SF Giants Press Clips Friday, April 28, 2017

Transcription

1 SF Giants Press Clips Friday, April 28, 2017 San Francisco Chronicle Giants get another big hit from Christian Arroyo but lose in 10 th Henry Schulman As the Giants tumbled in the standings last summer, it was easy and fair to blame a bullpen that blew a majors-worst 30 saves in the regular season, then two more in the playoffs. Not anymore. The bullpen needed fixing. It got fixed. Thursday s 10th-inning, walk-filled blowup in a 5-1 loss to the Dodgers has been the exception since the first week of the season, not the rule. The relievers allowed three runs over 282/3 innings in the first 10 home games before surrendering four in one frame. The Giants did not split an easily sweepable series because of the bullpen, which has been nails since a rough first week. They simply cannot hit and cannot score. While the first Dodgers-Giants series of the year will be remembered for Christian Arroyo s impressive debut and one Michael Morse swing, the real story was the Giants scoring eight runs in 37 innings. As they say in some parts of the country, that dog won t hunt. Manager Bruce Bochy, asked about having a No. 3 hitter who was hitless in 19 at-bats and 5-for-46 before he singled in the eighth inning, responded by suggesting he has nobody better than Eduardo Nuñez for the spot. You look at the order and we don t have a lot of guys swinging real well, Bochy said. It doesn t really matter where you put them. We ve tweaked things, and we ll tweak them again if we have to. Nuney is a big part of the offense. You saw what he did early in the season. Nuñez s.389 start over nine games seems like eons ago. Hunter Pence did OK as the leadoff hitter in the four games against the Dodgers, who used four lefthanded starters. No. 2 hitter Brandon Belt continues to do a good job drawing walks but has struck out 23 times in 80 at-bats.

2 Buster Posey is hitting an extremely soft.357. He has three RBIs and three extra-base hits. On Thursday, he grounded into two double plays, including one against 20-year-old pitcher Julio Urias, who made his first start of the year. Denard Span and Brandon Crawford appear to be out for a while. Joe Panik, the team s most consistent hitter, cooled over his past four games before Bochy gave him a start off Thursday. Assuming Ryan Braun is not on a plane heading west to join the Giants for this weekend s three-game series against the Padres (not happening), somebody other than Arroyo needs to produce. Arroyo drove in the Giants run with a two-out single in the sixth after the Dodgers walked Posey intentionally with Belt on third base. Arroyo stepped to the plate and rifled a single through the middle that would have clocked Urias in the head had he not jerked it out of the way and raised his glove in selfdefense. Arroyo, sounding as erudite as his 4.4 high school GPA suggests he would, explained his approach after the Dodgers decided to face him and not Posey. I think it s an important part of baseball to be able to be confident, especially when you re hitting, he said. When they walked Buster, I figured I really needed to lock in and get the run home. I tried to stick to my plan and get a pitch over the plate. All I was looking for was a single. I just wanted to get a good pitch and barrel it. The Giants had six other hits, none for extra bases. After Kenley Jansen pitched a scoreless ninth in a 1-1 game Corey Seager s first-inning homer was the only blemish against Matt Moore in seven innings the Giants bullpen surrendered four runs in the 10th. Cory Gearrin, Steven Okert and Hunter Strickland each issued one unintentional walk, Strickland s with the bases loaded, making it easy for the Dodgers to win at AT&T Park for just the sixth time in their past 24 games. San Francisco Chronicle Giants Denard Span frustrated over injury from wall collision Henry Schulman The Giants had an optimistic plan for Denard Span. They hoped the center fielder could return to the lineup Thursday. Instead, he was on an MRI table, and extremely frustrated. Span said that after an initial glance at the pictures, team doctors told him that nothing was alarming. The results will be sent to a radiologist for another opinion on what was diagnosed as a sprained sternoclavicular joint. It felt better today for sure, said Span, who was miserable Wednesday. He was in pain and drowsy from muscle relaxants after a failed first attempt at an MRI exam in a closed machine. Span, who is claustrophobic, was tested Thursday in an open machine.

3 Span got hurt crashing into the center-field wall at Coors Field on Saturday after making a nice running catch on a Charlie Blackmon drive. He felt better Sunday but took a bad turn Tuesday, leading to his trip to the 10-day disabled list. He is eligible to return Wednesday, but the team cannot say whether he will. Morse idle: As the Giants were being no-hit into the sixth inning Wednesday night, manager Bruce Bochy turned to Michael Morse and joked, Hey, good-luck charm. What s going on? Two innings later, Morse said, Here s what s going on and hit his history-repeating game-tying homer off Pedro Baez. I m hoping he just sits right here and watches a nice win, Bochy said before Thursday s game. But he s our secret weapon. He ll be ready. Indeed, Morse had a bat in hand as the Giants tried to score the winning run in the ninth inning against Kenley Jansen, but he did not get onto the field. After Christian Arroyo and Nick Hundley struck out, Kelby Tomlinson singled. Bochy stuck with Gorkys Hernandez, whose single started Wednesday s winning rally. After Tomlinson stole second, Hernandez struck out. Briefly: Madison Bumgarner will start the rehab on his sprained pitching shoulder Friday, Bochy said. Matt Moore held the Dodgers to two hits in seven innings, but one was Corey Seager s first-inning homer. Seager was celebrating his 23rd birthday. Moore gifted him an 0-2 fastball down the middle. Henry Schulman is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. On deck Friday vs. Padres 7:15 p.m. NBCSBA Perdomo (0-0) vs. Samardzija (0-4) Saturday vs. Padres 6:05 p.m. NBCSBA Chacin (2-3) vs. Cain (2-0) Sunday vs. Padres

