Three key stats that stood out from the Giants’ frustrating road trip originally appeared in NBC Sports Bay Area
When the Giants left The City for three games in Boston at Fenway Park to begin a 10-game road trip in a 10-day span, they were 14-15 as a team that hadn’t lost a series in two and one. -half a week and was about to hit .500 again for the first time since being 2-2.
They haven’t been .500 or better since then, and now they return home four games under .500 with a 17-21 record after going 3-7 on their longest road trip of the season. The Giants were outscored 13-3 in their three-game series against the Boston Red Sox, where they lost two of three. The Phillies outscored them by 18 runs while defeating the Giants, and although the Giants won two of three against the Colorado Rockies, their final stats were worse in many ways throughout a series with the worst team in the big leagues.
The Giants scored 14 runs in three games at Coors Field, and the Rockies scored 15. The Giants had a .291 batting average, the Rockies had a .283 batting average, and each team hit two home runs. The Giants had a team ERA of 5.19, and the Rockies’ team ERA was 4.39.
“It wasn’t good, it wasn’t a good trip,” Giants coach Bob Melvin told reporters Thursday when asked for his assessment of the 10 games. “We came from a game under .500 and came back a lot worse.”
Here are three stats that stood out from a road season the Giants would like to forget.
0.196
That was the collective batting average on the road trip among the Giants’ three big bats that the front office signed in the offseason — Jung Hoo Lee, Matt Chapman and Jorge Soler.
Lee was the best of the group, shooting 10-for-41 (.244). The Giants’ leadoff hitter struck out just three times, but also didn’t walk once on his way to a .244 on-base percentage. While he’s had a lot of luck with the BAbip this season, Lee also isn’t hitting the ball very hard and ranks as a poor hitter in barrel percentage.
Chapman had a three-game 0-for-11 streak on the trip and finished batting .177 (6-for-34). All six of Chapman’s hits were singles. He struck out 11 times and drew the same number of walks (three) as the times he hit into a double play.
Soler’s trip ended after five games. The Giants on Wednesday placed Soler on the 10-day injured list with a right shoulder strain, retroactive to May 5th. It has to be said that Soler had three lineups against the Red Sox that had exit velocities of 110.7, 107.6 and 101.2 mph, but he also went 2-for-17 in the five games he played.
.531
That was LaMonte Wade Jr.’s on-base percentage on the road trip, where he played in nine of 10 games and started eight.
For the shortcomings of an offensive trio that is making nearly $36 million this season, LaMonte Wade Jr., at $3.5 million, remains one of the best bargains in baseball. Wade has already proven his unique ability to get on base in previous seasons. His .372 on-base percentage last season was quite impressive.
Wade this season has reached a new level in every aspect of his game, including his superpower of advancing 90 feet and beyond. He reached base in seven of the nine games he played in, recording a hit in six of them and a walk in seven — including a three-walk game on Tuesday. He walked nine times in nine games and had just seven strikeouts.
Wade’s square line runs up the middle and invites every opportunity to run down the first base line.
There’s no denying that Wade has been the Giants’ best offensive player this season, and his .472 on-base percentage would top every hitter in the major leagues if he qualified.
4
That’s the average number of innings pitched by a Giants starter on the road trip.
As a side note, for this exercise I did not include the inning Erik Miller pitched as the opener and instead added Daulton Jefferies’ 2 2/3 innings following Miller.
In the 10 games the Giants have played, their starting pitcher has thrown five or more innings only three times. Two of occasions were by 22-year-old Kyle Harrisonwho will certainly have his innings monitored at some point, and the other was when converted reliever Jordan Hicks – another pitcher whose innings will be closely monitored as the season progresses – threw five innings on Wednesday.
And in three other games, Giants starters (including Jefferies) threw fewer than four innings. Keaton Winn didn’t even make it out of the first inning in Philadelphia before ending the Giants’ road trip on Thursday playing just 3 2/3 innings at Colorado.
Logan Webb made it through the fourth inning on Sunday and lasted just 3 2/3 innings in his first start of the trip, following a stretch in which he threw seven innings in three consecutive starts and eight against the New York Mets in San Francisco.
Webb is the Giants’ ace and horse in the starting lineup. Melvin will hand him the ball on Friday to begin a nine-game homestand, and there is no better arm to knock off his own rust to lead by example and create much-needed momentum in a comforting environment.
