Anthony Molina throws five solid innings against Braves in first Giants start
The "Giants Postgame Live" crew highlights Anthony Molina's outing in San Francisco's 7-3 win over the Atlanta Braves on Monday at Truist Park.
Anthony Molina throws five solid innings against Braves in first Giants start originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Video Transcript
But how about today's starter, Anthony Molina, going up against his former team.
The day before the trade deadline, he was shipped to the West Coast for Tyler Mahle.
Now, we know Tyler Mahle has been dealing with the Braves with a 1.35 ERA in 26 innings.
But Mr. Molina, I was not familiar with his game.
You know what?
I, I think that his line, tho- those numbers right there, are not indicative of the fact that he pitched a little bit better than that.
He got the win today, which is fantastic, good for him.
The number that I like is that big old zero by BB.
No free passes.
If you're gonna make these teams, especially these good teams in the major leagues, like the Atlanta Braves, if they're gonna beat you, they're gonna have to do it with the bat, and he did a really nice job of keeping the ball out of the middle of the plate.
That home run that Michael Harris hit, you gotta tip your cap to that.
It was a first pitch, get me over breaking ball, trying to steal a strike, and he just was able to keep his hands back and drive it out to the big part of the ballpark there.
But he did a really nice job.
Yep.
Did a really nice job.
The stuff looked good.
The changeup was really nice.
In that inning, in the fourth inning, he struck out all three batters- Hold on, hold on, hold on with one good fastball.
Hold on, Georgie.
Don't move.
We got Casey Cantos right now, breaking it down at the demo wall.
All right, all right, here we go.
Let's talk about these strikeouts here.
Here we go.
He picks up his first win as a Giant, his fourth career Major League win.
How did he do it, Georgie?
Well, he did a really nice job.
He settled in after, after that l- that rough first inning here, where he gave up that, that, that one s- run in the first, and we'll see it right here as we're gonna get it started.
Here in the first inning, this is what we're talking about, that, that pitch that came in.
You gotta, you gotta give him c- some credit there.
He pulled his hands in, drove it to right center field, and that looks like a Denver-type big outfield.
There was just outfield for days.
There's the, the, the home run that I was talking about right there.
Got his foot down, tried to steal a strike, and he was able to carry it out of the ballpark.
That's just one of those where you gotta tip your cap.
And then you have the stuff, the stuff on display right here.
He kept going elevated with the fastball and down with the changeup and the slider.
But look at the stuff.
That fastball with that short arm a- action that we talked about just creeps up on you.
95, 96, looks like 97, 98 when you spin it from that short arm ang- arm angle coming out of your ear, essentially.
Got a cheapie there from Matt Olson with that foul ball.
Then you got Mar- Mauricio Dubn thinking it was a fastball, see you later with the slider.
Then you have that changeup right there.
That struck out the side for him in the fourth.
Then in his last inning, in the fifth inning, this, this is one of those times when you gotta kind of roll with the punches.
Just good pieces of hitting.
That fastball up and in, he fought it off.
That one was a little bit caught, that caught too much plate for the base hit up the middle.
And then another one.
Unfortunate, good fastball up in the zone, just blo- just foul right in between, in front of Drew Gilbert there.
But he did a lot of good things.
That didn't help him right there with that, what was given a base hit, but it was o- I thought that was probably an error.
And then you have Matt Olson again.
This was a really good piece of pitching right there.
Fell behind 3-1, got him to a 3-2 count, and then he came back and made a really good pitch when he had to to get out of that inning and earn his first big league victory as a starter.
Yeah, another guy auditioning for a spot in this rotation or bullpen, but that's the second time we've seen Molina this week, Georgie.
Came out of the pen against Cincinnati, four and a third in that game.
Only gave up the hit, had the one walk there.
Tonight, no walks against that powerful Braves lineup, and I love that at bat against Olson.
Yeah.
That'll Remember, he was down 0, 3-0 in that at bat.
Got the, got the strike there to go 3-1.
Fought off a pitch.
Boom, you get out of that inning.
It kept the Giants in it, and a well-deserved victory for Mr. Anthony Molina.
He should absolutely be very, very proud of himself for how he dug deep.
A lot of times, especially younger pitchers, when you're in those situations, in the fifth inning, you're digging a little bit deeper.
You have the bases loaded.
You have a guy in Matt Olson who is a threat to leave the ballpark- Yep at any time he steps in the batter's box, and he dug deep and executed pitches when he really needed to to give himself his victory.
