CLEVELAND — When Brandon Belt is in business, so are the San Francisco Giants.
After playing in only three spring training games, how long it would take Belt to heat up once the season began was an open question heading into opening day. Look no further than Belt’s batting line over the first week for the answer. And in a 4-2 win Saturday night against the Guardians, the Giants were in business when they needed it most.
Belt drove home the Giants’ first two runs in the fifth, with a two-out single up the middle, then scored the go-ahead run after leading off the eighth with his second base hit of the night. Neither hit carried the oomph of either of Belt’s two blasts this season, but they will arguably go down as the two most significant contributions of the 33-year-old first baseman’s red-hot start to the season.
With two clutch hits Saturday night, Belt is batting .391/.500/.696 and took the team with his fourth and fifth RBIs of the season.
“I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect the production that we’ve gotten from him,” manager Gabe Kapler said before the game. “But it is reasonable to assume that even with a shortened spring training, he can still come out and produce like he has.”
On the flip side, Giants starter Anthony DeSclafani didn’t make it out of the fifth inning for his second straight start, but he scattered five hits over 4 2/3 innings to limit Cleveland to two runs and, just like his first start, the bullpen closed the door the rest of the way.
The Giants were held hitless for four innings, but they strung together three in the fifth inning to plate their first two runs of the game on Belt’s RBI single. Thairo Estrada broke the drought, then advanced to third on a hard-hit double by Steven Duggar, giving Belt two runners in scoring position to drive home.
Cleveland starter Cal Quantrill didn’t make it out of the inning, and DeSclafani would face the same fate in the bottom half of the inning.
The Giants’ rally gave them a 2-1 lead, but the Guardians tied it on a pair of doubles that proved to be the end of DeSclafani’s night.
Through two starts, DeSclafani hasn’t made it out of the fifth inning. If the first could be chalked up to his pitch count coming off a condensed spring training, the same couldn’t be said Saturday night. After needing 74 pitches to make it through 3 2/3 in his first start, DeSclafani got the hook after 64 pitches Saturday.
Pitchers struggling was to be expected after a shortened spring training prevented them from getting in their full workload, but it comes as a bit of a surprise for DeSclafani.
Not only have Logan Webb and Carlos Rodón raised expectations with their first two turns through the rotation, April has traditionally been DeSclafani’s strongest month of the season. His 2.33 career ERA during the first month of the season, entering Saturday night, ranked seventh in MLB history since 1920.
But through his first two April starts this year, DeSclafani has allowed four runs and 13 hits in 8 1/3 innings, a 4.32 ERA.
Nonetheless, by limiting the damage to two runs, DeSclafani gave the Giants rotation their eighth straight start allowing two or fewer runs, matching the 2002 club for the best start to the season for a San Francisco rotation. However, that group, led by Livan Hernandez, had the benefit of a full ramp up during spring training and was averaging 7 innings per start (with a 1.11 staff ERA).
Through eight games, the Giants’ rotation this season has a 2.47 ERA — top five in MLB — but only Webb and Rodón have completed six innings and the staff is averaging just over 5 1/3 per start.
With the win, the Giants have secured wins in their first three series of the season. Left-hander Alex Wood, who allowed two runs over 4 1/3 in his first start, gets the ball Sunday afternoon as the Giants go for the sweep in their series finale in Cleveland.
