Facing former club, Alex Cobb leads SF Giants’ shutout win over Orioles
SAN FRANCISCO — Asked before the game about Alex Cobb’s uncharacteristically ineffective starts his past two times through the rotation, Giants manager Gabe Kapler chalked it up to “baseball.” As in, results can be random and, with the right process, tend to even out over time.
It didn’t take much time to correct course in this instance: Cobb was back in top form against his former club, leading the Giants to a 4-0 shutout of the Orioles.
Cobb faced the minimum through four innings, didn’t allow a runner to reach scoring position until the sixth and blanked Baltimore for all of 7⅔ innings. Camilo Doval, who led MLB with 11 saves in May and earned National League Reliever of the Month honors, recorded the final three outs for his first save in June and his NL-leading 15th of the season.
The Giants (29-29) returned to .500 with only their second win in their past six games and will have Anthony DeSclafani on the mound in the rubber match Sunday.
Cobb departed to a standing ovation from the 32,416 in attendance after doing his part to escape the only sticky situation he found himself in all night. The Orioles strung together multiple hits in an inning for the first time, putting runners at second and third with one out in the eighth, but Cobb coaxed a soft comebacker for the second out and handed off to lefty Scott Alexander, who retired the third out of the inning in the same fashion.
Cobb took MLB’s lowest ERA into his start two weeks ago against the Twins. He completed seven innings and settled in to allow three runs but complained of struggling to find his delivery. He ran into more trouble in his next start and turned to the same explanation. Only this time, he said he never felt comfortable and was tagged for seven runs in just four innings.
Whatever the solution was, it clicked immediately on Saturday.
The only baserunner the Orioles mustered through the first four innings came on a dribbler down the third base line that caught J.D. Davis out of position. Cobb immediately induced a ground ball that Casey Schmitt fielded and easily started a 4-6-3 double play. He faced the minimum until a two-out single in the fifth and allowed only five base runners all game.
After walking 10 batters between his past three starts — more than in his first eight combined (eight) — Cobb didn’t issue a single free pass Saturday.
All of his seven strikeouts came on his splitter, which was in devastating form. He generated 12 of his 13 swinging strikes with the pitch, and just as important, landed his sinker for nine called strikes, too.
Cobb spent three seasons in Baltimore, going 7-22 with a 5.10 ERA in 41 starts before being traded to the Angels in 2021. Since signing with the Giants before last season, the soon-to-be 36-year-old has breathed new life into his career, and on Saturday faced his former orange-and-black while donning his current orange-and-black for the first time.
Wade, a Baltimore native, wasn’t an Orioles fan growing up. But he has turned in two memorable games in his first time facing his hometown club.
After launching the 100th splash hit by a Giants player to begin Friday’s eventual 3-2 loss, Wade reached base four times Saturday. His first of two doubles kicked off a three-run rally in the third inning that opened the scoring and would prove to be more than enough behind Cobb.
Wade’s two-bagger was the first of five consecutive hits off San Francisco bats with one out in the third, with J.D. Davis immediately driving him in with a poke into right field and Flores further cashing in with a 106.6-mph line drive — the hardest-hit ball of the game — off the pitcher’s mound and into center field that drove in a pair.
Making only his third start in the past 12 games, Flores added a double in his first at-bat and another single to finish 3-for-4.