Tag: giants

Cueto moves to 10-1 as the Giants sweep the Brewers

Published on by moepeaLeave a comment

Cueto quick

By Morris Phillips

It’s not often a major league club leaves town flying higher than the airplane they’re on, but that scenario would aptly describe the Giants after their 10-1 win over the Brewers on Wednesday.

Johnny Cueto pitched seven strong innings, and the Giants built an early 8-0 lead and cruised, despite missing several regular starters behind their $100 million pitcher. With the sweep of Milwaukee, the Giants moved a season-best 15 games above .500 and maintained their six game lead in the NL West.

“We’ve been playing a lot of tight games so it was nice to be able to take him out after seven and give him a breather,” manager Bruce Bochy said of Cueto, who moved to 10-1, tied for the best win total in the National League with Clayton Kershaw, Jake Arrieta and Stephen Strasburg.

Bochy elected to rest Denard Span and Brandon Belt, but welcomed back Angel Pagan, who was in the starting lineup batting sixth. That meant the Giants fielded a lineup with just one of the major league’s top 75 hitters in Buster Posey, but without Belt and the injured Hunter Pence. That meant the unheralded Brewers—even with Ryan Braun out of the lineup for rest—had more such hitters (2) than the Giants. But it didn’t matter much as the Giants pounded out sixteen hits and put the game away with four runs in the third, and four more in the fourth.

Pagan, Matt Duffy, Joe Panik and Gregor Blanco each had three hits for the Giants, and Posey stayed hot with two hits and two runs batted in. Blanco hit in the leadoff spot, despite experiencing some shoulder discomfort that prompted some medical tests before the game.

Blanco had been slumping, but Bochy obviously had a stroke of genius by putting his outfielder at the top of the order.   One thing’s for sure, Blanco noticed the gesture, and performed with appreciation.

“It was awesome,” Blanco said of his lineup spot. “As soon as I saw myself in the lineup as the leadoff hitter, I said ‘Yeah!’

Cueto allowed a leadoff single to Jonathan Villar, but one out later, the veteran pitcher caught Villar moving toward second and he ran right at the baserunner and executed a neat, push-down tag. Cueto went on to strike out nine, allowing just one run on seven hits and a walk.

The Giants open a seven-game road trip on Friday night in Tampa with the Rays. The continue on to Pittsburgh for a four-game set starting Monday.

With Matt Cain again on the disabled list with his hamstring issue, the Giants have yet to name a replacement in the rotation, with that spot up on Sunday in the series finale in Tampa. Bochy hinted that the team may move up Madison Bumgarner and pitch him on his regular four day’s rest, or turn to long man Albert Suarez. Either way, it doesn’t appear the team will promote anyone to take Cain’s spot, at least not on this road trip.

Belt is expected to return to the lineup on Friday, and he was available to pinch hit on Wednesday, indicative of his quick return from the foot injury he suffered on Tuesday night.

 

 

No Dodger hangover for the Giants, rout the Brewers, 11-5

Published on by moepeaLeave a comment

Span splash

By Morris Phillips

The pick-me-up any team needs the day after the “biggest” game of the year was provided by Denard Span on the game’s third pitch.

The Giants’ one remaining, healthy starting outfielder launched one off Chase Anderson, marking the first leadoff splash home run by a Giant in the history of AT&T Park. With so many in the park torn in their attention with the Warriors playing, and McCovey Cove nearly deserted on a blustery, almost bitterly cold night outside the yard, Span’s splash smash didn’t get nearly the attention it deserved.

Except among Span’s teammates, who quickly took fancy to their leadoff man’s cue.

The Giants went on to bash the Brewers, 11-5, an anomaly for a team that seemingly is always caught up in a close, tense, low-scoring ballgame like the ones with the Dodgers over the just completed weekend. All those close ballgames can take a lot out of a club, but not the Giants. While the Dodgers were a bit lackadaisical in their 3-2 loss to the Diamondbacks on Monday, the Giants bashed out 14 hits, pulled away with six runs late, and increased their NL West lead to a season-best six games.

Span and Matt Duffy each had three hits, Span and Joe Panik each scored three runs, and all the offense both propped up and overshadowed the return of Matt Cain from the disabled list.

