after Bochy’s fastball skipped in the dirt, a few heaters from Giants starter Dereck Rodríguez caught too much of the plate. The Giants right-hander allowed four earned runs just three times in his rookie season, but the Rays jumped out to a 4-0 lead against Rodríguez on the strength of three extra-base hits including two homers. That output was more than enough to sink the Giants on another day when their offense failed to strike fear in an opposing starter. After Rays righty Tyler Glasnow tossed six shutout innings, the Giants broke through with a pinch-hit RBI double from Sandoval, who has been one of the team’s best hitters thus far despite being limited to a bench role. One day is not enough to erase the pain of loss or the concerns the franchise must confront about its future, but the Giants took a step forward on Friday. The Giants did not rally to win against the Rays, but pregame festivities went off without a hitch and the team made the game interesting at the end.<doc-sep>
The San Francisco Giants’ bats awakened today, unleashing havoc on the unsuspecting Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays implemented their strategy of starting the game with a relief pitcher, better known now as an opener, to mixed results. It’s almost like they don’t know the Giants at all. Starting pitchers are their kryptonite, and relief pitchers their bread and butter. Before this game, the Giants hadn’t scored a run before the fourth inning. And while opener Ryne Stanek did his job and kept it scoreless through two, the Giants were already in the late innings in their minds, rallying in the third and fifth innings. The game started off a little rough, with Samardzija walking Tommy Pham, who would get doubled in by Ji-Man Choi. This was not the last time the two of them would cause problems for Samardzija in this game. Later, in the third inning, we saw some of the funkiest (in a good way!) offense I’ve seen from this team in a while. Kevin Pillar led off the inning with a bunt that he beat out, sliding in safely. He stole second, and Mike Zunino probably shouldn’t even have tried to throw him out, but he did and it sailed into the outfield, allowing Pillar to take third as well. Joe Panik walked, setting up Samardzija with a bunt opportunity, which he executed well. It wasn’t deep enough to score Pillar, but it advanced Panik. [Read in the voice of The Count from Sesame Street] Two. Two bunts! Ah, ah, ah! Anyway, Pillar tagged up on a Steven Duggar sac fly to score the first run. Brandon Belt (who had been robbed in the cruelest of fashions in the first inning when he hit a ball to the farthest part of the park where you can hit a ball on the right field line and still record an out) singled to right field. Panik took off at the sound of the bat and beat Austin Meadows’ throw home to score the second. The Rays had a rally of their own in the fifth inning. Samardzija was not missing any bats as he gave up three consecutive singles to load the bases with no outs. The only saving grace was an exceptional play by Pillar, who made a diving catch to get Pham out and limit the damage to one run. This brought up Choi, who singled to right field to score a second run when Willie Adames just beat the throw home by Gerardo Parra, and retook the lead for the Rays. This ended Samardzija’s day, and Travis Bergen entered to get the final out. Many fans probably thought that was the ballgame. Sure, we can hope that the Giants will score two runs and hold their opponents to one. But more than that is like asking for a miracle. Or so many might have thought after how this season has played out thus far. But the fun was only just starting. With Ryan Yarbrough pitching, Panik walked to lead off the inning. And then Connor Joe — dear, sweet, baby-faced Connor Joe — got his first big league hit and everyone lost it! BELT DINGER. 6-3 GIANTS. pic.twitter.com/YVjUrMCMG6 — SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) April 6, 2019 Duggar followed that up with a double to left field, which scored Panik easily, but they sent Joe as well and he JUST beat the throw at the plate, scoring his first run as well. My notes at this point simply say “HIS FACE!!! !” and this is probably why: That made three RBI for Duggar, and not to be outdone, Brandon Belt hit a two-run homer in the next at bat for his second and third RBI as well. Who knew baseball could be this fun? For the second time in the game, Belt came up clutch and gave the Giants the lead. Now, it wouldn’t quite be a Giants game if we didn’t have a little torture in the late innings. The Rays managed to score another run against Sam Dyson in the sixth inning, and Will Smith came in in the ninth to close and it was a bit of a struggle. With the tying run at the plate for nearly the entire inning, Smith was facing Pham with two outs and it was a battle.