The big baseball story Friday should have been the nonwaiver trade deadline. Instead, in this upside-down year, July 31 was the day the commissioner threatened to end the season unless players really start following pandemic safety protocols to stop the rash of postponements of the sport on the East Coast.
Meanwhile, in the Pacific time zone, the three-run homers are flying out of Oracle Park, Chadwick Tromp is making a name for himself and the Giants are letting opponents know if they stick a left-hander on the mound, Gabe Kapler can sic a formidable lineup against him.
In Friday night’s 9-2 rout of the Rangers, Kapler sent eight right-handed hitters to the plate against Mike Minor, who got Cy Young votes last year, and they pounded him for six runs in 5 2/3 innings.
Wilmer Flores hit a three-run homer in the fourth inning, the Giants’ second in three nights. Last year they hit three at Oracle Park in 81 games. Darin Ruf also had three RBIs, including two on a double against right-hander Luke Farrell in the seventh.
Tromp’s first big-league hit, a single, started the rally. An inning later he doubled home a run against Minor. Mauricio Dubon singled in each inning, grounding the RBI single over second base that gave the Giants a 6-2 lead and finished Minor.
“I think there are a ton of people celebrating on behalf of Trompy today,” Kapler said. While Tromp was nervous in his first start against the Padres, “part of those nerves calmed down a little bit tonight and he settled in nicely.
“He called a great game, obviously, got some strikes at the bottom of the zone, and he had some nice at-bats. It was the kind of good all-around performance we saw in our modified camp that led us to believe he’s going to be contributing to our major-league roster this year.”
When Tromp gets a hit, a country celebrates. He and the Red Sox’s Xander Bogaerts are the only big-leaguers now from Aruba.
“The community back home is going nuts,” Tromp said. “The whole island is celebrating. To be honest with you, I love it. It’s such a small island. It’s so important to them because it’s such a small island, and we can show that a small island can do big things in life.”
The Giants did not even need help from National League RBI co-leader Donovan Solano until they were up 6-2 and he grounded a two-out RBI single through the right side against a right-hander Farrell.
Nor did the Giants benefit from Hunter Pence, who went 0-for-4 and is hitless in 21 at-bats, but Kapler continued to back the 37-year-old, saying after the game he still believes Pence will be a “stud” hitter, particularly against left-handers.
The win moved the Giants to 4-4, three of the wins coming when they faced a left-handed starter.
The Giants were down 2-1 in the fourth when Tromp grounded a one-out single through the right side for his first hit. Dubon laced a single to left and Austin Slater flied out before Flores sent a two-strike, two-out pitch into the front of the left-field seats for his second homer.
Solano hit the other three-run homer Wednesday against the Padres.
Kapler raised eyebrows by having Solano bat sixth after the week he had while the hitless Pence batted cleanup.
“We just felt this was the right lineup to put out there and still respect Solano’s ability to bang in the middle,” Kapler said “Sixth is an important spot in this lineup.”
Kapler and his hitting coaches believe Pence’s at-bats are trending the right away. With two outs and a chance to drive in a first-inning run, Pence hit a 104.5-mph shot to the left side, but into an out.
The bullpen starred on the mound for the orange-clad home squad after Logan Webb struggled to throw strikes and lasted 3 2/3 innings, allowing two runs, one earned.
Webb was bidding to become the first Giant to finish five innings after they became the first team in big-league history to not have a start that long in its first seven games. Webb walked four, hit a batter and allowed a Shin-Soo Choo homer on the game’s first pitch.
Conor Menez saved the game for the Giants in the fourth inning when he relieved Webb with the bases loaded and Texas leading 2-1. He got a first-pitch Rougned Odor popup to strand the runners to start a run of 5 ⅓ shutout innings from the ’pen.
Menez, Shaun Anderson, Wandy Peralta and Tony Watson combined to retire 11 straight Rangers before a Dubon error in the eighth. The Rangers did not have another hit until Robinson Chirinos’ leadoff double against Sam Selman in the ninth.
Henry Schulman covers the Giants for The San Francisco Chronicle. Email: hschulman@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @hankschulman
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Giants’ right-handed lineup tromps on Rangers’ top starter in big victory - San Francisco Chronicle
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