Little left in tank for listless series opener
CINCINNATI — Either Mat Latos got fired up pitching against the team he hates, or the Giants were wiped out after Monday night’s doubleheader sweep in New York and a 3 a.m. arrival in Cincinnati. Either way, Bruce Bochy’s band of 24 had nothing in a 9-2 loss to the Reds on Tuesday night.
The 25th Giant, Aubrey Huff, was away from the team for a second day, and the precise reason for his absence remains as mysterious as his plans to return.
Bochy reiterated Tuesday that Huff went home for a serious “personal matter,” which the team is not divulging. The timing of Huff’s departure, amid a bad slump and following his embarrassing turn as a second baseman Saturday, fomented speculation among fans that Huff quit on the team and went home.
When Bochy was apprised of that speculation and was asked if the reason for Huff’s departure was legitimate, Bochy said, “Oh, yeah.”
Bochy and general manager Brian Sabean had at least two discussions Tuesday on how to proceed with Huff. One solution is placing him on the seven-day personalleave list, which would allow the Giants to summon a player from the minors until Huff returns.
“Obviously, he’s a big part of this team,”
Buster Posey said.“we hope everything’s all right, but we’ve got a job to do when we get to the park.”
The Giants did not do anything over seven innings against Latos, the former Padres right-hander who entered with an 8.22 ERA and allowed eight runs at St. Louis in his last start. As Reds general manager Walt Jocketty said as he headed out after the win, “the pitcher we traded for.”
Latos chided reporters after the game for bringing up his “I hate the Giants” history, which was funny because he handed Reds broadcasters a ball before the game that was inscribed with “I hate the Giants.”
Latos earned his first win. Matt Cain took his first loss in his first start after his scoreless duel with Philly’s Cliff Lee. Cain had thrown 18 consecutive shutout innings before Brandon Phillips doomed him with a two-run homer in the first after foul-tipping what would have been strike three to end the inning.
Cain held the Reds scoreless thereafter until Ryan Ludwick’s solo homer in the seventh. Dan Otero relieved Cain and allowed six runs over 12⁄ innings. Bochy let the rookie wear it to spare the rest of a taxed bullpen.
As part of the six-run seventh, Otero hit Joey Votto with a pitch. Votto tossed the ball back to Otero and stared at him briefly. In the ninth, after Pablo Sandoval singled to extend his season-opening hitting streak to a San Francisco-record 17 games, reliever Sam Lecure threw behind Buster Posey in apparent retaliation, which ticked off Bochy.
“The kid’s got two weeks in the big leagues,” Bochy said of Otero. “He’s trying to get through an inning. He’s trying to survive. He’s not trying to hit anybody. He was scuffling out there. I’m sure he was nervous.”
As for the retaliation, Bochy said, “That’s how people get hurt. Here’s a guy (Posey) we lost for a long time last year and he gets a ball thrown at his kneecap.”
Posey got the final word in that exchange. He hit a two-run homer against Lecure to bust the Reds’ shutout.