What we learned as Canha's walk-off secures Giants' win over Tigers

What we learned as Canha’s walk-off secures Giants’ win over Tigers originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

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SAN FRANCISCO – Returning home from a week-long East Coast road trip Friday night, the Giants’ bats mirrored a windy, fog-filled night and took six innings to wake up before Tyler Fitzgerald broke up a combined no-hitter to begin the bottom of the seventh inning, starting a late rally that ended with a Mark Canha walk-off sacrifice fly to the warning track for a wild 3-2 win over the Detroit Tigers.

The win was Canha’s first game back in the Bay Area for the Cal alum, and his first against his former team. Detroit traded Canha to San Francisco for minor league reliever Eric Silva on July 30.

For six innings, the Giants looked to disappoint their fans to begin a seven-game homestand but clawed their way past the Tigers for an improbable victory.

Fitzgerald, Heliot Ramos, Canha and Brett Wisely were responsible for the Giants’ four hits. Starting pitcher Robbie Ray allowed five hits and two earned runs in six innings, handing the ball over to a bullpen that didn’t allow a run or a hit in the final three innings.

The Giants haven’t dropped a series in two weeks and took a dramatic route to starting off a three-game series with Detroit the right way.

Here are three takeaways from the Giants’ comeback win.

Double Trouble For Ray

One pitch, one out. Ray’s night began by getting leadoff batter Andy Ibanez to pop out to catcher Curt Casali, and he only needed 15 more pitches to get out of a scoreless first inning. Ray wound up throwing 105 pitches over six innings, both season highs, but he was undone by two doubles and some poor defense.

Tigers third baseman Gio Urshela began the top of the second inning lacing a double down the left-field line, and Ray then walked the next batter on pitches, putting two runners on and no outs. A wild pitch from Ray then sent Urshela to third base, and a sacrifice fly from Ryan Vilade plated Urshela for the first run of the game.

Ray then got into a groove for two straight innings before another leadoff double hurt the lefty. This time, Javier Baez, who entered the night batting .179, turned on a knuckle curve right down the middle for a double to left field. Baez then stole third base and scored on a throwing error by catcher Curt Casali. It was one of those nights for Ray, Casali and all of the Giants.

Where Ray continued to shine was racking up strikeouts at a historic pace. Ray sat down seven batters to give him 28 strikeouts on the season, giving him the third-most strikeouts by a Giants pitcher through their first four starts since 1958. Only Carlos Rodon (38) and Kevin Gausman (32) had more.

Rough Welcome Back

The news of the day was closer Camilo Doval being optioned to Triple-A Sacramento one season after being named an NL All-Star and leading the league in saves. That wasn’t the only move the Giants made, though.

They also optioned catcher Jackson Reetz, recalled reliever Landen Roupp and reinstated catcher Curt Casali from the Paternity List. While Roupp tossed two hitless innings, Casali’s return didn’t go as smooth.

Known for his defense and comfort of the Giants’ pitching staff, Casali had not one, not two, but three errors on the day. Two were throwing and one was a catcher’s interference. That can’t happen for someone who now is hitting .190 with a .533 after going 0-for-2 and striking out once in the loss.

New Closer In Town?

A half hour after officially optioning Doval, Giants manager Bob Melvin wouldn’t name a replacement to be the Giants’ new closer. Melvin at the time said he hadn’t spoken with a specific player about it, but does want one arm entrenched into the role. With the game tied at 2-2 going into the ninth inning, Melvin turned to submarine pitcher Tyler Rogers.

The veteran reliever has recorded just one save this season and two last year, but converted 13 in 2021. Three up and three down – Rogers got the job done. It wasn’t a save opportunity, but Rogers did exactly what the game called for.

Will he be the new closer? What about Ryan Walker? Perhaps Jordan Hicks? Soon, the answer should reveal itself

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