Sixth straight win raises $300K in shooting aftermath

Tropicana Field: the glorious smell of stale punch, AstroTurf and Aspercreame mixed with all the ambience of fluorescent lighting in the basement of a downtown high rise circa 1972. Just the place to turn one’s fortunes around, right?

In his previous three outings, Jeff Samardzija had gone from bad to worse to “Oh God, that was pitiful.” Friday he was one pitch from spotless in the Giants’ 5-1 win versus the “used to be Devil” Rays at Tampa. Samardzija threw a complete-game four-hitter, latterly getting to two strikes on the 27^th out before Tampa Bay erased the goose egg.

Crawford does that RBI thing to give the Giants a quick lead. (AP Photo)

It was the sixth straight win for a Giants team surging despite a frequent flyer route between the DL, Sacramento and the San Francisco dugout. On May 10, the Giants were 17-18 and had lost five of seven games, squandering a 6-2 start that had included a glorious sweep of The Hated Dodgers. 

Since that point the Giants, despite losing Hunter Pence, Angel Pagan, Matt Cain and others for an extended period, have gone 25-8 to power to a commanding, albeit early, lead in the NL West.

The aforementioned Blue Meanies topped Milwaukee 2-1 in extras and sit 6 ½ games behind the Orange and Black. There are other teams in the division but only family, friends and creditors remember who they are.

The Shark (8-4) had looked more like a beached manatee, posting an ERA over 7.00 in his last three starts; getting two losses and a no-decision for his efforts. On Friday he dominated, putting up separate streak where retired 10 and 12 consecutive hitters (stitched together it was 22 of 23) before Brad Miller ended the latter skein when he homered on a two-strike pitch with two gone in the ninth.

It was a big night in Tampa (more later) but the Giants were rude guests, putting up a pair of runs against Chris Archer before the home team got its first swings. The rally started innocently enough with a to-out walk to Brandon Belt, but Buster Posey and Brandon Crawford followed with doubles (Crawford’s logged the RBIs) to stake Samardzija to a 2-0 lead.

He really didn’t need more, although his teammates were generous on this night. He struck out four, and low number for a power pitcher, but didn’t walk a man and got through the night on a tidy 115 pitches.

Archer (4-9) would last six and Tampa Bay would use two more arms in relief. They had the “K” ball going, racking up 13 strikeouts, but the Giants made the most of their seven hits, four walks and assorted Tampa Bay brain farts.

Two more runs crossed in the fourth when Crawford walked and Pagan reached base when interference was called against Rays catcher Curt Cassali. Archer wild pitched both men up 90 feet the walked Jarrett Parker to augment the battery blow up, and Gregor Blanco cashed in the chance with a soft single that plated a pair.

The capper came in the seventh when Belt lifted his ninth round-tripper of the season to deep right center. He and Parker each hit safely twice to lead the attack, while Blanco and Crawford each had two RBIs.

In other good news, Santiago Casilla has been placed on the paternity list as his wife prepares to give birth to their baby girl and will miss the three-game series at Tampa Bay. Good for him, and good for our nerves. Lefty Steven Okert was recalled from Triple-A Sacramento to fill the gap Samardzija made irrelevant.

Giants are dealing with yet another health issue. Belt returned after missing one game with thanks to a pitch to the leg, but now comes word Jake Peavy has a stiff neck as opposed to just being a stiff. Albert Suarez (2-1, 3.33 ERA), subbing, for the injured Matt Cain, is expected to move up a slot and start on Saturday. Matt Moore (3-4, 5.05) goes for the Rays.

Paying respects. (AP Photo)

The victory came in front of the biggest regular-season crowd at the Trop in a decade. The crowd of 40,135 was the first regular-season turnout over 40,000 at the park since Opening Day of ’06, and Tampa was averaging about 16K per game this season, the second-lowest attendance in baseball.

The occasion was the annual “Pride Night”, coming less than a week after the despicable Orlando mass shooting. Major League Baseball vice president of social responsibility and inclusion Billy Bean threw the ceremonial first pitch. The Rays wore "We are Orlando" shirts during batting practice and the hats of their one-time Double-A team, the Orlando Rays, in the game.

The Rays dedicated the event to the victims and earlier this week made all remaining tickets available for just $5, raising over $300K for the Pulse Victims Fund.

If you would like to help, click here to donate.

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