Giants vs Marlins Reaction & Observations – April 8-10th
Apr 10, 2022, 3:54 PM | Updated: 3:57 pm
(Photo by Bob Kupbens/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Baseball is back, as are the San Francisco Giants’ winning ways.
The Giants picked up right where they left off last season as they secured a series win over the Miami Marlins following their 3-2 win on Sunday afternoon at Oracle Park.
This weekend’s opening series featured a little bit of everything, from a walk-off win during Friday’s season-opener, to Carlos Rodón’s sparkling debut.
Oh, and Brandon Belt was on a boat.
Belt also threw out the ceremonial first pitch on Friday, later saying he “said yes for some reason.”
“You can’t come in on a boat and not do something,” Belt said postgame after drilling an opening day home run onto Levi’s Landing.
Rookie catcher Joey Bart also got in on the fun, as the 25-year-old drilled the first big-league home run of his career during the Opening Day win, a 414-foot shot into the left-field bleachers.
Thairo Estrada’s clutch homer in the ninth tied things up to force extra innings, setting the Giants up for some walk-off heroics, courtesy of Austin Slater:
Saturday’s loss to Miami was overshadowed by a quiet San Francisco offense that only pushed across one run on five hits, but Carlos Rodón’s big day was a silver lining.
The left-hander struck out 12 batters and allowed just one run on three hits over five innings of work before being removed prior to the sixth inning.
Rodón’s 12 punch-outs were the most by a Giants pitcher in his debut since Juan Marichal struck out 12 batters back in 1967.
“I think Joey (Bart) and I worked well together,” Rodón said postgame Saturday. “We put together some good sequences. It was overall a good day as far as the outing, but I’m just not happy. I wish we would have won that game.”
Starters are still in the process of building their arms up due to the shortened Spring Training, but the 2021 All-Star looked sharp for every one of his 89 pitches of work.
Sunday’s win was made possible by another strong performance by the Giants’ arms as Anthony DeSclafani (3.2 IP, 2 R, 5 K), Jarlin Garcia (2 IP, 2 K), Zack Littell (1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R), and Tyler Rogers (2 IP, 0 R) shut the Miami offense down to secure the series win.
Wilmer Flores, Maurico Dubon, and Luke Williams all drove in a run during Sunday’s win, while 22-year-old outfielder Heliot Ramos collected his first major-league hit in his first major-league plate appearance.
Ramos, who was called up from AAA on Sunday morning, went two-for-three and scored a run in what was an impressive debut for the former Sacramento River Cat.
San Francisco will now set its sights on another home series, this time against the inner-division rival San Diego Padres as the two teams will begin a three-game series on Monday afternoon at Oracle Park.
Upcoming Giants Schedule
- April 11-14th vs San Diego Padres
- April 15-17th @ Cleveland Guardians
- April 18-21st @ New York Mets