By DANIEL DULLUM
Sports Radio Service
Friday, June 20, 2014

PHOENIX, Arizona – The tailspin continues for the first-place San Francisco Giants, and, understandably, it’s not a popular topic of conversation in the clubhouse.

“You go through those challenges in baseball,” Giants Manager Bruce Bochy said following Arizona’s 4-1 win Friday at Chase Field. “You don’t have a choice on how you get through it. You just get ready to play tomorrow and put the games with adversity behind you. We can’t change what has happened. What we can change is coming out here and being ready to play tomorrow.”

San Francisco has lost six straight games, and nine of their last 10. Their lead over Los Angeles in the National League West has dwindled from 9.5 games to 4. Despite their recent struggles, the Giants still have the National League’s best record at 43-29, while Arizona resides in the NL West cellar at 32-45.

“I don’t sense anybody dragging,” Bochy said. “We created many chances out there and just came up short. The mood here has been good, and unfortunately, you’re going to have these moments from time-to-time in this game. Everything was going our way early. I’d rather look at 60-plus games when we played really well as opposed to these 10 games.”

San Francisco scored first with a two-out rally in the first inning. Buster Posey singled and scored from first on Pablo Sandoval’s second triple of the season, a liner to the left-center power alley. Michael Morse walked, but Brandon Crawford flied out to right to end the rally.

The Diamondbacks surged ahead with two runs in the fourth off San Francisco starter Tim Lincecum (5-5). After Paul Goldschmidt was issued a one-out walk and moved to second on Miguel Montero’s infield groundout, he scored on a base hit by Aaron Hill. Martin Prado followed with a double to center that plated Hill from first with the go-ahead run.

“I just wasn’t executing,” Lincecum said of Hill’s RBI single with a 0-2 count. “When I was ahead, it was curveballs, breaking balls, with fastballs away. But I wasn’t getting any of that today. I was leaving too many pitches over the plate, and you saw what you did with them.”

Asked if there was any additional pressure to try and get a win to snap the losing streak, Lincecum said, “There’s no more pressure than what I put on myself. It’s nice to be in a position to try and get that win, but I didn’t do that today.”

Arizona added a run in the fifth when Ender Inciarte singled and scored on a triple to center by Chris Owings, who tried to stretch his drive off the centerfield wall to an inside-the-park home run. Owings was thrown out at the plate on a relay from centerfielder Gregor Blanco to shortstop Crawford to catcher Hector Sanchez, prompting Diamondbacks Manager Kirk Gibson to request a replay review.

Home plate umpire Dan Iassogna’s on-field ruling was upheld. Time of the review was 1:01.

Goldschmidt, who went 2-for-3 with a walk, a stolen base and two runs scored, still isn’t sure why he enjoys ongoing success against Lincecum (a .556 career batting average with seven home runs against the former Cy Young Award winner).

“I don’t know,” Goldschmidt said. “I got some pitches today that were up in the zone a little bit. Fortunately, I could get a couple of those tonight. I just try to have good at-bats. Sometimes, there are guys you do well off of, other times; some guy will have your number. … I just try to have good at-bats.”

“He’s a pretty patient guy and I don’t seem to execute on pitches against him,” Lincecum said. “That, and he’s a three-level hitter.”

Lincecum worked six innings, giving up all four Diamondbacks runs on seven hits and a sacrifice fly. He struck out one and walked one.

On Goldschmidt’s leadoff double in the sixth, Lincecum said, “Yeah, those things can really bite you in the butt. Then the inning becomes something much bigger than it should have been.

Josh Collmenter (5-4) lasted five innings, the minimum to qualify for a win. He gave up one earned run on four hits, struck out four, walked four and threw 109 pitches.

The Giants had their chances, stranding two runners in the first, third and fifth innings against Collmenter. Then, the oft-maligned Diamondbacks bullpen stepped up and collectively retired the last 10 San Francisco hitters. Addison Reed struck out the side in the top of the ninth to record his 17th save.

“It’s kind of been that way through this tough streak,” Bochy said. “We’re missing that big hit to keep the line moving. We had some good at-bats, but (Collmenter) dodged some bullets and you give him credit. That’s always frustrating.

“We had some good at-bats. We just couldn’t finish them off.”

On Saturday, Ryan Vogelsong (4-3, 3.94) starts for San Francisco, facing former Oakland Athletic Brandon McCarthy (1-9, 5.18) of the Snakes in a matchup of righthanders. Game time is 7:10 p.m.

GIANT JOTTINGS: The first four runs of the game were scored from first base. No word from Elias Sports Bureau as to the last time that happened… Arizona took 2 of 3 games the last time they met the Giants April 8-10 at AT&T Park. … Giants OF Angel Pagan, who has missed the last three games with a stiff back, underwent an MRI that revealed inflammation. … The Giants have won 14 of their last 20 games at Chase Field. … Prior to Friday’s game, the Diamondbacks designated RHP J.J. Putz for assignment and reinstated OF Ender Inciarte from the seven-day concussion disabled list. Putz, 37, is second on Arizona’s all –time save list with 83, but lost the closer’s role last season. Putz saved 43 games in 2011, but was 1-1 with a 6.59 ERA and no saves this season. … Attendance for Friday’s game was 29,295.

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