Facing the arms issue

Phillies 13, Giants 6: Wood can’t get a good grip, lasts 3 innings

With foreignsubstance checks beginning Monday, there will be a lot of eyes on starters whose spin rates have climbed in recent years, and finding a good grip will be more difficult for pitchers who might be accustomed to stickier stuff.

Saturday at Oracle Park, Giants starter Alex Wood appeared as if he wasn’t happy with the feel of the baseballs he was getting, throwing several back in the first inning, and he wound up surrendering six runs, four earned, in his three innings of work in the Giants’ eventual 136 loss to the Phillies. The Giants’ fivegame winning streak came to an end as the team allowed a seasonhigh in runs, six of them driven in by Rhys Hoskins.

Having reduced ability to get a good

grip, Wood said, “I would compare it to playing golf and then somebody telling you you can’t use a a grip on your golf club anymore, so there’s obviously going to be adjustments that need to be made.”

The only thing pitchers legally are allowed to use to help their grip is rosin, which is less effective than most of the substances pitchers have concocted in recent years, and Wood never appeared entirely comfortable Saturday.

“I’m not going to be the person to sit here and complain,” he said, noting that a majority of pitchers have used something extra to enhance their grip. “This is our reality, and it’s something you have to deal with. Was it impactful in my outing today? No, probably not. I’m not somebody that has ever used anything, really, for grip or to enhance my vertical movement or pitch profiles. It’s not hard to look and see my profiles have stayed pretty much the same for the most part.”

It’s tricky for anyone to point fingers or speculate on who’s doing what when it comes to foreign substances: Ten of the 13 pitchers in Saturday’s game, from both teams, saw spin rates lower to significantly lower than their yearly average on at least half their pitch arsenals, and there are estimates 80% of pitchers have used something beyond rosin.

Wood didn’t allow more than two runs in any of his first seven starts with the Giants, giving up nine in 42 innings in that span, but he’s allowed 21 earned runs in 24 innings in five starts since.

In the early going, it appeared as if it might be a gamelong backandforth affair, with the teams trading leads four times until Brandon Belt’s splash blast in the third tied it 66.

Wood threw 35 pitches in the first inning, discarding several baseballs in the process, but the only run the Phillies scored came when he hit Alec Bohm with a twoout, twostrike pitch.

The Giants got a tworun shot from Mike Yastrzemski in the bottom of the inning. Then, after a twoout error by Donovan Solano, Hoskins sent a tworun drive into the back of the bleachers in left for the Phillies in the second.

After LaMonte Wade Jr. doubled in two runs in the second and scored on a hit by Yastrzemski, Philadelphia responded with three more off

Wood, with Bohm singling in a run and Ronald Torreyes doubling in two. Wood lobbied to stay in after the inning, but manager Gabe Kapler didn’t go for it.

“He definitely wanted to go back out and save our bullpen an inning of work,” said Kapler, who characterized Wood’s slider lately as a work in progress. “But I shared this with Woody: I didn’t think he was the best option to get the next three hitters out . ... At that point, he just wasn’t as effective as he can be.”

The Giants were quiet from Belt’s homer on, while Torreyes opened the sixth with a homer off Jarlin Garcia, and Matt Vierling followed with a pinchhit single. With out out, Zack Littell took over, Vierling stole second and Hoskins whistled a double to the deepest part of the park. Hoskins, who is from

Sacramento, added a threerun homer in the seventh off Conner Menez.

The Giants celebrated Juneteenth by wearing San Francisco Sea Lions uniforms; the Sea Lions were a Negro Leagues team in 1946. The uniforms feature a bear logo, however, because the Sea Lions used jerseys purchased from the San Francisco Cubs, a defunct barnstorming team.

“I think it’s a cool opportunity for us to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Sea Lions,” Kapler said. “Obviously, those are some some of the coolest uniforms that I've seen.”

“I like the history of it,” shortstop Mauricio Dubón said. “It’s pretty neat.”

Jeff Chiu / Associated Press The Giants’ Alex Wood allowed six hits and six runs, four of them earned, in three innings during a 136 loss to the Phillies.

Jeff Chiu / Associated Press The Phillies’ Ronald Torreyes hits a tworun double against the Giants during the third inning. Torreyes also homered.