What we learned as Black shines in Giants’ win over Royals

What we learned as Black shines in Giants’ win over Royals originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO — There’s nothing for the Giants to do at this point but play spoiler, and it turns out they’re pretty good at it.

After taking two out of three from the Baltimore Orioles and putting a dent in their AL East hopes, the Giants won Friday’s series opener against a Kansas City Royals squad that’s fighting to stay above water in the AL-Wild Card race. Mason Black had his best start as a big leaguer and Heliot Ramos flirted with another quirky accomplishment as the Giants held on for a 2-1 win in just their second trip to Kauffman Stadium since the 2014 World Series.

Ramos had a chance at the cycle in his final at-bat but flew out to left. With a homer, he would have been the first Giant to hit for the cycle since Pablo Sandoval in 2011.

The loss dropped the Royals back into a tie with former Giants general manager Scott Harris’ Detroit Tigers for the final playoff spot in the American League. The Giants improved to 3-1 on what might be their toughest road trip of the season.

Mason’s Momentum

The injuries in the rotation have allowed Black and Landen Roupp to make starts in September and both have taken advantage. Black pitched in the sixth inning for the first time in the big leagues and ended up with 5 2/3 shutout frames. He allowed four hits, walked one and struck out four.

The Black who has shown up in September is different from the one who struggled earlier this year. His slider was his primary pitch earlier this year, but he has been fastball-heavy in this current call-up. On Friday, he threw his four-seamer and sinker 65 percent of the time, topping out at a season-best 95.3 mph. Black threw three pitches at 95 mph on Friday after doing it just twice in his first seven big league appearances.

Wise Man

Friday’s starting lineup would have been unimaginable in the spring. Mark Canha, acquired at the trade deadline, was at first base. Marco Luciano was at second, continuing a transition from shortstop that he is undertaking at the big league level. The left side was Casey Schmitt (filling in for Matt Chapman, who is on the paternity list) and Brett Wisely (filling in for Tyler Fitzgerald, who took over for Nick Ahmed, who was signed because the Giants didn’t want Luciano at short). Anyway, Wisely made a tremendous play to back his starting pitcher:

Back In The Ninth

Ryan Walker is second in the NL in appearances and the Giants didn’t want to use him for a third straight day, especially after he needed 23 pitches in Thursday’s game. That left the ninth for Camilo Doval, who got his first save opportunity since he was removed from the role and sent to the minors in early August.

It was a wild ride, man.

Doval opened the ninth with five straight balls, which led pitching coach Bryan Price to call down to the bullpen and get Tristan Beck up. When he threw a sixth ball, Price and assistant pitching coach J.P. Martinez came out for a meeting.

Doval walked the first two batters in the inning before striking out veteran Adam Frazier. Garrett Hampson twice lined balls down the left field line, but both were just foul and he ended up with a sacrifice fly. With the tying run on third, Doval punched out Tommy Pham to pick up his 23rd save of the season.

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