Keaton Winn vs. Chris Bassitt.
It’s the final game of the first half of the season! After seeing their 10-game road winning streak come to a close in a 6-1 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday, the San Francisco Giants will try and bounce back in the series finale. A win would give them their sixth consecutive road series victory, which is very impressive.
The Giants will be playing a player short after outfielder Michael Conforto suffered a mild hamstring injury on Wednesday. Conforto said today that he hopes to be able to pinch-hit or even play in the field over the weekend in his return to the big apple to face his old team, the New York Mets. But I would guess that a stint on the IL is definitely a serious possibility.
There’s exciting news for the game: the Giants are giving the start to Keaton Winn! Fans have been a little frustrated with the liberal use of the opener, and the team’s reluctance to let young pitchers start games. Prior to today, neither Winn, Tristan Beck, nor Sean Hjelle had started an MLB game yet. But Winn has looked really good in his short stint since debuting a few weeks ago and, most importantly, has had stuff that looks like it could play a third time through the lineup. So he gets a start, which is awesome. In three career games, Winn has a 3.75 ERA and a 3.85 FIP, with nine strikeouts to three walks in 12 innings. Go get ‘em, Keaton!
On the other side is righty Chris Bassitt, a fairly recent winner of the “congrats, you’re getting out of the A’s organization” sweepstakes. This is his first year in Toronto, and he’s struggling a bit. In 16 starts, the nine-year veteran is 7-5 with a 4.32 ERA, a 5.04 FIP, and 81 strikeouts to 32 walks in 93.2 innings. He’s currently in a slump, after giving up 17 runs (15 earned) in 11.2 innings over his last three starts.
Enjoy the game, Giants fans!
Lineups
WAR figures from Fangraphs
Giants
- LaMonte Wade Jr. (L) — 1B — 141 OPS+ (+1.9 WAR)
- Thairo Estrada (R) — 2B — 111 OPS+ (+2.7 WAR)
- Joc Pederson (L) — LF — 132 OPS+ (+0.9 WAR)
- J.D. Davis (R) — 3B — 115 OPS+ (+2.0 WAR)
- Patrick Bailey (S) — DH — 137 OPS+ (+1.7 WAR)
- Blake Sabol (L) — C — 94 OPS+ (+0.7 WAR)
- Austin Slater (R) — RF — 160 OPS+ (+0.9 WAR)
- Luis Matos (R) — CF — 85 OPS+ (+0.2 WAR)
- Brandon Crawford (L) — SS — 78 OPS+ (+0.4 WAR)
P. Keaton Winn — RHP — 3.85 FIP (0.0 WAR)
Blue Jays
- George Springer (R) — RF — 111 OPS+ (+1.4 WAR)
- Bo Bichette (R) — SS — 139 OPS+ (+3.0 WAR)
- Brandon Belt (L) — DH — 124 OPS+ (+0.6 WAR)
- Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (R) — 1B — 123 OPS+ (+0.5 WAR)
- Matt Chapman (R) — 3B — 124 OPS+ (+2.5 WAR)
- Daulton Varsho (L) — CF — 90 OPS+ (+1.0 WAR)
- Whit Merrifield (R) — LF — 104 OPS+ (+1.4 WAR)
- Alejandro Kirk (R) — C — 90 OPS+ (+0.6 WAR)
- Santiago Espinal (R) — 2B — 77 OPS+ (+0.1 WAR)
P. Chris Bassitt — RHP — 5.04 FIP (+0.5 WAR)
Game #81
Who: San Francisco Giants (45-35) vs. Toronto Blue Jays (44-37)
Where: Rogers Centre, Toronto, Ontario
When: 4:07 p.m. PT
Regional broadcast: NBC Sports Bay Area (available on fuboTV)
National broadcast: MLB Network, out of market only (available on fuboTV)
Radio: KNBR 680 AM/104.5 FM, KSFN 1510 AM