San Francisco Giants lose ninth game in their last ten to D-backs

The Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the San Francisco Giants, Friday night, as the Giants stumbled to their ninth loss in the last ten games.  Josh Collmenter started for the D-backs and went five, allowing one run on four hits, and leaving because his pitch count had ballooned out to 109 pitches.

Looking like a team that is lost, without Angel Pagan available for the fourth straight game, Tim Lincecum at least kept the Giants in it as he walked only one batter, but correspondingly only struck out one also.  He allowed four runs on six hits, but at least he kept Paul Goldschmidt in the park.  We have to look for the small victories these days.  Goldschmidt did get on base three times, and scored twice, but he did not knock anyone in, because he never came to the plate with anyone on the base pads.

The Giants actually managed to score in the top of the first on a two-out single by Buster Posey, and then a booming triple from Pablo Sandoval, that drove Posey home.  The inning died when Gerardo Parra made a fine catch on a drive off the bat of Brandon Crawford.  There was a time in this season when scoring the first run of a game was a harbinger of good things to come.  

The D-backs struck in the fourth, when Aaron Hill drove Goldschmidt home with a single and then subsequently scored on a Martin Prado double.  They added another run on a Chris Owings triple in the fifth, but he was thrown out trying to score on the play when Brandon Crawford relayed Gregor Blanco’s throw to the plate and they nailed Owings.

An instant replay of the play proved that Hector Sanchez had not blocked the plate, so much as he had positioned himself to take a ball on the third base side of home plate.  The throw was waiting, and though contact was made between Owings and Sanchez, it was fairly tame as plays at home plate go.

After Collmenter left the game, Oliver Perez, Evan Marshall, Brad Ziegler, and Addison Reed, faced the minimum twelve batters over the final four innings, with Reed striking out the side in the ninth, in case the Giants did not get the message.  

For the Giants, it was Javier Lopez and Juan Gutierrez pitching a perfect eighth and ninth. Mercifully, it was over quickly.

So San Francisco’s woes continue, even though Bruce Bochy insisted before the game that nothing is wrong and that all teams go through these kinds of stretches.

I just think the Giants need Angel Pagan and Brandon Belt back in the lineup.