Fireworks missing on offense
DENVER — By sheer fate, according to the league, the Giants were scheduled to play at Coors Field on Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day.
The Giants can make a highlight film of their adventure and title it, “Wins Take a Holiday.”
After losing two of three in May, the Giants were swept out of Denver on the Fourth of July with a 1-0 loss, which is hard to do here. Since the gates on Blake Street first opened in 1995, only 10 games have been settled by that score.
Getting shut out by any score at Coors is not easy. This was the seventh time in 24 seasons for the Giants and a fitting death rattle for a series in which they scored three runs in three games.
Again, that’s at Coors Field, where they had not scored fewer than seven runs in any threegame series.
“We’ve got to make some kind of adjustment when we come back here,” Buster Posey said. “The past three games, what did we score, three runs? We’re better than that.” Are they? The biggest story line over three months and change has been injuries, particularly in the rotation — but maybe it should be the offense, which is having a devil of a time staying consistent, especially on the road. The Giants paradoxically are averaging more than a run better at pitcher-friendly AT&T Park than away from it.
The Giants have scored enough to stay in contention, a couple of hot bats and clutch hits at a time. Now, nobody is hot.
Joe Panik was not a cause of the sweep, but a symbol of the Giants’ struggles over three balmy evenings. The last time Panik played at Coors, he set a club record with 12 hits in three games. This time, he was 0for-9.
The Giants mustered three singles in the finale, two in eight innings off Tyler Anderson, and had just 14 hits in the three games, three for extra bases, all on Monday.
True, Colorado starters Kyle Freeland, Antonio Senzatela and Tyler Anderson were tough, but an offense can tip its cap only so many times before everyone strains a shoulder.
“They’ve been pitching well,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “Still, you’d like to think in this ballpark you’re going to find a way to get some runs. We couldn’t.”
The Giants went 3-3 on their trip. Though that bettered every other multicity trip this season, it was still a disappointment.
Their three-game sweep of first-place Arizona should have been a launch point for something bigger and better. Instead, it was a setup for another punch line at Coors, and more evidence for the argument than this was, is and will remain a .500 team.
Rookie starting pitcher Andrew Suarez gave them seven brilliant innings in a loss caused by one pitch in the seventh that Chris Iannetta hit out. His hellacious homer cleared a tunnel just fair and landed on a concourse in front of a frozen-yogurt stand.
Suarez’s handling of Nolan Arenado demonstrated why the lefty was in no danger of losing his rotation spot with Johnny Cueto’s return Thursday night or Jeff Samardzija’s on Saturday.
Suarez struck out Arenado with a perfect 3-2 curveball in the first inning, induced a foulout with a slider in the third with runners on the corners, then struck him out on a high fastball in the sixth. Pshaw, the rookie exclaimed. “I think hitters are different every day,” he said. “Next time I throw those same pitches, he’ll probably go 2-for-3. You never know. The way Buster calls a game is amazing. I’ve just got to execute it.”
The Giants play their final 10 games before the All-Star break at AT&T Park, where they went 12-4 over their past two homestands. Their next 34 games will be circadian-friendly. All are effectively in the Pacific Time Zone. Seventeen of the next 19 are in the Bay Area, including three at Oakland after the break, with two games in Seattle.