San Francisco Giants Beat Dodgers Thanks to Cueto, Panik

The San Francisco Giants are off to a 2-0 start behind Johnny Cueto‘s Performance, and Joe Panik‘s second homer in as many games.

We’ve heard “Bye Bye Baby” twice this year, and both times it’s come courtesy of a Joe Panik solo homer against a revered Dodger pitcher. Last night it was Clayton Kershaw, and tonight it was Kenley Jensen.

But of course, that’s not the game winning home-run for the Giants if it weren’t for the incredible outing of Johnny Beisbol.

Cueto went seven innings of one hit baseball, with no walks and four strikeouts. He carried a perfect game through six innings, losing it on a Chris Taylor leadoff single in the bottom of the seventh. But he ended up only facing the minimum, after Corey Seager hit into a double play.

Tony Watson pitched a perfect eighth in relief, striking out two. Hunter Strickland came in to earn his second save in as many tries.

• The Giants offense just could not cash in on many gifts from the Dodgers defense. Alex Wood was equally difficult to hit tonight, but the Dodger’s left side of the infield made four throwing errors, three of them bad throws. Again, they cash in off of Panik’s solo shot, but the Giants got lucky their staff has been amazing.
• Tony Watson was the signing of the offseason, as he’s struck out seven in his two innings. He’s absolutely manhandled the hitters he’s faced, and he looks incredibly set in the setup man role. A good thing for the bullpen to have him in the mix for clutch situations.
• Speaking of good bullpen, play, Hunter Strickland hasn’t looked phased one bit in the closer roll. He struggled when getting looks there in years past, but when Bochy has had him as the interim closer the last few games, he’s been on top of it. He gave up that first hit to Kemp last night, and has retired every hitter since. He’s mixing up his locations, and his pitch sequencing a lot more, keeping hitters away from his fastball. All positive signs for Strickland as the season gets off to a good start.

Next: Strickland Making A Case for Permanent Closer

The Giants and Dodgers will face off tomorrow night in the third game of the series. Rich Hill will take the mound against Derek Holland as the Giants look to get their first series win of 2018. First pitch is slated for 6:10 Pacific Time.