Giants crushed, drop first series in more than month
PHILADELPHIA » Instead of opting to rip up the foundation and spend the rest of the year rebuilding, the Giants’ front office kept the team’s core intact at Wednesday’s trade deadline.
Three veteran relievers were shipped out and replaced with younger arms, but the Giants held onto ace Madison Bumgarner, closer Will Smith and several more of their most valuable assets.
The result of the Giants’ deadline deals is a team that still believes it has enough talent to compete for a playoff berth and an organization that’s in better shape to contend in future seasons than it was a day ago.
Time will tell on the future, but the present didn’t look so rosy when the Giants slogged through a 10-2 defeat to the Phillies on Thursday.
“This ballpark, you keep it close and you feel like we can come back anytime,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “We just let it get away.”
The blowout clinched the Giants’ first series loss since they fell twice in three days against the Rockies from June 24-26 and snapped a streak of seven consecutive series victories.
The Giants are confident they have enough veteran pitchers to stay in the wildcard hunt, but they’ll need much more from a slumping offense and some of their younger arms who have encountered struggles of late.
Earlier this week, the Giants decided to push rookie Shaun Anderson’s scheduled Thursday start back a day for rest purposes. The move cleared the way for the team to promote Dereck Rodríguez to face the Phillies, but Rodríguez lasted just three ineffective innings and allowed seven runs.
Three of the runs Rodríguez gave up were unearned as he fell on hard luck following a missed strike- three call and a Brandon Crawford error on a one-hopper hit by Phillies pitcher Jake Arrieta that extended the second inning. The other four runs fell on Rodríguez’s shoulders, including one that came on a solo homer in the fourth inning by second baseman Cesar Hernández, signaling the end of his day.
After a dominant rookie season in 2018, Rodríguez has battled inconsistencies this year as he’s pitched out of the rotation, the bullpen and in recent weeks at Triple-A Sacramento. Shuttling back and forth from the minors to the majors is the reality for pitchers with minor league options, but Rodríguez admitted the constant cycle of promotions followed by demotions is difficult for players.
“It still bothers you, though.” Rodríguez said. “It kind of sucks, regardless of what you do out there, they still have a plan and they have their mind made up or whatnot, but it’s just part of the game. That’s how it is and you’ve just got to accept it.”
Among a group that includes Rodríguez, Anderson, Tyler Beede and rookie Conner Menez, the Giants are attempting to piece together the back end of a rotation that’s faced with the challenging task of giving a low-scoring offense a chance to win on a daily basis.
“This is the closest we’ve been (in the playoff race) since I’ve been up last year,” Rodríguez said. “It would be nice to stay up here, get a good rhythm going, get a good routine going and get back into the way things should be.”
To move on from a series loss and return to their winning ways, the Giants will also need a bullpen — suddenly short on depth — to continue pitching at an elite level. That didn’t happen Thursday as Andrew Suárez gave up a three-run home run to Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto in the fourth inning while rookie Sam Selman allowed a solo shot to Roman Quinn in Selman’s major league debut.
After the Giants placed slugger Alex Dickerson on the 10- day injured list with a mild right oblique strain Thursday, they purchased the contract of Selman from Triple-A Sacramento with the hope that one of the Pacific Coast League’s most dominant pitchers can replace Drew Pomeranz, who was dealt to the Brewers on Wednesday.
Selman spent six seasons in the Royals system but nearly gave up baseball this offseason.
“I was at Barnes & Noble looking up GMAT textbooks and talking to buddies about commercial real estate in LA,” Selman said. “I was looking at other options and luckily the Giants offered me a job.”
Following Selman’s first career inning, right-hander Jandel Gustave made his first appearance for the Giants and tossed scoreless frames in the seventh and eighth.
It’s unclear how the roster will change heading into the Giants’ weekend series in Denver, but outside of likely needing to add a pitcher or two, the club is anticipating the arrival of infielder Scooter Gennett.
Gennett’s presence will lead to a tricky roster crunch that could squeeze out second baseman Joe Panik. But before the Giants figure out how to address their offensive woes, they’ll need to determine which arms are ready for Coors Field.
• Crawford was removed from Thursday’s game in the fourth inning as part of a double switch after jamming his right shoulder on the ground on a diving attempt at a groundball. He said his shoulder felt fine after the gam, but he’ll need to test it out by swinging and throwing before today’s game.
• Center fielder Kevin Pillar stayed in the whole game but received a visit from trainer Dave Groeschner after crashing into the center-field fence trying to rob Realmuto of his home run. Bochy said Pillar had a charley horse and he would need to check on his availability prior to the series opener against the Rockies.