By DANIEL DULLUM
Sports Radio Service
Sunday, September 11, 2016
AP photo: San Francisco Giants pitcher Matt Moore throws against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday in the fourth inning on Sunday at Chase Field
PHOENIX, Ariz. – San Francisco not only completed a three-game sweep of Arizona with a 5-3 win Sunday at Chase Field, the Giants finally picked up some ground in the National League West and Wild Card races.
With the Los Angeles Dodgers losing 3-0 to Miami, the Giants picked up a full game in the NL West, now trailing the Dodgers by 3 games. San Francisco leads the New York Mets and St. Louis by percentage points for the first Wild Card berth.
After hosting San Diego for three games, the Giants will face the Cardinals for four games, followed by three against the Dodgers.
“That’s where we’re at. And they’re all big series,” Giants Manager Bruce Bochy said. “Every game is big at this point. You have to play each game like it’s the biggest game.”
Matt Moore (10-11) worked seven strong innings to earn his third win of the season. Moore struck out 11, walked one and gave up eight hits and two earned runs. Hunter Strickland struck out two in 1 1/3 innings to earn his third save.
“Today I just tried to control my emotions a little bit better than last time (at Colorado),” Moore said. “Against Colorado, I stopped staying within myself and tried, maybe to do too much. Here, my thought process was just more about the competition and keeping (Arizona) off the board at all costs.”
“Matt had good stuff, good command of all four pitches,” Bochy said. “Those seven solid innings helped us use the bullpen the way we want to. In this ballpark against this lineup, that’s a solid job he did for us.”
San Francisco regained the lead at 3-2 when Diamondbacks starter Zach Grienke (12-6) created trouble for himself in the top of the sixth. After Angel Pagan walked, Grienke retired Buster Posey on a deep fly to center, and walked Brandon Crawford and Hunter Pence to load the bases.
Left-handed hitting Brandon Belt singled through the gap into left, scoring Pagan to tie the game at 2-2. Joe Panik grounded out to first (Grienke covering) to drive in Crawford with the go-ahead run. With two out, Eduardo Nuñez was intentionally walked to re-load the bases, and Moore flied out to left to end the rally.
Grienke departed after he struck out three, walked four and gave up three earned runs on six hits, throwing 113 pitches. In the bottom of the seventh, Moore struck out the side on 11 pitches.
“I just wanted to buckle down, keep my focus and execute,” Moore said. “It was one of those moments where we wanted to keep the momentum on our side, like we’re in possession of the game. A one-run game doesn’t leave a lot of room for mistakes.
“For me, it was about believing in every pitch,” Moore continued. “My fastball command was good enough, where they thought it would be in the zone and on the corners, more so than the middle of the plate. The cutter was the one pitch I didn’t have quite the command I would have liked.”
Facing an overworked Diamondbacks bullpen, the Giants added two more runs in the seventh on a double down the right field line by Hunter Pence, scoring Pagan (walk) and Crawford (single). Pence was 12-for-15 in the series.
“The guys did a great job of stretching at-bats and getting on base,” Bochy said. “That was quite a series for Hunter, wasn’t it? We’ve seen him get on these runs and he’s fun to watch. He’s an exciting player who’s playing some inspirational baseball.”
Denard Span led off the game with a home run to right on the second pitch delivered by Diamondbacks starter Zach Grienke. It was the first leadoff homer for Span this season, and the fifth for his career.
“That provided a big psychological lift for us, that’s for sure,” Bochy said. “You’re facing their ace, and as tough as he’s been on us, we put some good at-bats together, laid off some tough pitches, and got his pitch count up.”
Arizona tied the game at 1-1 in the second. Jacob Lamb tripled to right-center and Brandon Drury followed with an RBI single to left.
Wellington Castillo’s two-out run-scoring single gave Arizona a 2-1 lead in the fifth. Castillo drove in Chris Owings, who doubled to left. Castillo’s eighth-inning solo home run – his 12th of the season, off reliever Sergio Romo – cut the Arizona deficit to 5-3.
The Diamondbacks outhit San Francisco 11-8 – Castillo, Drury and Paul Goldschmidt each had two hits. Belt and Posey each had two hits for the Giants.
“This was a huge series for us, to come in here and salvage a .500 road trip after some very difficult losses,” Bochy said. “It’s a good bounce back for these guys to come in here and play that brand of baseball.”
GIANT JOTTINGS: Attendance for Sunday’s game was 26,002. … The Giants return to AT&T Park to start a seven-game homestand, starting with a three-game set against San Diego. San Francisco’s probables for the Padres series are Jeff Samardzija (11-9), Albert Saurez (3-3) and Madison Bumgarner (14-8). … The Giants will play their final 20 games of the season within the state of California.
TAGS: San Francisco Giants,Hunter Pence,Matt Moore,Arizona Diamondbacks,Sports Radio Service,Daniel Dullum
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