Cain allowed five hits and walked five batters before he was replaced in the fourth, with two runners aboard and the Giants clinging to a 4-2 lead.   Afterwards, Cain said what was ultimately most important, that he felt fine physically and will be in line to make his next start, hopefully the precursor to him regaining the form he achieved before he was shelved with a hamstring issue.

Reliever George Kontos replaced Cain and retired the dangerous Ryan Braun to end the inning.

Manager Bruce Bochy then turned to Albert Suarez in what would become a critical, long relief role, as he recorded 11 outs during the period of the game where the Giants pulled away with a run in the sixth, four in the seven, and two more in the eighth.

The Giants have won nine of 11 at home, while the Brewers lost in San Francisco for the seventh time in their last eight appearances.

On Tuesday, the Giants Madison Bumgarner makes his 14th start of the season, the last nine of which have resulted in a San Francisco victory. Bumgarner will be opposed by a familiar opponent, Matt Garza making his season debut.

The 32-year old Garza made six spring training starts but began the season on the disabled list with back issues. After a pair of rehab starts in the minors, the veteran looks to rebound from a subpar 2015 in which he lost a career-worst 14 games.

 

 

Heading into critical series, Giants and Red Sox have issues in the outfield

Published on by moepeaLeave a comment

 

Swihart hurt

By Morris Phillips

Talk about a whole lot crammed into one two-game series, that’s the meeting of the Red Sox and Giants starting at AT&T Park on Tuesday.

Boston trails Baltimore by a half-game in the AL East while the Giants have a four-game lead in the NL West. Both teams currently have the third best record in their league, and with the success and financial wherewithal both teams possess, the Red Sox and Giants clearly have their eyes set on the post-season and possibly a meeting with each other come October.

We are talking about baseball’s most successful franchises in terms of championships since 2000. The Giants appeared in the World Series in 2002, then won it 2010, 2012 and 2014. The Red Sox have won three titles as well—in 2004, 2007 and 2013—after their legendary, hard-to-fathom 86-year drought.

But while both teams have big post-season aspirations, they also have current, pressing personnel issues in their outfields that have to be addressed. The Giants have been without left fielder Angel Pagan for a couple of weeks, and announced on their just-completed road trip that right fielder Hunter Pence will miss up to two months to recover from surgery on his detached hamstring.

The Red Sox are without both of their left fielders—Brock Holt and Blake Swihart—and have plugged in veteran Chris Young to field the void for now.

Speculation persists that both teams will seek relief on the trade market, making the Dodgers’ release of former Red Sox Carl Crawford interesting in that the aging speedster could be of sought by both clubs once he clears waivers, and his acquisition won’t be burdened by his massive contract, which still has two seasons to go.

For now, the Red Sox turn to Young, and the Giants have veteran Gregor Blanco and rookies Mac Williamson and Jarrett Parker to man their two, vacated outfield spots. While Blanco has thrived with the increased playing time, the two rookies have had their struggles. But Parker did homer in the Giants’ 6-3 loss in St. Louis on Sunday.

For now, manager Bruce Bochy, has stated his preference to keep utility man Kelby Tomlinson in a bench role even though he has shown the acumen and ability to possibility assume the team’s third base job where incumbent Matt Duffy has struggled, or be in the left field mix, where he might be the team’s best offensive option.

Boston’s Swihart has an ankle injury that will likely take longer than a stay on the 15-day disabled list to overcome. Holt has concussion symptoms making it difficult to predict when he might be ready to return.

With all the personnel issues, both teams struggled in the past week with the Giants dropping two of three in St. Louis, and the Red Sox dropping a big weekend series to Toronto.

Rick Porcello (7-2, 4.00 ERA) will face the Giants’ Albert Suarez in Tuesday’s opener. The marquee matchup comes on Wednesday when Boston’s David Price will face Madison Bumgarner.

 

 

Holiday jet lag: Giants suffer a surprising loss to the Braves in Atlanta

Published on by moepeaLeave a comment

 

Braves celebrate

By Morris Phillips

Given Monday’s result, it’s likely the Giants aren’t a big fan of holiday travel.

Arriving in Atlanta at 1am local time, after a lengthy cross-country flight from Denver, the Giants limped into their hotel rooms at 2am, in advance of their series opener with the Braves at 1pm EST.

While the team figured to be sleepy given the travel, in reality, they were even sleepier, falling to the last place Braves, 5-3 in a game they trailed by four runs for five of the nine innings. Jeff Samardzija allowed five runs in the first three innings—ending his impressive streak of allowing just one run in each of his last three starts—and the Giants’ offense managed just one run in the game’s first eight frames.

