SF Giants: Alex Cobb throws seven shutout innings in 3-2 victory over Atlanta

Alex Cobb outpitched Spencer Strider, and the SF Giants offense managed just enough run support for the bullpen to hang on.

The SF Giants went up against Spencer Strider, one of the most dominant starting pitchers in MLB this season, but came away with a 3-2 victory thanks to an early rally and an excellent outing by Alex Cobb.

Spencer Strider is currently the clear favorite to be the National League Rookie of the Year. Entering play on Monday, Strider already had 183 strikeouts in just 120.2 innings pitched with a 2.69 ERA. Given San Francisco's recent offensive struggles, it seemed like it was going to be an uphill battle.

Strider struck out nine over his five innings of work, but the Giants jumped on him early. In the bottom of the second inning, Brandon Crawford, Thairo Estrada, recently promoted Willie Calhoun, and Luis González tagged Strider for four consecutive hits that drove in Crawford and Estrada.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Giants took advantage of a throwing error by second baseman Vaughn Grissom, who forced a throw trying to get Estrada on an infield single. That would be all the scoring San Francisco mustered against Strider, Dylan Lee, and A.J. Minter, but Cobb made sure it was enough.

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Cobb and catcher Austin Wynns balanced the veteran's arsenal masterfully to keep Atlanta's excellent lineup from building a rally. Cobb relied on his splitter, his best pitch, more than 58% of the time while splitting his remaining pitches between his sinker and knuckle curve. His sinker and knuckle curve each had a called strike + whiff rate (CSW%) north of 40% (30% is considered above-average), while his splitter induced swinging strikes on 12 of Atlanta's 36 swings against the pitch.

After an up-and-down first half, Cobb has been fantastic over his last 11 starts, recording a 2.44 ERA with 70 strikeouts and just 17 walks in 66.1 innings pitched. Health has been Cobb's biggest hurdle throughout his career, but the 34-year-old has been a consistent mid-rotation arm for San Francisco this year.

Things got dicey for the Giants bullpen. Zack Littell surrendered a pair of runs in the eighth. Littell induced a double play, which put the tying run on third with two outs in the ninth inning and left-handed hitting first baseman Matt Olson coming to the plate. Giants manager Gabe Kapler opted to bring in southpaw Scott Alexander for the big at bat. The decision paid off, with Alexander retiring Olson to end the eighth before finishing off the ninth to record his first save since 2018 and give usual closer Camilo Doval a much-needed night off.

However, Littell was not happy with Kapler's decision. Littell had some choice words for Kapler as he walked off the mound and the two went into the tunnel to talk some more after the interaction. Littell has a 5.08 ERA this season and had already allowed three hits and a walk on Monday, making it particularly surprising to see him so upset with Kapler. It seems like there may be something else going on behind the scenes that led to Littell's outburst.

“He’s a competitor and wanted to finish that inning," Kapler said when asked about his interaction with Littell during his postgame media availability. "I think it was just his wanting me to know that he wanted to finish that inning. There’s obviously a way to do that. Zack knows that, we discussed it.”

Regardless of what's going on in the clubhouse, the SF Giants got a win despite going up against a fantastic starter. They are now 68-73 and will host Atlanta again tomorrow with scheduled first pitch set for 6:45 PM Pacific.