Resilient Cueto has blistering good stuff
Veteran shakes off blisters to fan six of first nine batters; Giants break out early
SAN FRANCISCO — Johnny Cueto is still pitching with a pair of blisters on his right hand, but he’s growing accustomed to dealing with the nagging discomfort. After four subpar outings, the veteran right-hander threw like an ace against the Atlanta Braves Sunday afternoon.
Cueto (5-3) followed strong performances from Matt Cain and Ty Blach, surrendering just one earned run on six hits over six innings in a 7-1 win at AT&T Park.
“I thought Johnny was as sharp as he’s been this year,” catcher Buster Posey said. “Hopefully, it’s something he
can build on.”
The 31-year-old righthander had struggled in his previous four outings, going 0-3 with a 4.33 ERA, pitching with a blister on the middle finger of his throwing hand. A second blister appeared on his right index finger before his start in Chicago Tuesday night.
But the blisters didn’t stop him from fanning six of the first nine batters he faced this time, including a stretch of five consecutive strikeouts. Although Cueto’s pitch count (106) forced him out of the game after the sixth inning, he still managed to rack up eight strikeouts.
“They’re not bothering me like they were before,” Cueto said of the blisters through an interpreter. “I’m just getting used to it, but I have to continue pitching until they get better.”
For the second day in a row, the Giants gave their starter an early lead, scoring seven runs over the first three innings. The early support was more than enough for Cueto, who carried a 43-0 record into the game when receiving six or more runs of support.
It helped that the Giants (22-30) weren’t baffled by knuckleballer R.A. Dickey this time. The last time the Giants faced Dickey, in June 2013, he tossed 81⁄3 innings of shutout baseball. This time Dickey (3-4) lasted just six innings, and the Giants amassed seven runs on six hits before they recorded nine outs.
The Giants also benefitted from Dickey’s inability to control his signature pitch over the first three innings as he walked five batters and threw a wild pitch. Eduardo Nunez scored the first run on a passed ball with the bases loaded after catcher Kurt Suzuki got handcuffed by one of Dickey’s dancingand-diving knucklers.
Posey felt empathy for Suzuki as he watched the veteran catcher fumble around with Dickey’s knuckleball throughout the afternoon.
“It’s not fun to hit, it doesn’t look fun to catch either,” he said.
After Nunez scored the opening run, Brandon Belt doubled the margin on the very next pitch, racing home on a Brandon Crawford grounder to first.
The Giants scored four more in the second. Joe Panik led off with a triple to triple’s alley, and Gorkys Hernandez brought him in with a single through the hole between first and second. After Cueto advanced Hernandez to second and Denard Span walked, Nunez brought in a run with a line drive hit off third baseman Rio Ruiz’s glove.
Span and Nunez would score on Crawford’s two-out single to left, his first career hit off Dickey in 11 at-bats.
“I’ve never had a whole lot of success off him,” Crawford said. “But I’ve been told to try to see the knuckleball up in the zone and it’ll eventually try to drop back into zone. When it’s down, it’ll stay down. You want to take those and try to see the ball up.”
Manager Bruce Bochy said the Giants patience at the plate allowed them to take advantage of the knuckleball’s wild movement over the first three innings. Dickey settled down after that and retired the last nine batters he faced.
“It was pretty windy out there, and Dickey, at times, had trouble getting the ball over in the strike zone,” Bochy said. “The knuckleball was moving quite a bit and we did benefit from some walks. We got, what, six hits? If you only have six hits, it’s good to do them in a bunch like we did in the first three innings. That’s how we put the big numbers up.”
Madison Bumgarner n is on schedule to take the first big step in his recovery later this week. Bochy said the Giants ace will likely throw on Friday for the first time since he sprained his left shoulder in a dirt bike accident in Colorado last month. Bumgarner won’t throw a full bullpen session from the mound; he’ll be tossing the ball on flat ground. The team doesn’t have a timetable for his return to the rotation, but it will probably be after the All-Star break.
Conor Gillaspie’s MRI n Saturday revealed inflammation in his lower back, delaying his activation from the 10-day disabled list. The Giants were planning to activate the infielder during their current six-game homestand, but his recovery from back spasms hit a setback when he experienced tightness while swinging a bat.
Jarrett Parker’s first n on-field batting practice since he broke his right clavicle on April 15 made an impression on Bochy. “I asked him how it felt, he says it’s a little sore, but he hit some balls out. He was letting it go, he wasn’t hesitant,” Bochy said. “He’s actually further along than I thought.”
The Giants expect Parker to begin his rehab assignment next week.