San Francisco Giants bested by Nationals as Jake Peavy loses pitchers duel

Jul 3, 2015; Washington, DC, USA; San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Jake Peavy (22) throws to the Washington Nationals during the second inning at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports

I’m at a loss for words. Blown away, really. It’s not that I don’t expect the Giants to lose games, that’s a given. The problem is the games we’re losing, or rather, how we’re losing them.

Take Friday’s game for example. Jake Peavy was on the hill for the Giants. He’s been on the DL, he did a rehab stint, and he was just activated to the big team. I didn’t expect him to be lights out.

But he almost was.

Peavy pitched 6 1/3 quality innings. He gave up two runs on three hits and four walks—three of which were issued to Nationals slugger Bryce Harper—and one was intentional. He struck out four.

The Nationals win came down to one swing of the bat. In the bottom of the seventh, Peavy walked Harper, and the next hitter took him out of the park, scoring both Nationals runs.

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The Giants lone run came from one swing of the bat as well. In the top of the seventh, Buster Posey led off with a solo homer, putting the Giants on the board and in the lead for a very brief time.

Peavy ended up taking the loss while Nationals starting pitcher Gio Gonzalez recorded the ‘W’ in what was a good old-fashioned pitchers duel. Their numbers weren’t that far apart. In fact, Gonzalez gave up more hits than Peavy. The problem was, although the Giants got the hits—five of them, to be exact—they just didn’t string them together. The final score was: Giants 1, Nationals 2

I keep hearing about the problems with the Giants rotation. But when it comes down to it, the Giants offense has its share of struggles too. The hitting in Friday’s game wasn’t contagious, and one Giant hitter made a base running mistake that cost a runner in scoring position and an out which ended the inning.

I don’t know if that made a difference in the outcome of the game, but I do know this: When the game comes down to one run, every little bit helps. Or hurts.

Another thing I know for sure: no matter the outcome of the game, the Giants will put it behind them and come out to play next time like there’s no tomorrow.

The good news: It’s baseball, and with baseball, there’s always tomorrow.