Pekin’s Keaton Winn Makes History in MLB Debut

Published by editor on Tue, 06/20/2023 - 11:33am

By:

Sean Strohmayer

The News-Review

On June 13, Pekin alum Keaton Winn made history for the San Francisco Giants by securing a save in his first MLB appearance. Winn was called up by the Giants on June 12, and made his first appearance three days later.

Winn finished his day with four innings pitched, one earned run on one hit and two strikeouts. The one run came from a double from Jordan Walker, which brought home Wilson Contrerars from second. Winn locked in after giving up the run, and struck out the next batter, Paul Dejong. He ended the inning with a groundout to short, and got himself out of a jam with runners on second and third and only one out.

After giving up the run in the bottom of the eight, Winn completed the historic save with a one-two-three inning.

Winn has been a part of the Giants minor league organizations since he was drafted in the fifth round of the 2018 draft. Winn was coming off back to back season in which he was not able to perform. The first was due to the pandemic, and the second was due to having to receive Tommy John surgery . Despite missing the time, Winn came into the season as the 14th ranked prospect in the Giants minor league system, according to MLB.com.

He began his season with 41 and one third innings pitched, 51 strikeouts, 21 walks and an ERA of 4.35. His next three games propelled him to being called up, as he went 12 innings, had 18 strikeouts and only five walks, and gave up only one earned run on seven hits.

Winn will look to bolster a Giants pitching staff that already has the ninth lowest ERA in the majors at 3.92. As a team, the Giants will try to keep their momentum going, as they are 7-3 in their last ten, and have pushed their record to 35-32. They sit three games behind the Los Angele Dodgers for second in the National League West division, and six games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks for the lead in the division. They do currently hold the last Wild Card spot in the National League, so there is hope to build that lead over the Milwaukee Brewers, who are a game behind.