Despite the Loss, Ty Blach Shines for the San Francisco Giants
By Keaton Moore
In just his third major league start, Ty Blach of the San Francisco Giants came incredibly close to besting Clayton Kershaw for the second time in his short career.
On Tuesday, Ty Blach took the mound for the San Francisco Giants against a familiar foe, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw. Although he came out on the losing end of the game, Blach put on an impressive showing in his first start of the season.
"“Ty did a really nice job,” manager Bruce Bochy said (per mlb.com). “His first start and hadn’t been stretched out. He’s got an inning her and there, but he goes out there and goes five innings and gives up two runs. I thought it was a nice effort and he had his pitches going.”"
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Despite a strong Spring Training, Blach lost out on the fifth rotation spot to Matt Cain and resorted to pitching from the bullpen. After 5.2 innings with a 4.76 ERA, the Giants promoted Blach to the rotation as Madison Bumgarner is expected to be stuck on the disabled list for 6-8 weeks with a strained left shoulder due to a dirt-biking accident.
After five innings, Blach left the mound with only four hits and two runs allowed. Starting with Yasiel Puig’s inning-ending ground out in the first, Blach retired seven batters in a row before giving up the lead in the fourth. In fact, he scored the go-ahead run after leading off the third with a double before giving up a run himself. He is now 3-for-4 against Kershaw in his career.
Meanwhile, Kershaw threw seven innings, in which he allowed just six hits and one run while striking out seven.
We Meet Again
Kershaw and Blach met late last season in the midst of a crucial three-game series in San Francisco. While the Dodgers entered the series knowing they clinched the NL West title, the Giants were one loss away from falling out of the Wild Card race. Blach followed up Bumgarner’s series-opening victory with a three-hit shutout victory over Kershaw.
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Yet it cannot be ignored that Blach is only 27.2 innings into his major league career. With that in mind, more than likely the Dodgers’ struggles with left-handed pitchers surely played a role in Blach’s success. Similar to last season, the Dodgers are batting .224 against lefties, compared to their .262 batting average against righties.