Giants find another way to lose
A day after getting no- hit, S. F. succumbs on 2- out single in 11th
CINCINNATI — At the site of one of baseball’s great postseason comebacks, Giants manager Bruce Bochy managed a July 3 game like it was a playoff game. That still wasn’t enough to send the Giants off with a victory.
Javier Lopez, the seventh Giants pitcher to take the mound at Great American Ball Park, gave up a game- winning twoout single to Shin- Soo Choo in the bottom of the 11th as the Giants lost to the Cincinnati Reds 3- 2. The walk- off loss was the second of the road trip for the Giants, who have lost nine of their last 10 and dropped to 1- 8 on a three- city trip that mercifully ends Thursday.
The Giants are a season- high four games behind the firstplace Arizona Diamondbacks and remain in last place in the National League West. In the same clubhouse where he made an inspiring speech last October, right fielder Hunter Pence quoted a country music song while saying the Giants had no choice but to keep pushing.
“If you’re going through hell, keep going,” Pence said. “That’s what it feels like right now.”
The rest of that Rodney At--
kins lyric reads in part, “You might get out before the devil knows you’re even there.”
The Giants would settle for simply getting out of a visiting ballpark with a “W,” but on Wednesday, they found another devastating way to lose.
A night after being on the wrong end of a no- hitter, the Giants had fi ve hits but went 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position. They left 12 runners on base and could never get the one game- breaking hit on a night when Buster Posey, Pence and Pablo Sandoval combined to go 0 for 13 in the heart of the order. Pence has two hits in his last 25 at- bats and Sandoval is one for his last 30. Leadoff hitter Gregor Blanco is hitless in his last 22 at- bats and Brandon Crawford is 0 for 21 while fighting through a hand injury that can’t be rested because backup Joaquin Arias has a hamstring injury.
The Giants are 7 for 85 in the series, a .082 collective batting average that is 20 points lower than Barry Zito’s career mark.
“There’s no getting around it, they’re all struggling right now,” Bochy said. “I wish I had a reason. I wish I had the answer.”
Zito is paid to pitch, not hit, and on Wednesday he wasn’t on the mound long. With his team in dire need of a win, Bochy pulled Zito when he ran into trouble in the fifth with the Giants leading 2- 1, thanks to a Tony Abreu homer. After Zito put runners on the corners with no outs, he was replaced by lefthander Jose Mijares. Zito, winless on the road this season, said he understood the quick hook.
“We’re defi nitely playing for one win right now,” he said. “And we’re really close.”
Mijares and fi ve other relievers kept the Giants close late into the night. Mijares struck out Joey Votto and George Kontos whiffed Brandon Phillips and Jay Bruce to get the Giants out of the jam. Kontos gave up a game- tying solo homer to Chris Heisey in the sixth inning, but the bullpen settled in and kept the Giants going into the 11th. In the meantime, the lineup continued to sputter.
The Giants had lost an opportunity in the third when Phillips made a heads- up play and doubled up Posey by dropping a Pence pop- up that was ruled an infi eld fl y. Posey had not heard the umpire’s ruling and tried to go from first to second, where he was tagged out.
The Giants stranded Brandon Belt on second in the sixth and left the bases loaded in the eighth. They wasted a one- out double from Arias in the 11th.
In his second inning of work, Lopez gave up a leadoff walk to Todd Frazier and found himself in a twoout, two- on situation. Shoo entered the night with a .152 average against left- handers, but he lined a curveball into the right- fi eld corner to bring Frazier home.
“We’re doing all we can to win a game right now,” Bochy said. “We’ll worry about tomorrow, tomorrow. That’s why this is a tough one.”
Bochy said Santiago Casilla felt good after throwing two shutout innings for the San Jose Giants on Tuesday. Casilla, who is recovering from minor knee surgery, will make his next rehab appearance on Thursday night.
Marco Scutaro was out of the lineup because of back tightness, a condition that bothered him during spring training and in April. “He’s trying to be a warrior and play through it, but it’s at the point where he needs a break,” Bochy said.