San Francisco Giants 3 Up, 3 Down: Winning Back at Home

3 DOWN

1 – Slow Start Suarez

Coming off the shortest start of his young career, Andrew Suarez appeared ready for an even shorter outing on Wednesday. Suarez didn’t get his first out of the night until his 29th pitch, and by that time, he had already given up four hits and four runs, including a three-run home run to former Giant Adam Duvall.

Suarez would settle in and give the Giants some much-needed length out of a starter, going six innings and allowing just one more (unearned) run. But those four first-inning runs would be all Cincinnati needed, because the Giants’ offense…

2 – Missed Opportunities

San Francisco seemed poised to erase the early deficit in the first few innings. They got two back in the first and added another in the third on the Belt blast, but had multiple opportunities to score more.

In the second inning they had two in scoring position with no outs after a Miguel Gomez single and Kelby Tomlinson double. They didn’t score in that inning, thanks in part to some poor baserunning by Gomez at third. In the sixth inning, the bases were loaded with one out. A pair of pinch-hitters, Austin Jackson and Gorkys Hernandez, failed to push a single run across the plate. In the seventh inning, a Sandoval double play erased a two-on, one-out situation.

The opportunities were there for San Francisco, but they just could not land the big blow when they had the pitchers (first Matt Harvey, later Wandy Peralta and Jared Hughes) against the ropes.

3 – Who Can Step Up in the Rotation?

Once again, the Giants’ patched-together rotation just isn’t getting it done right now. Chris Stratton continued to struggle, giving up four runs and two home runs in five innings of work to open the series. Ty Blach gave up three runs in his four innings before being yanked for a pinch hitter. Only one was earned after a Tomlinson error that should’ve ended the third inning, but Blach wasn’t able to pick up his teammate, instead allowing a two-run home run. Suarez, as mentioned earlier, also had plenty of issues.

Next: 3 Up, 3 Down: PA Nightmare Ends

Madison Bumgarner is nearing a return, but that is still, at the very least, three weeks away. For now, the Giants need someone (or preferably, a few guys) to step up and lead the way. Right now, they just aren’t getting that. Since the Philadelphia series started, the Giants have gotten one quality start in 10 games, and that was by Derek Holland on Sunday.