AT&T PARK — Jake Peavy‘s debut should have been the story line during Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Instead, Peavy’s first start as a Giant was marred by deeper issues as the Dodgers completed the sweep with a 4-3 win over the Giants.
Critical errors shined a nationally-televised spotlight on the Giants lack of second base depth and how little their margin of error is in any given game.
Manager Bruce Bochy lamented over his starting pitcher and the loss after the game:
“We made [Peavy] work hard today. It’s a tough game for us. We made some mistakes and gave them too many outs. It came back to haunt us.”
The fifth looked like a little-league game for the Giants. Dee Gordon got on first after a passed-ball strikeout and Yasiel Puig walked in the next at-bat. A wild pitch moved them both over.
Buster Posey couldn’t quite handle another Peavy strikeout against Adrian Gonzalez and Gordon caught the defense sleeping, scoring from third while Posey threw to first to tie the game 2-2.
Posey questioned his play in the bizarre inning afterward:
“It was a weird inning. No excuses, I gotta do a better job. The one that I think that bugs me more than anything is the one to Gordon just to let him on there. He’s too much of a threat on the path to let him get on like that.”
Posey explained why he felt worse about that than the Gonzalez strikeout where Gordon scored:
“I feel like I glanced [at Gordon] right as the ball bounced away. Hindsight’s always 20/20 on that. If I pump fake it, I don’t know.”
Hanley Ramirez and Carl Crawford extended the inning with RBI hits to give the Dodgers a 4-2 lead.
Peavy (L, 1-10, 4.71 ERA) took the loss after six innings and three earned runs with five strikeouts.
He spent much of the night yelping words not suitable for children either to himself or home plate umpire Alfonso Marquez. It’s not out of the ordinary for any Giants fan who watched him pitch in the NL West for the San Diego Padres.
At one point with Gordon on first, Peavy dove on top of an errant throw from Posey back to the mound like he was taking a grenade after jawing with Marquez.
He gave his rendition of what transpired after the game:
“I felt the pitch was a good pitch and emotion — I wasn’t ready for the ball to be thrown back… Obviously we had a fast runner on first and I was trying to get the ball and not let him take second.”
Peavy said Saturday that he had to do a lot of cramming before Sunday’s matchup to prepare himself.
He felt he was prepared:
“I think the biggest thing too is when you have a guy like Buster behind the plate and a team that’s played the Dodgers as much as this team has. The coaching staff, they were a huge help in giving me a solid game plan that we felt comfortable with.”
His counterpart, Hyun-jin Ryu (W, 12-5, 3.44 ERA) notched his 12th win pitching six innings of three-run ball and seven strikeouts.
The Dodgers battled back in the fourth after the Giants took a 1-0 lead.
Dan Uggla committed his second error of the game on a routine ground ball that went right under his glove and through his legs into right-center.
Crawford switched places with Ramirez on a fielder’s choice and Matt Kemp and Juan Uribe both poked singles through the 5.5 hole to tie the game 1-1.
We can expect to see more of Uggla at second unless the Giants do something before the July 31 trade deadline. Bochy said before Sunday’s game that if and when Scutaro returns from a lower back strain, he will not be an everyday starter.
The Giants were 42-11 going into Sunday’s game when they scored first.
They drew first blood in the third after an Uggla walk, a Gregor Blanco hit and a infield single by Hunter Pence made it 1-0.
By the end, The Giants’ score-first record dropped to 42-12, as Kenley Jansen struck out the side for a perfect ninth and his 30th save of the season.
The sound of the ball off Posey’s bat in the fifth was music to Giants fans ears. His solo shot made it 4-3 and was Posey’s 12th of the season.
In the fourth, Michael Morse and Adam Duvall both singled and Brandon Crawford drove in Morse with a soft liner just past the glove of Ramirez to reclaim the lead 2-1.
The Giants will welcome the Pittsburgh Pirates Monday with Madison Bumgarner (12-7, 3.19 ERA). He’ll face righty Vance Worley (3-1, 3.10 ERA). Game time is 7:15 p.m.
The Giants have lost their last four games, tying their longest streak since June 26-29. … Buster Posey’s home run in the fifth was the first extra-base hit the Giants had since Hunter Pence’s ninth-inning, three-run double last Wednesday against the Philadelphia Phillies. … Jake Peavy has lost his last 10 decisions, nine with the Boston Red Sox and one with the Giants. He’s gone 11 consecutive starts with receiving three or fewer runs of support.
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Last modified August 3, 2014 2:52 am
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