Tag: Johnny Cueto

Runs scarce for the Giants again, Royals sweep brief two-game set

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June 14, 2017: Striking out in the sixth inning, San Francisco Giants right fielder Hunter Pence (8) walks to the dugout, during a MLB baseball game between the Kansas City Royals and the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park in San Francisco, California. Valerie Shoaps/CSM (Cal Sport Media via AP Images)

By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO-The Giants banged out ten hits, got at least one from every starting position player except one, but scored only twice, and looked as lifeless offensively as a team can with double-digit knocks and three walks mixed in.

It’s not easy to do. But the Giants are doing it, with alarming regularity.

In a matchup of teams ranked 28th and 29th offensively in the MLB, the Royals appeared completely unbridled while the Giants remained completely restrained. On Wednesday afternoon, the Royals took advantage of Johnny Cueto and Derek Law, and cruised past the Giants for the second straight day, 7-2.

Back-to-back home runs by Jorge Bonifacio and Lorenzo Cain off Cueto in the third put the Royals ahead 4-0, and took all the life out of the Giants, who had scored four or more runs only 28 times in 66 games this season coming in.

Cueto threw well in stretches, but was roughed up in others, allowing five runs on ten hits, and three walks in 5 2/3 innnings. Facing the club with which he won the 2015 World Series, Cueto allowed three home runs for only the second time in 14 starts this season.

“I left those three pitches hanging, and they beat me,” Cueto said via translator Erwin Higueros. “I just had a bad day.”

The Royals won their third straight, and relied on a powerful offense that’s been absent for most of their season.  With the three homers on Wednesday, the Royals have 13 in the first five games of their unique San Diego, San Francisco, Anaheim road trip that concludes with four games against the Angels starting Thursday.

Mike Moustakas homered with a splash off Cueto leading off the second inning to give the Royals an early 1-0 lead. Moustakas leads the Royals with 18 home runs this season, and he’s hitting .391 in June.

Jason Hammel picked up the win, but needed 12 starts to finally beat the Giants for the first time, one of three MLB teams he had never beaten.  Hammel pitched into the eighth inning, allowing one run on eight hits with four strikeouts.

Denard Span, Eduardo Nunez and Joe Panik had two hits apiece for the Giants, but only one of the Giants’ ten hits went for extra bases, and they finished two for ten with runners in scoring position. Brandon Belt was the only hitless starter for San Francisco, going 0 for 4 with a walk.

“If you don’t have a lot of power, you’re not a home run-hitting club, you need to get those timely hits,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “Our guys aren’t having a good year with men on base.”

The Giants concluded a dismal homestand in which they finished 1-4, scoring 13 runs in their win on Sunday and only five runs total in their four losses.

The Giants open the first of two, consecutive four-game series in Denver on Thursday night against the Rockies. Matt Moore will face Jeff Hoffman (4-0, 2.33) in the opener at 5:40pm.

Not that guy, again: Kershaw beats the Giants for the 20th time in his career

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By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO–When the pitcher of the decade, if not the pitcher of this generation, resides in your division, there’s nowhere to hide.  And trust me, if the Giants were to huddle like second graders on an expansive, tree-lined playground, hiding from Clayton Kershaw would be discussed.

The three-time Cy Young Award winner took his every fifth-day turn on Wednesday at AT&T Park, his favorite place to pitch, looking to beat the Giants for the 20th time in 38 career starts.  And while Kershaw didn’t have the Giants beat just by showing up, he did have all the help he would need after the game’s fifth batter, and before the Dodgers’ ace even threw his first pitch of the day.

“With Clayton, when you get four runs or more, the record speaks for itself,” manager Dave Roberts said of the Dodgers two-run first inning, on the way to an easy, 6-1 win. “He smells blood, and he’s such a competitor. And we talk about going for the jugular, and likes to put guys away.”