4 1:05 p.m NBCSBA Richard (2-3) vs. Blach (0-1) Leading off In the wings: Don t sleep on Ryder Jones, 22, as a potential call-up. The 2013 second-round pick, mainly a corner infielder, is 14-for-38 (.368) in Triple-A. San Jose Mercury News Arroyo s spark not enough for struggling Giants, who break down in 10-inning loss Andrew Baggarly SAN FRANCISCO If the Giants and Dodgers proved anything in their first rivalry series of the season, it s that they are evenly matched and that is less impressive than it sounds. They are both struggling to score runs. They are making too many routine mistakes in the field. Neither team is skimming anywhere near topside in the NL West. The better team is supposed to win. That is the way this is supposed to work. But sometimes, the team that plays worst clears its throat. And the Giants coughed away their chance to win the four-game series on Thursday, imploding in the 10th inning of a 5-1 loss at AT&T Park. Chipmunk-cheeked rookie Christian Arroyo delighted another triple-deck crowd by following Buster Posey s intentional walk with an RBI single that tied the game in the sixth inning. But Bruce Bochy bemoaned another day when his tepid lineup the Giants scored eight runs while splitting the fourgame series couldn t do more damage. Then a bullpen that appeared to be fastening its harness hit the ejector button in the 10th. You know, the pen s been doing a pretty good job, said Bochy, of a unit that had a 0.94 ERA in its first 10 home games. But you score one run and it s tough to win a ballgame. It was a half-inning of fundamental ugliness that would have compelled Abner Doubleday to flip to the Golf Channel. The Dodgers flubbed their share, too. Giants right-hander Cory Gearrin drew a bad matchup when the Dodgers sent up pinch hitter Adrian Gonzalez, and he issued a leadoff walk. Chase Utley failed to get down a sacrifice bunt yet received an end-of-the-bat gift in the form of an infield single along the third base chalk line. Then left-hander Steven Okert walked Yasmani Grandal to load the bases. Andrew Toles followed with a tiebreaking single to center field, and both teams jostled for the distinction of which one could do a better job of screwing up the rest of the play. Utley got a bad read and failed to score a second run as he held up at third base. Grandal, assuming Utley would score, ran to third.

5 But Giants second baseman Kelby Tomlinson accepted the relay throw in shallow center field and erred by throwing to third base, allowing Grandal to retreat. More weirdness followed as the Dodgers broke it open: a foul pop to first base that resulted in a sacrifice fly, a bases-loaded walk from Hunter Strickland and Justin Turner s RBI single that worked better than a House DJ at getting people out of their chairs. It hurt that three relievers each issued a walk. But Bochy has made it clear in these early weeks that he is determined to get away from the heavy, matchup-based style that frustrated relievers last season. They are getting what they wanted: a chance to stay on the mound. These guys are going to have to find a way to finish innings, Bochy said prior to the game. We don t have the (Javier) Lopez lefty to match up now. They have a real good idea when they ll be out there. If they lose a hitter, they can stay out there. It has to give them a sense of comfort knowing it s up to them to get out of this. The Giants didn t score the second run that might have turned Mark Melancon s scoreless ninth inning into a successful save. They also didn t lend enough support to left-hander Matt Moore, who matched up well against the Dodgers once again. Not only did Moore strike out eight while holding the Dodgers to a run in seven innings, but he had them guessing. Six of the strikeouts came on called pitches. Moore gave up a home run to the second batter of the game, Corey Seager, when his 0-2 pitch caught way too much of the plate. But he didn t make many more location mistakes. His most clutch work came in the seventh, after Chris Taylor singled and advanced on a wild pitch and a ground out. Moore froze Scott Van Slyke with a two-strike changeup at the extreme top of the zone (although Van Slyke didn t quite agree with the call), and then he struck out Cody Bellinger with a fastball as the rookie failed to check his swing. Moore s last pitch to Bellinger was his 104th and final pitch of the afternoon, and it was clocked at 94.1 mph. It comes down to execution, said Moore, who entered with a 5.87 ERA and has talked to pitching coach Dave Righetti about maintaining focus. You have to make your pitch more often than not. It was nice to be able to keep the game tied right there. It was tied because of Arroyo, who was 4 for 16 over his first big league series while showing the ability to cover the plate and put the bat on the ball against a range of pitching styles. He got his first hit off Clayton Kershaw on Friday, jumping on a first-pitch fastball. He hit his tying home run Saturday came against Sergio Romo, when he extended his arms and barreled up a slider that wasn t far enough off the plate. His tying hit in the sixth inning Thursday came on a 1-1 curveball from Julio Urias, who matches deception with wicked stuff. Arroyo kept his hands back and dug out the pitch at the bottom of the zone, sending a line drive to center field.

