San Francisco Bay Area baseball fans will get their first up-close look at Pittsburgh prized rookie Konnor Griffin when the Giants host the Pirates in a three-game series that begins Friday night.
Griffin, who made his MLB debut as a 19-year-old early last month, arrives in San Francisco on a nice run. He has hits in eight of his last nine games, raising his batting average from .213 to .257.
“It’s been good to get settled in,” said Griffin, who played just 127 games of minor-league ball before his promotion less than two years after he was drafted ninth overall by the Pirates straight out of high school.
“Just a good locker room,” he added. “Everybody supports you. I’m just glad to be out there every day, working hard and doing what I love.”
The shortstop appears to have settled in on the road as well. After starting his big-league career 1-for-22 there, he has rebounded to go 7-for-20 against the Milwaukee Brewers and Arizona Diamondbacks away from home.
Griffin has yet to face the Giants’ Friday probable starter, left-hander Robbie Ray (2-4, 2.95 ERA), who hasn’t allowed more than three runs in any of his seven starts this season. Ray, however, has a losing record, with the Giants having been shut out in three of his four losses — including 3-0 at Tampa Bay last Friday.
Ray, 34, is 2-2 with a 4.50 ERA in seven career starts against the Pirates, who have won five of their past six games.
Scheduled Pittsburgh starter Carmen Mlodzinski (2-2, 4.76 ERA) benefited from his team’s 19-hit assault in a 17-7 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday in his most recent outing. The right-hander won despite allowing five runs for a third consecutive start, a stretch that followed yielding a total of four runs over his first four outings of the season.
Mlodzinski, 27, has yet to start a game in San Francisco. Overall, he has faced the Giants five times — all in relief — and is 0-2 with a 6.00 ERA.
Mlodzinski will try to keep the Giants’ Willy Adames in a slump. The shortstop has a hit in only 10 of his last 78 at-bats, with no homers or RBIs as his batting average has plummeted to .194.
The Giants have scored just 18 runs in their last nine games, losing eight times.
Manager Tony Vitello has cautioned his players that no starting spot is guaranteed. In fact, he sat third baseman Matt Chapman on Tuesday and second baseman Luis Arraez on Wednesday so that he could find a spot for his hottest hitter, Casey Schmitt.
Schmitt, who homered twice in the just-completed series against the San Diego Padres, also can play shortstop. The Giants lost two of three games in the home set to San Diego.
Vitello said he believes resting veteran players can be for their own good.
“There’s going to be days where they’re not playing,” Vitello said earlier this week, “but the benefit of that is that when they are playing, they’re not going to have any excuses. Not that they have, but they’re going to be fresh of mind and fresh of body.”
–Field Level Media