Kershaw’s career ERA at AT&T Park was a ridiculousy-microscopic 1.36 entering Wednesday’s matinee, and it got lower.  Yasmani Grandal doubled home a pair of runs off Giants’ starter Johnny Cueto in the first inning, and that’s all Kershaw would need after he didn’t disappoint, throwing seven shutout innings, allowing three hits and no walks.

Leading 6-0 in the seventh, Kershaw called it a day, giving way to relievers Pedro Baez and Sergio Romo, who allowed the Giants an Edwin Nunez ninth-inning home run to breakup the shutout.   The Giants’ five-game win streak and opposing starter, Johnny Cueto’s unblemished record at home (1-0 in three starts, all Giants’ wins) disappeared in the process.

“It’s a fine line between winning and losing, and they got the key hits,” manager Bruce Bochy said.  “And you’re a pitch from getting out of inning a couple of times, and it didn’t happen.  But the bats were quiet. Kershaw was his usual good self, and we couldn’t mount any offense today.”

Grandal’s RBI double to open the scoring came on a second, 0-2 pitch with two outs, down and off the plate.  In the fifth, Yasiel Puig struck, knocking in a pair on a 1-2 pitch with two outs to make it 5-0.  Those two jabs, along with Kershaw’s stinginess, were enough to upset Cueto, but in addition, the Giants’ starter felt Grandal was stealing signs peering in from second base after his first inning double.

Chris Taylor struck out looking to end the first inning, with Grandal allegedly stealing signs.  But that didn’t matter much in the third, when Cueto brushed back Grandal with a high, hard one that wasn’t orchestrated in that it flew past catcher Buster Posey and to the backstop, allowing Chase Utley to race home from third for the Dodgers’ third run.

Both benches cleared after the run scored, but things didn’t get out of hand, nor did the umpires see fit to eject anyone.  When Grandal came to bat in the third, apologies were issued first hand, and Kershaw and the game moved on.

“He said, ‘Sorry for the misunderstanding. Let’s just move on,” Cueto recalled.  “I’m not going to use that as an excuse, but they were relaying signs.”

“Whether we were or we weren’t, obviously he was displeased and let us know,” Roberts said.

The Giants resume play on Friday in St. Louis with Matt Moore getting the ball for that one.

 

Giants turn the page on April by starting May with a win over Clayton Kershaw

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Posey pop

By Morris Phillips

No recap of the Giants’ tidy performance at Chavez Ravine could resonate without prefacing the facts pointing to how daunting a challenge the NL West cellar dwellers faced on Monday night:

The Giants just experienced a dreadful April, one of the three worst season opening months since their move to the west coast over 65 years ago.  Under those humbling circumstances the last guy the Giants wanted to see was the forever emboldened Clayton Kershaw.  But surprise, Monday belonged to the Giants, and not to the guy that had 19 victories in his career against them, and had seen the Dodgers beat the Giants seven of the last eight times the two clubs met with Kershaw starting.

Johnny Cueto pitched seven strong innings, throwing 30 pitches in a tense, seventh inning in which the Dodgers threatened to plate the tying run.  And the Giants got home runs from Hunter Pence and Buster Posey off Kershaw, and held on to win, 4-3.

If the Giants needed an off night by the Dodgers’ ace to find the victory column, they didn’t exactly get it.  Kershaw worked through six innings, allowing eight hits, but would have survived had it not been for the offerings to Pence and Posey that left the yard.  In the first, Pence took advantage of a hanging curve on a two-run blast.  In the third, Posey connected on an ineffective slider that neatly cleared the left field wall down the line.

“I wasn’t great, but they had something to do with it as well,” Kershaw said.

In the fifth, Christian Arroyo singled home Gorkys Hernandez to put the Giants up 4-2.  Arroyo managed a pair of hits, after he received a nasty introduction to Kershaw in the second, when he struck out on a slider in the dirt.  Arroyo also drew a walk hitting in the two hole, seeing 27 pitches in all, a nice development for a 21-year old with less than 10 big league games under his belt, and none as challenging as this one.