6 The hit scored Brandon Belt, who was in scoring position only because Urias walked him and then threw a pickoff throw that rattled down the right field line for a two-base error. Then came the intentional walk to Posey. Who knew a 21-year-old could be cut out to provide lineup protection to a former NL MVP? An important part of baseball is always being confident, Arroyo said. I figured I really needed to lock in and get the run home. I really tried to stick to my plan. All I was looking for was a single. Bochy wasn t afraid to start Arroyo against Kershaw, or bat him second or fifth. He s showed he is not overwhelmed by who he s facing, the upper deck, the bright lights, all these things, Bochy said. He came to play. It s not a positive to note that Arroyo matched Posey with three RBIs this season. Posey is hitting.357, but 17 of his 20 hits have been singles. Ideally, Posey would not be hitting cleanup in the final three games of this homestand against the San Diego Padres. But if not Buster, who else? We ve got to get this offense going, Bochy said. It s a better offense than what we re doing. It will get better. But right now, we don t have some guys swinging it, to be honest. We ll tweak things, as you see. We ll tweak it again. San Jose Mercury News Off The Bat: Giants turn sloppy in 10th inning, split series with Dodgers Andrew Baggarly SAN FRANCISCO If the Giants and Dodgers proved anything in their first rivalry series of the season, it s that they are evenly matched. That s less impressive than it sounds when they re both struggling to score runs, making routine mistakes in the field and battling for third place in the NL West. The Giants gave away their chance to win the series on Thursday, imploding in the 10th inning of a 5-1 loss at AT&T Park. The better team is supposed to win. That is the way this is supposed to work. But sometimes, the team that plays worst clears its throat. The Giants did just about everything wrong in the Dodgers four-run 10th. Cory Gearrin drew a bad matchup when the Dodgers sent up pinch hitter Adrian Gonzalez, and he issued a leadoff walk. The Giants got some rotten luck when pinch hitter Chase Utley rolled an infield single along the third base chalk line. Then left-hander Steven Okert walked Yasmani Grandal to load the bases. Andrew Toles followed with a line single to center field, and both teams jostled to see which could do a worse job of screwing up the rest of the play. Utley got a bad read, failed to score a second run and held up at third base. Grandal, assuming Utley would score, ran to third.

7 But Giants second baseman Kelby Tomlinson accepted the relay throw in shallow center field and erred by throwing to third base, allowing Grandal to retreat. Giants manager Bruce Bochy hooked two players with one move, bringing in Hunter Strickland to pitch and Joe Panik to play second base. More weirdness followed. Kiké Hernandez hit a foul pop and first baseman Buster Posey made a juggling catch with his back to the infield. Utley tagged and scored, and although it appeared that he left third base before Posey secured the ball, the Giants appeal was met with a safe call from umpire Bill Miller. The Giants decided not to use a replay challenge, for some reason. One of those weird automatic intentional walks followed, and Justin Turner hit a two-run single that sent the crowd streaming for the exits. Strickland capped the inning by walking in a run. Here are some more observations from the afternoon: The most impressive part of Christian Arroyo s past three games is that he is showing an ability to cover the plate and put the bat on the ball against a range of pitching styles. He got his first hit off Clayton Kershaw on Friday, jumping on a first-pitch fastball. He hit his tying home run Saturday against Sergio Romo, extending his arms and barreling up a slider that wasn t far enough off the plate. His tying hit in the sixth inning Thursday came on a 1-1 curveball from Julio Urias. Arroyo kept his hands back and dug out the pitch at the bottom of the zone, sending a line drive to center field. The hit followed an intentional walk to Buster Posey. Who knew a 21-year-old could be cut out to provide lineup protection to a former NL MVP? Urias, who has one of the most lethal pickoff moves in the game, stung himself in the sixth. He threw in the dirt while trying to surprise Brandon Belt, who had drawn a leadoff walk, and the ball rattled so far down the right field line that Belt was able to advance two bases. Matt Moore continued to show that he will be a major factor in this rivalry. Not only did he strike out eight while holding the Dodgers to a run in seven innings, but he clearly had them guessing. Six of the strikeouts came on called pitches. Moore gave up a home run to the second batter of the game, Corey Seager, when his 0-2 pitch caught way too much of the plate. But he didn t make many more location mistakes. His most clutch work came in the seventh, after Chris Taylor singled and advanced on a wild pitch and a ground out. Moore froze Scott Van Slyke with a two-strike changeup at the extreme top of the zone (although Van Slyke didn t quite agree with the call), and then he struck out Cody Bellinger with a fastball as the rookie failed to check his swing.

8 Moore s last pitch to Bellinger was his 104th and final pitch of the afternoon, and it was clocked at 94.1 mph. MLB.com Bullpen falters as Giants drop finale in extras Chris Haft and Kevin Gurnick SAN FRANCISCO -- Purists watching this Giants-Dodgers series had to come away satisfied. Of the four games, three were decided by one run; two contests went into extra innings. Christian Arroyo, San Francisco's rookie third baseman, and Julio Urias, Los Angeles' 20-year-old left-hander, displayed considerable promise. And the traditional rivals played to a standoff, as the Dodgers scored four 10thinning runs to prevail, 5-1, on Thursday at AT&T Park and earn a split of the four-game series. "The way that we've sort of been inconsistent with the different facets of the game and to be one game under.500, I think we're in a good place," said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. "This was a hard-fought series. They celebrated their wins over us and to be two games down in the loss column and salvage a split, to see the life we had in the last inning, this was a big win for us." Giants manager Bruce Bochy wants to see more from his 8-15 club. "We'll tweak things -- as you've seen, we've already done that -- and we'll tweak it again and see if we can get this right," he said. With the score even at 1-1, Adrian Gonzalez opened the Dodgers' 10th by coaxing a walk from Giants right-hander Cory Gearrin. Left-hander Steven Okert relieved Gearrin and loaded the bases by yielding Chase Utley's infield single and walking Yasmani Grandal. Andrew Toles and Justin Turner each stroked RBI singles, sandwiching Enrique Hernandez's sacrifice fly. Chris Taylor added a bases-loaded walk. The Dodgers opened the scoring on Corey Seager's first-inning homer, his second round-tripper in two games. Otherwise, Giants starter Matt Moore remained in control, yielding one run and two hits in seven innings. San Francisco pulled even in the sixth on Arroyo's two-out single, a line drive that grazed Urias' glove and proceeded into center field as Brandon Belt scored. Moore might have been paying attention to Statcast, which revealed that he had recorded the Major Leagues' highest average exit velocity (92 mph) and was tied for second with 10 "barrels," or unusually hard-hit balls. Said Moore, "I had a nice mix of being in a good rhythm and being aggressive in the zone. I gave up some hard-hit balls today. Luckily, guys were standing close." MOMENTS THAT MATTERED Moore mows 'em down: Moore entered the game with a 5.87 ERA yet looked anything but vulnerable in the seventh inning. With Taylor on third base and one out, Moore retired Scott Van Slyke and Cody Bellinger back to back on called third strikes. Van Slyke was plainly unhappy with umpire Kerwin Danley's strike zone, but it was just obvious that Moore appeared to be imparting nice late movement on his deliveries.

