What we learned as Giants' opportunistic offense capitalizes in win vs. Phillies

What we learned as Giants’ opportunistic offense capitalizes in win vs. Phillies originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

BOX SCORE

SAN FRANCISCO — With the exception of right field, where Luis Matos started in place of Mike Yastrzemski because a lefty was on the mound, the Giants had their ‘A’ lineup on the field Monday night. Casey Schmitt returned from the IL and went right into the lineup at second base, and if all goes according to plan, that might be the look for the rest of the 2025 MLB season.

The first night with the alignment was not exactly an offensive explosion, but in the eighth inning, the group broke out. Well, kind of.

Willy Adames got grazed by a pitch to lead off the inning and Matt Chapman took advantage of a generous Phil Cuzzi strike zone, staying alive long enough to poke a single into right. After Wilmer Flores was hit by a pitch, Schmitt hit a fielder’s choice grounder up the middle that brought the go-ahead run home.

Another grounder made it a two-run rally.

It wasn’t pretty, but it didn’t matter. The Giants won 3-1, taking the first game of this series from a Philadelphia Phillies squad that’s in first in the NL East.

In what has become a theme of the season, the Giants wasted an early opportunity to build a healthy lead. They loaded the bases with no outs in the second, but Jung Hoo Lee struck out and Matos and Patrick Bailey grounded out. The Matos ball looked like a potential inning-ending double play, but Phillies shortstop Trea Turner kicked it, allowing a run to score.

That was it until the fifth, when the Phillies plated the tying run on a pair of Giants mistakes. They got the go-ahead runner to third two innings later, but left-hander Joey Lucchesi struck out Turner. After the early missed opportunity, the Giants went down quietly against Phillies lefty Christopher Sanchez, who has 20 strikeouts in two starts against them this season.

After the Giants took the lead, the Phillies got the leadoff runner on in the top of the ninth. Camilo Doval got out of it, getting Bryson Stott to bounce into a game-ending double play.

Still Rolling

Landen Roupp screamed into his glove as he came off the mound in the fifth, and it wasn’t hard to figure out why he was so upset. The lone run on his line came in an unfortunate way.

Bryson Stott got a leadoff double after hitting a grounder that took a bizarre hop and bounced off the inside of Flores’ heel at first. After a grounder to the right side moved Stott over, Roupp spiked a changeup for a wild pitch.

Roupp has allowed fewer than two runs in five of seven starts at Oracle Park this season. He lowered his ERA for the season to 3.39.

The Hand Seems Fine

Last Thursday, Chapman hit off a pitching machine ramped up to high velocity, hopeful that his sprained hand would feel fine. That session led to a one-game rehab assignment and a return to the lineup, and on Monday, Chapman showed the form that put him in the All-Star mix before he got hurt in early June.

The third baseman had a 110 mph single in his first at-bat and a 107 mph double in the third, hitting the latter ball so hard up the middle that it knuckled away from Phillies center fielder Brandon Marsh and landed on the warning track. His single in the eighth was 103 mph.

Walk This Way

Ryan Walker was put on ice during the Diamondbacks series last week. He worked on his mechanics as the staff gave him a few days off to regroup after a rough weekend in Chicago.

It’s clear that Walker has fallen behind others — including Spencer Bivens — in the bullpen mix, but he looked like his old self on Monday. He breezed through a 1-2-3 inning, getting a pair of soft grounders before he blew a 97 mph fastball past Max Kepler. Walker hit 97 mph three times in the inning and showed much better command of a sinker that has gotten away from him often in the first half.

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Still Rolling

The Hand Seems Fine

Walk This Way

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