With the win, the Giants remain in last place in the NL West, 6 1/2 games behind the division-leading Rockies.   But the victory reversed an ugly pattern of failures on the road.  The Giants won for only the fourth time in 13 road contests thus far this season.

Cueto retired 13 consecutive batters after allowing a single to Kershaw in the third.  In the seventh, the first two Dodgers to bat reached.  But Cueto escaped, retiring Andrew Toles with two runners aboard and a run in, to preserve the lead.

Lefty reliever Steven Okert retired the next five Los Angeles hitters, leaving Derek Law to strike out Yasiel Puig for the game’s final out.  After blowing a save opportunity on Sunday against the Padres, closer Mark Melancon was bypassed for Okert and Law.

The Giants hope to make it two straight with Matt Moore taking the ball on Tuesday.  The Dodgers will counter with Alex Wood, who threw six scoreless innings at AT&T Park last week, only to get a no decision when the Giants rallied late for a 4-3 win.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Breath of fresh air: Arroyo, Morse lead Giants to dramatic, 4-3 win over the Dodgers

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By Morris Phillips

When it comes to Giants-Dodgers baseball, the emotions are all over the place.  You don’t necesarilly need to track Michael Morse circling the bases, tounge wagging, hair swinging to know that.

Manager Dave Roberts was tight-lipped, but you could literally see the decisions replaying in his head after his Dodgers saw their 3-0 lead evaporate on Wednesday, and morph into a frustrating 4-3 loss to the Giants. Did Roberts lift starter Alex Wood too soon? Did Pedro Baez literally go from unhittable to just-got-hit that fast? Did Adrian Gonzalez make the right play on Nick Hundley’s difficult grounder that would load the bases ahead of Hunter Pence’s game-winning, sacrifice fly? And what of that pitch sequence to Pence that allowed the free-swinging slugger to escape 0-2 and get a pitch elevated?

Ten pitches, all above the belly button with pace.  To Pence?

“I don’t like to second-guess sequencing too much,” Roberts said, after noting the similarity in Ross Stripling’s two-strike offerings.

Roberts and Morse weren’t the only ones reacting to the game’s dramatic turn.

Sergio Romo wanted to be today’s news in his return to AT&T Park. But he wasn’t that after allowing Christian Arroyo’s first major league home run, and seeing his ERA jump to 10.57. Romo’s 80-mph slider unleashed the 21-year old’s big swing, a certain reminder why no one in the Giants’ organization was willing to entertain trade offers involving their top-tiered prospect.

Arroyo’s quick, powerful swat was reminiscent of 23-year old Buster Posey’s swing in 2010, when the Giants’ catcher deposited 18 balls beyond the fences in his first, full big league season.

While Morse’s game-tying shot in the eighth provided the game’s signature moment, Arroyo not-so-quietly made it possible with his shot in the seventh.

“We were down three. Now we’re down one.  We were just not doing anything against Wood,” manager Bruce Bochy admitted.

Dodgers’ starter Alex Wood didn’t allow a hit until Drew Stubbs led off with a single in the sixth. But Wednesday’s outing was Woods’ first one of any length since the end of spring training. Roberts approached it cautiously just as he did when Stripling flirted with a no-hitter a year earlier in similar circumstances.  So with a 3-0 cushion in the seventh, Roberts pulled the plug on Wood, looking to gain confidence in his reconfigured bullpen outside of reliable closer Kenley Jansen.  Roberts’ move didn’t work.

“The bullpen’s been great all year for us,” Wood said.  “It was a tough one for us tonight.”

How tough? Flamethrower Pedro Baez, summoned in the eighth, had not allowed a run in six, previous appearances. Morse, on the other hand, just returned to town for the first time as a Giant in three years.  Part of the club’s early season shakeup, Morse and Kelby Tomlinson were recalled from AAA Sacramento earlier in the day.

One pitch after Morse waved at Baez’ 95-mph heat, he sent one into the left field bleachers, setting off the slugger’s unbridled celebration.  You can’t make this stuff up: The game score on Wednesday was exactly the same before and after Morse’s shot as it was in the Giant’s 2014 NLCS clincher against St. Louis.