Braves’ starter Mike Foltynewicz was more effective than any jet lag the Giants may have experienced, holding them to three hits and a run over six innings while regularly dialing up mid-90’s heat with his fastball. After allowing a solo shot to Brandon Belt to open the second inning, Foltynewicz retired 14 of the next 15 batters he faced.

“I was settled in out there, just comfortable and went out there and attacked hitters and made them put it in play,” Foltynewicz said.

“Probably the best total package I’ve seen out of him,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said, saying the sample size was the two years he’s been with the club. “He just had everything going and was free and easy.”

Of the 17 clubs to end a series on Sunday, and start a new one on Memorial Day in a different city, the Giants landed on the top of the list in terms of miles traveled at 1,402. The White Sox (1-0 losers in New York to the Mets) and the Yankees (4-2 losers in Toronto) traveled the second and third most miles as all three clubs lost.   The White Sox and Giants had an additional burden of having the earliest start time on Monday.

What else other than travel—and Foltynewicz—could explain the hottest team in baseball losing in such a laconic fashion to baseball’s worst home team?

The Giants came in winners of 15 of 17, having survived another laborious visit to Denver to face the Rockies over the weekend. Also, the surge propelled the team to the second best record in baseball behind the Cubs. Meanwhile, the Braves have only made headlines this season for their historically, awful start at Turner Field where they won just two of their first 22 home games.

In advance of San Francisco’s arrival, the Braves had shown signs of life, winning five of 12 after manager Fredi Gonzalez was fired, and two of three in Atlanta after that disastrous 2-20 start. That resurgence continued Monday, no surprise to Snitker.

“They’re unbelievable,” Snitker said of his young club. “Every day they show up, always energetic. They work hard, they grind it out. It’s good to see when they’re rewarded with a win like this.”

Samardzija admittedly wasn’t himself on Monday, missing spots up with his fastball and slider. But he and manager Bruce Bochy were perturbed by home plate umpire John Tumpane’s inconsistent strike zone. Staked to an early 1-0 lead, Samardzija fell in trouble in the second when rookie Mallex Smith tripled home three runs on a liner that evaded left field Jarrett Parker and went all the way to the wall.

In the third, Samardzija allowed singles to the first two hitters he faced. One out later, Belt’s error allowed Gordon Beckham to score. Kelly Johnson followed with a run-scoring sacrifice fly and the Braves led 5-1.

The Giants rallied in the ninth, scoring twice. But with the tying runner at first, and lead runner Brandon Crawford at third, closer Arodys Vizcaino induced Kelby Tomlinson into a fielders’ choice, ground ball that ended the game.

On Tuesday, Jake Peavy looks to pick up where he left off in a matchup with Atlanta’s Matt Wisler.   Peavy shut down the Padres in his last start, his second, strong outing in his last three. Still, the 34-year old veteran has just one win, and has gone without a win in his last seven starts.

NOTES: Matt Duffy suffered a painful injury, taking a 94 mph fastball on his forearm in the sixth inning. Tests done after the injury didn’t reveal a break, but the starting third baseman is likely to miss at least a game or two.   Sergio Romo has completed his rehab cycle with Triple A Sacramento, but isn’t expected to rejoin the club during this series. More likely he rejoins the big league club sometime next week. Right hander Chris Stratton, the Giants’ top pick in 2012, made his major league debut, pitching a scoreless eighth inning.

 

 

Giants’ charmed ways continue in 4-3, 10-inning victory over the Padres

Published on by moepeaLeave a comment

By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO–If you win 13 of 14, and almost all of them are close, tense ballgames, then, among other things, that manager dialing up all the lineups, position switches, and pitching changes has had a memorable two weeks.

After Wednesday’s 4-3 thriller over the Padres in 10 innings, that’s Bruce Bochy pushing buttons, and his red-hot Giants winning games.

Bochy’s lineup in the series finale with San Diego was without Hunter Pence, Buster Posey, Denard Span and the injured Angel Pagan. And starting pitcher Jake Peavy took the mound with his manager’s tacit approval, despite his 1-5 record and unsightly 8.21 ERA. But in the end, it all worked out when Brandon Crawford’s game-winning double bounced off the centerfield wall breaking a 3-3 tie with two outs in the 10th.

