San Francisco Giants Morning Minute: Bad Luck Offense, Unusual Baserunning Mistake

On this edition of the San Francisco Giants Morning Minute, we discuss some more offensive bad luck, and an unusual baserunning mistake from a good baserunner.

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Good morning, San Francisco Giants’ fans, and welcome to another edition of the Giants Morning Minute. On Saturday, the Giants had their four-game winning streak snapped, falling to the Philadelphia Phillies, 3-2. Jeremy Hellickson earned the win to push his record to 5-6, while Madison Bumgarner took the loss to fall to 8-4. Jeanmar Gomez closed the door for his 20th save.

The Los Angeles Dodgers also lost on Saturday, dropping a 6-1 decision to the Pittsburgh Pirates, so there was no change in the deficit from first to second in the National League West. It remains at seven games.

Here’s what went on Saturday.

1 – Giants’ Bad Luck Rears its Ugly Head Again

The Giants’ offense wasn’t great on Saturday, mustering two runs and six hits while stranding six in the loss, but they had their opportunities to initially pad their lead, and later come back from a one-run deficit. They’ve gone through multiple stretches this season where the offense has gone stagnant, and even their hardest-hit balls land in their opponent’s gloves. That bad luck came back for the offense in game two against the Phillies.

There was a great scoring chance in the second inning for the Giants. With one unearned run already across the plate, the bases were loaded with two outs for leadoff man Denard Span. Span worked the count to 2-2, and on the seventh pitch of the at-bat, he squared up a changeup, shooting it on a line into center field. But center fielder Peter Bourjos got a good jump and made an easy catch, ending the threat and limiting the damage.

Fast forward to the eighth inning, and the Giants find themselves down a run against David Hernandez, a familiar foe from his four seasons with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Joe Panik led off the frame with a bloop single into right field, and the threat was back on. Brandon Belt followed him, and drilled a deep flyball to left field, but it wasn’t deep enough as it came to rest in the glove of Tyler Goeddel for the first out. A walk to Buster Posey would proceed, and it was up to Brandon Crawford.

On the first pitch of the at-bat, Crawford smoked a line drive to left field at 102 miles per hour, but Goeddel came in and made a great diving catch that turned into a double play (we’ll talk about that more) to end the inning, and the team’s last real scoring chance of the evening.

That’s baseball for you. Sometimes, that line drive hit right on the screws ends up in the glove while the barely-hit bloop falls. It happens sometimes.

2 – Panik’s Unusual Baserunning Blunder

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Joe Panik has become one of the Giants’ best baserunners in his short time in the big leagues. While Matt Duffy reads pitchers better than just about anyone, Panik has an incredible knack for correctly reading balls in play, and getting great jumps on the basepaths. He did as much in the third inning yesterday, going to first-to-third on a fairly well-hit single to an outfielder with a strong arm. But in the eighth inning, he made a very unusual (for him) mistake.

Standing on second base and representing the tying run, Panik watched as Crawford smoked a low, sinking liner into left field. Panik, thinking the ball was going to fall the entire way, took off, envisioning himself crossing the plate and evening the score. Instead, Goeddel went into a dive to snare the potential hit, and had an easy double play at second base when he got back to his feet.

It was a do-or-die play for Panik. If the ball falls, he potentially scores and it’s a brand new ballgame. If it’s caught, that’s inning over with the Giants still behind. It took a great play by Goeddel, but it turned into a bad blunder for Panik that cost the Giants a chance to score. It was a big risk that didn’t pay off. That happens sometimes, too.

Next: Giants Morning Minute: Reversing Gumby Shoulders

And that will do it for another edition of the Giants Morning Minute. Up next, the Giants and Phillies conclude their series with a day game. Johnny Cueto takes the hill for San Francisco, while Aaron Nola goes for the Phighting Phils.

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