By DANIEL DULLUM
Sports Radio Service
Tuesday, April 1, 2014

PHOENIX, Ariz. – Welcome to Major League Baseball’s new age of replay reviews on close calls. And it was a rousing success Tuesday night at Chase Field, depending on what side of the fence you’re sitting on.

The San Francisco Giants gave the new replay option a try in the fourth inning of their 5-4 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks, and came up empty. The Snakes wound up the beneficiaries.

In the Arizona fourth, A.J. Pollock singled with one out and, after a pickoff throw by Giants starter Matt Cain to first baseman Brandon Belt was ruled in favor of Pollock, Giants manager Bruce Bochy challenged the ruling on Belt’s tag.

No sooner was the challenge denied that Pollock moved from first to third on a double by Gerrardo Parra. With Aaron Hill at the plate, catcher Buster Posey allowed a Cain pitch to skip away for a passed ball. With Cain covering the plate, Posey’s throw appeared to be in time, but home plate umpire Eric Cooper ruled that Pollock avoided the tag.

The play at the plate appeared to be another perfect scenario for the Giants to ask for a replay ruling, except you only get one challenge per game. Bochy explained after the game that “if there’s a situation where we feel a challenge is necessary, we’re going to use it.”

“Now, that doesn’t mean it’s going to get overturned if the play is not conclusive enough in their eyes, “ Bochy continued. “In our eyes, it looked like (Pollock) was out. What else are you going to do if you don’t think they got the call right? Unfortunately, they’re not all going to go your way and get overturned. That’s the gamble you take.

“Sure, there could be another play (to review), but you don’t know that.”

Television replays showed that Cain made the tag before Pollock reached the plate, cutting the San Francisco lead to 4-3.

“At that point, you just hang with it,” Bochy said. “You’ve lost your challenge, and this is how the system works. You just don’t know if your going to get a different call that you wish you could challenge.

“That replay took a long time (over three minutes to review), and it probably could have gone either way,” he added. “This is going to change the strategy in the game and how to manage a game.”

“It’s tough to come back and pitch after a long delay, but (the umpires) are just trying to get the play right,” Cain said. “There’s nothing you can do about it.”

The Giants’ righthander saw it that way as well, adding that he “crossed Buster up” on the pitch.

“He was out,” Cain said without hesitation. “I had him. I saw what Cooper saw as (Pollock) went over the plate. He kind of went through the top of my glove to go over it. But it was a bang-bang play, and Pollock did a good job of trying to avoid the tag.”

Cain worked five innings, threw 99 pitches and wound up with a no-decision. He gave up seven hits, struck out two, walked two and was charged with two earned runs.

“I just wasn’t getting ahead of guys at the beginning,” Cain said. “That hurt to give up a couple of runs after the guys scored four for me. That’s not what you want to do. After the first, I just wanted to throw good strikes and not be too fine. Sometimes you try to make perfect pitches, so I tried to get their guys to put the ball in play and let my stuff work.”

“Matt was fine. His pitches were up a little bit, but he settled down after the first inning,” Bochy said. “He threw the ball fairly well.”

D-Backs starter Wade Miley (1-1) gave up four runs in the first inning – the key blow was a three-run blast by Belt, his second of the season. But Miley settled into a groove and shut the Giants out over the next six innings to earn his first win of the season. Miley struck out five, walked one, and gave up only two hits after the first inning.

“That kind of did us in,” Bochy said. “We put up a crooked number in the first inning and couldn’t score again. Going eight innings in this ballpark without getting another run came back to haunt us.”

Arizona surged ahead with a pair of runs in the sixth inning off reliever Juan Gutierrez (0-1). With one out, Chris Owings singled, stole second and scored on Pollock’s ground-rule double to left-center field. Pollock moved to third on an opposite field single by the left-handed hitting Miley and scored on Parra’s sacrifice fly to left – sliding in just ahead of a strong throw by Juan Perez.

The Diamondbacks’ maligned bullpen (29 blown saves in 2013) came through on a 74-degree evening with the roof open. Will Harris and Addison Reed combined for four strikeouts and a walk in the last two innings. Reed notched his first save.

Pollock was 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI, while Parra, Owings and Paul Goldschmidt each collected two hits in the Diamondbacks’ 11-hit attack. Goldschmidt’s RBI double in the second inning extended his hitting streak to 23 games.

Wednesday night, veteran righthander Tim Hudson makes his regular-season debut for the Giants, facing Arizona righthander Trevor Cahill.

GIANTS JOTTINGS: Buster Posey’s home run on Monday night was given an official measurement of 453 feet, the longest of his career. His previous longest tape-measure job was 443 feet on July 13, 2012, vs. Houston at AT&T Park. … According to Stats, Inc., the last time the Giants won on Opening Day after trailing by four-plus runs was on April 10, 1968, at Candlestick Park; the Giants trailed the New York Mets 4-0 and won 5-4. The last time the Giants accomplished the same feat on the road was on April 15, 1941 at Ebbets Field; the New York Giants trailed the Brooklyn Dodgers 4-0 and won 6-4.

(TAGS: San Francisco Giants,Arizona Diamondbacks,replay)