Bochy had plenty of guys to thank after the game, from Kelby Tomlinson and George Kontos to Peavy and Crawford. Obviously not his main guys, and excluding first baseman Brandon Belt as well after he was injured running the bases in the eighth, but an effective mix nonetheless, especially with Peavy pitching effectively for the second time in his last three starts.

The Giants improved to 9-0 against the Padres—their victim in six of 13 wins during the current streak—and they’ll miss seeing their divisional foe dearly until the next meeting right after the All-Star break. Right now, the results between the clubs appear closely tied to muscle reflex, simply something done as a matter of course. Padres’ manager Andy Green seemed to see it that way as well.

“The Giants have obviously been good at winning them against us, and we’ve given them a hand or two a few times in doing that. But I think it’s a momentum-based thing. Once you start winning them, it’s, like, ‘OK, we expect to win.”

The Giants saw their lead in the NL West grow to five games with the win, and they became just the second big-league club to register 30 wins thus far joining the Cubs. After Thursday’s off-day the club will resume play in Colorado against the Rockies on Friday night.

Pence, who pitch-hit on Wednesday, and was retired on a fly ball on one pitch, is expected to rejoin the lineup on Friday. Belt got preliminary good news on his nasty-looking spill near second base that had him hobbled. He was diagnosed with a mild ankle sprain, and will be re-evaluated in Colorado.

Matt Cain is scheduled to pitch the opener Friday at 5:40pm against Colorado’s Eddie Butler.

T

 

Pence’s “well placed” pinch-hit double gives the streaking Giants a second consecutive 1-0 win

Published on by moepeaLeave a comment

 

Belt slide

By Morris Phillips

From Hunter Pence’s initial perspective–punctuated by a frustrated flip of the bat–his brief, but meaningful contribution to Monday night’s game didn’t amount to much.

But after his lazy, but twisting, “well placed” fly ball turned out to be the game-winning double in a second consecutive 1-0 win for the Giants, Pence could see how his inocuous fly ball turned into a thing of beauty.

“(Matt) Kemp’s playing back—no doubles—so it’s a long run, and the wind…” Pence explained in reevaluating the fly ball that was too deep for retreating second baseman Alexi Amarista, and too confounding for Kemp, who in part due to the wind, couldn’t find a direct path to the baseball. When it dropped in front of Kemp, it bounded off the outfielder’s leg a few feet, clearing the way for Brandon Belt to make it all the way around from first base to score the game’s only run.

The sudden conclusion rightly allowed starting pitcher Johnny Cueto to share the spotlight with Pence, and gave the Giants’ newest bonus baby a seventh win on the season, one he clearly deserved.

Cueto went the distance, throwing 114 pitches, but allowing just two hits. He retired the first 11 batters he saw, then after Kemp’s two-out single, Cueto retired 12 more batters. He struck out six, walked none, deftly fielded a pair of comebackers, and summoned his best pitch to strike out pinch-hitter Yangervis Solarte with two on and two out in the eighth.

At 7-1, Cueto is the first Giants’ pitcher to win that many in his first 10 starts since Jason Schmidt did it in his 18-win, 2004 season. He’s also the first Giant to record three complete game wins against the same team in a season since Atlee Hammaker did it against the Cubs in 1983.

“He’s got great savvy out there, along with great stuff,” manager Bruce Bochy said of his $100 million free agent acquisition. “And he knows how to turn it up a notch when he has to.”

To say Cueto has made a seamless transition to life in orange-and-black would be an understatement. The pitcher’s chemistry with catcher Buster Posey is undeniable, as is his overall comfort once he steps on the diamond. The nuanced pitcher can keep batters off balance with an array of pitches, works quickly to the benefit of the defenders behind him, and he can do the little things as well: field his position, and handle the bat (Cueto laid down a pair of sacrifice bunts in the game, both with two strikes).

“He just a lot of fun to be around,” Pence said of Cueto. “His spirit, competitiveness, the knowledge…”

The win was the Giants 11th in the last 12 games moving them to 28-19 on the season, and just percentage points behind the Washington Nationals for the NL’s second best record behind the Cubs. The Giants also maintained their 4 ½ game lead in the NL West as the second-place Dodgers also won 1-0 over the Reds behind Clayton Kershaw on Monday.

