SF Giants’ McDonald strikes out 10 in impressive outing to cap off year
SAN FRANCISCO — Trevor McDonald has been on the Giants for roughly a week-and-a-half, but the rookie right-hander hasn’t wasted the few opportunities that he’s received.
After allowing one run over six innings against the Dodgers, McDonald recorded his first career win as he pitched a career-high seven innings of three-run ball and struck out a career-high 10 batters as the Giants beat the Colorado Rockies 6-3 on Friday night at Oracle Park.
“It was a lot of fun,” McDonald said. “We’re trying to finish strong and still win games. It definitely gave me some confidence going into the offseason and coming back for next year.”
Before the sellout crowd applauded McDonald for the best start of his career, they applauded shortstop Willy Adames for being named the .
“It’s an honor,” Adames said. “It’s truly special for me. It’s voted on by my teammates, the coaches, the staff and the fans, so for me, that’s what makes it even more special — the respect from my teammates and the people around me is surreal.”
Melvin said he thought Adames appeared nervous when addressing the crowd, an uneasiness that Adames seldom shows. Adames, himself, even pointed out during his speech that that he was reading off a piece of paper.
While Adames may not have been in his element at the podium, he was very much in his element when he stepped into the batter’s box in the first inning and blasted a two-run homer. With two games remaining, Adames is just one homer away from becoming the first Giant to hit 30 homers in a single season since Barry Bonds in 2004.
“Everybody has mentioned that,” Adames said. “It’s a big deal, but for me, I’m just trying to win. I don’t really care about hitting 30. Obviously, I want to do it. … If I don’t do it this year, I’ll do it next year. (Rafael Devers) is going to do it for sure — and (Matt Chapman) if they stay healthy.”
The Willie Mac Award winner iterated that winning — not personal accolades — is his main focus. Adames, despite a slow start, has done his part to contribute to winning baseball, entering Friday with a team-high 3.4 WAR (per FanGraphs), but San Francisco will end this season having failed to make the playoffs for the eighth time in the last nine years.
“There’s a lot of room to improve for next year,” Adames said. “For me, personally, I feel like it hasn’t been my best year. … There’s a lot of stuff that I need to work on for next year and try to be more consistent. The main focus is winning, so for me, it’s just coming in next year with the right mentality to go out there and compete since day one and carry that energy until the last game of the season. I feel like we kind of lost that and it’s tough.”
Adames went on to say he believes the Giants lost their first-half mentality when the second half rolled around, something that he believes the team needs to improve upon. He added that he’s already thinking about what the team can do next year to avoid another second-half skid, proposing that the team’s core should maybe have some dinners in the offseason and “figure out a way to keep the clubhouse together and the same energy throughout the year.”
When he was asked what led to the shift in energy after the All-Star break, Adames provided the following response:
“I feel like there’s a lot of younger guys that still don’t know — I feel like they haven’t played a full season like this in the big leagues. And this is the big leagues. This is not the minor leagues where if you make an error, they’re not going to say anything. Sometimes here, when you’re struggling, people are expecting you to be better. Sometimes, the pressure of that comes with a lot of stress.
“Some of the young guys that are in their first full season, it’s tough to be in that position. Even myself, I’m still sometimes (dealing with) a little bit of pressure and trying to do too much, some stuff leads to bad habits and you go through a slump for like three weeks. … I feel like there’s not a right answer. It’s just a lot of things that need to be better. But I feel like that’s something we need to address inside.”
Having been eliminated from postseason contention on Tuesday, Adames and the Giants will not be able to salvage a season where they can only finish .500 at best. They can only look to the future, and the 24-year-old McDonald has put in his early bid for next year’s Opening Day roster.
McDonald cruised through the first four innings, needing only 51 pitches to retire his first 12 batters of the night. The right-hander allowed a three-run homer to Ezequiel Tovar in the fifth, but he immediately responded by retiring the next seven batters he faced to emphatically end his night.
As things stand, McDonald may not have an extensive enough track record to make a case for next year’s Opening Day roster as a starter. That said, McDonald said he was open to relieving if that possibility arose.
“He’s really impressed me,” Adames said. “I like the way that he’s preparing himself. You saw him in L.A. — he was shoving against the Dodgers. That’s not something easy. Then today, he was competing every at-bat, every pitch. He was dialed in and he looked really good. That’s something that fans should be excited about that he’s finishing the season, and hopefully, he can come next year healthy and go out there and continue to do that.”
Along with Adames, Heliot Ramos hit his 21st home run of the season and Matt Chapman, , notched the 1,000th hit of his career with a bloop single in the bottom of the fifth inning.
“It means he’s been durable and been around for a while and there’s a lot more to come,” Melvins said. “There’s certain milestones and certain hit numbers that my guess is he’s going to keep that ball. 1000 is a big number.”