9 Can't stop the rally: Even when the Giants did something right in the 10th, it helped the Dodgers. First baseman Buster Posey made a nice grab of Hernandez's foul popup, but his momentum carried him away from home plate, enabling Utley to score. "A heads-up play by Chase," said Roberts. "He did it by the book." QUOTABLE "It's a long season. If you can stay status quo, around.500, when you're not playing your best baseball, that's what good teams do." -- Roberts, on the team's start WHAT'S NEXT Dodgers: Slumping Kenta Maeda opens the homestand vs. the Phillies in a 7:10 p.m. PT game Friday night with his spot in the starting rotation on the line, as Roberts said the right-hander needs a confidence booster. Roberts also said the club will decide after the game what's next for Maeda, whose scheduled turn could be skipped as the Dodgers are off next Thursday. Giants: San Francisco will attempt to exact some revenge against the Padres, who won two of three games between the teams April 7-9. The Giants' probable starter in Friday's 7:15 p.m. PT series opener is Jeff Samardzija, who struck out nine in seven shutout innings in his most recent outing against San Diego last Sept. 22. MLB.com Giants gain valuable insight after tight series Chris Haft SAN FRANCISCO -- From the Giants' perspective, their four-game series against the Dodgers was less about rivalry and more about discovery. The Giants learned plenty about themselves while splitting the series, which ended Thursday in a 5-1, 10-inning setback at AT&T Park. San Francisco's performance in this series eased, as well as raised, concerns. The calendar has not hit May, so it's still early enough in the season for that sort of thing. Here's a brief list of this week's lessons: Arroyo's a keeper: The rookie third baseman handled himself like a 10-year veteran during his first Major League series. Christian Arroyo delivered big hits, played slick defense and, most of all, remained poised. When the Dodgers intentionally walked Buster Posey to pitch to him in the sixth inning, Arroyo responded in the best possible way: He lined an RBI single. Arroyo is batting.250 (4-for-16), but given his line-drive power and authoritative contact, it seems like.350. "He's shown he's not in awe of anything or overwhelmed by being in the big leagues, who he's facing, the upper decks, the bright lights -- he comes to play," manager Bruce Bochy gushed. As is the case with San Francisco's other promising farm-system products, Arroyo has quickly proven that he understands his purpose. "Obviously," he said, "it's about winning up here."

10 Moore rebounds: After prompting worry by allowing 11 runs and 19 hits spanning 9 2/3 innings in his previous two starts, Matt Moore regained his form Thursday. He looked as efficient as his statistical line (one run and two hits allowed in seven innings) indicated. Moore said he maintained "a nice mix of being in a good rhythm and being aggressive in the zone. I gave up some hard-hit balls today. Luckily guys were standing close. It was a good day, something to build on moving forward." 'Pen has potential: The Giants' relievers, maligned as shaky and tentative, often looked efficient and assertive. They relapsed on Thursday, issuing three unintentional 10th-inning walks to hasten the Dodgers' winning rally. "Unraveled" was the term Bochy used. The bullpen's road ERA is frozen at an unsightly 5.57 until next week. But Hunter Strickland, George Kontos and friends have been able to get the ball to closer Mark Melancon in position to win. "I know it's early, but I will say it looks like they're starting to get settled in," Bochy said, citing Derek Law's improved command and other factors reflecting the relievers' "sense of comfort." Start scoring: The Giants (8-15) have scored fewer than four runs -- an essential part of their formula for winning -- in 13 of their 23 games. They'd be much closer to.500 or even above that level with a more productive, consistent offense. Arroyo's arrival should help. But he can't bolster the Giants by himself. "When you score one run, it's tough to win ballgames," Bochy said, referring to Thursday's output. "We've got to get this offense going. It's a better offense than what we're doing." MLB.com A Giants balldude valiantly laid out for a foul ball, but ultimately came up short Gemma Kaneko During the fifth inning of the Dodgers' 5-1 win over the Giants on Thursday, Cody Bellinger fouled off a ball. Now, normally we'd want to take a little time to introduce you to Bellinger, a top prospect who was just called up a few days ago. But surprisingly, he is not the hero of our tale. No, the hero is this San Francisco balldude, who went after the foul ball like he was diving for a crucial out in Game 7 of the World Series: So he didn't catch it. That's OK. It doesn't make his attempt any less noble. Since it's April (and therefore National Poetry Month), we'll remind you of T.S. Eliot's words -- "For us, there is only the trying. The rest is not our business." MLB.com Bumgarner set to ease into shoulder rehab Chris Haft SAN FRANCISCO -- Left-hander Madison Bumgarner will officially start his recovery from his dirt-bike accident when he launches his rehabilitation program Friday.

