The Giants ended their longest losing streak of the season at seven games Friday in their 13-1 rout of the Philadelphia Phillies. Alex Cobb pitched seven shutout innings and Joc Pederson hit a three-run homer.
SAN FRANCISCO — With 11 runs in the first three innings Friday night, Gabe Kapler had a golden opportunity to get some veterans off their feet. By the end of the night, four older starters had been replaced, but the two with perhaps the greatest need for rest had to wait a bit.
Brandon Crawford didn’t come out of the 13-1 blowout of the Phillies until the top of the seventh. Evan Longoria, who has been nursing a sore hamstring, was replaced in the bottom of that inning.
It seemed odd on the surface that Kapler would wait so long to get those two extra rest, but he had a good reason for it. He wanted the best defenders out there for Alex Cobb as long as possible.
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SIGN UP HERE If there’s anybody on this staff -- or in baseball, for that matter -- who deserves a few defensive breaks in September, it's Cobb. He signed a two-year deal with the Giants in the offseason knowing they could help him take the next step, and he has continued to pile up groundballs also while blowing hitters away with the best velocity of his career.
And yet, Cobb had a 5.73 ERA at the end of May. It sat in the fours for most of the summer and didn't dip under 4.00 until the middle of August. Cobb entered Friday night with just four wins, but those numbers don't at all tell the story of how well he has pitched.
When Cobb's ERA was 5.73, his FIP -- which strips away all the damage caused by one of the worst defenses in franchise history -- was 2.62. At no point this season has that number been above 3.27, but it wasn't until recently that Cobb saw the results match the way he was throwing. With seven shutout innings Friday, he lowered his ERA to 3.58.
"This game is funny in the way that it seems like, even though we complain about how long (the season) is, it really does do a good job of kind of painting the picture of who you were in that season and things evening out throughout the course of the year," Cobb said. "Early on when it wasn't doing that, I knew that it would. I kind of kept with it."
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Cobb's numbers look like they'll settle in a respectable place, one befitting of a middle-of-the-rotation starter. But you can argue that he's been much more than that.
He ranks sixth in the Majors in groundball rate and is averaging 9.3 strikeouts per nine while limiting walks and homers. It is exactly what teams look for in frontline pitchers, and Cobb has been that when you look at the advanced metrics. He finished Friday night's dominant performance with a 2.85 FIP, which ranks ninth in the Majors, ahead of teammate Logan Webb, NL Cy Young frontrunner Sandy Alcantara and NL ERA leader Tony Gonsolin, among others.
"One of the things that we've said all year long is that he's a guy that's going to get the ball on the ground and if we're able to convert those into outs he's going to be an excellent Major League pitcher," Kapler said. "He's been good beneath the surface all season long and on a night like tonight he was good above the surface, which is kind of cool."
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As the Giants look toward the offseason, a primary focus will be fixing the defense, and Cobb and Webb, in particular, should benefit. At the moment, given the uncertainty with Carlos Rodón, those two look like the organization's best starters heading into 2023. Farhan Zaidi and Scott Harris surely will look for another marquee arm, whether that's in bringing Rodón back or finding the next Rodón/Kevin Gausman type.
But they can go into that search feeling good about what they already have in Cobb, who signed a two-year deal that includes a club option for 2024. He's been good all season long, and the Giants are finally taking advantage.
