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According to ESPN Analytics

Oracle Park

11:15 PM, May 6, 2023

San Francisco, California

Line: SF -170

Over/Under: 8.5

Capacity: 41915

Game Time:2:30

Mays watches Cobb, Giants beat Brewers on 92nd birthday

— Willie Mays was on hand as his 92nd birthday was celebrated, and Alex Cobb led the San Francisco Giants to a 4-1 victory on Saturday that stretched the Milwaukee Brewers’ losing streak to six.19h - AP

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SAN FRANCISCO -- The Giants lost a significant piece when Brandon Crawford landed on the injured list with a right calf strain earlier this week, but the emergence of two young middle infielders is helping to soften the blow.

Shortstop Thairo Estrada and second baseman Brett Wisely each homered to back a brilliant outing by right-hander Alex Cobb as the Giants beat the Brewers, 4-1, on Saturday evening at Oracle Park, extending their winning streak to four games.

Estrada cranked a two-run blast off Milwaukee right-hander Colin Rea to stake San Francisco to a 3-0 lead in the third inning while Wisely added a solo homer to straightaway center field for his first career Major League home run in the seventh.

It proved to be enough support for Cobb, who fired seven scoreless innings to lower his ERA to 2.01, which ranks seventh-best in the Majors among qualified pitchers. After winning seven of their past eight home games, the Giants (15-17) are now within two games of .500 -- thanks largely to a starting rotation that appears to be hitting its stride.

Over their past 13 games, San Francisco’s starters are 7-1 with a 2.71 ERA, the best mark in the National League.

“That’s going to be the recipe for success for our team,” Cobb said. “If we want to get to where we’re going, it’s going to start with the starting pitching.”

The Giants will also need consistent production from key players like Estrada, who has been an invaluable contributor since coming over from the Yankees in exchange for cash considerations in April 2021. The 27-year-old Venezuelan took a major step forward by establishing himself as an everyday player for San Francisco last year, but he appears poised for an even bigger breakthrough in '23.

Through 31 games this season, Estrada has crushed five home runs and ranks in the top 10 in MLB in hits (41), batting average (.336) and stolen bases (9). He’s already been worth a team-high 1.5 WAR, according to FanGraphs, putting him on pace to easily surpass the 2.7 WAR he recorded in 2022.

“I just think we’re getting to the point where Thairo is one of the best players in baseball,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “Whenever you have a guy that can play up the middle like he does and be the type of offensive performer that he is for us right now, you have to mention him as a guy that’s kind of at the top of the league.”

With Crawford on the mend, Estrada has been filling in as the Giants’ primary shortstop, and he has remained durable despite taking on a heavy workload early this season.

“Thairo’s an animal,” Cobb said. “He just shows up every single day ready to go. He gives an incredible amount of effort in the batter’s box, on defense and on the basepaths. It exhausts me to watch him go through a game. He’s just dirt head-to-toe, pants ripped, getting drilled by pitches. He never complains, never says a word. He just goes out and posts every single day. He’s definitely the heart and soul of the lineup right now.”

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Wisely entered Saturday batting 2-for-27 (.074) over his first 13 Major League games, but he’s received more opportunities following the injuries to Crawford and center fielder Mike Yastrzemski, and he’s impressed with his defense up the middle.

The 23-year-old rookie finally got a chance to flash his power in the seventh, driving an 0-1 changeup from Brewers reliever Tyson Miller over the center-field fence for his milestone homer.

“It was probably the best moment of my life,” Wisely said. “Hitting a home run in the big leagues, everyone dreams of that. Having that today was phenomenal.”

Wisely made two eye-opening plays at second base as well, ranging up the middle to make a diving stop on William Contreras’ grounder in the sixth and then easily chasing down Willy Adames’ popup to shallow right field in the eighth.

“It just gives you momentum,” Cobb said. “When you have plays being made like that, you’re not pitching so delicately. You’re not trying to strike everybody out. You feel like the attacker when you have guys with range like that, making plays like that.

“I think we’re playing the best defense we’ve played in a couple of years right now. It just allows us to go deep into the game, and when that happens, we’re just going to be a better baseball team. I think that’s pretty obvious."

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Maria Guardado covers the Giants for MLB.com. She previously covered the Angels from 2017-18. Follow her on Twitter.

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Quick Hits

Game Story

The Manitoba Moose (2-3) rematched with the Milwaukee Admirals (3-2) on Saturday evening at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena for Game 5 of the Central Division Semifinals.

Neither side was able to find the back of the net through the opening 20 minutes. Both clubs were granted a chance on the power play, but were unable to break through. Both goaltenders were up to task, with Oskari Salminen ending the frame with 12 stops, while Yaroslav Askarov compiled eight saves of his own.

Milwaukee opened the scoring past the halfway point of the second stanza. A Moose pinch allowed Egor Afanasyev to send Mark Jankowski in on a breakaway. The forward deked past Salminen for his first of the series. The Admirals goal was the lone marker of the frame. Manitoba was given a pair of opportunities on the power play, including a brief five-on-three, but was unable to find twine. The Moose were down 1-0 after 40 minutes and were outshot 13-7.

