Kershaw snaps S.F. win streak
The biggest enemy of a win streak is a Lurch-sized Texan who takes the mound with great enough stuff to make a hitter wish he chose professional tennis.
As the Giants showered and dressed after Wednesday’s 6-1 loss to the Dodgers ended San Francisco’s win streak at five games, they could not be too distressed, because it died at the hands of Clayton Kershaw.
When Kershaw retired the first 10 hitters with what seemed like zero exertion, a boisterous crowd at AT&T Park had to know the Giants were not going to complete a three-game sweep of Los Angeles. He held them to three singles in seven innings.
Eduardo Nuñez’s homer off Sergio Romo in the ninth prevented a three-pitcher shutout.
At least the Giants did not lose their bid for a 6-1 homestand to the only pitcher who owns them more than Kershaw, a guy by the name of Soft-Throwing Lefty the Giants Have Not Seen Before.
“Great homestand,” Buster Posey said, quite satisfied with going 5-2. “We’ve got to be happy with it. We won the series. Obviously, we’d have liked to
win this one, too, but we have to be happy going into the off day with the way things went at home.”
In taking three of four from the Reds and two of three from the Dodgers, the Giants prevented a tumble into complete irrelevance. Their 17-25 record still looks homely, but at least they can start believing that October baseball is not out of reach if they continue along the same trend line.
The Giants’ next challenge is taking their new and improved product on the road, where they are 6-15 with a 5.82 ERA.
Matt Moore gets the first crack at lowering it in the opener of a three-game series at St. Louis on Friday night. Manager Bruce Bochy put the onus on the pitching staff.
“We just want them to do close to what they’ve done here at home,” Bochy said. “We’re not asking them to throw shutouts. Just give us a quality start and a chance to win. Stay away from the big inning, the three-, four-, five-, six-run innings. That’s what’s killed us.”
On Wednesday, the Giants were all but done after Yasmani Grandal golfed a two-run double to right in the first off a lessthan-crisp Johnny Cueto, which gave Kershaw the support he required and set off a chain of events that led to a brief clearing of benches in the third inning.
The 0-2 pitch that Grandal hit was so close to the dirt, Posey went into his wild-pitch blocking mode before Grandal made contact, as if Grandal knew what pitch was coming.
Indeed, Cueto thought the Dodgers were relaying signs from second base and jawed with Grandal after the double. When Grandal batted in the third, Cueto’s first pitch was so high and tight that Posey could not catch it. It went to the backstop and Chase Utley scored the third Dodgers run.
Bochy suggested the benches cleared after someone in the Dodgers’ dugout started chirping. Cueto and Grandal continued their discussion when Cueto batted in the bottom of the inning and made nice.
“I explained to him the pitch slipped out of my hand and I was not intentionally throwing at his head,” Cueto said through interpreter Erwin Higueros. “I told him if I was going to hit him, I would hit him below.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts did not exactly deny Cueto’s charge, saying, “He obviously didn’t appreciate if we were doing something like that. If we were, that’s a part of the game.”
Nothing more came of it. Cueto ended a five-run outing after six innings and lost a rematch with Kershaw, whom he beat at Dodger Stadium on May 1.
Kershaw improved 12-4 with a 1.31 ERA in 20 starts at AT&T Park.