7/17 Gamethread: Giants @ Reds

The San Francisco Giants were not given an easy task to start the second half of the season. They open things up with a season-high 11-game road trip, which not only features games in four different cities, but doesn’t have an off day mixed in. But so far the early results are delightful, as they swept the Pittsburgh Pirates out of the gates, running their winning streak to five games, passing the Arizona Diamondbacks in the standings, and moving to just 1.5 games out of the NL West lead.

Now they get to start a four-game series against a team that has been turning a lot of heads this year: the Cincinnati Reds.

Thankfully they’ve got their ace on the mound. Logan Webb is well rested, as the Giants pushed his start back a little bit to utilize the All-Star break, so he had seven consecutive days off after pitching the final game of the first half, when he dazzled against the Colorado Rockies for his first career complete game shutout. On the year, Webb is 8-7 with a 3.14 ERA, a 3.23 FIP, and 127 strikeouts to 23 walks in 126 innings. Even though most aces have already made their second-half debuts, Webb leads the Majors in innings pitched going into this start.

For the Reds it’s lefty Brandon Williamson, a 25 year old in his debut season. Williamson is 10 starts into his career, and trying to put the pieces together still. He’s 1-2 with a 5.21 ERA, a 5.17 FIP, and 38 strikeouts to 19 walks in 46.2 innings.

Enjoy the game, Giants fans!

Lineups

WAR figures from Fangraphs

Giants

1. Austin Slater (R) — LF — 144 OPS+ (+0.9 WAR)
2. Wilmer Flores (R) — 1B — 117 OPS+ (+0.7 WAR)
3. Michael Conforto (L) — DH — 107 OPS+ (+0.9 WAR)
4. J.D. Davis (R) — 3B — 115 OPS+ (+1.8 WAR)
5. Patrick Bailey (S) — C — 114 OPS+ (+1.9 WAR)
6. Mike Yastrzemski (L) — RF — 117 OPS+ (+1.6 WAR)
7. Luis Matos (R) — CF — 85 OPS+ (+0.2 WAR)
8. Casey Schmitt (R) — SS — 62 OPS+ (-0.3 WAR)
9. Brett Wisely (L) — 2B — 42 OPS+ (-0.4 WAR)

P. Logan Webb — RHP — 3.23 FIP (+2.8 WAR)

Reds

1. Elly De La Cruz (S) — 3B — 113 OPS+ (+1.0 WAR)
2. TJ Friedl (L) — CF — 114 OPS+ (+2.2 WAR)
3. Matt McLain (R) — SS — 128 OPS+ (+2.1 WAR)
4. Jake Fraley (L) — RF — 119 OPS+ (+1.6 WAR)
5. Jonathan India (R) — 2B — 94 OPS+ (+1.0 WAR)
6. Joey Votto (L) — 1B — 146 OPS+ (+0.6 WAR)
7. Christian Encarnacion-Strand (R) — DH — MLB debut
8. Tyler Stephenson (R) — C — 86 OPS+ (-0.5 WAR)
9. Will Benson (L) — LF — 131 OPS+ (+0.8 WAR)

P. Brandon Williamson — LHP — 5.17 FIP (+0.5 WAR)

Game #94

Who: San Francisco Giants (52-41) vs. Cincinnati Reds (50-44)

Where: Great American Ball Park, Cincinnati, Ohio

When: 4:10 p.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