The win marked the first time the Giants recorded back-to-back 1-0 wins since August 1980.

The Giants have beaten the Padres seven straight times to open 2016, the first time that’s been accomplished by San Francisco over San Diego since 1987. While the games have all been close, the Giants have had the slightly better pitching, with Cueto besting the Padres’ renaissance man, Drew Pomeranz, on Monday.

Pomeranz, who pitched for the A’s in 2015, gave up two hits in seven innings, and saw his ERA dip to an impressive 1.70. But the star-crossed Pomeranz can’t do everything: despite his rock-bottom earned run average, he’s just 2-2 in May, as the Padres can’t seem to back the pitcher with the pre-requisite offense he needs to win.

But Pomeranz appears to found a home after making just nine starts for Oakland in 2015. His fastball command is much improved, and according to Giants’ pitching coach Dave Righetti he’s got an ace in his back pocket.

“He’s got his chest stuck out. He knows he has something that can get hitters out. That’s big,” Righetti said.

Pomeranz struck out four, walked four, but took the no-decision. The right hander lost his first two starts against the Giants this season, and is just 1-5 against San Francisco in his career.

The Giants look to continue their surge on Tuesday when Jeff Samardzija faces Andrew Cashner at 7:15pm. Samardzija is 6-2 on the season, and will be looking to match Cueto for the team lead in wins.

NOTES: Sergio Romo’s return to the active roster could come in the next 10 days, according to manager Bruce Bochy. The valued setup man pitched the sixth inning for the River Cats in Sacramento on Monday night, the first of five appearances that will conclude his rehabilitation from elbow discomfort, given there are no setbacks. Romo struck out the side, but allowed a solo home run as well, to Colorado Springs’ Orlando Arcia… Angel Pagan left Monday’s game after the eighth inning, after hustling down the line in an attempt to beat out an infield ground ball. Bochy acknowledged that it was the same hamstring that cost the veteran outfield a couple of weeks earlier this month… Baseball players always have plenty to think about when they’re on the field, including Matt Kemp on the Monday’s concluding play. The Padres played 17 innings on Sunday, losing to the Dodgers, as Kemp went 0 for 7, and struck out three times. That game lasted nearly six hours, and Kemp participated from beginning to end, concluding what was for him, a series without a hit (he finished 0 for 12).   Kemp then finished 1 for 4, Monday, making the final out of the ninth inning for the Padres. So could the weight of his struggles, along with the fatigue from being in a draining game the day before contributed to him not catching Pence’s fly? “There’s really not much to say other than it should’ve been caught,” Kemp said afterwards. “And that’s not (Alexi’s) ball, that’s my ball. It’s easier for me coming in to get the ball than him going back. I take all the fault for that.”

 

 

 

Everything OK with the Giants? A closer look at the Bochy-Casilla flareup

Published on by moepea1 Comment

Giants wait

By Morris Phillips

Looking for a statistical category that shows the NL West-leading Giants on top of the heap?

Well, after 40 ballgames, and nearly 25 percent of the season completed, there was just one heading into Monday’s off day—innings played.

And what conclusion can be drawn from that statistic? That after playing 17 games in 17 days—and winning the last five–this group’s enjoying a much-needed day of rest.

As for the remaining 122 games in the 2016 regular season, the Giants might want to give this directive a shot: work smarter and make things easier.

In beating the Diamondbacks in Phoenix four straight over the weekend, the Giants did something they hadn’t done in more than a century. They swept a four game series on the road while scoring just 14 runs, the fewest they’ve scored in such a road sweep since 1910.   This is a team leading a torturous existence, and that constant tension caused by repeated close games seemed to spilled over on Thursday when closer Santiago Casilla voiced his displeasure with how manager Bruce Bochy removed him from a save situation with the bases loaded, two outs, and the Giants clinging to a 4-2 lead.

“He didn’t want to come out,” Bochy said of Casilla storming off the mound angrily, prompting Bochy to call Casilla back in attempt to get the reliever to change his attitude. “You want these guys not to want to come out, but he got a little too emotional.”

“The reason I got upset was because he took me out of the game where I thought he had confidence in me,” Casilla said through an interpreter.

Casilla went on to say that he deserved an explanation for the rare move of removing a closer just one out from the potential conclusion of the game. Instead, Casilla said, Bochy took the ball and said nothing.

