Where has this Tyler Mahle been?
The woeful Giants walked off the A’s, 2-1, with two homers in the ninth, but don’t let that distract you from the biggest development of a foggy Wednesday evening at Oracle Park.
Mahle looked like a totally different pitcher than the one that owned a 1-7 record and 6.04 ERA before a monthlong stint on the injured list with a hamstring strain. Even operating on a pitch limit in his first start back, Mahle needed only 70 to stymie the A’s for 5 ⅔ scoreless innings.
He didn’t allow a hit until the fourth inning, limited the A’s to two total and only put on two other batters via bases on balls. He found the strike zone 44 times, a good sign after throwing strikes on only 33 of his 63 pitches in his one rehab start while walking five.
Before the game, manager Tony Vitello singled out two keys to turning Mahle’s suboptimal start to his Giants tenure around upon his return to the starting rotation.
No.1 Throwing strikes.
No. 2 Getting healthy.
A bit of evidence for the latter: Mahle’s average fastball velocity of 93.2 mph, up 1.2 notches from before the injury,
That was still only enough to match A’s starter Gage Jump, who fanned nine Giants and stranded three hits and a walk over five scoreless innings. Jung Hoo Lee was responsible for two of the Giants’ four hits through eight innings and about their only competitive at-bats, as well as a sensational catch crashing into the chainlink fencing in right field to end the top of the ninth.
The catch proved critical, as it came with runners on and likely prevented the A’s from padding what was a 1-0 lead. That kept the Giants within two swings going into the bottom half.
Rafael Devers delivered one to begin the inning against Elvis Alvarado, and Victor Bericoto provided the second and the walk off blast. Both players knew theirs were gone off the bat.
Devers admired his 416-foot blast to center, but it was no match for Bericoto’s: a 445-foot tank that left his bat at 108.7 mph. Entering the inning, the Giants had hit one ball at 100 mph.
The game remained scoreless into eighth, when Max Muncy squared up an 0-1 fastball from reliever Dylan Smith and knew it was gone as soon as it left his bat at 106.7 mph.
Mahle benefitted from a rollercoaster of a play that ended up in the final out of the fifth being made at home plate to keep the score tied at zero.
The A’s had two on with one out in the inning when Lawrence Butler sent a line drive to second baseman Casey Schmitt. He nabbed it for the second out. But, in an attempt to double up the runner at second, fired wide past the glove of Willy Adames and into left field foul territory.
Jacob Wilson, who was at second, easily made it to third and made the turn home. Awaiting him was the throw from Bericoto, clocked at 93 mph. Wilson attempted to dance around the tag of Eric Haase but wasn’t able to evade him.
The Giants are finally enjoying some stability in their starting rotation, though it remains to be seen how long it lasts. Mahle’s outing followed back-to-back starts of eight innings apiece from Logan Webb and Robbie Ray, the first time they’ve gotten even six innings from their starters in consecutive games since May 16-17.
If Mahle and Ray keep pitching like this, they will certainly draw interest from teams at the approaching trade deadline. Both starters’ contracts expire after this season, making them obvious candidates to move in the Giants’ impending selloff.
Lee continued to climb the National League batting leaderboard with two more hits, raising his average to .335. Only the Marlins’ Otto Lopez (.340) is above him.
Lee’s first knock was a line drive double that left his bat at 102.7 mph. He made an out despite hitting the ball just about as hard his second time up, but it all evened out as he legged out a soft hopper up the middle that the shortstop Wilson lost on the transfer for an infield single.
Before the game, Vitello made the case for Lee’s All-Star candidacy. He was not among the top 10 vote-getters among NL outfielders in the latest update released Monday.
“It’s a fans’ game, and I don’t know who’s more fun to watch — [Luis] Arraez or Jungy — but the fan, crowd noise speaks for itself,” Vitello said. “Those guys on both sides of the ball have proven All-Star caliber defense, All-Star caliber offense. … Voting impacts it too, so I guess that’s my small rallying cry.”
The top five spots in the Giants’ lineup were 0-for-17 until Devers tied things up with his homer in the ninth as they struggled to crack the A’s deceptive left-handed starter.
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Jump’s dominance helped bring an end to Casey Schmitt’s streak of seven straight multihit games. He would have tied the franchise record with one more but was among the hitless top of the order, including an inning-ending strikeout with two on in the eighth.
It has been a hard time for the Giants to get on the scoreboard much at all since they left Atlanta. They were held to three runs or fewer for the fifth straight game.
Landen Roupp will look to continue the stretch of strong starting pitching as the Giants look to secure only their first three-game sweep of the season in the series finale set for Thursday at 12:45 p.m.
Roupp is 0-6 with a 5.40 ERA in nine starts since his last win, April 26.
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