Reds tee off on Blach in Giants’ second unsightly loss in a row
Blach pounded as Giants suffer second straight blowout loss
CINCINNATI — Let’s just hope Willie Mays didn’t waste his 86th birthday watching the Giants on TV. Bruce Bochy’s team has had a devil of a time carrying over momentum from its sprinkling of encouraging wins this season. But the Giants sure can carry the stench of a bad loss into the next day.
No aerosol could cover left-hander Ty Blach, who became the first Giants pitcher in more than a decade to give up 10 runs in a start. His mates weren’t any more competitive Saturday night in a 14-2 loss to the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park.
One day after the Giants allowed 13 runs and issued 12 walks in an unsightly loss, they cracked another vanity mirror. An error from second baseman Kelby Tomlinson didn’t help as the Reds teed off for 10 runs (eight earned) in Blach’s three innings.
The Reds’ 27 runs at Great American Ball Park represents the most the Giants have allowed in consecutive games since a 2006 series at Coors Field.
“To get beat like this two days in a row, it shouldn’t happen,” said Bochy, in a terse postgame meeting with reporters.
What now? Does it do any good to dress down a team that has already been exposed? Or do you write out a lineup and hope the players correct course behind Johnny Cueto on Sunday?
“I’m not going to go into what I want to do,” Bochy said. “They’re men out there. Everybody should be upset at what’s going on.”
Combined with Matt Cain’s outing on Friday and Matt Moore’s rough one at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday, the Giants have watched three starting pitchers give up at least nine runs — something that had never happened in the span of one rotation turn in the Giants’ modern franchise history.
The Giants already began the day with the worst run differential in the major leagues. By the end, it stood at minus-59. Even at an N.L. worst 11-20, they are outperforming their Pythagorean record.
The Giants are only a fifth of the way through the season. It will take several more fifths to get through it.
“It’s going to be a collective effort,” said Buster Posey, who has endured some long innings in the squat over the past week. “That’s how we’ve won in the past. That’s what we have to do to come out of this.
“The effort is there. There’s no doubt about that. It hasn’t panned out to this point. You have to keep showing up and putting your best foot forward, and hopefully we catch a groove. We all know baseball can be contagious.”
Bochy said last week that he felt the Giants rotation was turning a corner. Their path led them down a dark alley. Their 5.03 rotation ERA is the second worst in the majors — better than only the Reds, if you can believe it.
Not that the Giants offense has fattened up in two games against those Reds pitchers here. And that’s the other part of the problem.
“These guys have been such horses for us for a long time,” said Posey, speaking about the rotation. “But you can’t say it’s the starting pitching or the bullpen. We’re not doing our job offensively as well. It’s a team effort all the way around.”
Cueto, because he cannot opt out of his contract now, will take the ball and hope to keep his blistered finger from heating up in Sunday’s series finale. A shred of hope: Cueto’s 2.98 ERA in 99 career starts here is the best by any starting pitcher in the ballpark’s 15-year history.
Cueto is almost guaranteed to represent an improvement. Not only did the Reds score in each of the first five innings Saturday, but they have scored in 13 of 16 innings in the series.
Some lemon juice on that cut: Former Giant Adam Duvall hit an upper-deck shot off Blach in the first inning, his ninth homer of the season. The Giants’ team leader, Brandon Belt, has four.
“When they don’t hit it hard, balls are going through or falling in,” Bochy said. “It’s a tough start for Ty. He’s giving you all he can. He’s been throwing the ball well.”
Blach entered with a 2.55 ERA but threw fluff at the belt against a hot lineup in a hitter’s yard. He became the first Giant since Jamey Wright in 2006 to give up 10 runs in a start.
The Giants purchased n the contract of outfielder Justin Ruggiano and designated outfielder Drew Stubbs for assignment. Ruggiano, who had five hits in his last nine at-bats for Triple-A Sacramento, became the seventh Giant in 31 games to start in left field. The 35-year-old went 0 for 3 with a walk, and let a bloop hit fall in front of him.