TORONTO -- The first half of the season has been a success overall, but the Giants haven't fared that well when they’ve had to cross a border.
A 2-1 loss on Thursday night at the Rogers Centre handed them their first road series loss since the start of May. They went 1-4 on rare trips to Mexico City and Toronto this season.
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The Giants hit the halfway point of the season at 45-36. In 2021 they were 51-30 after 81 games, and last year they were 41-40.
The Giants' best early chance to break through was thwarted in part by a call that led to two ejections, and once Chris Bassitt settled in, a bunch of zeros went up on the scoreboard. Bassitt struck out a career-high 12, matching Kevin Gausman's effort on Tuesday night.
Keaton Winn was even better for most of the night, zooming through the first five innings of his first start in the big leagues. In the sixth, Winn paid dearly for a mistake pitch. After a walk of Brandon Belt, he hung a splitter to Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who hit a two-run blast a few hours after he announced he would be participating in the Home Run Derby.
The Giants finally got on the board in the ninth when Patrick Bailey smoked a leadoff double off the right field wall and scored on Blake Sabol's single to center field. Sabol immediately took off for second, though, and was cut down on an athletic play from catcher Alejandro Kirk and shortstop Bo Bichette.
San Francisco Giants
Quick Hook
It was a hot day in Toronto, and the temperature got turned up even higher in the third inning. After taking a called third strike that ended the inning instead of loading the bases, J.D. Davis showed his frustration and was immediately ejected by home plate umpire John Tumpane.
Gabe Kapler came out to argue after Davis was tossed, and he also got ejected. It was the first career ejection for Davis and the second as a Giant for Kapler, who had four in two years in Philadelphia but didn't get ejected until his 328th game with the Giants.
Tumpane later walked up to the visiting dugout to have a chat with bench coach and acting manager Kai Correa. On at least a couple of occasions early in the game, the Giants could be heard yelling that Bassitt was balking.
Strong Audition
Winn was about to finish off a spectacular starting debut when Guerrero took him deep, but he still did more than enough to earn another look in the rotation. The Blue Jays were hyper-aggressive and Winn took advantage, pounding the zone early on as he got through three innings on just 28 pitches and five on 47 pitches.
Even with the low pitch count, the Giants had their bullpen humming in the fifth and sixth. Winn pitched five innings out of the bullpen last week, but his season-high as a starter in Triple-A was 4 1/3 and he seemed to tire a bit in the sixth. His worst pitch of the night was the middle-middle splitter to Guerrero, who hit it 111 mph.
Winn ended up throwing just 67 pitches in six innings and allowing the two runs on three hits. He struck out three and walked one. Before the game, Kapler said he wanted to see a young pitcher make it "impossible" to move him back to the bullpen. Winn certainly made a strong case.
Designated Highlights
With Mike Yastrzemski and Mitch Haniger on the IL and Michael Conforto dealing with hamstring tightness, Joc Pederson made his first start of the season in left field. It couldn't have gone any better:
And two batters later …
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Pederson also tracked down a 109 mph liner in the first inning, and throughout it all, nobody at Rogers Centre was having more fun. He tipped his cap to his teammates after his catch in the first.