“It was cool and not only for me,” Morse said. “I think for the team, it was a really big moment.”

The Giants conclude their series with the Dodgers on Thursday at 1245p in a matchup of Matt Moore and 20-year old Julio Urias, making his season debut.

Giants bullpen gives up sure win in late innings

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by Michael Martinez

SAN FRANCISCO – Johnny Cueto (13-3) appeared to have his first win since the All Star break in the bag after he threw a solid six and two thirds innings, allowing just three runs on eight hits with four strikeouts. Cueto also had a nice day at the plate putting together two hits and driving in a run. However, the Giants bullpen fell apart in the late innings and allowed the Orioles to make things competitive.

Hunter Strickland came in to relieve Cueto and got out of a seventh inning jam but gave up two runs in the seventh to let the Orioles back into the ball game, which included a solo shot by Mark Trumbo. The blast was Trumbo’s was number 34 of the season he still leads the AL in that category.

Derek Law replaced Strickland in the eighth and was able to limit the damage as the Giants still held a 7-5 lead heading into the top half of the ninth.

Then Santiago Casilla came into the game and not only let two runners get on base, but threw a hanging curveball right over the heart of the plate to Baltimore second baseman, Johnathan Schoop. Schoop made Casilla pay as he crushed the hanging breaking ball into the left field bleachers to give the Orioles the lead, eight to seven. The homer marked Casilla’s fifth blown save of the year.

“I have confidence in all my pitches,” Casilla said through interpreter Erwin Higueros. “I threw the curveball, and I just made a mistake. The ball didn’t break.”

The Giants then tried to make something happen off Orioles closer Zach Britton in the bottom of the ninth, but unfortunately could not get a run across the plate to push the game into extra innings. Britton added to his league leading save total, 37, as Baltimore sits just a half game behind the Toronto Blue Jays for first place in the AL East.

For San Francisco, its their 18th loss since the Mid Summer Classic and a real bad one after they held a six run lead heading into the top of the seventh.

The orange and black hit their stride at the plate, tallying 14 hits for seven runs and forced Orioles skipper, Buck Showalter,  to remove starter Wade Miley in the fifth inning.

Giants back up catcher Trevor Brown got the scoring started with an RBI single in the second inning. Brown got the start behind the dish after Buster Posey was a last minute scratch due to back tightness. The injury could have been sustained from the flight back and has gradually worsened, according to Posey.

Before Sunday’s ball game, Brown had been hitless in his last seven at bats, with just three hits in his last 19. But Brown made the most out of his start and was a huge spark for SF’s offense. He finished the game three for five with three RBIs.

“He’s been great,” Posey said about Brown’s performance this year. “He gave us a chance to win the game.”

Outfielder Hunter Pence also had a good game and it appears his swing could be coming into form. Pence hit a bomb to center field, 436 feet to be exact, and added a single during the Giants big fifth inning. Pence’s dinger was his first since returning from the disabled list. Prior to today’s game, Pence had not put one into the seats dating all the way back to May 18.

Fortunately, the Dodgers (65-52) lost to Pittsburgh on Sunday, 11-3, keeping the Giants a game ahead in the NL West.

After blowing a huge lead and taking a loss in what looked to be the Giants first back-to-back wins since July 30 and 31 as well as their second consecutive series victory, San Francisco will take on the Pittsburgh Pirates at home tomorrow night at 7:15 p.m. PT as Matt Moore takes the mound.

“I think everyone knows what’s at stake. I don’t think there’s really any motivation needed,” Posey said. “This time of the year, this is when it’s fun. Each game as we get further and further along will have a little more importance on it. I think the group of guys in here generally thrive in these situations.”

Nats strike first, getting past the Giants in a meeting of division leaders

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Nats celebrate win

By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO–Joe Panik returned to the lineup, and the Giants had an opportunity to become only the second big league club to reach 60 wins, but Tanner Roark and the Nationals kept the NL West leaders out of the win column for at least one more night.

