SAN FRANCISCO — Trevor McDonald wasn’t the headliner of the Giants’ roster shakeup Monday, but credit the third newcomer of the day with making the moves look good.
Neither top prospect Bryce Eldridge nor hot-hitting rookie Jesus Rodriguez gave the Giants’ offense the jumpstart it needed. But McDonald was brilliant beyond expectations.
The 24-year-old right-hander, called up to make a spot start, held the Padres to one run on two hits over seven innings in a 3-2 win to open a six-game home stand. The club was in desperate need of a course correction after going winless on its six-game road trip.
Eldridge, the Giants’ No. 1 prospect, went hitless in two at-bats with a walk in his return to the majors after a brief 10-game stint last September. Rodriguez, who sported a .330 average at Triple-A, put his funky stance on display in the bigs for the first time but came up empty in three at-bats.
Instead, it was an increasingly common character who got the Giants on the board: Casey Schmitt, who launched a solo home run off Padres starter Randy Vasquez in the first inning.
The solo shot was the Giants’ first home run since they left home last Sunday, ending a six-game drought. It was their 20th as a team, still the fewest in the majors, and Schmitt’s fifth, leaving the Mets as the only team without a player to hit at least five.
Caleb Killian recorded the final three outs to earn his first career save, but not without drama. He served up a 447-foot homer to the first batter of the inning, Ramón Laureano, before getting Fernando Tatis Jr., Jackson Merrill and Manny Machado in order to preserve the one-run lead.
San Francisco snapped a six-game losing streak dating back to the start of its last road trip.
The Giants improved to 11-3 when hitting a home run; they’re 3-18 when held in the ballpark.
Rafael Devers drove in the Giants’ other two runs, only the second time this season the slumping slugger has recorded more than one RBI in a game — his first since April 8. Luis Arraez doubled twice and was driven home by Devers both times, on a single in the first to put the Giants up 2-1 after Schmitt’s homer, and again with a sac fly in the sixth.
Source: California Post – Breaking California News, Photos & Videos
