Nightmare continues for Giants
4th straight loss puts S.F. in hole
SAN FRANCISCO (TNS) – Team president Larry Baer and general manager Bobby Evans have continually expressed confidence in this year’s Giants club, indicating the franchise does not have plans to become trade deadline sellers.
But within the past week, the Giants’ worst nightmare has played out on the field and it continued Saturday in a 7-1 loss to the Brewers.
San Francisco has lost four in a row and dropped three full games in the National League West standings over the last three days as the club now sits 7½ games behind the firstplace Dodgers. With eight losses in their last 10 games, the Giants have fallen two games under .500 and must surpass six teams that now stand in front of them in the chase for a National League Wildcard berth.
Due to the franchise’s desires to stay under the luxury tax threshold of $197 million, the Giants don’t have much financial wiggle room to add any meaningful pieces at the deadline. But even if the Giants did find trade partners willing to wheel and deal, the club won’t be able
Bay Area News Group/tns photos Starter Johnny Cueto delivers a pitch during the San Francisco Giants’ 7-1 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday night at AT&T Park. It was the Giants’ fourth straight loss.
to steer their ship back north unless their middle of the order hitters supply more firepower.
A week ago, selling appeared to be out of the question for the Giants, but as the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline nears, the front office will likely have to field calls from other teams wondering if San Francisco would reverse course and open for business.
A night after supporting Madison Bumgarner with just one run in a 3-1 defeat to Milwaukee, the Giants fell behind 6-0 by the fourth inning and never recovered against Brewers righthander Jhoulys Chacin.
The 10th-year veteran allowed just three hits as Chacin matched his
season-high with seven innings of work. His dominance was more than enough to stack up against Giants starter Johnny Cueto, who set a season-low by lasting just four innings against Milwaukee.
After allowing a combined seven home runs in his first three starts following his return from the disabled list, Cueto didn’t give up a home run against the Brewers Saturday. However, Milwaukee made him pay for several early mistakes and tallied eight hits and four runs in Cueto’s four innings of work.
Though much of the contact the Brewers made was soft, Cueto allowed at least one hit in every inning he pitched and exited without throwing a fastball harder than 90 miles per hour. Brewers right fielder Christian Yelich delivered the most painful blow against Cueto, blooping a 72-mile per hour single in front of right fielder Andrew Mccutchen with two outs in the second to score a pair and extend Milwaukee’s lead to 3-0.
The Brewers didn’t exactly crush the ball against Cueto, but the Giants righthander wasn’t throwing particularly hard, either. Cueto has struggled to regain velocity since returning from the elbow sprain that sidelined him for more than two months, which is an indication he might not be completely healthy.
Cueto didn’t have much help from his offense Saturday, as the Giants didn’t record their first hit until he was already out of the game. After Chacin began the night with five nohit innings, catcher Nick Hundley launched his ninth home run of the year to left field to break up Chacin’s bid for history.
Hundley’s homer was his ninth of the season and the Giants’ eighth consecutive solo home run. The last time a Giants player hit one out of the park with a runner on base was nearly three weeks ago, when Pablo Sandoval hit a three-run shot July 8 against the Cardinals.