Samardzija’s rough outing just the start in 15-2 loss to Nats
SAN FRANCISCO >> With Buster Posey, Evan Longoria and the Giants’ newest revelation, Mac Williamson, out of the lineup for Wednesday’s game against the Nationals, San Francisco started the day facing an uphill battle.
By the time Washington aided back-to-back Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer with a 6-1 lead in the fourth inning, the Giants might as well have been climbing Mount Everest.
As three of the Giants’ best right-handed hitters watched from the bench, the Nationals roughed up Giants starter Jeff Samardzija, who lasted just 3 2/3 innings in an ugly 15-2 loss.
“It’s one of those games that started off rough and gradually got worse,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “In six innings we gave up crooked numbers.”
The 15 runs the Giants allowed Wednesday are the most the franchise has given up in a nine-inning game since Colorado defeated San Francisco 17-7 on May 5, 2016, at AT&T Park. The 13-run margin of defeat was the worst for the Giants since they lost 17-0 to the Dodgers on September 13, 2014.
“It’s just a tough game to get down like that,” Bochy said. “You’re looking for someone to put up a zero and we had a hard time doing that.”
After securing their second straight series win with narrow victories on Monday and Tuesday, the Giants fell behind 3-0 in the first inning Wednesday and never recovered.
Though Washington first baseman Matt Adams entered the day with a .189 batting average, his 7-for14 career mark against Samardzija improved as he smoked an RBI single with two outs in the first inning before crushing a three-run homer in the fourth that ended the afternoon for the Giants starter.
Adams’ first four RBIs — he finished with six — weren’t the only blemishes on Samardzija’s ledger, as left fielder Andrew Stevenson lofted a two-run double over the head of left fielder Gregor Blanco in the top of the first.
Blanco started in left after Williamson was scratched with neck stiffness a day after he tumbled into the wall near the Giants’ bullpen while chasing after a foul ball. Williamson stayed in the game on Tuesday night and slugged a solo home run to lift San Francisco to a 4-3 win, but was pulled from Wednesday’s lineup 45 minutes before game time.
Stevenson’s double appeared playable for Blanco, but Samardzija has been a victim of bad outfield defense over the last two seasons and his fortune wasn’t ready to change against Washington.
After tossing five shutout innings against the Angels in his first game back from the disabled list, Samardzija received a mound visit from Bochy and a Giants trainer during the first inning of Wednesday’s contest. The visit occurred after a two-out walk to Michael Taylor, but Samardzija remained in the game and surrendered the two-run double to Stevenson before striking out Adrian Sanchez to end a 30-pitch first inning.
“You’ve got to put good lineups like that away when you get the chance,” Samardzija said. “You can see when they start getting runners on and they start feeling more confident, and that’s any lineup.”
Trailing 3-0 in the bottom of the second, the Giants tagged Scherzer for a run as shortstop Brandon Crawford and catcher Nick Hundley ripped back-to-back one-out doubles. Center fielder Austin Jackson followed with a line drive to deep left-center field,
but Taylor tracked it down before Scherzer struck out Samardzija to end the threat.
The crushing blow for Samardzija came in the fourth after he fell behind in the count against outfielder Bryce Harper with two outs and a runner on first. After the Giants elected to intentionally walk Harper, Adams stepped to the plate with a chance to break open the game for the Nationals.
Adams ripped a 2-1 fastball into the right-field arcade for his third home run of the season and his third career round-tripper off of Samardzija. The Nationals spent the rest of the afternoon adding to their lead against four Giants relievers, but after Adams knocked his three-run shot out, the mountain in front of the Giants was too steep to scale.
“I thought today early the at-bats were good,” Bochy said. “We’ve got to get more consistent and put runs up there.”
Fourteen of the 15 runs the Nationals scored on Wednesday came with two outs.
A Pablo Sandoval RBI double that plated Brandon Belt in the bottom of the sixth was the only offense the Giants produced the rest of the day against Scherzer, who tossed six innings of two-run ball while striking out 10 to pick up his fifth win.