SAN FRANCISCO–The Giants are used to seeing Madison Bumgarner do it.
It’s not much of a surprise when Matt Cain or Jeff Samardzija does it, either.
But Ty Blach going yard? That’s a sure-fire way to stun the Giants’ dugout.
“He smoked it, didn’t he?” Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy said, when recounting his starting pitcher’s three-run home run in the bottom of the fifth inning on Thursday night. “I think he stunned us all how far he hit that, I’m trying to think the last pitcher that hit one straightaway center. It was the Ty Blach show tonight.”
Blach didn’t just carry the load with his bat in Thursday’s 11-2 victory over the A’s, he did it with his arm as well. And lately, that arm has been getting stronger.
For the fourth straight outing, Blach lasted at least seven innings, as he powered through eight full frames and surrendered just two earned runs against an A’s lineup that has given Giants’ pitchers fits this week. In part because he was armed with a 7-0 lead after just two innings, Blach never ran into trouble on Thursday, but nevertheless, his all-around game was the major storyline in the Giants’ series-splitting victory.
“He’s (Blach) had some great games and this kid, I mean, you just love his tempo out there,” Bochy said. “He takes the ball, he goes, he has a great changeup and curveball that he’ll mix in with the fastball on both sides. He can hold runners. He handles the bat as you saw. He’s just a nice pitcher to have out there that can do so many things to help himself too.”
Blach’s ability to go deep into games has proved to be a boon for the Giants’ staff of late, as San Francisco has now won four of the last six games he’s pitched in. One of the games Blach did drop was a 2-1 ballgame against the first-place Dodgers over the weekend, but even in that contest, he lasted seven innings against the hottest lineup in baseball.
“That’s kind of our job as a starting pitcher is to go out there and give as many innings as we can, keep the team in the game so we’re just going to go out there, try to execute pitches and give the guys a chance to win,” Blach said.
While Blach was pleased with his performance on the hill, it was his three-run home run that stole the show on Thursday night. The 26-year-old rookie hit the Giants’ first three-run home run at AT&T Park this season, a stunning stat in and of itself, and his first round-tripper since high school.
“Last time would have been high school,” Blach said. “I never hit one in the Minor Leagues so high school would have been the last time.”