Baseball: Both the Giants and A’s lose.
SAN DIEGO — The Giants proved something Tuesday night: They could overcome one bad inning by Tim Lincecum.
Problem is, they couldn’t overcome Carlos Quentin and Logan Forsythe. Logan Forsythe? Forsythe stepped to the plate in the ninth inning and swatted Steve Edlefsen’s second pitch over the left-field wall, connecting for his first career home run and ending a down-and-up-and-down evening for the Giants, who fell 6-5 to the Padres.
Quentin homered twice and doubled, all in a night’s work for someone who has homered five times and doubled four times in 23 at-bats since coming off the disabled list. For Forsythe, who came off the 60-day DL on Sunday, it was a career moment, his first homer in his sixth at-bat of the season and 156th of his career.
“It was down and in. It was supposed to be away,” Edlefsen said of the fateful pitch. “I
don’t expect many of those. I usually get groundballs.”
Lincecum did his usual thing, pitching well except for a second-inning meltdown, and the Giants had his back this time, rallying from a 4-0 deficit to go ahead 5-4. Ryan Theriot was front and center offensively, collecting three hits, two walks and three RBIs.
Theriot twice drove home Gregor Blanco, and two other runs came courtesy of sacrifice flies, one of which was set up by Angel Pagan’s sharp single to center — he has hit safely in 44 of 46 games. The Giants went ahead 5-4 in the seventh on Theriot’s third hit, and Lincecum would have gotten the win (his first since April 28) if the Giants had held on.
“It was the best I’ve seen him throw this year,” Theriot said. “I’m not worried about him at all.”
Other than the second inning, Lincecum was splendid. That’s his problem. One bad inning per game. Quentin opened with a home run. Chase Headley doubled, Forsythe walked, Everth Cabrera hit an RBI single, and Cameron Maybin hit a two-run, bat-shattering double.
“It’s not a huge adjustment I’ve got to make,” Lincecum said. “Tonight, I can’t control Headley’s going to hit a good fastball away or the brokenbat hit that scores two. I’ve got to maybe execute the pitch a little better, but hindsight is tough to deal with. Nine times out of 10, if I throw the same pitch (to Maybin), it might be a double play.”
The Padres had one base runner off Lincecum in his other five innings, Quentin’s double in the sixth. In the seventh, after throwing 102 pitches, striking out eight and walking one, Lincecum exited for a pinch-hitter, Aubrey Huff, who struck out.
With closer Santiago Casilla available only in an emergency and Sergio Romo lined up for the ninth inning, Jeremy Affeldt got the eighthinning assignment and surrendered Quentin’s second homer, tying the game at 5-5 and erasing Lincecum’s bid for his third win.
Edlefsen, not Romo, pitched the ninth and lasted all of two pitches before Forsythe paraded around the bases and was mobbed by his teammates at home plate.