Giants Lose 3rd Straight, Fall 4 Games Back in NL West
By Neil Povio
The San Francisco Giants came into tonight’s game having to win, after their series loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers yesterday. The Giants’ chances at winning tonight seemed pretty good as they have some pretty good ownage on the Diamondbacks going 11-5 against them before tonight’s game.
Make it 11-6 after tonight.
Ryan Vogelsong got the nod tonight. Vogelsong, overall, had pitched pretty well against Arizona this season, last week being one of his best starts of the season (against these Diamondbacks) going 6.2 innings without allowing a run.
Tonight was a lot different though.
Vogelsong was immediately put into a stressful situation, after Ender Inciarte led off with a single to left field, and Chris Owings walked. Vogelsong was very concerned right off the bat with the possibity of Inciarte stealing, and Vogelsong paid for it clearly showing more concern for the runner than the batter.
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Vogelsong received a bit of luck though after A.J. Pollock hit a line drive right to Joe Panik who flipped it to Brandon Crawford covering at second base for a double play. Vogelsong was able to escape the mini jam after striking out Mark Trumbo looking to end the inning.
The Giants’ bats really needed to wake up tonight after just scoring two runs in their last two games at home. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen tonight.
After Hunter Pence hit a weak grounder to third, Pablo Sandoval picked him up by hitting a one out double, followed by a single from Joaquin Arias to set up first and third with one out. Gregor Blanco hit into a fielder’s choice, forcing Sandoval to stay at third base, and Crawford struck out, as the Giants wasted an early scoring opportunity with less than two outs.
Vogelsong pitched much sharper in the second inning throwing just nine pitches while having a one-two-three inning.
The Diamondbacks’ venomous bite to Vogelsong and the Giants came in the third inning after Wade Miley singled with one out, Chris Owings singled with two outs, Vogelsong threw a wild pitch advancing the runners, and then Pollock walked after a check swing that appeared as if he had gone around for strike three.
First base umpire Ron Kulpa said he didn’t swing though, which set up bases loaded for Trumbo. Tumbo smashed a pitch right down the middle sending it over the right-center field wall for a grand slam giving the D-backs an early 4-0 lead.
If this is a strike, the grand slam never happens. #youmakethecall pic.twitter.com/ViIpKYrekm
— Ahmed Fareed (@ahmedNBC) September 16, 2014
Miley had a shutdown inning in the fourth after retiring the Giants easily again.
Vogelsong was immediately put back into the stretch after Aaron Hill singled to left, but Vogelsong and Posey were able to complete the ‘ole strike-him-out-throw-him-out double play, followed by Didi Gregorius striking out looking to end the inning.
The Giants went down easy again in the fifth inning. Miley clearly was having a night-and-day difference in his performance between the last time he faced the Giants and in tonight’s game.
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The Giants were sent back on defense quickly yet again in the sixth inning after failing to get a hit.
Vogelsong continued his struggles in the sixth, as he was unable to finish the inning. Vogelsong got two quick outs in the inning, but Montero doubled and advanced on another wild pitch from Vogelsong, then Hill and Cody Ross walked.
This forced Bruce Bochy to finally go to the bullpen, Javier Lopez then retired Gregorius on just one pitch to end the inning. Vogelsong’s line for the game: 5.2 innings, six hits, four walks, five strike outs, and the grand slam from Trumbo for four runs.
The Giants’ offense finally showed a little bit of life in the seventh inning after Arias singled, Blanco doubled, and Crawford grounded out for the Giants’ first run of the ball game, as the Giants’ trend of the evening of stranding runners in scoring position with less than two outs continued.
In the bottom half of the seventh inning, the D-backs got that run right back, plus another, after Pollock tripled in Cliff Pennington to make it 5-1. Trumbo singled in Pollock to give the Diamondbacks a 6-1 lead.
Might not seem like it tonight, but #sfgiants actually entered play allowing third-fewest runs in NL on two-out hits.
— Henry Schulman BLUE CHECK MARK (@hankschulman) September 16, 2014
In the eighth inning, the Giants were able to push across one more run after Panik hit a leadoff double, and Buster Posey singled him home. That’s all the Giants’ offense was able to do though as they wasted another scoring opportunity with less than two outs after Pence lined out, Sandoval singled moving Posey to third with one out, Travis Ishikawa struck out in a pinch hit role, and Blanco grounded out to end the inning.
The Giants’ offense just plain looked like a deflated team, and they have looked that way ever since that 17-0 loss to the Dodgers on Saturday night, which was a fear many Giants fans had given the importance of that series. The Giants really need to start playing like they did last week when they outscored their opponents 25 to three in the first four games of the homestand.
The Giants aren’t going to win games like tonight when they waste plenty of opportunities to score. They left 18 runners on base (nine as a team), many of which were in scoring postition with less than two outs.
The Giants will look to end their three-game losing streak tomorrow, as they hand the ball to Jake Peavy to be the stopper. San Francsico is now four games out of first place and now only own a 2.5 game lead over the Pirates in the NL Wild Card.