A strong outing by Max Scherzer, combined by a homerun from Justin Upton, kept the Giants from completing a three game sweep on the road against the Arizona Diamondbacks with a 2-1 victory in the desert.
Scherzer (3-4), a rookie, tossed 7 2/3 shutout innings, surrendering only three hits while striking out six. In the third inning, Upton hit his twelfth homer off hard luck loser Jonathan Sanchez (2-6). Sanchez limited the Diamondbacks to three hits and one run in 5 2/3 innings while striking out five. However, he also walked a season high seven batters, inflating his pitch count and leading to the early exit. Closer Paul Quantrill worked around a wild pitch and run scored in the ninth, striking out Edgar Renteria with the tying run on third to end the ball game and secure the save, his thirteenth of the year.
In the opener, Matt Cain worked around early homeruns to Mark Reynolds (15) and Stephen Drew (3) to continue his dominant march, striking out six in 6 1/3 innings and improving to 8-1 on the season as the Giants prevailed 9-4. Pablo Sandoval hit a two run homerun in the fifth to pull the Giants ahead 5-4. Juan Uribe added his first blast of the season in the second, doubled twice, and scored twice as the Giants offense rocked losing pitcher Billy Buckner (2-2) for thirteen hits and eight runs in 5 2/3 innings. Sandoval finished the day 4-5 with three RBI.
In the middle matchup, the Giants took advantage of three Arizona errors to beat the Snakes, 6-4. Barry Zito (3-6) went five for the victory. Benjie Molina slammed a two run homerun (9) in a four run third inning. Doug Davis (2-5) picked up the loss, surrendering 5 runs (3 unearned) in four innings. Brian Wilson came on to strike out the side in the ninth for his 16th save of the season.
All in all, combined with the split in Florida and the win in Washington, the road trip went well. 6-4 isn’t horrible. I think I’ll take it. However, the bats not showing up tonight to finish off the Diamondbacks for the sweep is a hard pill to swallow. But then 2-1 is anybody’s ball game. Seven walks in five innings is also a bit hard to accept. Cain was a bit wild, too, but the Giants bats picked him up. Travis Ishikawa comes back from bereavement leave soon. Perhaps that can charge the offense a bit. Uribe at short, Sandoval at third, Ishikawa at first anybody? Just a thought.
The Giants will next kick off some interleague action, hosting the Oakland Athletics on Friday night. On that same night, the Diamondbacks will host the Houston Astros.
June 12th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
“hard luck loser”?
three hits and seven walks in less than 6 innings? “Lucky” would be a better description. Sanchez is extremely consistent in his performances, and they involve lots of walks. Most pitchers who do this don’t get much fielding or hitting support…It’s just hard to concentrate when you’re playing behind a guy like that. Sanchez is headed for the bullpen, imho. He’d be a better closer than the Mullet, who should be traded for Nick Johnson.
June 13th, 2009 at 6:36 am
Actually, I was applying the term ‘hard luck loser’ in that he he surrendered only two runs in his outing. I touched on the walks later in the story. He has to work on his wildness, to be sure. Such results won’t always arise when he walks the world. But still, his efforts did produce five innings and two runs allowed.
As per the closer situation, are you sure you’d want Sanchez instead of Wilson? With Wilson, when he gets runners on, it doesn’t seem to faze him in the slightest. With Sanchez, he’ll at times lose it when he doesn’t get his ball/strike call. I think I’d rather have one with the mental mindset of Wilson than Sanchez. However, others might disagree. Would love to hear more opinions with regards.