🎧 Podcast: The Giants can’t quit .500. No, really. With Friday night’s win, they’re exactly 736-736 over the last 10 seasons (!). So, um, how do you fix .500? Is there a fix? Kerry and I discuss on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and everywhere else.
Kai-Wei Teng was in a straightjacket—at least pitcher's equivalent of one. He stared down the bases loaded and no outs, white-knuckling his way through his second career start. The game didn't quite hang in the balance but perhaps his roster spot did.
The 26-year-old righty remade himself over the winter after finishing last season with an 8.66 ERA. He shaved a mere five runs off it this year in Sacramento, earning an opportunity in place of Hayden Birdsong and Landen Roupp.
So here was Teng, needing a little bit of luck to pull off baseball's greatest magic trick. He got it immediately.
Jose Tena grounded a first-pitch sinker right to Rafael Devers, who threw home for the first out. Two pitches later Teng flipped a curveball over the plate that Jacob Young got on top of. He rolled it to Willy Adames, setting off an inning-ending double play.
Teng slapped his right hand against his glove as he walked off the mound. He didn’t quite say abracadabra, but I bet he wanted to.
Up next: Carson Whisenhunt (1-0, 4.35 ERA) makes his third career start on Saturday afternoon, facing Brad Lord (2-6, 3.42 ERA). Bad teams have a way of making good pitcher’s records look uglier than they should be. First pitch at 1:05 pm.