San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Cueto starts, looks sharp in twoinning stint
an offense that was revitalized last year, averaging 5.5 runs per game at home, a dramatic spike from 3.3 in 2019.
“This is probably the best lineup that we’ve had, top to bottom,” Longoria said. “Last year we showed we could be a good offensive group, and we’ve added to that this year. The expectations are pretty high for ourselves internally.”
Longoria has been taking reps at third base but will continue to be a DH until further notice.
“Hopefully we got it taken care of,” he said of the foot issue. “We’re easing into it. It’s not a big deal, just something we’ll have to deal with.” nings and retiring six of seven batters — he hit 94 mph on the Scottsdale Stadium radar gun and struck out Andrew Benintendi, Carlos Santana and Salvador Perez consecutively. While manager Gabe Kapler has said the staff anticipates Cueto throwing more changeups, a pitch that could be dominant against righties and lefties, Cueto said Saturday, “That’s a suggestion, but I will make that decision when I’m pitching.” Kapler offered clarification: “Our pitchers all make the decision on what pitches they throw. We do offer information on their pitches and tell them how those pitches play. But at end of day, we want our pitchers to have the ultimate conviction when they deliver a pitch. Johnny’s spot on with our pitchers making the decisions on the mound.” Reliever Caleb Baragar has hamstring soreness and is expected to miss up to seven days. Davis made his Cactus League debut after he was slowed with knee soreness, which he developed 2 1 ⁄2 weeks ago. “I just woke up one morning, and it was bugging me really bad, and I stayed off of it a little bit,” he said. Davis had a disappointing 2020, demoted to the alternate site after playing four bigleague games in the first week and never returning. His goal has been to return to his 2019 form when he hit 35 minorleague homers, and he’ll need to work on limiting the swings and misses, which was mentioned by Kapler and general manager Scott Harris. Davis has watched a lot of video and focused on better use of his plant leg, so it was a good sign when he singled sharply in the third inning and knocked in the Giants’ first run.
While Justin Bour, a slugging first baseman who bats lefthanded, has joined the organization and will report to minorleague camp on April 1, Kapler said it’s not a result of Brandon Belt’s physical issues (coming off heel surgery, feeling ill early in camp). Kapler said the Giants and Bour began talking two months ago. The Giants played nine innings for the first time, and Kapler said, “It feels good to play nine innings, but I think we could play at a better pace than we did today. We can play at a crisper pace, and that will help us.”