San Francisco Giants: Looking Back at 2016 Memorial Day Game
By Will Summers
Memorial Day is always a great time in baseball. We get to see new uniforms tailored to the national holiday and tributes to many heroes who’ve made the game possible. Let’s look back on last year’s fun.
Monday, May 30, 2016, was a great day at the ballpark. The San Francisco Giants got to spend their day in Atlanta taking on the Braves. Making things interesting was the odd-named pitcher’s duel with Mike Foltynewicz squaring up against Jeff Samardzija.
At the time, the Atlanta Braves were drowning in the National League East. The team was in last place with a 14-35 record. They were already 15 games out of first place and never spent a day at the top. Foltynewicz was bringing a 3.95 ERA to the table, fresh off a start in which the 6’4″ righty went 5 2/3 innings with one earned run allowed.
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Samardzija had fared quite a bit better before Memorial Day. He came into the night with a 2.54 ERA, fresh off a 6 2/3 inning start, also allowing just one earned run. He had helped the Giants to a 32-20 record, up 4.5 games over the second-place Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West. Seemed like a good opportunity to extend the division lead.
That didn’t happen. Foltynewicz outlasted Samardzija by one inning, going six. The Giants tabbed just one run against the Atlanta starter, a solo shot by the bat of Brandon Belt. They managed to put up two more in the ninth inning. Atlanta got to Samardzija in the second and third innings, allowing three and two runs, respectively.
San Francisco’s bullpen shut the game down after Samardzija was removed. Derek Law threw a hitless seventh and eighth inning. Chris Stratton struck out two in a hitless ninth in his MLB debut.
The 2016 Memorial Day game included some exciting plays. There was the triple from Mallex Smith.
There was Brandon Belt‘s aforementioned humble dinger.
The greatest highlights of the night came in the top of the seventh inning. Senior Airman Taylor was honored, among others of which may not have had the good fortune to make an appearance during or after their own service.
There was a shout out to the Braves from a fan in Kuwait.
Mr. Kamis would be glad to know his team took the win, 5-3. Despite the outcome, this is a game many people aren’t too worried about winning, so much as remembering the brave men and women of the past and present.
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Atlanta collected the win, and also spent the night honoring past Braves who’d served our country. Benjamin Chase broke down those players for us last year. The franchise is grateful for what they did on and off the field. Everyone is grateful for what each service member has done for the nation.