11 Bumgarner sustained bruised ribs and sprained his throwing shoulder in the mishap that occurred during a scheduled off-day outside of Denver last Thursday. Giants manager Bruce Bochy said that Bumgarner will begin his exercise progress gradually, indicating that range-of-motion work will be part of the initial phase. Bumgarner, a four-time All-Star and the acknowledged ace of San Francisco's pitching rotation, won't require surgery but is believed to need at least two months to recover. "It's not a long, long road," Bochy said. "But he has some work ahead of him." Center fielder Denard Span, who endured an unexpected setback in his recovery from a bruised shoulder, will undergo a fresh MRI to search for a source of the problem, Bochy said. Span is eligible to come off the disabled list next Thursday but probably will need additional recovery time, Bochy said. The Giants lengthened their National League-record streak of announced regular-season sellouts at AT&T Park to an even 500 on Thursday. The Boston Red Sox (794) built the only streak in the Majors that's longer. MLB.com Samardzija eyes continued success vs. Padres Chris Haft and Barry M. Bloom The Giants have San Diego to thank for their bullpen's statistical disparity in home-road performance. It's a pattern that San Francisco hopes it can break when the club entertains the Padres in a three-game series starting Friday night at AT&T Park. Entering Thursday, Giants relievers owned a 0.94 ERA (three earned runs, 28 2/3 innings) in 10 games at AT&T Park, compared with a 5.57 mark on the road. While losing two of three games at San Diego from April 7-9, Giants relievers allowed four runs in 5 2/3 innings for a 6.35 ERA, consistent with the overall totals. The Padres reactivated Luis Perdomo from the disabled list on Sunday when he made his second start of the season, facing the Marlins. He's slated to face Giants right-hander Jeff Samardzija. Perdomo suffered inflammation in his right shoulder on April 7 in the Padres' home opener against the Giants, when he allowed five runs on seven hits in 5 1/3 innings. "We'd like to see him get back to the point where he has heavy sink on the ball," Padres manager Andy Green said. "His slider has looked pretty good this year in just a couple of outings. In both outings, he's had five really good innings, and the sixth has been really tough for him. I know he can pitch past the sixth, but we're well aware of the problems he's been having." Three things to know about this game San Diego's Hunter Renfroe and Wil Myers entered Thursday having combined to draw just four walks this season (two apiece), and it's clear they're not coming up to the plate looking for a free pass. Neither of the Padres' young sluggers gets cheated with a bat in his hands, as both their swing rates ranked in

12 the top 10 among qualified hitters (min. 300 pitches seen) coming into Thursday. Renfroe (53.4 percent) ranked eighth and Myers (53.2) was ninth. Samardzija has done some of his best work against the Padres, compiling a 7-2 record with a 3.19 ERA against them. San Diego is (a.428 winning percentage) all-time in San Francisco between AT&T Park and Candlestick Park. NBC Sports Bay Area Regulars in Lineup Continue to Scuffle, Giants End Up with Series Split Alex Pavlovic SAN FRANCISCO The momentum generated by Christian Arroyo and Michael Morse late Wednesday night lasted just a few hours. By the end of this four-game series, the Giants were left with a harsh reality: Even with two injections of new blood, they are not hitting. Arroyo drove in another run Thursday, but that was it for a lineup that couldn t support Matt Moore s effort. The bullpen, which had kept Bruce Bochy s guys in close games all series, finally broke in the 10th. The Dodgers walked away with a 5-1 win and a split of a series that was rather uninspiring for both sides. After scoring 10 runs on the last road trip, the Giants scored just eight during the four games against the Dodgers. Three of those RBI came from Arroyo, called up Monday. A fourth came from Morse, called up Wednesday. We ve got to get this offense going, Bochy said. It s a better offense than what we re doing right now. You need to find a way to put a few runs on the board. We had our chances, we just couldn t find ways to get the big hit. With Denard Span out for at least another week, Bochy moved Hunter Pence to the top of the lineup. His temporary No. 3 hitter against lefties, Eduardo Nuñez, has one hit in his last 20 at-bats. Buster Posey, the cleanup hitter, is batting.357, but he has driven in just three runs this month. With two on and one out in the eighth, he bounced into a double play. The production closer to the bottom of the order has been nonexistent, leading to constant shuffling that has moved Nuñez and Belt to left at times. Bochy said the staff will continue to search of a lineup that works. You talk about it and do thing to adjust, and it will get better, but right now we ve got some guys who aren t swinging the bat well, to be honest, he said. You look at the order and we don t have a lot of guys swinging well. The list does not include Arroyo, the rookie who will eventually have to deal with adjustments from pitchers. It doesn t appear that ll be a problem. Arroyo has been making adjustments from at-bat to atbat. He did so against Sergio Romo for his first career homer and said he learned about the depth of Julio Urias curveball during their first two battles Thursday. In the sixth, the 21-year-old Arroyo drove in the game-tying run against the 20-year-old Urias. The lefty had walked Posey to face Arroyo, who singled up the middle.

