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The San Francisco blew a golden opportunity for their 33rd win of the season. Things started off well for pitcher Todd Wellemeyer until his first AB. With the bases loaded in the third inning, Wellemeyer hit into a double play and also hit the DL with a thigh injury. Wellemeyer was off to a great start, allowing just one hit in two innings, which is somewhat impressive for Wellemeyer. The Giants also amassed a 4-0 lead by that point.
Pitcher Denny Bautista would take the mound in an extended relief appearance. Bautista gave up four runs in his first inning of work and pitched two innings overall.
The Giants then built a 6-4 lead going into the eighth inning, where pitcher Guillermo Mota took the hill. Mota had his worst outing of the season, allowing four hits and three runs. Mota’s ERA shot up to 2.42 from 1.27. The Giants could not recover and lost the game and split the series with the NL Central leading Cincinnati Reds.
The Giants are still looking for a string of consistent games. In games where the pitching has been dominant, the hitting has failed to convert crucial opportunities. In games where the offense shows up to the ballpark, the pitching has seemed to fail them.
Thursday the offense showed up and the bullpen stunk. Giants hitters put 13 hits on the board, but the bullpen let up just as many. Not to say the Giants didn’t have their chances. The Giants, NL leaders in double plays, hit into two more on Thursday morning. Worse off, it happened twice with the bases loaded.
Good thing for the Giants, their record is still an impressive 32-27 at this point, 2.5 games behind divisional leader San Diego. They must find a groove if they are to compete into October. At least there is 104 games left.
Tim Lincecum takes the mound at AT&T tonight. Lincecum renews the rivalry with the cross Bay rival, Oakland Athletics. Lincecum will look to defeat Oakland pitcher Gio Gonzalez for his first win in five starts. After three poor starts, Lincecum was in line for the win in his last start until closer Brian Wilson blew the save.
The Giants look to avenge a three game sweep dealt to them by the A’s last month. The Giants hitting was horrible in the series, look for it to improve on the sunny side of the Bay.
Go Giants.