Roark improved to 4-0 lifetime against the Giants, pitching seven innings, allowing four hits and a run, in Washington’s 4-2 win in the battle of division leaders.  Roark escaped numerous jams as the Giants failed to come up with a hit with runners in scoring position, going 0 for 9 on the night.

Johnny Cueto suffered through a lengthy second inning, in which allowed three runs, all with two outs, and was denied the opportunity to grab his 14th win of the season. Cueto settled down, and got through the fifth inning, but his outing was tied for the shortest this season. The Giants’ ace has now failed to win any of his three starts after the All-Star break.

The Giants attempted to rally in the ninth inning, loading the bases with one out, and knocking Washington closer Jonathon Papelbon from the game, but a pair of relievers came on to retire Denard Span and Angel Pagan swinging to end the game.

“We could’ve used a big hit there to really pick this club when you’re in a streak like this, but they got out of it,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “We just couldn’t quite finish it there in the ninth. It would’ve done a lot for the club.”

The idle Dodgers moved within two games of the NL West lead as the Giants’ cushion has evaporated in a streak in which they’ve lost 10 of 12. The Giants couldn’t respond on the field Thursday, but they did consummate the only trade of the day with the trade deadline approaching on Monday.

The Giants acquired infielder Eduardo Nunez from the Twins in exchange for minor league pitcher Adalberto Mejia. The 29-year old Nunez was named an All-Star for the first time, hitting .300 this season while leading the AL in stolen bases with 26. Nunez is expected to join the team on Saturday.

Panik returned to the active roster and batted third, but went hitless in four at-bats. The Giants’ top four hitters—Span, Pagan, Panik and Buster Posey—combined to go 1 for 17 with a walk. After decent offensive outputs on Monday and Tuesday, the Giants’ bats have been quiet for two straight games.

Conor Gillaspie had a pair of hits for the Giants, but either Gillaspie or infielder Ramiro Pena figure to lose their roster spot with Hunter Pence and Ehire Adrianza poised to return from the disabled list, with one or both expected back this weekend. GM Bobby Evans confirmed that the Giants are still in talks to acquire help for the bullpen, with San Diego’s Andrew Cashner and Tampa Bay’s Alex Colome prominent among the numerous names that might be available.

On Friday, the Giants have Jeff Samardzija on the pitchers’ mound in a matchup with Nationals’ ace Max Scherzer at 7:15pm.

Royal mistreatment: Cueto roughed up as the American League captures the All-Star Game for the fourth straight year

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Cueto shinin

By Morris Phillips

In the pantheon of performances by Giants’ pitchers chosen to start the All-Star Game, Johnny Cueto’s wasn’t the cakewalk Juan Marichal experienced in 1967, or the walkover Matt Cain enjoyed in 2012. Instead, Cueto, who admitted to feeling under the weather before the game, had an outing that most approximated Vida Blue’s 1978 start, also in San Diego:

Sudden fireworks at the Giants’ starter’s expense, a bit of embarrassment, and in Cueto’s case, a loss.

Cueto allowed home runs to former teammates, Eric Hosmer and Salvador Perez in the second inning, early offense that held up in the American League’s 4-2 win over the National League on Tuesday night.

“I think it was two pitches I left up, and I paid the price,” Cueto said through an interpreter following his stint in which he allowed five hits in a 1 2/3 innings of work.

The AL win gives the American League champion home field advantage in the World Series for the fourth consecutive season, no insignificant development for the NL Giants, who hold the league’s best record with 90 of the season’s 162 complete. Of course, the Giants overcame the home field advantage in 2014 when Madison Bumgarner led his team past the Royals in Game 7 in Kansas City.

The K.C. connection played big on Tuesday, as Hosmer and Perez became only the second pair of teammates to homer in the same inning in an All-Star Game joining Jimmy Wynn and Steve Garvey of the Dodgers who achieved the feat in 1975.

