The San Francisco Giants dropped two of three to the San Diego Padres, so let’s find some positives and negatives from that series.
For the start of the new season, this is something I will do after each San Francisco Giants’ series. These articles will take three positive things (3 Up) and three negative things (3 Down) from the games, this time from the first series with the San Diego Padres this year.
3 UP
1 – Bumgarner and Cueto Look Like Studs
The Giants got exactly what they wanted from their pair of aces on Saturday and Sunday.Madison Bumgarnerwent the distance and despite taking a loss, was able to put a rocky start behind him and settle in to look like the ace he is. He only struck out five, but was able to limit the hard contact and keep the Padres to just the two runs he allowed in the first two innings. He ended his day by retiring the final 10 batters, and 16 of the last 18 he faced.
Johnny Cuetopicked up where Bumgarner left off on Sunday, retiring 15 of the first 18 batters he faced, working around a trio of singles to hold San Diego scoreless through five innings. The lone blemish on his day was a two-run home run byWil Myers, which he pulled just feet inside of the left field fair/foul pole in the sixth. He went seven strong innings, throwing 109 pitches to leave as little work as possible for the bullpen.
Overall, the two studs combined for 15 innings pitched, four runs allowed, 11 hits, and 12 strikeouts.
2 – The Left Field Platoon Has an Average
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It took a while, but a Giants’ left fielder finally came up with a hit.Chris Marrerowas in the lineup on Sunday with the leftyClayton Richardon the mound, and he found himself in a big spot in the second inning. A day after the Giants failed to score until there were two outs in the ninth inning, they had a big opportunity to break through the first time through the lineup. With runners on first and second, Marrero stroked a base hit to right field to bring homeBuster Posey, and the second run came home on an error that was mistakenly charged to right fielderHunter Renfroe.
For Marrero, it was his second RBI of the season (the second run that scored didn’t give Marrero an RBI), and it was his first major league hit since June 27th, 2013. The first one is the most difficult, so hopefully not having a .000 next to his name will allow Marrero to relax and put better swings on from here on out.
3 – Melancon Gets His First Save
Mark Melanconblew his first save opportunity with the Giants on Sunday, and he had a lot of time to sit and stew on it. The Giants didn’t need Melancon’s services again until a week later, since ninth-inning leads were so hard to come by. Sunday’s ninth wasn’t easy, but Melancon got the job done.
The first out of the ninth came easy enough, with a groundout marking out number one. A single and a walk followed, but Melancon did what he does. The groundball pitcher got his groundball, forcing Myers to roll into a double play to close the game.
Easy? Nothing comes easy in this game, but hopefully Melancon’s next outing doesn’t make the heart rate rise quite so high.
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