Did Gabe Kapler, Giants consider walking Max Muncy, Dodgers red-hot slugger?
Why Giants didn't intentionally walk red-hot Muncy originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
SAN FRANCISCO -- Max Muncy flew into SFO on Sunday night with a .505 OPS. He flew out on Wednesday night at .924 and with his name atop the National League RBI leaderboard.
That's become the norm for Muncy whenever he plays the Giants, and this latest series was his most productive yet. With two homers on Monday and two more in the finale, Muncy became the first player in MLB history to hit at least four homers and drive in 11-plus runs in a three-game series despite not starting all three games, and he almost single handedly led the Dodgers to a series victory.
As the Giants tried to digest it all Wednesday night, most of their fans were asking the same question: Why pitch to him?
Asked after the 10-5 loss if he considered just holding up four fingers to Muncy, Giants manager Gabe Kapler said it's "always a consideration."
"The Dodgers lineup is dangerous all the way up and down," he added. "You get past one, you've got somebody really good behind them."
On Wednesday, that was J.D. Martinez -- who had a couple of hits -- and James Outman, who has a 1.122 OPS this season and had a solid series against his hometown team. Still, neither is Muncy. Or more specifically, neither is Muncy Against The Giants.
Ownage is ownage, as broadcaster Mike Krukow always says, and right now Muncy is sitting on the throne. His 25 homers against the Giants have come in just 75 games, a pace far better than even longtime Giants-killers Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt. Over the last three seasons, he has 17 homers and 36 RBI against the Giants in 40 games. During that span, he's hitting homers against them at a pace better than what Aaron Judge did last season when he set an American League record.
Since Kapler took over, the Giants have issued just 38 intentional walks, but that ranks them in the middle of the pack (18th). Teams generally don't like giving those free bases away, but Kapler said the staff has "no hard and fast rules" about when to issue a free pass.
"We'll use the intentional walk occasionally," he said. "We especially like it if there's a really dangerous hitter without a dangerous hitter behind him, and then when you don't have the platoon advantage and you might have it the next at-bat. We also think it makes more sense if you fall behind in the count. Once you have a strike on a hitter, that hitter becomes less dangerous. I think that's pretty well-studied over the years."
Muncy's most recent homers came off four different Giants pitchers. The first was hit off Logan Webb with runners on the corners and two outs. His grand slam later that night came on the first pitch of an at-bat during which Sean Hjelle had nowhere to put him.
The third was certainly a situation where the Giants thought they had an advantage. Scott Alexander is their pitcher best equipped to face a tough lefty like Muncy, and he had two strikes on him before throwing a sinker that caught too much of the plate. None of the first three situations were screaming for an intentional walk, but the final homer offered an opportunity.
John Brebbia already was behind 2-0, and with runners on the corners and one out, the Giants would have fared better going after Martinez, who would not have had the platoon advantage. After Muncy homered, Brebbia ended up striking out Martinez.
That last homer highlighted a problem that was just as big as Muncy over the three-game series. It was equally damaging that the Giants kept putting multiple runners on in front of him, so they didn't have easy opportunities to put him on, but that's just kind of the deal when you're facing a lineup that has Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Will Smith at the top.
There are no right answers against the top half of that lineup, but right now, the fan base would likely settle for Anyone But Muncy. The good news for the coaching staff is that they have some time to figure out their next move. They don't face the Dodgers again for a couple of months and don't host them until the final weekend of the regular season.
Other Giants notes:
-- The loss was costly for an outfield that has gotten off to a strong start defensively. Michael Conforto's calf tightened up and his replacement, Bryce Johnson, suffered a concussion while making a tremendous catch at the wall in center. Johnson will go on the IL and Conforto is day-to-day, with the hope that he can be in the lineup Friday night after a travel day to Detroit.
With Heliot Ramos already up, the only options for the roster spot are Brett Wisely and Matt Beaty, with Wisely looking like a better fit given his ability to play center field.
It's been a brutal run in the outfield after an offseason spent addressing holes. Mitch Haniger (oblique) and Austin Slater (hamstring) are also out at least another week, but the Giants are somewhat equipped to handle the next few days. The easiest answer on this trip might be to just move LaMonte Wade Jr. back to the outfield and let Wilmer Flores and Darin Ruf handle first base.
-- A silver lining Wednesday: That might have been Joey Bart's best defensive game as a big leaguer. Bart's laser to second nailed Outman and he had a good night framing, stealing a big early strikeout for Alex Cobb, who had no command of his sinker.
Bart also had a couple of hits and scored twice. He'll continue to have a nice runway to get going as Gary Sanchez gets up to speed. Sanchez is 2-for-17 in four Triple-A games so far.
"We probably want to see a little bit more," Kapler said Wednesday afternoon when asked about Sanchez's readiness. "Not that he's doing anything wrong or that anything has made us have less faith in his ability to impact the roster, but he probably needs a little bit more time."
-- It'll be Sean Manaea, Anthony DeSclafani and Webb in Detroit this weekend. The Giants will face lefty Joey Wentz on Friday and former Giant Matt Boyd on Sunday. The Saturday starter for the Scott Harris Bowl is TBA.
-- MLB made a scoring change, with Freeman's infield single on Monday night now being an error on Webb. After the game, Webb expressed disgust about the play and said he should have made it since it was a 59 mph grounder back to the mound that hit his glove.
The ruling means all three runs in that inning are now unearned. Webb's ERA moved from 6.35 to 4.76.