13 He handles himself so well, Bochy said. They walked Buster and he smokes the ball. This kid has shown he s not in awe. The upper deck, the bright lights, he comes to play. Arroyo s effort briefly backed Moore, who was sharp in seven innings. Moore struck out eight, six of them looking, but he didn t get much help and the bullpen fell apart in the 10th with a series of walks. Bochy challenged his starters on Saturday at Coors Field and they responded with a strong series back home. The bullpen was tested during the first week but Thursday s result aside it has settled down. The Giants are not as worried about their pitching as they were as they flew back from Denver. They know, however, that this team is going nowhere if two runs per game continues to be the nightly output. We ll tweak it again, Bochy said of his lineup. We'll see if we can get this thing right. NBC Sports Bay Area Krukow: Belt Needs To Make Mechanical Improvements, 'It's A Concern' NBC Sports Bay Area Staff Brandon Belt is hitting.238 with four home runs and nine RBI. He has struck out 23 times in 80 at-bats. "I just don't think he's hitting the fastball," Mike Krukow explained on KNBR 680 on Friday morning. "I think they're coming at him with a lot of fastballs at the belt, and until he turns some of those fastballs around, he's gonna get a continued steady diet of the same pitch. "Go back and take a look at his home runs -- they're curveballs down and in... this is something that's been a weakness of his for awhile. And teams are on it. They're telling him what's coming, and he's unable to hit it." Belt has drawn 16 walks this season and his on-base percentage is.365. "That's outstanding... but he has to start beating that fastball," Krukow added. "And his best defense in most instances is just to take the fastball. But he can't do that. You see a belt-high fastball, a little bit above, you're thinking 'I gotta hit this.' And he's not hitting it. "And until he starts making some adjustments, and you say, 'Well, how do you do that?' Well, you gotta flatten out your swing someway, to be able to take that loop that you have when you're swinging at that high fastball, out. And I think that's the way that you try and beat it." "They're continuing to pound him with fastballs, and he's not doing anything with them. So it's a concern and he's got some work to do to try and solve that. He's gonna have to make some mechanical improvements." Santa Rosa Press Democrat Giants unravel in extra innings, lose to Dodgers 5-1 Rob Gloster

14 SAN FRANCISCO Less than 24 hours after losing to the Giants in 10 innings, the Los Angeles Dodgers turned the tables and managed just their second win in their last nine games in San Francisco. Run-scoring singles by Andrew Toles and Justin Turner in the 10th inning led the Dodgers to a 5-1 victory Thursday after Los Angeles pitcher Julio Urias made a solid start in his 2017 debut. Urias allowed one run in 5⅔ innings after being recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City before the game. It was a very good start by Julio, and that was his opening day, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. To get Julio back in the rotation is a good thing for us. To have this young kid with such composure is great. The 20-year-old Urias, who went 5-2 in four stints with the Dodgers last season, allowed four hits, walked four and struck out four. I felt good, I felt confident, Urias said. I felt like what I did last year was able to help me build confidence for this year. The Dodgers loaded the bases with no outs in the 10th on two walks and an infield hit. Toles followed with a tie-breaking single, Kike Hernandez had a sacrifice fly and Turner extended his hitting streak to 13 games with an RBI single. Chris Taylor drove in the fifth run with a bases-loaded walk. Kenley Jansen (1-0) got the win, striking out the side in the ninth inning, as the Dodgers managed a split of the four-game series. The loser was Cory Gearrin (0-1), who walked the only batter he faced leading off the 10th inning. The Giants scored their only run in the sixth on a walk, a two-base throwing error by Urias on a pickoff attempt and a single by Christian Arroyo that nicked Urias glove on its way to center field. That hit knocked Urias out of the game. We have to get this offense going, Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. It s a better offense than what we re showing. We need to find a way to put a few runs on the board. Giants starter Matt Moore allowed one run and two hits in seven innings, walking three and striking out eight. The only run he allowed came on a first-inning home run by Corey Seager, who was celebrating his 23rd birthday. STREAKS END The Giants Buster Posey had his 12-game hitting streak end. Posey went 0 for 2, hitting into two double plays, and walked twice. San Francisco s Eduardo Nunez also snapped a streak an eighth-inning single ended his run of 19 at-bats without a hit. STILL LOOKING Six of Moore s eight strikeouts came on called third strikes, tying him with five other pitchers for the major league high this season.

15 BIRTHDAY BOPPER Seager became the fifth major leaguer this season to hit a home run on his birthday. Last season, as a rookie, he went 1 for 4 on his birthday. SELLOUT STREAK The Giants recorded their 500th consecutive sellout at AT&T Park, extending their National League record, even though there were large swaths of empty seats in the upper deck. The major league record of 794 consecutive regular-season sellouts was set by the Boston Red Sox from TRAINER S ROOM Giants shut down by Dodgers ace Kershaw Giants: LHP Madison Bumgarner will start rehab Friday, but Bochy said he s got some work ahead of him to get ready. Bumgarner bruised ribs and sprained his pitching shoulder last week in a dirt bike accident and is expected to be out about two months.... OF Denard Span had an MRI on his shoulder and wasn t able to do any rehab activities Thursday. He is on the 10-day DL and has not played since last Saturday, when he crashed into the outfield wall in Denver. UP NEXT Dodgers: Open a home stand with RHP Kenta Maeda on the mound against Philadelphia. Giants: RHP Jeff Samardzija makes the start in the opener of a three-game weekend home series against San Diego. Samardzija has lost each of his four starts this season and has a 7.40 ERA, the highest among NL starters. SF Examiner Giants bullpen fails to convert consecutive extra-inning wins Jacob C. Palmer AT&T PARK Before their series finale against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday, San Francisco Giants manager Bruce Bochy said he thought the pitchers in his bullpen were starting to get settled in. But as has been proven time and time again investing in sustained, consistent success of relievers proved to be a volatile notion. A night after holding firm, the Giants couldn t claim back-to-back games that went extra innings as the home team lost, 5-1. It unraveled and walks were involved, Bochy explained. But, you know, the pen has been doing a pretty good job and when you only score one run, it s tough to win ball games. It was a joint effort that sunk the Giants: One poor inning of pitching and another game with lackluster results at the plate. The team s lineup hasn t scored more than five runs for 11 games straight.

