San Francisco Giants lose in extras, bullpen implodes

The San Francisco Giants lost another game, this one in especially brutal fashion. The Cincinnati Reds beat them by a score of 7-3 in 11 innings.

Yes, the Giants gave up 5 runs in the 11th inning. Oh by the way, all 5 runs were scored with 2 outs.

With the scored tied 2-2 in the top of the 11th, Zack Cozart (again) came through with a 2-strike, 2-out single up the middle off Jean Machi. It drove in 2 runs to give the Reds a 4-2 lead. That was followed by a Chris Heisey triple to drive in 2 more, and then a Billy Hamilton double to score Heisey for the 5th run of the inning.

Javier Lopez gets the loss after allowing Joey Votto‘s leadoff double in the 11th and then walking Brandon Phillips intentionally. Which is strange if you think about it, maybe Bruce Bochy should get the loss tonight.

The game seemed in the Giants hands for most of the night. Matt Cain was able to work his fastball around the zone and keep the Reds in check. He allowed 6 hits, walked 2, and struck out 4 in his 7 innings of work. It seemed as if he danced through the raindrops without getting wet tonight as the Reds were unable to score against Cain.

If there is a positive to take from this game, it’s that Matt Cain was able find himself again after 3 rough outings.

Heading to the 9th in this one the Giants held a 1-0 lead. Sergio Romo promptly gave it right back to the Reds. Joey Votto walked to lead off the 9th and then Brandon Phillips knocked one in to the left field bleachers to make it 2-1 Reds.

Romo was able to limit the damage to the Phillips home run, but there were multiple other balls hit hard off him in the 9th.

The Giants came back and tied in the 9th in exciting fashion, then it became another example of how they have failed to execute lately. First Hunter Pence singled to right off Reds closer Aroldis Chapman. Once again the Reds were playing a pull shift on Pence and he burned them.

Pablo Sandoval then worked a walk to put 2 runners on with nobody out. Buster Posey turned on a 101 MPH fastball from Chapman and hammered it in to the left field corner for a double to score Pence. Sandoval held up at third and Posey was at second with nobody out in the inning and the game tied.

But the Gians couldn’t finish the job. Hector Sanchez grounded weakly to short and Sandoval had to stay at third. After that Bruce Bochy made one of the strangest moves all season. He sent up Joaquin Arias to pinch-hit for Brandon Crawford. Another weak grounder ensued and after a Adam Duvall strikeout the Reds escaped the jam to position the win in extras.

Twitter was not happy with this move by Bochy and I question it as well. Arias bats right-handed and Bochy seemed to be playing matchups, but Crawford had played all game and is no slouch against lefties.

It was ugly, it was long, it was another Giants loss. That 14 losses in the club’s last 18 games. The only win this past week was a no-hitter, that’s not going to happen everyday.