Patchwork lineup falls short
The Giants will have nights like these, even in a pennant race, with a key guy or two or three missing from their lineup.
It happened Saturday night, and the results weren’t pretty, a 3-1 loss to the lowly Braves. Coupled
with the Dodgers’ win over the Cubs, the Giants fell to two games out of first place.
Buster Posey was rested and will catch Madison Bumgarner in Sunday’s matinee. Hunter Pence was receiving treatment for his latest hamstring issue. And Brandon Belt was scratched with a stiff neck.
So manager Bruce Bochy drew up a unique lineup, and the shorthanded Giants collected just five hits. Their 3-4-5 hitters were Joe Panik,
Brandon Crawford and Conor Gillaspie, and their emergency starting pitcher was Albert Suarez.
“Sure, you’re going to miss those guys,” Bochy said of the heart-of-the-order hitters. “It unfortunately happens once in a while, and it happened tonight to us. It was still a pretty good lineup. They just happened to run into a wellpitched game.”
Crawford did what cleanup hitters do. He homered and doubled, but the difference in the game was Matt Kemp’s three-run homer off Suarez.
“Fastball,” Suarez said. “It was supposed to be outside, and it wasn’t.”
Jake Peavy was supposed to come out of the bullpen and start for the first time since July 30, but he was scratched with a strained lower back and placed on the disabled list. Suarez arrived from Triple-A and lasted 41⁄3 innings, which seemed to be acceptable considering Bochy’s wellrested bullpen.
Bochy used five relievers — Javier Lopez, George Kontos, Derek Law, Will Smith and Sergio Romo — who combined for 42⁄3 scoreless innings. After Matt Moore pitched 82⁄3 innings Thursday and Jeff Samardzija went seven Friday, Bochy had the luxury of mixing and matching all night.
Problem is, the offense didn’t do its part against Atlanta’s Mike Foltynewicz, who pitched nothing like his 4.55 ERA. He scattered four hits through seven innings, continuing to amp up his fastballs to the high 90s, and the Giants didn’t chase him until the eighth.
Belt pinch-hit and struck out, and Denard Span hit a two-out double. Angel Pagan drew an 11-pitch walk to push Foltynewicz’s pitch count to 103, but Mauricio Cabrera — who throws even harder — replaced him and retired Panik on a 99-mph fastball.
In the ninth, the Giants went down quietly against Jim Johnson, who has been far more proficient than he was during his troubled A’s days. The game ended with Posey on deck.
Belt guessed he could be in Sunday’s lineup, joining Posey. The first baseman said he felt his neck tighten while sleeping Thursday night, following the trip from Los Angeles. He played through it Friday, but it worsened Saturday.
“I deal with this almost every year, and this year’s happened to be right now,” Belt said. “It’s usually a couple of days.”
Regarding his condition in Saturday’s at-bat, he said, “I don’t think it’s anywhere near where I’d like to be.”
The No. 3 spot has been what Bochy has called a “black hole,” and he tried Panik, who was 15-for-45 over his past 14 games. Gillaspie batted fifth for Belt, and the Giants wound up 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position.
Giants pitchers brought a 22-inning scoreless streak into the game, and Suarez retired nine straight batters after Ender Inciarte opened the game with a walk. The streak ended after 25 innings when the first three batters reached in the fourth.
Adonis Garcia singled, Freddie Freeman doubled and Kemp, the former Dodger and Padre, cleared the center-field wall with his 23rd career homer against the Giants, his third most against any team. His career total is 231.
The three-run rally came after Suarez ran the bases in the bottom of the third. He doubled with one out and advanced to third on a wild pitch but was stranded. The next half-inning, the game was decided.