CINCINNATI – Pretty cool first few days back in the massive leagues for Jerar Encarnacion, who began the yr within the Mexican League.
One night I pitched a no-hitter, the subsequent I hit a house run.
At least certainly one of those has turn out to be routine for the 26-year-old outfielder. After going unsigned last winter, Encarnacion was signed to Oaxaca and hit 19 home runs in 26 games, and after being traded to Triple-A Sacramento in June, he hit 10 more.
But between Encarnacion’s third and fourth home runs in the most important leagues lay almost two years – 686 days.
When Encarnacion arrived at Great American Ballpark on Friday, he stepped out of his dugout, looked around and took in the most important league scenery, and crossed paths with rookie relief pitcher Spencer Bivens, who took a good more winding path to the Giants' bullpen.
“It takes a lot of mental strength,” Bivens said. “I admire his work ethic. I don't really know why he wasn't taken, but I'm glad we got him.”
Like Encarnacion last winter, not a single team reached out to Bivens when his time in Division III at Rogers State resulted in 2018. He went to France – his only likelihood to play professionally – and eventually made it back to independent ball, where the Giants found him in May 2022.
Bivens made his MLB debut in June, two weeks before his thirtieth birthday. Since then, with a 2.08 ERA in 21⅔ innings in 10 appearances, he has established himself to the purpose that the Giants had no qualms about parting ways with Luke Jackson on the trade deadline.
Bivens sees at the least a parallel between their long paths.
“Just that we got here,” he said. “We did everything we could, but we got here.”
Ramos' thumb
Encarnacion was replaced by Mike Yastrzemski for the ultimate two innings of Blake Snell's no-hitter on Friday night, but he was brought in late the next night and hit just one home run after coming on for Heliot Ramos in the beginning of the seventh inning.
Ramos had to depart the sport as a consequence of an injury to his right thumb, which had been bothering him for about every week.
Although it didn't land him on the injured list, Ramos said the batting injury hampered him a lot that he had to depart the sport after his sixth-inning at-bat. He swung his swing and, Ramos said, “I didn't even want to hit the ball.”
Ramos said he sustained the injury last Saturday within the Giants' doubleheader against the Rockies. He got two days off and said it felt “good” on Tuesday, “but then it just kept happening.” He was injured twice on Friday night, he said, “and it got worse.”
Since last Saturday, Ramos has been limited to 3 hits – all singles – in 21 at-bats with seven strikeouts, dropping his OPS to .835, his lowest since early June before he began his campaign to eventually turn out to be an All-Star.
“He felt it at least every time he hit tonight,” manager Bob Melvin said after Saturday's 6-4 loss. “We'll see where we stand with him tomorrow.”
On the bases
Going on the road, the Giants knew their progress in controlling their opponents' running game could be put to the test.
The Reds lead the majors with 156 stolen bases, closely followed by the Washington Nationals, the Giants' next opponent, with 154.
“You know you're going to give these guys some stolen bases,” Melvin said before Friday's game. “That's part of their personality. Every team has strengths and weaknesses. That's definitely one of their strengths.”
Keeping the opponent in check on the bases has not been Melvin's team's strength for much of this season, regardless that they’ve a catcher like Patrick Bailey, who has certainly one of the fastest pop times within the league and certainly one of the strongest throwing arms.
Through the primary three months of the season, the Giants have stopped just 18 of 107 attempts to steal a base, a 16.8% success rate. But for the reason that start of July, they've caught more of them than not, 13 of 20. That includes MLB's leading base stealer Elly De La Cruz (55 of 66 attempts), who assisted with a pitchout in the primary inning Saturday night.
“I think in the beginning we weren't as good at holding the runners,” said Melvin, a former catcher. “Now (Bailey) tries to be too fast and that's why some of the throws weren't as accurate as you see now.”
“As a catcher, you know pretty well if you have a chance to throw someone out when the ball comes to you or not. When you feel like you're under pressure, you try to hurry up and maybe do things mechanically that don't serve you well. We were much better at the plate in our days and that's why he didn't have to be as quick and his technique is better. When he throws the ball to the base, he throws some people out.”
Originally published:
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