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LaMonte Wade Jr., bullpen lead  Giants to 4-3 win over Phillies
USA TODAY Sports

The SF Giants defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 4-3 on Tuesday night, pulling just one win away from sweeping the reigning National League Champions. While the matchup of starting pitchers Alex Cobb ( the most underrated pitcher in MLB) and Zack Wheeler suggested baserunners would be scarce, neither righty delivered a standout performance.

Cobb found himself in trouble as soon as the game began. In the top of the first inning, Cobb failed to put away Bryson Stott and Trea Turner with two-strike counts, surrendering a walk and single. Facing Phillies slugger Bryce Harper, Cobb induced a groundball to shortstop Casey Schmitt (Giants #3 prospect) that turned into a rally-killing double play.

After the Giants stranded first baseman LaMonte Wade Jr. against Wheeler in the bottom half of the first, Cobb quickly found himself in another jam.

Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto snuck a ground ball down the third-base line past a diving J.D. Davis for a one-out double. Cobb lost focus of Realmuto at second base and allowed him to steal third base. The Giants brought the infield in, and Cobb induced another ground out to Schmitt that kept a run from scoring.

Cobb walked five batters through his first three innings of work, tying his career high for walks in a single appearance. It would be an overstatement to say he had his C-level stuff on Wednesday night. He induced just three strikeouts and five swinging strikes over the course of his outing. The Phillies never whiffed against his splitter once on 12 swings (opponents had a 22.6% whiff rate against the pitch entering the day).

Blake Sabol (Giants #33 prospect) led off the bottom of the third with a single for the Giants first hit of the game. Sabol opened a single-heavy rally, with Wade, Thairo Estrada, and Michael Conforto adding base hits that propelled the Giants to a 2-0 lead.

Cobb's successful dance around baserunners would come to an end in the fourth inning. The first three Phillies hitters in the inning squared up Cobb's pitches for hard-hit line drives. While a good play by left fielder Mitch Haniger robbed Alec Bohm of a hit, the other two fell for singles. Bryson Stott brought in the Phillies' first run of the game with an RBI base hit.

Then, Philadelphia tied things up on a balk call. Cobb appeared to pick Stott off first base, but umpire Rob Drake called a balk. Cobb's pause was short before his move to first base, but as with many rules in sports, there's a fine line between an excellent move and breaking a rule. Cobb was incensed by the call and was separated from Drake by Wade and Giants manager Gabe Kapler.

After a wild pitch allowed Turner to reach on a strikeout, Cobb was replaced by Taylor Rogers. With one out and runners on the corners, the southpaw struck out Harper and retired Castellanos to keep the score tied at 2.

Without a deficit, the Giants got right back to scoring in the bottom half of the fourth. Schmitt beat out an infield single with one out that prolonged the inning long enough for catcher Joey Bart to come to the plate.

With two outs in the inning, Bart hit a high pop-up toward first base. Phillies first baseman Kody Clemens ran into foul territory but was clearly ill-prepared for the Oracle Park winds, which push most foul balls back toward the field of play. The ball flew back into fair territory and landed, turning into an RBI double as Schmitt raced around the bases. Then, Bart scored on an RBI single by Wade.

John Brebbia relieved Rogers in the fifth, allowing a single before retiring five straight hitters. With the Giants ahead 4-2 heading into the seventh, Kapler turned to Tyler Rogers. Rogers surrendered three hits and a walk across two innings of work but did not allow a run to score. The length from Brebbia and Ty. Rogers set the stage for Camilo Doval to record his 10th save of the season. Pitching for the second day in a row, Doval did allow a solo home run to power-hitting lefty Kyle Schwarber. But he still finished off the win.

The SF Giants will look to finish off a series sweep against the Phillies with a win tomorrow afternoon. The Giants have not yet announced their starter for Wednesday's game, but the Phillies will be sending righty Taijuan Walker to the mound. First pitch is scheduled for 12:45 PM Pacific.

This article first appeared on FanNation Giants Baseball Insider and was syndicated with permission.

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