16 It will get better, but right now we have some guys that really aren t swinging the bats all that well, to be honest, Bochy said. But there were a few positives to take away from the contest. One being the fact that Matt Moore must like pitching against the Giants rival. Last year, he was an out away from a no hitter at Dodger Stadium the lefty s best start of his career. On Thursday, Moore wasn t as sharp as that night, but he was close. The Giants No. 3 starter threw seven innings, allowing a pair of hits and three walks. Moore struck out eight and made one first-inning mistake. That mistake just happened to result in a 408-foot home run by Corey Seager on his 23rd birthday. That 0-2 pitch to Seager, it stinks, but you can t dwell on one, Moore said. Dodgers starter Julio Urias ensured it would be a lefty-pitcher s duel by getting a couple of timely, inning-ending double plays, effectively wiggling out of jams until the sixth. But, the 20-year old couldn t escape that frame after Christian Arroyo one year his senior scorched a single that ricocheted off the pitcher and into center field, scoring Brandon Belt from third. Arroyo has been hot since getting the call for the series opener on Monday: He s logged a hit in three of his four starts, earning praise from his teammates and Bochy. The Dodgers bullpen held through the ninth inning and the two teams went to extra inning for the second time in as many games. But, in the top of the 10th, following a tidy ninth from Mark Melancon, the San Francisco bullpen melted down. Cory Gearrin allowed a leadoff walk before being pulled for Steven Okert, who gave up a bad-luck single, a walk and another single before being replaced by Hunter Strickland, who recorded a pair of outs and walks as well as a hit before Neil Ramirez entered to close out the inning. When it was over, the Giants trailed by four. Joe Panik, Hunter Pence and Belt went down in order to end the game, splitting the series and leaving San Francisco still in search of its second series win of Pregame video Span said after the game that he sustained the shoulder injury throwing in warmups before Tuesday s game. He added the MRI he received didn t turn up anything alarming. ESPN Spring setbacks thwarting NL contenders David Schoenfield It would have been easy to predict the same five teams as last year to make this year s National League playoffs. After all, only six teams finished above.500, and none of the under-.500 teams made obvious improvements. But we know the same teams never make the playoffs. What usually happens is at least

17 one playoff team stumbles out of the gate and never recovers. That s happened this season to the San Francisco Giants, Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets, all sitting under.500. What s gone wrong? Here s the dirty little secret about the Giants: The Madison Bumgarner-Matt Cain-Tim Lincecum era actually only existed for two seasons. That trio led the Giants to the World Series title in 2010 and pitched well in 2011, when the club missed the playoffs, the year Buster Posey got injured. In 2012, they won another championship, although Lincecum posted a 5.18 ERA and was banished to the bullpen in the World Series. Since then, however, the Giants have been a good team but not a great one, with the 2014 playoff run that culminated in a third title in five seasons masking the fact that this team has failed to win 90 games since Look at the past four seasons: 2013: Bumgarner was good, but Cain (0.5 WAR) and Lincecum (minus-0.6) weren t, and Barry Zito and Ryan Vogelsong were even worse. 2014: Made the playoffs as a wild card, with help from a terrible NL West that featured the 96- loss Rockies and 98-loss Diamondbacks. Cain got injured and Lincecum once again had negative WAR and appeared in one game in relief the entire postseason. Bumgarner s historic playoff run carried the team to the title. 2015: They tried to milk another year out of Cain and Lincecum (plus Tim Hudson and Jake Peavy), but it didn t work, as Cain and Lincecum combined to make just 26 starts. 2016: In a watered-down National League, once again made the playoffs as a wild card. The Giants finally acknowledged their rotation problems by signing Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija, but Cain and Peavy were terrible (combined 5.58 ERA over 38 starts). Obviously, most franchises would love those results. My point is that the Giants have had weaknesses and didn t enter 2017 with a lot of margin for error. Coming off an 87-win season, the only significant improvement they made was signing closer Mark Melancon. They had no prospects projected to make a major impact; they ignored an outfield that had clear issues in center field -- where they were going to rely on a 33-year-old Denard Span coming off a subpar 1.0-WAR season -- and in left field, where they didn t re-sign Angel Pagan and were going to attempt a tag-team approach with Jarrett Parker... or Mac Williamson... or, well, the Giants have already started six different players there. The two positions have been a disaster. Entering Thursday, the Giants left fielders are hitting.113/.191/.175. The center fielders are hitting.170/.247/.227. They resorted to trying infield reserve Aaron Hill out there and have had so many injuries that they dug up Drew Stubbs and Michael Morse from the remainder bin at Marshall s. (OK, Morse hit a dramatic, pinch-hit home run Wednesday to tie a game the Giants won over the Dodgers in 10 innings.) Those guys aren t solutions, and while the outfield won t be this bad all season, it s still going to be one of the worst groups in the majors. That s why some analysts felt the money spent on Melancon would have been better spent on a left fielder or center fielder (Dexter Fowler would have been a nice fit). Then you throw in Bumgarner s injury. Over the past three seasons, the Giants are in games Bumgarner starts. If he s out the estimated two months, maybe he misses 12 starts. The Giants could be expected to go 7-5 in those games; maybe now they go 5-7 or 4-8.

