Martinez Tribune The website of the Martinez Tribune.
BY RICK PORCARO
The Giants beat the rain and the Blue Jays Wednesday afternoon, defeating Toronto 4-3 in Shaun Anderson’s Major League debut on the strength of a sixth inning home run by Brandon Crawford.
Anderson, San Francisco’s top pitching prospect, was just called up to replace Dereck Rodriguez after he was optioned to Triple-A Sacramento. He pitched five strong innings, allowing just two earned runs on two hits while striking out five. Anderson also doubled in his first plate appearance and singled his next time up, becoming the first Giants pitcher to achieve a multi-hit game in his MLB debut since 1900.
A former closer for the Florida Gators in college, Anderson was a third-round pick by the Boston Red Sox in the 2016 draft before being acquired by San Francisco in the Eduardo Nunez trade the following year.
Aramis Garcia’s two run homer in the bottom of the second staked San Francisco to a 3-2 lead. Toronto tied it in the fifth on a Vladimir Guerrero Jr. RBI ground out following a pair of Giants errors, but Crawford’s solo blast in the sixth off of Ryan Tepera proved decisive.
Mark Melancon, Sam Dyson, Tony Watson and Will Smith all pitched scoreless innings to shut the door on Toronto, with Smith picking up his 11th save of the year.
The Giants now hit the road for a quick weekend series against the DiamondBacks in Phoenix starting Friday before returning home for four game against the Atlanta Braves. Jeff Samardzija (2-1, 3.51) is set to face Arizona’s Merrill Kelly (3-4, 4.70) in the opener.
