What we learned as Andrew Knizner helps Giants avoid being swept by Cardinals originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

• BOX SCORE

SAN FRANCISCO — A day after they were officially eliminated from the MLB playoff race, the Giants at least made sure that they didn’t get swept. 

Against his former teammates, Andrew Knizner drove in the game-winning run in the bottom of the eighth with his first triple in 322 career games, leading the Giants to a 4-3 win over the St. Louis Cardinals. The Giants won’t finish this season with a winning record, but they can still finish at .500 by winning out, and Knizner helped get them back on the right track.

After each team scored a couple of early runs, the Giants took advantage of a big mistake in the fourth. Right fielder Jordan Walker dropped Christian Koss’ fly ball and the Giants played good situational baseball from there. Drew Gilbert moved Koss over and Knizner drove him in with a deep fly ball. 

For a second straight night, the Cardinals rallied late. But Koss led off the bottom of the eighth with a single and Knizner hit a sharp line drive to center that got past a diving Victor Scott II. As it rolled to the wall, Koss jogged home. 

A night after Ryan Walker blew the save, Tristan Beck got the ninth. The leadoff runner reached, but Koss turned a slick double play, helping Beck pick up his fourth career save.  

Filling In

The Giants scratched Robbie Ray from his final start of the year after they were eliminated on Tuesday night, which wasn’t a surprise. Ray pitched just 34 innings the previous two seasons because of Tommy John surgery but already was at 182 1/3 this season. 

It was a good first full year in San Francisco for Ray, who made the All-Star team and posted a 3.65 ERA and 3.94 FIP in 32 appearances. He appeared to run out of gas a bit in September, but he still was a strong co-ace for Logan Webb. 

Without Ray, manager Bob Melvin turned to veteran JT Brubaker, who had 61 previous big league starts with the Pittsburgh Pirates but none since 2022. The right-hander gave up two earned in four innings, striking out four. 

Splash No. 1

Rafael Devers figures to hit plenty into McCovey Cove over the next decade, and he got his first Splash Hit in the third, hitting a moonshot that landed a few feet into the water. At 43 degrees, the ball left the bat at the second-highest launch angle for any Giants homer this year. Devers also had one at 43 degrees at Coors Field, a homer that set off a brawl with Kyle Freeland; the high this year is a 46-degree homer from Wilmer Flores.

There have been 108 Splash Hits now in 26 seasons, and it shouldn’t be too hard for Devers to end up high on the all-time list. Only two players — Barry Bonds (35) and Brandon Belt (10) — have hit double-digit balls into the Cove, and Devers has the kind of swing that should give him multiple Splash Hits a year. Wednesday’s blast was his 34th homer of the season overall and 19th with the Giants. 

A First For The First Baseman

Bryce Eldridge has generally shown a good approach, but coming into Wednesday’s game, he didn’t have much to show for it. Hitting cleanup because Matt Chapman got the day off, Eldridge came away with his first multi-hit game in the big leagues. 

As Oracle was still buzzing from the Devers homer, Eldridge smashed a double to the track in center. The ball was hit 109.7 mph and was Eldridge’s second extra-base hit in the big leagues. He later went the other way, bouncing a single to left. 

The overall numbers don’t stand out, but Eldridge has a .300 on-base percentage thanks to five walks in eight games. His OPS is .508 and he has 10 strikeouts, but he should get a few chances this weekend to work on his numbers and try to get that first homer before he hits the offseason. 

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Phillies break multiple home run records to secure first-round bye originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Manager Rob Thomson has talked a lot this season about how rest can sometimes do a hitter good.

No doubt Edmundo Sosa agrees. He is now the first Phillies shortstop to hit three home runs in a game.

And Kyle Schwarber? Well, he’s just a monster. He’s two home runs closer to breaking Ryan Howard’s franchise record for most home runs in a season (58).

The rest of the team certainly looked playoff ready on Wednesday as the Phillies clinched the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye with an 11-1 thrashing of the Marlins at Citizens Bank Park. On what started as a somber, damp night finished with all the electricity of a summer lightning storm.

Reinstated from the Injured List prior to Wednesday’s game, Sosa was inserted into the lineup at shortstop and hit sixth. In his first action since September 12, all Sosa did was slug three home runs and drive in five.

Not to be outdone, Schwarber also hit a pair of bombs, his first off lefty Ryan Weathers. That home run gave him a major league record of 23 home runs in a season off a left-handed pitcher. In all, the Phillies belted a team-record eight home runs.

