Tag: giants

Giants acquire left handers Moore and Smith with Duffy, Susac and Bickford among those shipped out

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By Morris Phillips

The Giants consummated a pair of trade deadline deals on Monday and the cost of acquiring reliever Will Smith from Milwaukee and starting pitcher Matt Moore from Tampa Bay was enormous.

Gone are 21-year old Phil Bickford, youthful shortstop prospect Lucius Fox, former big league catcher Andrew Susac, and the biggest surprise, starting third baseman Matt Duffy, who was thought to be on track to rejoin the Giants on the upcoming road trip to Philadelphia and Washington.

Instead, Duffy appears to be on his way to becoming the starting shortstop for the Rays.

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t heartbroken about leaving the group of guys and fans in SF,” Duffy said. “But I’m also excited about the opportunity to help push the Rays over the top and be a contender in the AL East.”

Moore, a left handed starter, is two years removed from Tommy John surgery and has pitched extremely well over his last 10 starts for the Rays. While the cost to acquire Moore was high, the Giants get a starting pitcher that’s under control for several seasons going forward, and can slot into the third starter position, temporarily dropping struggling Jeff Samardzija down a spot, and likely bumping Jake Peavy out of the rotation.

Most recently, Moore won at Dodgers Stadium against the lefty-leaning Los Angeles lineup, pitching into the seventh inning and allowing just one run, four hits. Previous to that, Moore won in Oakland, holding the A’s in check for seven innings. Moore had demanded that the Rays allow all of the starters to pitch deeper in ballgames, and Moore benefitted when the Tampa coaching staff relented. He’s thrown at least six innings in each of his last 10 starts with the one sore spot being the eight home runs Moore allowed.

Fox, 21-year old pitcher Michael Santos and Duffy were all shipped to Tampa Bay for Moore. In the other deal, Susac and Bickford went to Milwaukee for Smith.

Smith, a quality, left handed setup man, has not pitched at his best over the last month, but is envisioned as a replacement for the retired Jeremy Affeldt, and the struggling Javier Lopez. Smith obviously is not the knock out acquisition that Aroldis Chapman was for the Cubs, or Andrew Miller was for the Indians. But the Giants quickly found out that they were short can’t miss prospects to complete a deal for an elite closer, and Smith was the next step down in terms of what pitchers were available.

Smith’s acquisition likely means that Santiago Casilla will continue to be the closer for the Giants, and Smith will slip into a setup role with Sergio Romo. Since the Giants did not acquire a big-time closer, expect the Giants’ coaching staff to challenge the relievers they have—most importantly George Kontos, Derek Law, and Hunter Strickland—to pitch better down the stretch as they get more acclimated to being in more defined roles.

On Tuesday, the Giants start a three-game set in Philadelphia with Madison Bumgarner facing the Phillies’ Zach Eflin at 4:05pm.

Giant problems: NL West lead down to 2 1/2 games after 7-5 loss to the Reds

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Bruce loose

By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO–For Brandon Belt, the cool ocean air and adoring fans along McCovey Cove made all the difference. Stuck in a nasty post All-Star Game slump, the first baseman responded upon returning to AT&T Park with three hits, including a seemingly effortless, two-run homer.

For the rest of the Giants, Monday’s narrow 7-5 loss to the Reds was maddening, a rerun of most of the issues that plagued them on the just-concluded 1-7 road trip that’s all but eroded their comfortable lead in the NL West.

Balls flying over the fence? Three of them, all charged to starter Jake Peavy. Poor defense? Defender extraordinaire Brandon Crawford fumbled a ground ball, then threw wide to first, his improbable fifth error in the last seven games. Heads up play? Not enough of that either: Ramiro Pena wandered too far from first base and was picked off when Cincinnati’s Brandon Phillips wormed his way between Pena and the bag as catcher Tyler Barnhart’s throw arrived.

The home team’s fans were off their game too. A guy wearing a Giants’ jersey and armed with a glove reached over the rim of the right field arcade and snagged Jay Bruce’s first of two homers, a two-run shot that likely would have gone for three bases, not four, had the fan shown restraint.

So what’s it going to take for the Giants—21-7 before the break, and now 1-8 after it, to reignite their engines?

“Right now, we just need a quality start,” manager Bruce Bochy admitted.

Peavy seemed capable of giving the Giants what they needed, but didn’t have it on Monday. The veteran starter has won twice as much after the break than before over the last three seasons, and had never lost to a visiting Cincinnati ball club in his career (4-0 with 50 strikeouts in seven starts). But capturing that synergy would have first required that the Reds forget how pleasurable it was seeing Peavy at Great American Ballpark in May.

