San Francisco Giants 3 Up, 3 Down: Get the Brooms Out

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Jun 13, 2017; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants relief pitcher Ty Blach (50) prepares for the pitch against the Kansas City Royals in the first inning at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports /

3 DOWN

1 – Uncharacteristic Errors

Overall, the Giants played a crisp defensive series against the Rockies, but pitcher Ty Blach couldn’t say the same. The former Minor League Gold Glover committed a pair of errors on Wednesday, both of which led to runs. In the first inning, he hit Charlie Blackmon on a throw to first base, and Blackmon would score later in the inning when Nolan Arenado flared a single into the outfield. In the sixth inning, Blach made a bad mistake by chucking an ill-advised throw way up the line, allowing Pat Valaika to take third. Mike Tauchman threw lined a single through a drawn-in infield to tie the game.

Blach didn’t have his best stuff on Wednsday, fighting with his command through his entire 6.1-inning performance. The errors hurt, leading to two unearned runs, but Blach did a nice job of powering through with grit and determination while matching his career-high with six strikeouts. And luckily, his offense backed him up when Hwang hit the game-winning shot, giving Blach a hard-earned victory.

2 – Injuries

The injuries keep coming for the Giants, claiming a couple new (or old) victims during the Rockies’ series. Mark Melancon threw a perfect inning on Tuesday as part of the 14-inning marathon, but his pronator strain flared up again and forced him back on the DL on Wednesday. That leaves Dyson as the interim closer until Melancon returns, which he hopes to happen after the All-Star break in a couple weeks. He also acknowledged that he probably rushed back a little too quickly the first time.

Austin Slater isn’t going on the disabled list yet, but he wasn’t in the starting lineup on Monday or Tuesday because of a sore hip flexor. He was back out there in right field on Wednesday, but it’s clear he wasn’t moving at 100 percent. Manager Bruce Bochy discussed the possibility of having Eduardo Nunez play left field when he comes off the disabled list in Pittsburgh and keeping Hwang at third to give Slater a few days off to get back to feeling good.

3 – An Off-Day

This is grasping at straws, because negatives weren’t that easy to come by in this series and the Giants could certainly use a day off after playing 16 games in 16 games and having a rough travel schedule last week. Plus, they just went through a day game after playing a 14-inning affair the night before, so those guys will probably appreciate a little extra time to catch up on beauty sleep.

Next: Giants Enjoy Rare Good Day

But the Giants finally have some positive momentum rolling, and a day off might hurt that. Who knows. Let’s just enjoy the first sweep of the season!

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