Cueto twirls gem as Giants top Rockies
After spending the last decade in a Giants uniform, Brandon Crawford knows the 2021 season could be his last with his hometown team.
The best shortstop in franchise history is committed to savoring every moment as he plays out the final year of his contract, and in the club’s home opener on Friday, Crawford gave himself, starter Johnny Cueto and all of the 7,390 fans in attendance at Oracle Park a reason to celebrate.
After Cueto had opened the game with seven shutout innings, Crawford broke a 0-0 tie by planting a two-run double in the rightcenter-field gap that ultimately propelled the Giants to a 3-1 victory in over the Colorado Rockies.
Crawford’s double earned a roar from the first fans to gather inside the stadium since September, 2019, but it was Cueto who set the tone on Friday with a masterful performance that was reminiscent of his earliest days in a Giants uniform. The veteran starter tossed 8 2/3 innings of one-run ball, allowing four hits while racking up seven strikeouts before a Trevor Story single sent Gabe Kapler to the mound to bring in closer Jake McGee for the game’s final out.
Cueto, who prides himself on his ability to entertain a crowd, dazzled by mixing speeds and commanding the corners of the plate with each of his pitches in a way the Giants hadn’t seen since before he underwent Tommy John surgery in August, 2018.
“I feed off the crowd and I like to pitch in front of the crowd,” Cueto said through Spanish language interpreter Erwin Higueros.
The right-hander retired the first 13 hitters he faced before issuing a fifth-inning walk to first baseman C.J. Cron and allowing a single through the left side of the infield to left fielder Raimel Tapia. Colorado’s first run-scoring opportunity was immediately thwarted, however, as Cueto induced a 5-4-3 double play and punctuated the inning-ending groundout with a fist pump.
Cueto’s no-hit bid may have disappeared, but his effectiveness didn’t dwindle at all as he pitched around a leadoff single in the sixth and wrapped up his seventh inning of work with a pair of strikeouts.
The first came on an 0-2 changeup to Charlie Blackmon that appeared to dip just below the strike zone, but the movement was late enough to fool home plate umpire Ben May, who ended up ejecting Blackmon for arguing the call. The second came after Cueto shimmied, hesitated, shimmied again and finally delivered another twostrike change-up that fooled Cron for the starter’s sixth strikeout of the afternoon.
“I was just able to be on top of the hitters and be aggressive in the strike zone,” Cueto said in a rather matter of fact manner.
Cueto generated 12 whiffs on 118 pitches Friday, but when the Rockies did put the ball in play, he often helped his own cause. The 14thyear veteran fielded a bunt in the first inning, covered first base on a 4-1 putout to start the second, snagged a lineout in the third and gloved a comebacker in the eighth.
“He did a great job defensively from every angle, covering first base, being in the right spots to back up, making plays himself and even having competitive atbats,” Kapler said. “He was competing the entire game and it shows what a great all-around athlete Johnny is.”
After Crawford gave Cueto a cushion by breaking the tie in the seventh, the Giants added on in the eighth inning when Alex Dickerson blooped a RBI single into right field on the seventh pitch of an at-bat against right-hander Robert Stephenson.
The joy and energy the Giants provided the crowd in the late innings on Friday were a reminder to all that was missed last year, and all that’s transpired in the time players spent separated from their home fans.