The incident was hashed over in private the next day, and Casilla was summoned to get the final two outs in the Giants 3-1 win on Friday. Casilla apologized publicly, and Bochy stated the incident was brushed over, but the manager took heat for his actions from the media, just as did his closer for his hot-headed departure.

ESPN’s Dan LeBatard reacted emotionally on his radio show, saying rather harshly that Bochy treated his player like a dog, not an adult. LeBatard especially was displeased that Bochy called Casilla back to the mound in an attempt to get the closer to immediately change his attitude, saying that Bochy should have admonished Casilla in private after the game, not on the field in front of the cameras and the assembled crowd.

Casilla’s thoughts were similar to LeBatard’s as he also said after that game, “Don’t just take the ball and say nothing. It is not a kid. It is a man on the mound.”

Did the incident speak of a bigger issue within the team’s clubhouse, perhaps a ball club divided? Probably not, given the team’s past harmony and all of the familiar, long time faces on the coaching staff and the roster that have plenty of time to adjust to each other’s personalities and idiosyncrasies.

But the incident surely points to this: close ballgames take a toll on a team, especially at the rate the Giants play them. Twenty-one of the team’s 40 games thus far have been decided by one or two runs, and five games have gone into extra innings. All five of the team’s wins on their current streak fit into one or both of those categories.

Call it Torture 2016.

On Tuesday, Madison Bumgarner takes the ball in the opener of a three-game series in San Diego. He’ll be opposed by the Padres’ Colin Rea, a pitcher who has shown marked improvement since he was lifted in the fourth inning of his first start of the season on April 8. In that one, Rea allowed six hits, four walks and five runs in a game the Padres rebounded to win 13-6 over the Rockies. Since then, Rea has thrown at least five innings in all six starts, including an eight-inning effort against the Mets in which he picked up the win, allowing one run, three hits.

 

 

 

Walk off walk: Giants avoid sweep thanks to Toronto’s 13th-inning gifts

Published on by moepeaLeave a comment

AP16173453450

By Morris Phillips

Professional baseball players are no different than anyone else: If you’re about to embark on a business trip plane ride out of town, after a bullish day at work, but yearning to bathe in momentary contentment, occasionally, you have to walk, not run.

The Giants avoided being swept at home by the Blue Jays on Wednesday afternoon by getting the very most out of what’s often considered the least, a walk. In this case, with the bases loaded in the 13th inning to end 4 ½ hours of baseball, avoiding a 2-5 finish to a frustrating home stand, giving it just a bit more significance which manager Bruce Bochy captured.

“Especially having the lead like that, we coughed it up, that would have been a tough one to lose, and get swept, to hit the road on, and (we) kept fighting.”

“I’ll take the walk.”

Still early in a marathon of a season, the Blue Jays and Giants, both 18-18, leave San Francisco in entirely different moods. For the Giants, a lighthearted jaunt to Phoenix to see the Diamondbacks. For the Jays, a longer, slightly quieter flight to Dallas for a weekend with the Rangers.

“The guys played a good game out there,” Toronto’s John Gibbons said. “We came back to tie it against a good pitching staff, we battled our asses off. We came up short.”

Gibbons most regrets the comfortable path his team allowed the Giants in the 13th. With reliever Ryan Tepera pitching, Brandon Belt was hit by a pitch, then Denard Span’s bunt was poorly handled allowing Belt to take second, and Span first. Tepera’s wild pitch allowed both runner’s to move up, and prompted Toronto to walk the bases full, ahead of Matty Duffy’s line out to first, and a four-pitch walk to Buster Posey to end it.

“I mean, you get to a point where you’re almost four-and-a-half hours in, it doesn’t really matter,” Posey said in jest.

The Giants won two 13-inning contests on the home stand, proving once again, they never shy away from tense ballgames that other clubs might consider torture. But all their warts were exposed in the series with the Jays: an offense slathered in molasses, a bullpen trying to find itself, starters too with Peavy and Cain starting–and losing–the first two games, and then on Wednesday a meltdown with closer Santiago Casilla on the mound.

Putting a personal side on the Giants woes, Buster Posey narrowly avoided the worst hitless streak of his career with a single in the first, ending an 0 for 18 slide.