“It’s a dream come true, and it felt like my first big league homer right there,” Hosmer said in an interview with FOX during the game. “It was special.”

Hosmer’s home run came with one out in the second inning, tying the score 1-1, a rapid answer to Kris Bryant’s homer off Chris Sale that gave the NL the lead in the first. Mookie Betts singled, then with Hosmer being interviewed in the dugout following his homer, Perez took Cueto deep to left, and the AL led 3-1.

Did familiarity aid Hosmer and Perez against Cueto, their teammate on the Royals’ World Series winning team of last season? Or were the duo’s home runs payback for Cueto departing for the deeper-pocketed Giants?

Cueto, in a good mood despite his outing, downplayed both scenarios, emphasizing the presence of his entire family, and the opportunity to represent the first-place Giants. The nine-year veteran appeared to have everything in his favor: snazzy lime and orange cleats, his current catcher, Buster Posey, behind the plate, and the bright sun and shadows that hamper hitters with a 5pm West coast, mid-summer start time. Instead, Cueto suffered, perhaps feeling ill, elevating a pair of pitches to the Kansas City duo and surrendering hard hit balls to Mike Trout and David Ortiz.

With Trout looming in the on deck circle, manager Terry Collins elected to remove Cueto with a runner on, and two outs in the second inning.

Hosmer added an RBI single in the third, and was named the game’s MVP. It was the first time a Kansas City player captured the award since Bo Jackson in 1989. That year, Jackson homered in the first inning off Giants’ starting pitcher Rick Reuschel.

It was Hosmer’s first All-Star appearance and he couldn’t contain his excitement after circling the bases.

“We’ve been here before. We’ve been on a stage before!” Hosmer said to no one in particular as he approached the Royals’ dugout.

Cueto suffered the loss, only the second time he’s done so in a San Francisco uniform after going 13-1 in his first 18 starts as a Giant. His All-Star performance may have lacked, but not like Atlee Hamaker’s relief appearance in 1983 in which he allowed a grand slam and seven earned runs in less than an inning.

Marichal started All-Star games in 1965 and 1967 and cruised both times. Cain started in 2012, and picked up the win, departing after two innings with a 5-0 lead.

But Blue, like Cueto, saw things deteriorate fast, allowing a triple to Rod Carew, then a double to George Brett, the first two batters of the game. Unlike Cueto, Blue escaped a loss as the NL rallied that year, overcoming Blue’s 3-0 deficit to win 7-3 at Jack Murphy Stadium.

ALL STAR NOTES: Tuesday’s game was played in a tidy 3 hours, 5 minutes as both teams had nine pitchers pitch and record at least one out… There were 18 hits in the game, but no scoring after the top of the fourth… The American League was designated the home team as an NL club hosted the game for the fourth straight season. In acknowledgement of the string of NL cities hosting, the American League was designated as the home team, wore white uniforms and hit last… Bryant was 0 for 6 with six strikeouts against Chris Sale, before homering off Sale in the first inning. Bryant played the game in front of friends and family, gathered nearby University of San Diego, where Bryant starred collegiately… Ortiz was removed for a pinch hitter in the third after drawing a walk off Miami’s Jose Fernandez. In his final All-Star game appearance, Ortiz was greeted with a standing ovation while all of his All-Star teammates came out of the dugout to greet him… Fernandez’ tongue-and-cheek promise to groove fastballs when facing Ortiz didn’t materialize.  Fernandez started Ortiz with a changeup, then walked the slugger on a 3-2 pitch.

 

Johnny Cueto’s first All-Star appearance will be as the National League’s starting pitcher

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By Morris Phillips

Johnny Cueto’s big league career has an extraordinary arch after the completion of his sixth season, one that’s nearly impossible to match.

After spending much of 2013 with injuries, making only 11 starts, Cueto suffered a big embarassment on his biggest stage to that date, dropping the ball, having to retrieve it away from the mound, then surrendering a laser shot home run to Russell Martin on his next pitch, all while the raucous Pittsburgh crowd derisively chanted his name.