In that one, Peavy went six innings, departing after allowing four home runs, and leaving the Giants in a 7-2 hole. On Monday, Peavy gave up three home runs, the last one to Bruce, allowing the Reds to regain the lead after the Giants had scored four times to go ahead 5-4.

Talk about an extension of the road trip: the Giants’ pitchers have allowed 19 home runs in the last nine games.  And that four-run comeback might be all the offense the team can muster right now: over the final four innings Monday, the Giants had one hit and stuck out five times.

After the game, Bochy remained upbeat, finding a silver lining.

“Jake gives up six runs. He only gave up four hits, three of them left the park. That’s what power will do for you. They played hard, I loved the vibe in the dugout. Good comeback off a tough pitcher who’s been throwing the ball well. We just couldn’t hold ‘em,” Bochy said.

Belt’s home run answered the four-spot the Reds posted in the fourth. The slugger’s bust out night came after he went 2 for 33 on the road trip, and was dropped to sixth in the batting order on Monday in hopes that he would feel less pressure to carry the club offensively, according to Bochy.

Angel Pagan’s two-run shot in the fifth briefly gave the Giants a 5-4 lead, but Peavy’s final pitch of the evening was deposited over the left field fence by Bruce. The Cincinnati outfielder has been mentioned as a trade target of the Giants, and his latest stretch explains why. Bruce has 10 hits, 13 RBIs and four homers in his last seven games, that despite the persistent trade rumors that have him moving who knows where before the August 1 deadline.

“I feel like personally I have been pretty good at keeping things in their own little boxes,” Bruce said. “The last thing you want to do is let things creep in that affect performance or preparation or execution or focus.”

On Tuesday, the Giants will take aim at 23-year old Cody Reed, the Reds’ starter who is 0-4 in six starts. Matt Cain will go for the Giants, looking to have a far better outing than he did in Boston last week, where he was lifted in the third inning of an 11-7 loss.

 

 

Giant objective: Close a deal for a closer

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By Morris Phillips

Santiago Casilla literally fell off the mound at Petco Park in San Diego on Saturday night, the statistics over a half season plus are howling, and the fans have spoken, almost in unison.

The consensus? The Giants need change in their bullpen, starting with veteran closer Casilla.

And the response from the Giants’ brass? Not a peep… yet.

With the August 1 trade deadline approaching, and the team sporting baseball’s best record despite a rough weekend in San Diego, how is that?

Probably because the trade that’s nearly inevitable may be the biggest one Bobby Evans has consummated in his short tenure as the team’s general manager, and one of the biggest in the Brian Sabean era. Let’s just say some high-level, serious negotiating is about to commence.

Already, the smoke screens are up, with the Yankees saying publicly that they’re not interested in anyone the Giants have in their farm system. But here’s what we know: The Yankees are undeniably sellers in this year’s market, as they flounder around .500, and in fourth place in the AL East just ahead of this weekend’s meeting with the Giants in the Bronx. And even as they move closer to moving some high-profile talent, most notably relievers Andrew Miller and possibly, flamethrower Aroldis Chapman, they too aren’t eager to tip their hand.

But what the Yankees have, the Giants need. That’s readily apparent.

If these two teams do a deal the historical implications are huge. The Yankees with their five World Series titles since 1996 are the team of this most recent era of baseball, and they aren’t particularly interested in sharing that stage with either the Giants or the Red Sox, both next up with three Series titles each in that same span. Also Brian Cashman may have tenure and titles, but he doesn’t have the reputation within the baseball industry that Sabean has amassed by doing more with less.

Simply, the two most tenured GM’s  (for the purpose of this story labeling Sabean a GM emeritus) in the game aren’t necessarily comfortable trade partners, especially given that Sabean left the Yankees to take a bigger role with the Giants.

Clearly, the Giants have the ammunition to make a trade with the Yankees or anyone else. From top prospect Christian Arroyo to pitcher Tyler Beede, infielder Lucious Fox, and Single A pitcher Phil Bickford, the Giants are awash with prospects unlike they’ve been at any point since 2010. The Giants have seen their farm system grow in reputation by leaps with the major league success of homegrown stars Joe Panik, Brandon Crawford, Buster Posey, Madison Bumgarner and others. What just a few years ago was a minus, has clearly become a plus.

