San Francisco Giants 3 Up, 3 Down: Pennsylvania Nightmare Ends
3 DOWN
1 – More Power
As the Giants found their power stroke, their pitchers made sure the Pirates kept theirs. After allowing nine home runs in four games in Philadelphia, they gave up another six in Pittsburgh.
Four of those home runs came on Friday, two against Andrew Suarez, one off Jose Valdez, and one off Tony Watson (the first he’s allowed in 2018). Two more came on Saturday, both against Jeff Samardzija. Holland and company kept them in the park and off the board on Sunday, but the concerns remain. San Francisco pitching has allowed 40 home runs on the season, and 37.5 percent of them have come in the past two series.
2 – The Little Things
The Giants made plenty of big mistakes during their losing streak, committing errors and striking out at quite inopportune times and so many other things that could be highlighted, but they were also pretty bad at the little things. Namely, they just can not get a bunt down.
After Kelby Tomlinson’s leadoff single in the third inning, Holland failed to get a bunt down three times. He whiffed once and fouled two more away. He became the fourth Giants’ pitcher in four days that could not move a runner along. For a team that had lost six straight and struggled to score consistently during that stretch, something as simple as moving the runner to second with one out is a big play. That has to get cleaned up.
3 – More Losses
After five consecutive series win, the Giants dropped their second straight series in Pittsburgh. They fell back below .500, and even with the finale victory still find themselves a game under the even mark.
The injury bug has not left them alone, either. Alen Hanson is the latest loss on the team, pulling a hamstring on Saturday while scoring the game-tying run in the eighth. The injury doesn’t appear to be serious and Bruce Bochy mentioned after Sunday’s game that Hanson was available as a pinch-hitter.
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However, if this injury lingers for any amount of time it is bad news for the Giants. Not only has Hanson been on fire since being recalled, but having him unavailable means the Giants will be down to a three-man bench. They have rightly deemed an eight-man bullpen as a necessity because of the continuous struggles of their starting pitchers, which already leaves the bench short. Losing a position player for even two or three days would make this rough situation even worse.