San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Longoria’s return restores lineup, but six-game winning streak ends
For the first time since April 21, the Giants had all of their position players healthy and on the active roster, but the desired effect was not in evidence.
With all its weapons available, San Francisco dropped a 4-1 game to Colorado, bringing a halt to the Giants’ seasonhigh six-game winning streak. It was just the second win for the Rockies in nine games at Oracle Park this season, as Colorado repeatedly turned double plays to erase potential San Francisco rallies while the Giants failed to do the same.
San Francisco retains the majors’ best record at 75-42, and remains atop the NL West, four games in front of the Dodgers.
Third baseman Evan Longoria, out for more than two months with a sternoclavicular joint strain, did return with an immediate bang. Well, a windblown popup single, but Longoria reached in his first plate appearance in 59 games and scored San Francisco’s only run, coming in on Donovan Solano’s two-out single off Kyle Freeland in the second inning. Longoria, who was hitless in his next three at-bats, described the hit as lucky, and said, “It’s going to take me a little bit longer to feel good and get back into the swing of things . ... There’s some work to be done.”
“It may take him a little bit of time to get into his rhythm,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “There’s plenty of bat speed there. We’ve been seeing the power in his swings in the cage, so it’s not a concern.”
Saturday was a bullpen game, with left-hander Sammy Long coming up from Triple-A Sacramento to start and going two innings, allowing one run on C.J. Cron’s leadoff homer in the second.
Long was available to throw about 60 pitches, but he came out for a pinch hitter having allowed two hits, including the homer, and a walk, and striking out four while facing the lineup one time through. “I don’t think he was at his best,” Kapler said.
Zack Littell took over and worked three strong innings, allowing one walk and no hits; Kapler said Littell was the team’s highlight of the evening and called him “damn near heroic.”
Dominic Leone was not as sharp when he came in for the sixth, nor was the defense behind him notable. With no outs and the bases loaded, Leone got a potential doubleplay ball from Cron. Brandon Crawford made a terrific glove flip to Solano, but the second baseman couldn’t quite get rid of it quickly enough to turn two.
José Álvarez then took over and got Ryan McMahon to hit what appeared to be a doubleplay grounder, but Solano couldn’t get it cleanly with a backhand stab, and another run came in on the error. All the runs were earned and McMahon got an RBI because there is no assuming a double play, even if it appears to be a fairly sure thing.
“I don’t think we played our best defensive game by any stretch,” Kapler said. “But I definitely wouldn’t boil it down to our defense alone. We obviously put together a pretty good lineup against (starter Kyle) Freeland, and he was able to go through that lineup successfully three times. I think we have better at-bats as a group in us, and we didn’t bring those tonight.”
Leone hadn’t allowed a run in his previous nine outings, and his ERA for the season stands at 1.76.
Crawford nearly pulled off a double play in the eighth, fielding a grounder by McMahon on the second-base side of the bag and tagging Cron, but McMahon was safe by half a step at first as Trevor Story scored.
In the same three-inning span, the Giants grounded into three double plays.
The Giants have been waiting since May 3 to have their full projected infield back, with Longoria at third, Crawford at shortstop, Tommy La Stella at second and Brandon Belt at first.
The Giants have lost 1,103 player games to injuries this season, according to Stats LLC, seventh most in the majors.