Stratton doesn’t let offense go to waste
Right-hander allows one hit over seven shutout innings in rout
SANDIEGO » During their first four road games of the season, the Giants’ offense mustered just two runs, both coming on solo homers from Joe Panik.
In the first inning of Thursday night’s series- opener in San Diego, San Francisco scored three times, setting the stage for an offensive outburst in a 7- 0 win.
The Giants’ cause was aided by starter Chris Stratton, who set a career-high with seven innings of scoreless ball before reliever Derek Law took it the rest of the way on a combined one-hitter.
The milestone was an important hurdle for Stratton to clear as the right-hander had three separate outings that lasted 6 2/3 innings over the final two months of last season. The former first round draft pick benefitted from pitchingwith the lead all night, as San Francisco provided Stratton with a comfortable cushion early before blowing the game open in the sixth inning.
“It’s always disappointing when you come out early and you think you shouldn’t,” Stratton said. “When you’re not executing or stuff just doesn’t go right, but tonight, the offense really took off for us and it just helped me be comfortable.”
After scoring three runs in the opening frame, the Giants
greeted Padres reliever ColtenBrewer with a punch to the gut in hisMajor League debut, capitalizing on San Diego’s mistakes that left the rookie vulnerable in the top of the sixth.
With the bases loaded and two out, Andrew McCutchen hit a hard chopper to third baseman Christian Villanueva who promptly threw the ball past Eric Hosmer, allowing two runs to score. The next hitter, Buster Posey, extended his 10-game hit streak with a two-run double down the left field line to push the Giants ahead 7- 0.
Brewer left his first Padres’ outing beaten up, but it was his man in the corner, Villanueva, who couldn’t stop the bleeding.
Six of the seven runs the Giants scored Thursday came with two outs.
Though the Giants’ rotation has been decimated by injuries — the top three projected starters are all on the disabled list — Stratton’s career-best effort offered the club a glimmer of hope that it will soon have impressive pitching depth.
“Hewas coming in as the No. 4 starter on this club and now that makes him the No. 1 guy,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “He can do that. He can handle it.”
The Giants armed Stratton with a 3- 0 lead from the moment he took the mound thanks to the first multi-run inning the offense has produced in five road games.
Left fielderHunter Pence delivered the big blow for the Giants, smashing a 94-mile per hour fastball in on his hands into right field for a two-run single. Pence’s looping liner followed an RBI groundout from Evan Longoria, which had the potential to be a 6- 4-3 double play off the bat.
Longoria’s hustle and a slow turn up the middle from Padres shortstop Franchy Cordero helped the Giants plate their first run, and Pence’s second and third RBIs of the year allowed to Stratton take the mound with a bigger edge.
“It was nice to get early runs,” Bochy said. “I’m not going to lie, these last few games we kind of sputtered there until the fourth or fifth. We got some breaks but it was good to get an early lead.”
The Giants right-hander didn’t allow his first hit until the bottom of the third inning, when pitcher Clayton Richard drilled a pinch hit single into right field.
It was the only hit Stratton allowed all night.
“I thought (Richard) had the day off,” Stratton joked. “It’s just part of the game. A good swing by him.”
Due to erratic command, Padres starter Bryan Mitchell didn’t have the opportunity to take an at-bat, but Richard looked like a position player in the batter’s box.
Unfortunately for the Padres, he wasn’t a capable replacement on the base paths. A Cordero line drive at Brandon Crawford sent Richard in motion, and the Giants shortstop easily doubled himoff after snagging the ball in the air.
Stratton retired the final eight hitters he faced, notching four strikeouts in a 101-pitch outing that eased the pressure on the Giants’ bullpen.
Following a Thursday morning flight from Sacramento, Law pitched two innings in relief to help the Giants lock up their third shutout of the season. Law was recalled from TripleA Sacramento to replace Wednesday starter Andrew Suárez, who was optioned after making his Major League debut.
After losing all three series in San Diego last season, the Giants improved to 6- 6 on the year, 3-2 on the road and 1- 0 at Petco Park. Though they won’t have starters Jeff Samardzija and Johnny Cueto back until next week at the earliest, the Giants are hoping a lineup that’s come under fire early in the year will build upon Thursday’s spark. MELANCON UNDERGOES PROCEDURE » Before the game the Giants announced Mark Melancon received a stem cell injection in his pronator to heal a muscle that’s been a source of pain for the pitcher since his first days with the Giants last spring.
Melancon’s procedure was performed by Dr. Joshua Hackel in Pensacola, Florida after the righthander met with Dr. James Andrews to determine the best method for treating his ailing pronator.
The closer signed a fouryear, $62 million deal with the Giants after the 2016 season and missed three separate chunks of the 2017 season due to injury. Melanconmade two trips to the disabled list last year before undergoing surgery in Sep- tember to relieve compression in his pronator.
The pronator did not heal as the pitcher had hoped, and after being forced to start the 2018 campaign on the disabled list, Melancon revealed that he couldn’t throw at a distance of greater than 30 feet without feeling pain.
“Melancon had a stem cell procedure this morning and it’s about a two week recovery for him, in that area, before he’ll start throwing,” Bochy said.
Though Melancon’s pronator will remain a concern, the Giants are pleased that tests revealed there is no ligament damage in the closer’s elbow.
“I think it’s good news,” Bochy said. “We don’t have to do more than that so I think in a couple of weeks we’ll get him going. I can’t tell you how long before he’ll be on the mound pitching for us but at least we have a better idea now than we did yesterday.”