4/2/21: Game #2 Open Game Thread

The day after Opening Day always feels a little like the day after Christmas, to me, so it makes sense that today’s starter is the somewhat-of-a-bummer Yusei Kikuchi.

To be clear, Kikuchi himself is not a bummer! But I am stressed out thinking about what happens for him this year, as his MLB path has not run smoothly, although, as Matthew pointed out on the pod, Kikuchi hasn’t had a normal season yet. And I’m not even sure if this one counts as “normal,” certainly not now with just eight thousand fans spread throughout T-Mobile Park. Normal-er, maybe, but not normal. Sad woo.

Other than the change at starting pitcher, there’s really only one other change to this lineup: Luis Torrens gets the start behind the dish. That’s curious to me because I remember one of Narváez’s weaknesses was trying to get the low pitch for Kikuchi, and I didn’t think of that as a particular strength for Torrens, but we shall see how things develop.

Here’s how the Giants will line up against the Mariners:

Johnny Cueto vs. Yusei Kikuchi, all the timing tricks and hesitation hijinks you could want out of a night of baseball.

Tonight’s game, which starts at 7:10, is on the radio (710 ESPN), and also on TV! Sorry but after a long spring training of non-televised games I’m still getting used to that. Catch it on ROOT NW, or if you’re outside of the blackout area, on MLB TV or ESPN +. And hey, if you were thinking about getting an ESPN+ subscription anyway, we have a referral link that we would super-appreciate you using. Because stupid blackout rules, ESPN+ won’t get you anything baseball-wise an MLB TV subscription wouldn’t, but if you’re a fan of other sports and/or looking to get into college baseball, ESPN+ is definitely the way to go with that.