The Giants led 4-1 buoyed by Madison Bumgarner’s quality start, which took the Giants deep into a game with a lead of more than a run for the first time in a week. But Cody Gearrin relieved Bumgarner in the seventh, then opened the eighth by allowing a pair of singles before hitting Troy Tulowitzki to load the bases. Russell Martin’s sacrifice fly made it 4-2, Josh Osich relieved, and allowed a run-scoring single to Justin Smoak, making it 4-3.

Casilla came on to close it in the ninth, but Michael Saunders homered over the center field fence on the ninth pitch of the at-bat. For Casilla, it marked his third blown save in 14 appearances, for Saunders a nice bounce back after he saw a batted ball glance off his head on Monday, his first career game at AT&T Park.

The Giants open a four-game set on Thursday in Phoenix with Johnny Cueto facing fellow, deep pocketed free agent signee Zach Greinke at 6:40pm PST.

 

Peavy OK, but the offense disappears again in Giants’ 3-1 loss to Toronto

Published on by moepeaLeave a comment

Toronto flex

By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO–Verbal and uncommonly animated, you could hear Jake Peavy after he got ahead of reigning AL MVP Josh Donaldson, the second batter of Monday’s game, one ball, two strikes.

Of Peavy’s next four pitches to Donaldson, only the third could be considered effective, a slower than slow breaking pitch that had the slugger hopping across the plate to control his bat just enough to foul off the nasty offering. The other three pitches? Hardly impactful; first Peavy missed inside, then outside, and after Donaldson stayed alive by barely getting his bat on what would have been a called strike three, another ball outside, like the first two, not close enough to tempt the keen-eyed MVP.

Donaldson drew a walk, and Peavy’s signature grunt—for this batter, more of a groan—grew more intense on each pitch.   But on Monday, as it has more often than not thus far this season—intensity didn’t equal a win.

Peavy would go on to throw 27 pitches in a laborious first inning, allowing just one run, despite giving up two hits, two walks and uncorking a wild pitch. But fearless damage control wouldn’t be enough against the favorites in the AL East, as Peavy would go on to allow three runs in a 3-1 loss in which the Giants’ offense was again missing in action, and provided little support for their starting pitcher.

“We just ran into a well-pitched game,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “We saw a great arm tonight. He’s been throwing the ball well and he just shut us down but they battled hard. It’s a good sign for Jake, to battle and compete the way he did, to hold them to three there.”

No matter the degree of scuffling, as Bochy described, Peavy was ultimately effective. He went five innings, kept his team in the ballgame, and never gave in. But he couldn’t locate his pitches, walked five guys, creating constant stress, and needed 112 pitches to record 15 outs.

That 112th pitch induced Russell Martin to pop out with the bases loaded, and the game in the balance. Talk about trust between manager and player.

“I just appreciate him showing that confidence in me to make that pitch,” Peavy said.

Offensively, the Giants were stymied again, this the third straight day they saw an upcoming starter displaying his best stuff and being consistent with it. Aaron Sanchez allowed the Giants just three hits and a run, despite having a lot of screwy stuff happen around him.

Sanchez went seven innings and lowered his ERA on the road in four starts thus far to 0.96.

Both teams exited with identical 17-17 records, and despite being near consensus picks to win their divisions, both the Blue Jays and Giants have a lot to work to do. The Giants came in having scored just 2 runs in 22 innings, and did little to reverse that trend. The Jays have their big bats hitting 2 through 6 with Donaldson, Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion, and Troy Tulowitzki, but their entire lineup can’t seem to get the batting averages where they need to be, while reducing the strike outs.

Encarnacion homered off Peavy in third, with Bautista on with a walk, giving the Jays all the offense they would need. Peavy’s only consolation there? He struck out Encarnacion in the fifth, the equivalent of winning the battle, losing the war.

The Giants turn to Matt Cain on Tuesday, in a matchup with the revived J.A. Happ at 7:15pm.

NOTES: With Encarnacion’s two-run shot in the third, he and Bautista share the lead in home runs in interleague games since 2010 with 34. Houston’s Colby Rasmus is next with 33…. Angel Pagan inches closer to a return from that tweak in his knee suffered rounding the bases in New York two Sundays ago. The Giants didn’t disclose a timetable, but sometime this week appears likely. Pagan was available to pinch hit Monday, but would not have stayed in the game to run the bases. George Kontos, out since April 18, is doing a rehab stint with Triple A Sacramento, and pitched a scoreless inning on Sunday. Albert Suarez followed Peavy Monday, pitching two innings in relief as the follow-up to his major league debut on Saturday.