If not the Yankees, look for the Giants to entice the Pirates with Mark Melancon, or the Rays with Alex Colome. Jeremy Jeffress of Milwaukee could be another rising star the Giants attempt to acquire.

But whatever transpires, don’t expect to hear a lot before it actually happens. Even broadcaster Mike Krukow seemed to be following the company line when he spoke on KNBR, saying that as constituted, the Giants’ bullpen has one logical guy to be the closer, Casilla, someone who he says has proven that he has the mental toughness to get the job done. With so many buyers, and only so many quality relievers available, the Giants tipping their hand, or overplaying their desire to close a deal, could simply drive up the price.

Casilla’s five blown saves are the second most of any reliever in baseball, and the bullpen as a whole has already blown 18. As it stands, with the long absence of Sergio Romo, and the struggles of Josh Osich and Hunter Strickland, the Giants’ bullpen lacks defined roles. The arrival of a flame throwing closer could change all that, bumping Casilla and Romo back, and creating a more defined back end of the pen. Also, even as high as the Giants are on both Strickland and Osich, one of the two also could be moved if it brings back the desired leader of the bullpen.

The Giants see what everyone else sees going on in their bullpen, but unlike the fans and the pundits, they don’t have a say a word. They have to close a deal.

With Samardzija off his game, A’s take liberties in 8-3 romp over the Giants

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Samardzija looking for

By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO–Whether speed bump or cautionary tale, Monday’s 8-2 loss to the A’s was what it was for baseball’s hottest team. Another game looms tomorrow and another opportunity for the Giants to become the National League’s first 50-game winner this season outweighs a rare, lopsided result.

For Jeff Samardzija, things are a little more complicated. The Giants’ $90 million free agent acquisition completed a rough June on Monday, in which he had three abbreviated starts and allowed nine home runs, including Marcus Semien’s three-run job on Monday that highlighted the A’s five-run, second inning.

Somehow Samardzija needs to get his performances more in line with how his team is performing, something he says is attainable, despite the recent, rough outings.

“It’s just about eliminating those mistakes that come back to haunt you,” he said.

Samardzija had several in the second inning against the A’s, after he cruised through the first. The A’s struck for five runs on three extra base hits, two singles and a walk. For the 6’5” right hander, it was almost like, “where do I start?” in trying to assess the disaster of an inning.

The obvious, first choice would be Samardzija’s 1-2 offering to Semien, a capable hitter, but not a guy who’s going to make his living hitting for power in two-strike counts. But Samardzija threw Semien a slider that was intended to be outside and off the plate. Instead, the pitch was right down the middle of the plate and Semien crushed it.

Some good, some bad, Samardzija’s pattern was weaved through the entire outing, not just the second. Samardzija started seven of the first eight batters in the inning with a strike, but the first pitches didn’t set up outs. Instead, pitches that were supposed to be on the edges, caught too much of the plate prompting the pitcher to say “get your off-speed pitches in the strike zone and your two-strike pitches out of the zone.”

“The second inning got away from him,” Bochy recalled. “He lived in the heart of the plate and we paid for it.”

Samardzija would recover, retiring nine batters in a row to get through the third through fifth innings, before getting hit again in the sixth. Consecutive doubles by Yonder Alonso and Semien made it 6-0 before Billy Burns was intentionally walked to get to A’s starter Daniel Mengden, who was retired ending the inning and Samardzija’s evening.

The Giants had beaten the A’s 16 of 19 times at AT&T Park coming in, giving the Bridge Series some semblance of balance after it had gone decisively to the A’s for years. Last year, the Giants finally broke through, winning five of six. Monday’s wipeout was the Oakland response.

“We’ve had games like this, we just haven’t done it consistently,” manager Bob Melvin said. “We have the ability to do this. If you look at our offensive numbers as a whole and they’re not great–on base percentage, really across the board—and then you look in the lineup, and you say, we should probably do a little bit more.”

Mengden picked up his first big league win after three losses, reinforcing what Melvin had said throughout, that the quirky rookie with the handlebar moustache belongs. Mengden retired the first 12 hitters of the evening, and allowed just two hits through seven. In the eighth, the Giants scored twice during which Mengden gave way to the Oakland bullpen, a task that even the incendiary A’s relief core could handle.

The A’s have won four of five, while the Giants have won 13 of 16 despite the loss.

On Tuesday, Albert Suarez tries to capture his fourth win in five decisions in a matchup with Kendall Graveman at 7:15pm.

 

 

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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.”