Bats continue to slumber on eve of key L.A. series
ST. LOUIS — Offensive funks hit every team, and the good ones move past them quickly and get right back in a groove.
Heading to Los Angeles for four games against the Dodgers, the Giants will have to do exactly that.
After a 21 loss Sunday, their weekend total was 11 hits and just two runs. The Dodgers lost 65 in 10 innings at Colorado on Sunday, so the Giants have a onegame lead in the NL West as the series begins Monday.
“That’s going to be a fun series for sure,” said first baseman Darin Ruf, who provided the Giants’ run Sunday with a blast into the second
deck in left in the fourth. “They always pack Dodger Stadium, their fans are super energetic, and we have a big following that likes to come see us there, too. I think every game is going to be extremely close, and all the little things in games like that matter.”
For the Giants, one concern might be whether the great number of injuries is starting to affect the offense. While catcher Buster Posey may return from the injured list Monday, infielders Evan Longoria and Tommy La Stella remain out. And while San Francisco’s depth pieces have done a phenomenal job the first threeplus months, the Giants need to get some of the bigger bats back.
San Francisco twice left the bases loaded Sunday and stranded 10 men in all. The team was 1for16 with runners in scoring position for the weekend.
Ruf is 8 for his past 21 with four homers and is batting .321 against lefties. In the Giants’ platoon system, though, he sees little action against righthanders, so in the sixth, Ruf was lifted with no outs and men at the corners when the Cardinals brought in Ryan Helsley. LaMonte Wade Jr. struck out as a pinchhitter.
Manager Gabe Kapler called the decision to take Ruf out difficult but added that Wade reliably has put the ball in play and made hard contact against righthanders. “I actually had a conversation with Ruffy right after and said, ‘I really believe in you against righthanded pitching.’ And I do, particularly when he’s swinging the bat like he has been.”
Ruf said he appreciated the comments and had no issue with the move. “It’s not like it hasn’t happened over the last couple of years,” he said. “It’s happened my whole career.”
After a shallow flyball by Wilmer Flores, Brandon Crawford was intentionally walked. Mike Tauchman then struck out to end the inning. He is 14 for his past 87 with 30 strikeouts over his past 39 games.
The Giants also left the bases loaded in the first, with Flores striking out and Crawford flying out.
“We lost today’s game in the first inning and the sixth inning collectively,” Kapler said. “We have to cash in on those opportunities.”
The bottom five spots went 0for16 with three walks and six strikeouts; two of the walks came from pinchhitters Alex Dickerson and Steven Duggar in the ninth.
In May the Giants had one of their bigger funks, scoring just three runs in four games at Washington, but still won two of them. They bounced back, winning their next five games and scoring 42 runs in the process.
In his first start after the break, Giants starter Johnny Cueto became the seventh Dominican Republicborn pitcher to pass the 2,000innings mark, and he was shimmying up a storm while allowing only two hits in five innings. One of the hits was a homer by Paul DeJong leading off the third.
With Erwin Higueros interpreting, Cueto said he felt he could have stayed in longer, but Kapler told him, “You know, it’s been hot out there and you haven’t pitched for a while. So let’s just go ahead and take it easy.”
John Brebbia gave up a groundrule double to former teammate Matt Carpenter leading off the seventh, and pinchrunner José Rondón scored on Harrison Bader’s infield single. Wade moved to his left to knock the chopper down but couldn’t corral it, and Brebbia couldn’t beat Bader to the bag as Rondón scored.