“Never. Never had a three-homer game before, not in little league, not in the minors,” said Sosa. “Some two-home run games. It’s an amazing feeling, an incredible feeling.”

His third took a little more time coming than the first two, as the umpires reviewed if there was fan interference or not. Sosa stood on second base waiting for the call.

“I was just happy that I hit a double at the moment,” he said. “I was waiting for the umpires to make their decision. The guys in the dugout kept telling me to keep going but at that point I was just waiting for the final decision to come. When they called it, I got even happier, more excited. I thought it was a little low spin so I didn’t think it was going out. I didn’t think it had that much on it.”

It did, and Sosa now finds himself in the team’s record books.

Bryson Stott, Alec Bohm and Otto Kemp also left the yard for the Phillies, who got a phenomenal starting performance from Jesus Luzardo to improve to 92-65 on the season while handing the Marlins just their second loss in the past 13 games.

After Schwarber tied the score at 1-1 in the third with his 55th home run of the season to dead center field, Sosa one-handed a homer to center that just seemed to keep carrying over centerfielder Jakob Marsee’s head.

Two batters later, Stott upped the lead to 3-1 when he hit a no-doubt-about-it shot to right, his 13th of the season. After that, it was literally bombs away as they scored five in the seventh on homers by Schwarber, Bohm, Kemp and Sosa. Schwarber now needs just two homers to tie Ryan Howard’s single-season record of 58 (2006).

“I think it’s a pretty cool stat,” said Schwarber of the 23 homers of lefties. “Everything that we got to do is in front of us and it’s about finishing healthy. But you also have to fill the lineup, too. I’m also at the bottom of the totem pole there because I don’t play the field much. But I’m always going to be ready to play a game. If it happens, great. If it doesn’t, great. I’m not worried about that. I’m worried about getting all our guys to the end of 162 and then everyone be healthy and push towards what we need to go to.”

In the past two nights against the Miami Marlins, starting pitchers Cristopher Sanchez and Luzardo combined to pitch 14 innings without giving up a run. Tuesday, the bullpen couldn’t hold a 3-0 lead. Gifted with an 11-1 lead on Wednesday, Luzardo’s win was safe after he allowed just three hits, no earned runs and struck out 10 in his seven innings.

It was the seventh time this season Luzardo has struck out 10 or more batters and he has now set career highs with 216 strikeouts and 186 2/3 innings pitched.

Schwarber picked up four hits on the night, a triple shy of a cycle. He also upped his RBI total on the season to a National League leading 132. Bohm continued his hot hitting since coming off the IL on Friday by collecting two more hits.

And just like that, the bye is a reality and playoff baseball at CBP begins on Saturday, October 4th.

“I’m truly excited,” said Luzardo. “Even in the regular season you can see the home field advantage here but especially in the postseason it’s pretty well-known teams don’t want to play here. There’s a pretty good reason for that.”

The Mets announced a pair of roster moves on Wednesday, with Tyrone Taylor returning from the IL and Jose Siri designated for assignment.

The writing was unfortunately on the wall for Siri. With Taylor activated off the IL, the Mets had a surplus of center field options, making Siri or Cedric Mullins the most logical choice. Ultimately, though, it was Siri who was removed from the roster.

“Not an easy [decision]," Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said before Wednesday's game. "We know how toolsy he is and what he brings to the table, but a difficult year for him. Dealing with the fracture pretty much the whole year. Got to a point where you’re activating a right-handed hitter, that plays pretty good defense and adds versatility and speed. Not an easy one, but we decided to go with Siri there."

Siri, who missed the majority of the season with a fractured tibia, played in just 16 games for the Mets, slashing .063/.167/.125 with 17 strikeouts in 32 at-bats.

Taylor has also had a down year at the plate, slashing .218/.277/.315 with two homers and 25 RBI in 109 games, though he’s provided strong defense in center field.

When asked what the plan for center field is now that Siri is out and Taylor is back, Mendoza said he will continue to play the matchups, even use Jeff McNeil andBrandon Nimmo if need be.

“That’s still in play, with Nim, with the right matchups and who's available and things like that," Mendoza explained. "We still have to watch TT here a little bit, too. [Cedric] Mullins will continue to get some playing time. Will continue to play the matchups. We have five more [games]. We’ll try our best to mix and match with the guys that we feel will give us the best chance to win, day in and day out. That’s how we’ll treat it.”