D-Backs Double Up Giants

AZ 6  SF 5

The Giants put a lot of guys on base last night and had lots of chances to score but hit into four double plays and could not get the big run-scoring hit to get past Arizona. They fought back from an early deficit and had the bases loaded with no outs in the 8th, down by a run, but failed to get it done. Mauricio Dubon made a Little League mistake on the bases and turned a pop out by Alex Dickerson into a double play and that took the momentum out of that potential rally. Steven Duggar was at third base and feinted toward home (the fly ball was too shallow to score on) to draw the throw, unfortunately all he did was deke his teammate! Dubon broke for third and got hung up when the ball came back to the cutoff man. Dubon made a poor decision on a throw from centerfield earlier in the game that contributed to a run by the Diamonbacks. He looks good as an outfielder and seems to have the range and athleticism for the position but he is still really raw as a player.

Tyler Anderson gave up four runs in his four innings and Sam Coonrod got lit up for two more in his 1/3 inning of relief and that was enough. The ‘pen did fine the rest of the way with Sam Selman delivering a very sharp six-out stint that gave the home squad a fighting chance. Five runs ought to be enough for a win but the lack of consistent pitching keeps the Giants struggling to reach a .500 record.

Brandon Belt was hitting .128/.227/.231 on August 15th. He got three hits the next day and has gone on a tear since and is now slashing .341/.429/.659 for a 1.088 OPS! FanGraphs rates him at 1.3 WAR and Baseball-Reference says 1.2, in either case he’s second on the team to Mike Yastrzemski (2.4f, 2.2b).

Madison Bumgarner faces his old team at 6:15 tonight. Trevor Cahill gets the call.

GO GIANTS!

–M.C.