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9/4 Gamethread: Giants vs. Diamondbacks

Tyler Anderson vs. Taylor Clarke.

By Brady Klopfer

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San Francisco Giants v Arizona Diamondbacks Photo by Ralph Freso/Getty Images

For perhaps the first time all year, there’s some pressure on the San Francisco Giants. They’ve played well enough to make a postseason push, and they’re going up against an inferior Arizona Diamondbacks team that they match up well against.

They don’t need to win tonight, but they do need to do well this series ... and that starts tonight.

Game #39

Who: San Francisco Giants (18-20) vs. Arizona Diamondbacks (14-24)
Where: Oracle Park, San Francisco, California
When: 6:45 p.m. PT
Regional broadcast: NBC Sports Bay Area (available through fuboTV)
National broadcast: None
Radio: KNBR 680 AM/104.5 FM

Lineups

A whole lot of hot bats in there for Gabe Kapler’s crew.

  1. RF — Mike Yastrzemski (L) — .298/.411/.603 — 176 OPS+
  2. LF — Alex Dickerson (L) — .268/.339/.546 — 140 OPS+
  3. 3B — Evan Longoria (R) — .308/.344/.487 — 127 OPS+
  4. 1B — Brandon Belt (L) — .333/.420/.621 — 183 OPS+
  5. DH — Wilmer Flores (R) — .291/.331/.520 — 131 OPS+
  6. 2B — Donovan Solano (R) — .331/.369/.479 — 133 OPS+
  7. SS — Brandon Crawford (L) — .278/.350/.444 — 118 OPS+
  8. C — Joey Bart (R) — .225/.326/.300 — 76 OPS+
  9. CF — Mauricio Dubón (R) — .276/.323/.333 — 83 OPS+
    LHP — Tyler Anderson — 4.75 ERA, 4.66 FIP, 24 K and 15 BB in 36 IP

And a lot of familiar names from Torey Lovullo’s squad, since the Giants have seen them a lot lately.

  1. LF — Tim Locastro (R) — .258/.378/.355 — 99 OPS+
  2. CF — Ketel Marte (S) — .299/.335/.396 — 96 OPS+
  3. 1B — Christian Walker (R) — .288/.340/.489 — 119 OPS+
  4. 3B — Eduardo Escobar (S) — .194/.281/.333 — 64 OPS+
  5. RF — Kole Calhoun (L) — .195/.327/.439 — 103 OPS+
  6. SS — Nick Ahmed (R) — .231/.296/.369 — 77 OPS+
  7. DH — Josh Rojas (L) — .250/.333/.250 — 61 OPS+
  8. 2B — Andy Young (R) — .227/.433/.455 — 140 OPS+
  9. C — Daulton Varsho (L) — .108/.195/.162 — -2 OPS+
    RHP — Taylor Clarke — 2.22 ERA, 4.70 FIP, 25 K and 12 BB in 24.1 IP

Notes

Which Anderson? Because of the funny schedule, Tyler Anderson is making his third straight start against the Diamondbacks. But which Anderson will the Giants get? In his first showdown with Arizona, Anderson threw the first complete game of his career, giving up just 3 hits, 0 walks, and 1 unearned run. But he was knocked out of the game in the fifth inning of his second soiree, after giving up 9 hits, 3 walks, and 7 earned runs. It’s safe to say that if the Giants get his performance from two weeks ago they probably win, and if they get his performance from a week ago they probably lose.

Can they figure out Clarke? On the other side is Taylor Clarke. Not many people have played well for the Diamondbacks when they’ve taken on the Giants, but Clarke has. In his start he went 5 innings, and allowed just 1 hit and 1 walk while striking out 7. The Giants have their work cut out to try and figure out how to solve that puzzle.

Locastro name watch: Last week, Mike Krukow kept conflating Tim Locastro with Tommy La Stella, to the point that he and Duane Kuiper made numerous jokes about his inability to remember which one was playing in the game. Will that carry into this series? These are the hard-hitting questions.

Enjoy the baseball, friends.

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