6/14 Gamethread: Giants @ Cardinals

It’s time for breakfast baseball, which is super exciting. And it’s time for the San Francisco Giants to try and win their fourth straight game, which is super exciting. And it’s time for them to try and sweep the St. Louis Cardinals, giving them their second consecutive road sweep, which is exciting.

But all of that excitement pales in comparison to the big news: Luis Matos is here.

The Giants center field prospect hit well below league average in High-A last year, ending 2022 in the dreaded “is this prospect who we thought was good actually good?” category. Turns out the answer was “no.” He’s not good ... he’s great. In a span of two months, Matos not only shook off his 2022 struggles, but became arguably a top 10 prospect in baseball, and knocked on the door to the Majors as loud as you can possibly knock on it. The Giants were surely working hard to figure out the best way to get him on the roster, and then a highly unfortunate situation made the decision easy for them: Mitch Haniger broke his forearm, and was placed on the IL.

So now Matos is here, and he’ll presumably be here for the long haul. And if you need further evidence that he’s not only here to fill an injury hole ... he’s hitting second in his MLB debut. You sure don’t see that often.

Matos is the fourth-youngest player in the Majors, the second-youngest active player (behind the Cardinals Jordan Walker), and the youngest debuting Giant since Madison Bumgarner in 2009.

And I am excited.

David Villar is also here and in the lineup after J.D. Davis sprained his ankle during the team’s 11-3 win on Tuesday. As of writing this, the Giants have not yet made a decision on Davis, who is still getting treatment. Perhaps he’ll be IL’d, but perhaps the Giants, in hopes that he’ll be back in a few days, will just option Keaton Winn instead.

The Giants are giving the ball to righty Anthony DeSclafani, who makes his 14th start of the year. He’s 4-6 with a 3.89 ERA, a 3.83 FIP, and 53 strikeouts to 16 walks in 76.1 innings. DeSclafani gave up two runs in six innings against the Chicago Cubs in his last start.

For the Cardinals it’s lefty Jordan Montgomery, who also makes his 14th start. He’s 3-7 with a 3.88 ERA, a 3.76 FIP, and 66 strikeouts to 19 walks in 72 innings. In his last game he dealt six shutout innings against the Cincinnati Reds.

Enjoy the game, Giants fans!

Lineups

WAR numbers from Fangraphs

Giants

1. Austin Slater (R) — LF — 160 wRC+ (+0.6 WAR)
2. Luis Matos (R) — CF — MLB debut
3. Thairo Estrada (R) — 2B — 126 wRC+ (+2.5 WAR)
4. Wilmer Flores (R) — DH — 104 OPS+ (+0.2 WAR)
5. Patrick Bailey (S) — C — 152 OPS+ (+1.1 WAR)
6. LaMonte Wade Jr. (L) — 1B — 142 OPS+ (+1.8 WAR)
7. Casey Schmitt (R) — SS — 87 OPS+ (+0.3 WAR)
8. David Villar (R) — 3B — 40 OPS+ (-0.2 WAR)
9. Mike Yastrzemski (L) — RF — 108 OPS+ (+0.9 WAR)

P. Anthony DeSclafani — RHP — 3.83 FIP (+1.2 WAR)

Cardinals

1. Brendan Donovan (L) — 2B — 103 OPS+ (+1.3 WAR)
2. Paul Goldschmidt (R) — 1B — 141 OPS+ (+2.3 WAR)
3. Nolan Gorman (L) — 3B — 130 OPS+ (+1.4 WAR)
4. Nolan Arenado (R) — DH — 125 OPS+ (+1.5 WAR)
5. Jordan Walker (R) — LF — 116 OPS+ (-0.2 WAR)
6. Dylan Carlson (S) — RF — 88 OPS+ (+0.2 WAR)
7. Paul DeJong (R) — SS — 102 OPS+ (+1.0 WAR)
8. Andrew Knizner (R) — C — 90 OPS+ (+0.2 WAR)
9. Tommy Edman (S) — CF — 89 OPS+ (+0.9 WAR)

P. Jordan Montgomery — LHP — 3.76 FIP (+1.4 WAR)

Game #68

Who: San Francisco Giants (35-32) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (27-41)

Where: Busch Stadium, St. Louis, Missouri

When: 10:15 a.m. PT

Regional broadcast: NBC Sports Bay Area (available on fuboTV)

National broadcast: MLB Network, out of market only (available on fuboTV)

Radio: KNBR 680 AM/104.5 FM, KSFN 1510 AM