18 So that injury alone is just a little bump in the road, but all this comes on top of the 8-15 start. That start is in the books, and the result is that no team has suffered a bigger decline in their projected record so far than the Giants, according to Jeff Sullivan at FanGraphs; San Francisco's projected record has gone from 88.5 wins to Put it this way. If you thought the Giants were a 90-win team, they ll have to go the rest of the way, a.590 winning percentage (a 96-win pace). That s not unattainable; but do the Giants have that level of talent? There s even the possibility the Giants could turn into the 2012 Phillies. Remember, those Phillies were better than the Giants: 92 wins and a World Series title in 2008, 93 wins and a World Series appearance in 2009, 97 wins in 2010 and 102 wins in They dropped to.500 in 2012 and then collapsed after that. The Giants lineup now isn t as old as the Phillies lineup was then (every regular except Hunter Pence was older than 30 on that team), but Brandon Belt and Joe Panik are the only Giants regulars younger than their age-30 seasons. The Phillies were eventually struck down by injuries to Roy Halladay and then Cliff Lee the following season, but the Giants rotation is also precariously thin in depth. And remember, Cueto has an out clause after this season. The farm system hasn t produced a quality starter since Bumgarner arrived in With the Rockies and Diamondbacks off to good starts -- see Jerry Crasnick s article -- the Giants have dug themselves a dangerous hole. They re going to have to play better than they ve played the past five years to get back to the postseason. There s less to worry about for the Giants rivals to the south, not that the Dodgers aren t without their own problems. In fact, their issues start in the outfield as well. While the Giants are last in the majors in woba from their outfielders, the Dodgers aren t much better at 26th (entering Thursday). When Cody Bellinger was called up and inserted into left field, he became the ninth different outfielder to start for the Dodgers. Remember a couple years ago when everyone was worried the Dodgers had too many outfielders? Not a problem in The Dodgers didn t want to call up Bellinger, even though he was hitting well at Triple-A, but Brett Eibner and Trayce Thompson aren t good options, and Bellinger is probably a better player right now than Andrew Toles, even if he's barely played above Double-A and is going to strike out a lot. Bellinger is another left-handed batter as well, and -- small-sample-size alert! -- the Dodgers are once again struggling against lefties. Power has been a problem, as Adrian Gonzalez hasn't homered, Justin Turner hasn't homered and Joc Pederson (currently on the disabled list with a hamstring issue) hasn't homered since Opening Day. That puts pressure on Bellinger to help provide some pop behind Corey Seager. The bigger concerns are probably with the starting rotation, where Rich Hill can t stay off the DL with his blister problems, Kenta Maeda has allowed seven home runs in 19 innings and Hyun-Jin Ryu has allowed six homers in 21⅓ innings. They have a lot more depth here than the Giants, and Julio Urias finally made his first start Thursday, which is why their projected record hasn t changed since the start of the season. Then we get to the Mets. Thursday was as bad a day as a team can have. First, Noah Syndergaard missed his scheduled outing with biceps discomfort. Matt Harvey replaced him and wasn t good, and after the game it was revealed that Harvey had worked hard Wednesday and didn t know he was going to start until three hours before game time. Then Yoenis Cespedes left the game after pulling up lame on a double, reinjuring the hamstring that had caused him to miss a few games... except this looked even worse, as he needed help leaving the field.

19 Hey, at least Jose Reyes got his first RBI! The Braves ended up winning 7-5, the Mets fell to 4-10 at home, and New York has lost 10 of 11. They re hitting only the Royals are worse -- and rank 27th in woba, with only the Giants, Blue Jays and Royals below them. They ve scored 33 runs during this 11-game stretch. So, yeah, the offense. The starting pitching, however, hasn t dominated like it needs to, ranking 19th in the majors in ERA. Their peripherals are much better -- the Mets rank sixth in strikeout rate, second in lowest walk rate, eighth in home run rate -- but they rank last in left-on-base percentage. The starters have stranded just 65.5 percent of their runners, compared to the league average of 74 percent. Considering the other metrics are positive, they should improve in that area. Still, like the Giants, the hole is getting deep. They re already 7½ games behind the Nationals and their two best players might be heading to the disabled list. If you think they re panicking in Queens, you re right. Terry Collins had a testy postgame media session after Thursday's loss. "It's gotta start right now," he fumed. Indeed. ESPN Urias makes solid 2017 debut as Dodgers beat Giants in 10 Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO -- Less than 24 hours after losing to the Giants in 10 innings, the Los Angeles Dodgers turned the tables and managed just their second win in their last nine games in San Francisco. Run-scoring singles by Andrew Toles and Justin Turner in the 10th inning led the Dodgers to a 5-1 victory Thursday after Los Angeles pitcher Julio Urias made a solid start in his 2017 debut. Urias allowed one run in 5 2/3 innings after being recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City before the game. "It was a very good start by Julio, and that was his opening day," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "To get Julio back in the rotation is a good thing for us. To have this young kid with such composure is great." The 20-year-old Urias, who went 5-2 in four stints with the Dodgers last season, allowed four hits, walked four and struck out four. "I felt good, I felt confident," Urias said. "I felt like what I did last year was able to help me build confidence for this year." The Dodgers loaded the bases with no outs in the 10th on two walks and an infield hit. Toles followed with a tie-breaking single, Kike Hernandez had a sacrifice fly and Turner extended his hitting streak to 13 games with an RBI single. Chris Taylor drove in the fifth run with a bases-loaded walk. Kenley Jansen (1-0) got the win, striking out the side in the ninth inning, as the Dodgers managed a split of the four-game series. The loser was Cory Gearrin (0-1), who walked the only batter he faced leading off the 10th inning.