 

 

Where does Matt Cain go from here?: Struggling veteran roughed up in Rockies’ record-setting 17-7 win

Published on by moepeaLeave a comment

Cain frustrated

By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO–On a wacky night like this, a pair of teams with .500 early-season records sure didn’t seem like equals.

The Giants followed a brief 3-3 road trip with the clunker of all clunkers in their return to AT&T Park Thursday night, a 17-7 loss to the Rockies, that if nothing else, showed vividly which of the middling NL West contenders is trending in the right direction, and which one is not.

The Rockies improved to 5-2 on their road trip—always an eye-opener for the Mile High-based club that has traditionally faltered on the road—while the Giants turned to Matt Cain, and saw him flounder from the third batter he faced, the 13th consecutive start in which he has failed to record a win.

And while Cain could possibly label the 297th start of his career his worst, it wasn’t as bad as Vin Mazzaro’s relief appearance in which he recorded just one out, while allowing nine of the 13 runs in Colorado’s record-breaking fifth inning.

And while a 13-run inning is a big story in itself, it’s merely a chapter in a bigger story for San Francisco: How far can the Giants go with Cain and Jake Peavy? The veteran pair have made a combined 12 starts, allowing 91 hits in 60 innings. As expected, manager Bruce Bochy said after the game, for the moment, the two veterans remain rotation members in good standing.

“It’s been encouraging at times, but at the same time, we know we have to get better there. And Matty will tell you the same thing, just like Jake. They’ve been around, they have experience. But right now, they’re our guys and we’re staying behind them.”

The 13-run inning was the biggest outburst of any major league club since 2010. It also marked the biggest inning in the history of the Rockies—Coors Field or not.   The 17 runs scored by Colorado was just two off the most the club has ever scored in a road game, only fewer than the 19 runs the Rockies scored on September 25, 2011 in Houston.

And while the big inning was surely unique, it must have felt oddly familiar to the Giants. Exactly a week ago, with Peavy on the mound, the Giants surrendered 12 runs in an inning to the Mets.

“It’s hard to believe lightning hit us twice here in about a week,” Bochy said.

Cain started off inauspiciously enough. He retired the first two batters, but then Carlos Gonzalez singled, and major league home run leader Nolan Arenado deposited a 2-0 pitch over the left field wall.   Gerardo Parra doubled, Mark Reynolds singled him home and just that fast the Rockies led 3-0.

The Giants responded with a pair of runs in the first, another in the second, to lessen the impact of Cain’s rocky beginnings, but after a couple of encouraging innings, rookie sensation Trevor Story touched Cain for a homer leading off the fifth, and the floodgates opened.

In all Cain, allowed 10 hits—half of those for extra bases—and six earned runs. Unable to record an out in the fifth, he was lifted, the third time the season the veteran has failed to finish five innings in a start.

Former Athletic, Vin Mazzaro, followed, and the Rockies methodically, and unemotionally, picked the reliever apart. Mazzaro faced 10 batters, allowing six hits, a walk, and nine runs, seven of those earned.

After being lifted, Mazzaro sat puzzled in the dugout, his facial expression resembling that of someone that had just witnessed a train wreck. As much as any Murderer’s Row can display modesty, the Rockies did, taking the whole 37-minute fireworks display in stride.

“Everybody was just putting good swings on the ball and having fun with it,” rookie Trevor Story said.

The Giants played without Hunter Pence, who suffered back tightness before the game, and Joe Panik, who’s sidelined with a groin issue. The poor pitching wasn’t their only issue; sure handed Brandon Crawford and Kelby Tomlinson, playing second base, made untimely errors in the fifth. Earlier, third base coach Roberto Kelly inexplicably sent Buster Posey home on Crawford’s single, challenging Gonzalez’ rocket arm with no outs. Posey was thrown out easily, and Mac Williamson followed by hitting an inning-ending double play ball.

Had the Giants pushed a run across in that third inning, it would have tied the game 4-4.

With the loss, the Giants fell into a three-way tie for first with the Rockies and Dodgers. All three have .500 records, but while the Dodgers and Rockies have winning records against NL West competition thus far, the Giants have dropped ten of 18 games within their division.

On Friday night, the Giants turn to Madison Bumgarner, coming off his impressive start in New York, in a matchup with Colorado’s Chad Bettis.