Cueto’s skipper Dusty Baker said before the game that his pitcher thrives in big spots, but Cueto, the emergency replacement starter (Ace Mat Latos was hurt) after battling injuries and making just three September starts as dress rehearsals, was in a tough place and not at his best physically.

Since that 6-2 loss to the Pirates, it’s been one feat after another for the standout from the Dominican Republic.

First, Cueto bounced back with a 20-win season, his first after winning 19 in 2012. The following season saw Cueto dealt at mid-season to the Royals, a trade necessitated by the pitcher’s impending free agency, and he rewarded Kansas City with the first complete game win by an AL starter in the World Series in more than 20 years, culminating in a Series title for the improbable Royals.

As a champion and a free agent, Cueto had no shortage of suitors and elected to sign a 6-year, $130 million deal with the Giants, putting the stingy hurler in a pitcher’s park for the first time in his career.

Now after a flawless 13-1, 2.47 start to 2016, Cueto will make his first All-Star appearance as manager Terry Collins’ pick to start for the National League.

“Everybody certainly deserves an opportunity, but I thought Johnny has pitched the best in this first half of the season and deserves this opportunity for what he’s done, and for what he did to us in the World Series last year.”

 

Giants’ Cueto earns his 13th win, erasing memory of Tuesday’s tough loss with complete game effort

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Cue

By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO–The snapshot of the 2016 baseball season after 87 games will show the San Francisco Giants on top and Johnny Cueto’s handprints all over the accomplishment.

After beating the Rockies Wednesday night, 5-1, the Giants have surpassed the Cubs for the best record in either league as Cueto collected another complete game and improved his record to 13-1. As a resume for Cueto to be named the National League starter in the All-Star Game on Tuesday, the veteran pitcher couldn’t have made a better case.

“You look at his record, his numbers, what a great first half he’s had,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “It’s obvious we’re pulling it to happen.”

“It would mean a lot because it would be the first time that I would ever pitch in an All-Star Game,” Cueto said through his interpreter. “And I want to pitch.”

But not hit, as in the Home Run Derby on Monday in San Diego. When asked about participating in that contest as Madison Bumgarner expressed interest, Cueto, possibly thinking of his 118 pitches thrown Wednesday, or his 0 for 26 hitless streak that ended on Wednesday, he quickly said, “Hell no.”

Whether Cueto surpassed his limit of energy spent against the Rockies or not, he clearly asked for this one. Cueto saw the Giants’ bullpen stain Bumgarner’s excellent effort on Tuesday and hinted that it had been a while since his last complete game effort—in May versus the Padres—a feat he might chase against the Rockies.

After throwing 110 pitches through eight innings, Bochy elected to send the $130 million free agent signee out to finish the job in the ninth.   And Cueto delivered, retiring D.J. LeMahieu, Giants’ killer Nolan Arenado and Carlos Gonzales with just eight more pitches. As the team gathered to exchange handshakes before leaving the field, Cueto was honored as all of the team’s infielders, at Brandon Belt’s behest, tucked their caps under their left arms just as the pitcher does while leaving the mound after each inning.

The complete game win was the 16th of Cueto’s career and fourth of the season.

“I would say he seems to have an extra gear,” Buster Posey said of his battery mate. “I think he does a nice job of pacing himself at the start of the game to where he has enough in the tank to finish it off.”

The Giants won for the 37th time in their previous 52 games, enough to knock the Cubs off their perch as MLB’s team with the best record for the first time this season. The Cubs fell to the Reds on Wednesday, their 12th loss in their previous 17 games.

Posey backed Cueto with his 11th home run in the sixth. Brandon Crawford had a pair of RBI, and Brandon Belt kicked off the scoring with an RBI triple in the first. Belt’s effort no doubt supported his quest to be voted in as the final invitee for the All-Star Game, an online contest that pits him against Colorado’s Trevor Story, Pittsburgh’s Sterling Marte and two others.

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.