Giants remain 0-for-september
MILWAUKEE (TNS) – If the season played out as the Giants front office expected, Andrew Mccutchen and Evan Longoria would be the leaders of a revitalized offense, Austin Jackson would have crushed left-handed pitchers again and Derek Holland would be finishing up a nice year as a long reliever.
Expectations called for the Giants to contend in September, but instead the club is 0-6 in the final month of the season and a seasonworst six games under .500 after dropping a 4-2 series opener to the Brewers.
With their sixth straight defeat, the Giants tied their longest losing streak of the season and found a way to drop a game after giving up just three hits.
In the top of the ninth, manager Bruce Bochy was ejected for arguing balls and strikes with home plate umpire Adam Hamari, who drew the ire of Giants catcher Nick Hundley for a called strike three Hundley felt was off the plate.
Earlier in the game, Hundley took a fastball that was clearly off the inside corner for a called strike in a 3-0 count and later popped out.
While the highest-profile offseason additions couldn’t save the Giants in 2018, Holland has helped save the rotation. The unheralded left-hander couldn’t score a big contract after he was released from the White Sox last September with a 6.20 ERA, but he’ll head into free agency this year following one of the best extended stretches of his career.
Holland dropped his season ERA to 3.54 with six innings of two-run ball against playoff contenders, but another poor output from the Giants’ offense and seventh inning mistakes from the bullpen cost the club a chance to win.
Right-hander Hunter Strickland entered in relief of Holland and promptly walked the first two hitters he faced. With one out, manager Bruce Bochy turned to left-hander Tony Watson to face MVP candidate Christian Yelich, who struck out looking.
But the Brewers aren’t just talented, they’re deep too. No. 3 hitter Jesús Aguilar drilled a two-out, tworun double into the right center field gap off Watson, who has allowed 18 hits and nine earned runs in his last 16 innings.
The Giants overcame an early 2-0 deficit with help from Alen Hanson, who went 124 at-bats without homering until he launched a pinch hit, game-tying tworun shot into the right field bleachers at Coors Field Monday. It didn’t take him long to hit his next, though, as Hanson tied Friday’s San Francisco Giants’ Alen Hanson beats a tag at second base by Milwaukee Brewers’ Hernan Perez during the third inning of a game at Miller Park on Friday in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
game in Milwaukee with a solo shot off Brewers starter Chase Anderson in the top of the fifth.
While Hanson earned the start at shortstop Friday, he’s showed enough offensively that the Giants may consider him for a bigger role, particularly at second base, next season.
The Giants scored their
first run an inning before as rookie Chris Shaw drove in Evan Longoria with an RBI groundout, but they failed to capitalize on chances in the second and third with runners in scoring position.
Hanson’s homer against the Brewers ensured Anderson left with a no-decision, as Holland outlasted him by pitching one more inning.
The veteran left-hander allowed a two-out, two-run homer to Milwaukee left fielder Ryan Braun in the first, but didn’t allow another hit the rest of the night. Despite walking five Brewers, including three in the bottom of the sixth, Holland prevented the home team from scoring over his final five innings of work.