Five days after Toronto hit Trevor McDonald for eight earned runs in two and a third innings, the San Francisco Giants right-hander threw seven innings of one-run ball in a 3-1 win over the Colorado Rockies on Sunday at Oracle Park — the longest start of his season, and it took him just 73 pitches.
The one run he allowed was the game’s strangest and its best. Jake McCarthy opened the afternoon with an inside-the-park home run, his tenth homer of the year, a fly ball to right that turned into a full sprint around the bases before the fog had finished settling over the arcade. McDonald allowed only two more hits after that, walked one and struck out four.
Why it matters
Colorado’s Michael Lorenzen nearly matched him, holding San Francisco to one run over five innings — Drew Gilbert‘s fourth-inning single that scored rookie Bryce Eldridge. The game stayed 1-1 until the eighth, when Rafael Devers walked, Eldridge singled, and Willy Adames lined a single to left that brought home both Devers and pinch-runner Grant McCray. Adames finished 3-for-4; Antonio Senzatela was charged with both eighth-inning runs in relief and took the loss, while Erik Miller earned the win.
The Giants have won two straight and sit at 41-55. The Rockies, at 39-59, got a second consecutive quality outing from their rotation and little else — Hunter Goodman‘s two singles were half of Colorado’s hit total, and the offense that has been among baseball’s best since June 1 went quiet at sea level, where its production has consistently lagged its Coors Field numbers this season.
On the fantasy side, McDonald remains a matchup-only stream — the 5.46 ERA and the Toronto disaster are the same pitcher as Sunday’s gem, so pick his spots at home. Adames has multi-hit games in two of his last three and is worth activating where he was benched, and McCarthy’s power-speed combination (ten homers plus double-digit steals) keeps him relevant in all formats despite the team context.
