By Morris Phillips
SAN FRANCISCO — Aramis Garcia working the knee high socks, showing the extension on his swing, the big league balance on the follow through, and the majestic path of the baseball into the sparsely populated, left field bleachers.
And that is your San Francisco Giants offensive highlight of the evening.
No doubt, the new look Giants know how to compete, but don’t expect a bushel of wins until the formula includes singles, doubles and home runs to go with the effective pitching and stingy defense. In Wednesday’s 3-2 loss to the Padres, Garcia’s homer wasn’t just the highlight, it was the entirety of the Giants’ offense. Don’t blink or you’ll miss it.
“We were one hit away. We’ve done that a few times,” said manager Bruce Bochy, employing simple subtraction, three minus two.
Freddy Galvis singled and tripled, Travis Jankowski had a seventh inning home run among his three hits, and Luis Perdomo was the first of three relievers to combine for six plus innings of shutout baseball, leading the Padres to the win and the series victory.
The Giants played without Brandon Crawford and Evan Longoria in their starting lineup, giving the team a decidedly 2019 audition look with Hunter Pence and Gregor Blanco hitting first and second as part of their farewell tour. With the teams not obligated to tear at the others postseason aspirations, the lineups leaned toward inexperience. Unfortunately for the Giants, their lineup also leaned toward ineffectiveness.
Abiatal Avelino, acquired in the Andrew McCutchen deal with the Yankees, singled in the third for the Giants’ first hit. Garcia homered in the seventh ahead of Joe Panik’s walk. And three singles followed, split among the seventh and eighth innings with little impact.
And that was it. Sure the Giants didn’t do much with only five hits, but credit San Diego’s bullpen. Since the All-Star break, the Padres’ pen has posted the National League’s lowest ERA. On Wednesday, they backed it up starting with Perdomo as the opener, and on to Miguel Diaz, who pitched the fifth and sixth innings and got the win.
Casey Kelly got the start for the Giants and pitched well, excepting his throwing (flipping) error and balk in the fifth. The balk scored Travis Jankowski from third and a 2-0 Padres lead.
Kelly was seeking his first big league win since 2012 when he was with the Padres. He’s lost nine decisions since then, and pitched in seven games with the Giants this season, all of them Giants’ losses. Having home plate umpire Ryan Additon catch him flinching slightly with a runner on third was more frustration.
“When I shook my head I kind of moved my hands. I think that’s whey they called it. Once it gets to that point there’s really no going back so there’s no sense in arguing,” Kelly said.
The Giants host the Dodgers in the season-concluding series beginning Friday night and the possibility for drama lies in the hands of the home team. The Dodgers fell out of first place on Wednesday, and pending the result of Thursday’s Phillies-Rockies game, could find themselves a full game back when Madison Bumgarner takes the mound against them on Friday.
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