Verlander helps Astos sweep Giants
HOUSTON (TNS) – A day after suffering at the hands of the second-best pitcher in the American League, the Giants squared off against the only player posting better numbers than Houston’s Gerrit Cole.
Their matchup with Justin Verlander didn’t end well either.
After winning two in a row to end a seven-game homestand, the Giants lost to the defending champions for the second straight day as Jeff Samardzija couldn’t match Verlander’s excellence in a 4-1 defeat.
“It’s such a good staff over here, you’ve got your hands full,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “We just couldn’t do much offensively.”
Both Cole and Verlander tamed the Giants’ offense and San Francisco’s starting staff failed to stack up in a two-game sweep against the Astros.
The Astros didn’t reward the Verlander with his first lead of the game until the bottom of the fifth, when Samardzija walked No. 9 hitter Tony Kemp for the second time.
Houston Chronicle Houston Astros right fielder George Springer, right, celebrates with Jose Altuve after hitting a home run off of San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Jeff Samardzija during the fifth inning of Wednesday’s game in Houston. The Astros won, 4-1.
The base on balls brought George Springer to the plate and he unloaded on what ranks as one of the worst two-strike mistakes of Samardzija’s season. With catcher Nick Hundley set up off the outside corner, Samardzija grooved a slider right over the heart of the plate and Springer pounced on it.
A 411-foot blast ricocheted off the wall above the Crawford Boxes in left field,
and three batters later, Samardzija’s day was over. A RBI single from Carlos Correa capped off Samardzija’s third start of the year in which he failed to log five innings, but it was erratic command throughout his outing that provided more cause for concern.
Samardzija walked a season-high five batters and a year after he posted a career-best 6.41 strikeout-to-walk ratio, the righthander has issued 23 free passes while racking up just 25 strikeouts.
For the second time this month, the Giants have now cycled through a full turn of the rotation without having a pitcher log a quality start.
The Giants did put Verlander in an early hole after leadoff hitter Gorkys Hernandez slugged a triple over Kemp’s head to start the fourth. A Buster Posey sacrifice fly plated the Giants center fielder, who has emerged as the most consistent outfielder on the team in recent weeks.
Since June 1, 2017, Hernandez is hitting .290 and he offers the Giants the most range in center field of any player on the roster.
“He’s playing well, isn’t he?” Bochy said. “He’s swinging the bat well and he made a nice play out there defensively. A solid game for him against tough pitching.”
He fared better at the plate and in the field than Andrew Mccutchen did Wednesday, as Mccutchen struck out in his first three at-bats and dropped a flyball that led to the Astros’ first run.