San Francisco Giants lose as Ryan Vogelsong gets rocked

The San Francisco Giants played catchup ball Tuesday night, eventually falling to the Arizona Diamondbacks, 7-6, in a game featuring three-run home runs by both David Peralta and Jake Lamb. Buster Posey got on base all four trips to the plate, including a first inning, two-run home run to give the Giants the only lead they would have all night.

Ryan Vogelsong (13.50 ERA) started and pitched four-and-two-thirds innings, giving up a total seven earned runs on six hits, while walking four and striking out five. The bulk of the damage came on the pair of three-run home runs, Peralta’s in the third and Lamb’s in the fifth.

Buster Posey followed up on Angel Pagan’s two-out double in the first inning, with a first-pitch home run that provided a lead that only lasted until the third inning. A Brandon Belt single (fourth inning), a sacrifice fly from Posey (fifth inning), a solo home run from Brandon Crawford (sixth inning), and a pinch-hit double from Hector Sanchez (also sixth inning), brought the Giants to within one run, 7-6. That turned out to be the final score, in a game decided by the merits or demerits of the starters.

Jul 10, 2014; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants first baseman Brandon Belt (9) looks on during the sixth inning of the game against the Oakland Athletics at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports

Another injury surfaced for the Giants when Belt went to pursue a pop fly in the fifth inning and strained a groin muscle. He is listed as day-to-day, so just as with the case of Matt Cain, there is good news and bad news, but there could have been much worse news. It is the nature of the game.

Vogelsong helped his own cause by leading off the fifth inning with a single up the middle. He advanced to third on Nori Aoki’s ground-rule double and scored on the sac fly from Posey. The play at the plate was close and Vogelsong made a wide, less than polished slide, but he got in under the tag by Tuffy Goseswisch.

Posey made a very good play on a sacrifice bunt attempt by Rubby De La Rosa in the fourth inning, out in front of the plate, to get the lead runner (Lamb) at third base. Crawford aded to the defensive highlights, when he went to his right to snare Mark Trumbo’s grounder in the seventh, and then threw across his body back to Joe Panik at second to get Peralta, who went on to first to complete the double play.

For the D-backs Rubby De La Rosa (1-0) started and went five-and-a-third innings, giving up all six runs on eight hits, while walking two and striking out three. Brad Ziegler (H, 1), Randall Delgado (H, 1), Evan Marshall (H,1)and Addison Reed (S, 1) all did their jobs in keeping the Giants from scoring again. The Orange and Black managed only two hits off the four relievers.

For the Giants Yusmeiro Petit (1.1 IP, 0.00 ERA) and George Kontos (2 IP,  0.00 ERA) finished out the night without any further damage, all of the runs being charged to Vogelsong. In fact when Vogelsong exited the game, all seven D-backs runs were on the board.

Posey was the hitting star, also driving in a run with a sacrifice fly to go with his home run and two singles.

The two teams combined for ten extra-base hits Tuesday night.

Angel Pagan, after getting on base four times Monday night, had his third double of the young season and walked. He also took a called third strike to end the game. Brandon Crawford hit a solo home run and

added a double, for his first hit of the year. Before he left the game, Belt had an RBI-single.

The Giants had six of their ten hits go for extra bases, including the first two home runs of the year. If you told me they would continue to hit big flies at the rate of one per game, I would be more than thrilled. As it was, the Giants scored six runs and had a solid bullpen. The Opener featured tight starting pitching and a leaky ‘pen.

Each game had solid offense, though, and that was the original concern. Pitching will get some help from Sacramento, in the form of Chris Heston, who will replace Matt Cain on Wednesday, and the hope is that the bats will stay alive.

The Giants have encountered a great deal of adversity early on, and are still 1-1. They are excited about the prospect of new blood taking the mound for the series finale, Wednesday, a game the Giants want to win badly.

After seeing Heston pitch against the Dodgers, a week ago Friday, I think he is up for the task.