Ty Blach torched for 10 runs in 3 innings.
CINCINNATI — Bruce Bochy is a cool cat, even after losses. But Saturday night’s humiliating 14-2 loss to the Reds wasn’t an aberration, and the Giants’ manager required extra willpower to keep his cool.
It marked the third time in four games that one of Bochy’s starting pitchers surrendered at least nine runs.
And the fifth time in 14 games that Bochy’s pitching staff yielded at least 10 runs. The worst team in the National League is getting no better. After the latest discombobulation, Bochy was asked whether he’d address his players or simply own it and move on.
“I’m not going to go into what I’m going to do. I’m not,” Bochy said. “You know what, they’re men out there. Everybody should be upset at what’s going on.”
The postgame session didn’t last long.
“I don’t have anything else, guys,” Bochy said. “Uncle.”
Billy Hamilton haunted the Giants again, opening the game with a triple and adding a double and single. He didn’t complete the cycle, but he did steal another base, his third in the series and 19th on the season, and made a fabulous catch against the center-field wall to rob Eduardo Nuñez.
The Reds hit three home runs, two off Blach and one off George Kontos, and former Giant Adam Duval began the power surge with a first-inning blast.
“They’re hot,” catcher Buster Posey said. “It’s kind of opposite sides of the spectrum right now.”
The golden days of solid starting pitching, a cornerstone of three World Series titles, are but a memory. The rotation’s shortcomings have put extra pressure on the bullpen and the offense, and the results have been blowouts.
Saturday, Ty Blach lasted just three innings and got roasted for 10 runs (eight earned) and 11 hits, the first Giants pitcher since Jamey Wright in 2006 to surrender 10 runs in a game.
In Friday’s 13-3 loss, Matt Cain went 31⁄3 innings and gave up nine runs on 10 hits and six walks.
In Tuesday’s 12-4 loss at Dodger Stadium, Matt Moore gave up nine runs and issued five walks in 31⁄3innings.
Where have you gone, Madison Bumgarner?
Posey, who was behind the plate the past two nights, refused to point fingers at the starters.
“They’ve been such horses for us for such a long time, but, like I always say, you can’t ever say it’s the starting pitching or the bullpen when things aren’t going well,” Posey said. “We’re not doing our job offensively as well.”
True. While the Reds banged out 18 hits Saturday, the Giants had five. The Reds totaled 27 runs and 34 hits the past two nights. The Giants: five and 12.
The Giants’ bullpen was forced to work 92 ⁄3 innings in the two games because the starters lasted just 61⁄3.
Enough with the numbers. What are the Giants going to do about it?
“It’s a group of guys who have been around,” Posey said. “It’s going to have to be a collective effort. That’s how we’ve won in the past, and that’s what we have to do to come out of this.”
It starts with the starters. Blach’s ERA ballooned from 2.55 to 5.66 Saturday. Friday, Cain’s soared from 2.30 to 4.70. Moore’s is 6.75. Jeff Samarardzija’s is 5.03 — he was the lone starter in the past four games to pitch well, beating the Dodgers on Wednesday.
The Giants’ rotation has the second-highest ERA in the majors. Curiously, only the Reds’ is higher.
Now it’s Johnny Cueto’s turn. His ERA is 4.86. The Giants will enter the finale with a run differential of minus-59, by far the worst in the majors.
“You know what?” Bochy said. “Scoring three and two runs, we gotta start doing a better job here offensively. To get beat like this two games in a row, it shouldn’t happen.”