The Moose were granted chances on the power play in the third, but were unable to find proper shooting lanes. With time ticking down, Salminen was called to the Moose bench in favour of the extra attacker. Manitoba gained possession and Declan Chisholm sauced the puck to Jansen Harkins, who fired a bullet past Askarov to tie the contest 1-1. Milwaukee struck back with 27 seconds left, as a collision between Moose skaters allowed the Admirals to walk in with an odd-man rush before Spencer Statsney sent the puck past Salminen off the backdoor pass. The Moose were unable to manufacture a second equalizer and the horn sounded to draw the series to a close with Milwaukee taking Game 5 by a score of 2-1. Salminen was hit with the loss and ended with 31 stops, while Askarov notched the win with 19 saves of his own.

Quotable

Moose Defenceman Jimmy Oligny (Click for full interview)

“Seems like we’ve seen this before, it’s getting old. I already have no words, it’s just really disappointing. When you just tie a game, you can’t allow a goal right after. It doesn’t matter when, even if it was in the second period. You just can’t allow a goal right after you scored. I think they were tight games that could have gone either way.”

Statbook

Brewers Hitting

a-walked for Taylor in the 9th

b-struck out swinging for Wiemer in the 9th

a-homered to left center for Pederson in the 8th

The Milwaukee Bucks want their postseasons to match the success of their regular seasons.

That pretty much explains why the Bucks opted to fire coach Mike Budenholzer after he led Milwaukee to the NBA’s best record in three of his five seasons on the job. Budenholzer coached the Bucks to their first title in a half-century in 2021 but posted a 4-4 record in playoff series his other four seasons, including this year’s first-round exit.

“From a regular-season perspective, we’ve done some incredible things,” general manager Jon Horst said in a conference call with reporters Friday, one day after Budenholzer’s firing. “And that matters. You care about the regular season. It’s really hard to win an 82-game regular season. It takes a lot to do that. And the playoffs matter an awful lot, too.

“I think ultimately, we just haven’t ended these seasons and these runs and these opportunities to contend in the way that we want or expect. And those expectations have changed over the course of time. So this is an opportunity for us to go forward.”

That opportunity just might lead to the Bucks hiring someone who shares many of Budenholzer’s traits.

Horst said he believes the Bucks made the right hire five years ago when they brought in Budenholzer. He added the team is “where we are today largely because of what Bud’s brought and what we’ve been able to do as a partnership.”

“And now the challenge and task will be to find someone that frankly brings a lot of the same things but also can add to what we have, can bring a different view,” Horst said. “I think that’s where the refocus and reenergize opportunity comes. To look at this team in a different way and look at this opportunity in a different way and hopefully unlock some more potential with this team.”

Budenholzer compiled a 271-120 regular-season record with the Bucks while working with a roster featuring Giannis Antetokounmpo, who earned MVP honors in 2019 and 2020. Budenholzer helped Milwaukee go 58-24 this season to earn the NBA’s top playoff seed before the Bucks’ stunning 4-1 loss to the Miami Heat in the first round.

Horst said the decision to fire Budenholzer was made collectively by the team’s executive group and ownership group rather than from any player request. Horst said players would have a voice in the process, however, as the Bucks select Budenholzer’s replacement.

Antetokounmpo said after the Heat’s series-clinching victory that the Bucks didn’t make enough adjustments in how they guarded Jimmy Butler, who averaged 37.6 points over the five games. Antetokounmpo, who left Game 1 early and missed Games 2 and 3 with a bruised lower back, said he would have liked to defend Butler more.

“This wasn’t a player decision,” Horst said. “This was made at the executive level, ownership group. This is something we talked about collectively and we decided. Relative or specific to Giannis or to any of our players, it wasn’t their decision.”

Horst acknowledged a coaching change alone won’t solve all the Bucks’ issues.

“I have to be better,” Horst said. “I have to make better decisions at an executive level. Our players have to play better. From a performance area, we have to do a better job. So, it’s across the board, this is not a ‘one hire fixes all’-type thing. There’s a lot of things that have to improve.”

Milwaukee’s next coach will inherit a talented but aging roster as the Bucks enter an intriguing offseason.

Brook Lopez, the runner-up to Memphis’ Jaren Jackson Jr. in the NBA defensive player of the year voting, is a free agent. Three-time All-Star Khris Middleton could become a free agent as well if he doesn’t pick up his $40.4 million player option for 2023-24.

The Bucks want to make sure they remain annual contenders as long as they have Antetokounmpo, who has two years plus a 2025-26 player option remaining in the supermax deal he signed in December 2020.

Horst said it was too early in the process to tell how important NBA head coaching experience or any other factor might be in the hiring process.

“We have to make a great hire, and I don’t want to put any boxes around what that will be,” Horst said. “I believe we will have a very attractive position. We have the best player in the world. We have a championship culture and organization. We have great facilities. I think we have great respect around the league. So I think we’ll have a lot options.”