SCOREBOARD
SAN FRANCISCO – It wasn’t a good night at all for the Giants in their 8-6 series opening loss to the Los Angeles Angels on Friday night at Oracle Park.
The launch was terrible. Starter Spencer Howard was completely ineffective and failed to get through three innings, then reliever Randy Rodriguez was allowed four runs.
Mind you, this was against an Angels team that was without its best hitter, Mike Trout.
Once again, the offense was quiet for most of the game until the late innings.
While San Francisco did a good job getting on base (10 hits, 7 walks), they didn’t do much when they had players in play. His first run scored when Wilmer Flores singled and scored on a double play in the fourth.
On the plus side, Flores etched his name in the history books as Heliot Ramos stayed hot and reached base four times, including a huge three-run home run that highlighted the Giants’ five-run eighth inning.
Thairo Estrada also had an RBI single in the eighth after grounding into double plays in each of his first two at-bats, and Mike Yastrzemski added a pinch-hit RBI double in the same inning.
Up until that point, it was mostly crickets.
The Giants left 10 men on base in total, stranding runners on second in each of the first two innings and again in the fourth, sixth and seventh.
All but two of San Francisco’s hits were singles. They have just one home run in the first four games of this series at home, which has been the norm lately. The Giants have hit 22 home runs at Oracle Park this season, the fewest in the majors by a home team.
The loss left the Giants with a 34-36 record. They haven’t been at .500 since the last day of May.
Here are the takeaways from Friday’s game:
Short but not sweet for Howard
The last time Howard faced the Angels was in 2022 when he beat the Halos in five scoreless innings. On Friday, the tables turned regarding the Giants right-hander.
Howard (0-1) allowed a single to Los Angeles leadoff hitter Nolan Schanuel on the game’s fourth pitch and then lost control over the next two innings. He allowed three hits, two walks and a run in the second, then walked two more and allowed three hits and three runs in the third.
Austin Slater’s throwing error after Kevin Pillar’s double helped score one of the Angels’ runs off Howard, who lasted 2 1/3 innings, walking four and striking out one.
It is Howard’s shortest start since he pitched 2 1/3 innings against the Philadelphia Phillies on June 5, 2021 while pitching for the Texas Rangers.
Soler warming up?
Jorge Soler has yet to perform as the Giants hoped he would when they signed him to a three-year, $42 million contract in the offseason, but there are signs the Cuban slugger is starting to warm up.
Soler reached base three times in four plate appearances against the Angels. He drew a walk leading off the second, then a leadoff single and former Giant Tyler Anderson in the fourth. After striking out in the sixth, Soler was hit by a pitch and scored in the bottom of the eighth.
Soler was hitting just .199 at the end of May, but in the 11 games since then he has been hitting well since the calendar turned to June. Soler is hitting .300 this month (12 for 40 with three walks).
Coach Bob Melvin has maintained the belief all season that it would only take a couple of good games for Soler to find his rhythm. Soler may not be back to full fitness yet, but he is definitely heading in the right direction.
FLO’S MILESTONE
Like many Giants hitters, Flores has not lived up to expectations at the plate this season. But the 32-year-old made a bit of history with his single in the fourth inning.
It marked the 1,000th hit of Flores’ major league career and made him the 17th Venezuelan-born player with at least 1,000 career hits and 150 home runs.
Flores entered the day with a .218 batting average, the lowest of his career since his rookie season in 2013.
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