Giants perform their civic duty

The San Francisco Giants knew their part on Tuesday and they played it well. Perhaps a little too well, if you ask me. The Giants hosted a star-studded Team USA on Tuesday at Scottsdale Stadium, serving as the tune-up appetizer before the World Baseball Classic starts later this week.

And an appetizer they were. A tasty one, it seemed, as the Americans plated enough runs to win the game before recording a single out, while cruising to a 15-1 win in a game that was exactly as competitive as the score suggests.

It was over as soon as it started. Not just because Team USA was rolling out a lineup befitting an All-Star Game, while the Giants were missing Rafael Devers, Luis Arráez, and their entire starting outfield, and not just because it was a battle of the best starting pitcher in the National League vs. San Francisco’s fifth starter.

No, it was over because, on the second pitch that Adrian Houser threw, Bobby Witt Jr. smacked a 99-mph single. Five pitches later, Bryce Harper roped a 110.3-mph double. Exactly one pitch later, Aaron Judge scored them both with a 108.5-mph two-run single. It was clear, then, what kind of day it would be.

To Houser’s credit, he settled down quite nicely. After giving up those back-to-back-to-back hits to open the game, which he promptly followed up with walk issued to Kyle Schwarber, he got Alex Bregman to ground into a double play (with huge help from Willy Adames), before striking out Cal Raleigh. He set down the side in order in the second inning, and in the third, he handled the top of the lineup much more comfortably, allowing just one baserunner (a walk to Judge) while retiring Witt, Harper, and Schwarber, the latter by way of strikes.

But suffice to say, the offense was not flowing on the other end, as the Giants got a very up close and personal look at just how dominant Paul Skenes can be. Adames opened the first inning with one of the more impressive Giants at-bats of the day, hitting a double into the corner, but Skenes would then retire the next (and final) nine batters that he faced. Still, it was enough to score a run against the ace, as Matt Chapman and Patrick Bailey followed Adames’ double with a pair of productive groundouts, resulting in San Francisco’s lone run scored on the day.

Things really started to fall apart for the Giants when Houser left the game and was replaced by fellow righty Blade Tidwell. It’s been an excellent spring for Tidwell, one of the top pitching prospects in the organization, and one outing against a group of MVPs and All-Stars doesn’t change that. But while no team outside of Los Angeles possesses the talent of the American WBC squad, this game was still a reminder that there’s a difference between facing Spring Training teams and honest-to-goodness MLB teams. And for Tidwell, that reminder was painful.

The rookie took the bump to start the fourth, and the second pitch he threw was tattooed over the fence by Alex Bregman, who cleared the wall with ease on a 437-foot dinger. He recovered to retire the next three batters, but couldn’t miss bats in the fifth inning, when he gave up four consecutive singles to open the inning, with Brice Turang, Witt, Harper, and Judge all doing damage that resulted in a two-run inning.

The sixth inning would also get away from Tidwell, who issued a leadoff walk to Raleigh, before ceding a towering home run to Roman Anthony. He would get two outs, but then be pulled from the inning.

In all, it was a rough game for a player trying to prove that they should be tasked with getting key outs in meaningful MLB games. Tidwell gave up eight baserunners and five earned runs in just 2.2 innings, while inducing just five swings-and-misses in his 45 pitches (though his final two pitches of the night were whiffs). Still and all, it’s not every day that you get to face Harper and Judge back-to-back, on national television, and it surely was both an exciting and instructional experience for Tidwell. And while the results may have been humbling, it does nothing to dampen the shine of his prospect.

After all, baseball is baseball, and anyone can get the better of anyone. And for further evidence of that, we turn to the top of the seventh inning.

Matt Gage took the bump to open the frame, and we’d reached the part of the game where both teams were starting to replace their regulars, and speckle in some Minor Leaguers. As is customary for these exhibitions, Team USA had some Giants prospects on loan from Minor League camp, since they don’t exactly carry players fit for mop-up duty on the American WBC team.

Those players came to bat in seventh, facing Gage, who will almost certainly be on San Francisco’s Opening Day roster, perhaps as their top lefty out of the bullpen given Erik Miller’s health status. And that’s when baseball got to baseballing.

It started in more normal fashion, as Gage was first tasked with facing budding superstar Pete Crow-Armstrong, who reached on an error by Bryce Eldridge, and then stole second base. And then came the friendly fire from the prospects.

First up was Charlie Szykowny, a ninth-round pick in 2023 who spent last year in High-A. He doubled off of Gage, scoring PCA. We then paused for some honest-to-goodness Team USA members — Ernie Clement drew a walk, and Raleigh flew out — and then back to the Minor Leaguers. Dakota Jordan, who is one of the team’s top prospects but who hasn’t advanced past Low-A yet, singled to score Szykowny. Gage then struck out Scott Bandura — a seventh-round pick in 2023 who made it to AA last year — before facing off with the Giants 2025 first-round pick, Gavin Kilen. It was an impressive at-bat by Kilen, who, in an 0-2 count against a fellow lefty, hit a 100.9-mph single to plate a pair of runs, and end Gage’s night.