The 42-57 Giants last won a series in Seattle in 1999, according to Susan Slusser, and now they’ll have to wait two more years to get that monkey off their backs. After dropping the Mariners series 1-2, they are headed to Kansas City, to face one of only 3 teams with a worse record. Here is the game schedule against the 40-60 Royals:
• Monday, 5:40, Trevor McDonald (3-7, 5.02) vs. RHP Michael Wacha (5-7, 3.77)
• Tuesday, 5:40, Tyler Mahle (2-8, 5.31) vs. RHP Luinder Avila (4-3, 5.08)
• Wednesday, 11:10 👀, Landen Roupp (7-8, 3.98) vs. RHP Seth Lugo (3-6, 4.39)
The Royals team, and their RBI totals, are
🧢 1B Vinnie Pasquantino (32), 2B Michael Massey (33), SS Bobby Witt Jr (39), 3B Nick Loftin (29)
🧢 RF Jac Caglianone (37, 16 HR), CF Lane Thomas (34), LF Isaac Collins (31)
🧢 C Salvador Perez (39), DH Carter Jensen (51)
🧢 bench C Luke Malle, IF Josh Rojas, IF/OF Tyler Tolbert, OF Starling Marte
🧢 rotation Wacha, Avila, Lugo, Randy Dobnak (3-1, 1.93), Noah Cameron (5-8, 5.27)
🧢 closer Alex Lange, late innings Daniel Lynch and John Schreiber
There are no former Giants on the Royals active roster.
Salvy Perez is playing at age 36, on a two year contract signed over the winter, but this might be the last time the Giants play against him? He’s hitting 0.211, and splitting time at C with Carter Jensen. Perez has been C 38 times, DH 40 times, and 1B 14 times this season. Jensen has been C 58 times, and DH 33 times, so the changing of the guard is at hand. Perez is, of course, one of the few strings left going back to the Bumgarner game in 2014.
Baggs did all the relevant research for our Picture of the Post: (indent the next bit)
Bryce Eldridge became just the fifth player in the Giants’ San Francisco era (and first since 1977) to hit 10 home runs before his 22nd birthday. The others: Jack Clark, Chris Speier, Willie McCovey and Orlando Cepeda. (Some guys named Mays and Ott were among those who did it in New York.)
Eldridge hit two in Seattle, the first being off Bryce Lee, which is apparently the first time ever that a Bryce has homered off a Bryce. His other homer was a solo in the first inning of the third game, and was followed later in the game by a stolen base. The Giants left Eldridge in Sacramento at the start of the season, calling him up on May 4th. He has taken exactly 200 AB since then, with 55 hits (0.275) and 10 homers to his name. 23 runs driven in, and has recently been a fixture near the heart of the order. It says here that Eldridge should be the cleanup hitter. After all, he did hit a walk-off grand slam earlier this season, for his first career PotP. It doesn’t get much more clutch than that, and this second PotP won’t by any means be his last.
