San Francisco Giants Recap: White Sox outslug Giants 13-9

By Vince Cestone |

Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

Coming off a clean 5-2 win Saturday against the Chicago Cubs, the San Francisco Giants hardly looked like the same team Sunday against the other Chicago team. After jumping out to an early 5-0 lead against the White Sox, the Giants were overmatched after the second inning behind some shaky defense and even shakier pitching on the way to a 13-9 defeat.

OFFENSE

The Giants looked good at the plate, banging out 13 hits while scoring in five different innings.

Brandon Crawford went 3-for-4 and knocked in two runs, raising his spring average to .357 to go along with nine RBI.

Brandon Belt chipped in with a 2-RBI double in the three-run second inning rally. The Giants first baseman is batting .410 with five home runs in 42 at-bats.

Mac Williamson, who looked shaky in left field, chipped in with a home run in the seventh inning. That two-run shot, his fifth of the spring, made the score 10-8 White Sox at the time.

Despite an impressive .983 OPS, Williamson will start the season with Triple-A Sacramento, where he can play every day.

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Kelby Tomlinson, who will play a utility role this season, went 2-for-4 in the ballgame with an RBI.

The Giants jumped out to a 5-0 lead against Mat Latos—a familiar face who used to be the ace of the San Diego Padres pitching rotation—in the first two innings, capped by the Belt double.

San Francisco broke a 5-5 tie in the bottom of the fourth inning when Belt scored on a Latos balk.

Gorkys Hernandez smacked a double in the ninth inning and upped his spring average to .333. The Giants did announce Sunday that Hernandez will not make the Opening Day roster.

PITCHING

Jake Peavy, who will pitch the home opener for the Giants, looked sharp in the first couple innings but unraveled in the third, when he gave up five runs, including two that scored on a Williamson error.

Peavy allowed six hits and struck out two in 5 1/3 innings. His ERA is now 7.43 this spring.

“I had just a bit of trouble getting the right feel,” Peavy told MLB.com.

After the Giants carried a 6-5 lead into the seventh, the bullpen faltered.

George Kontos, coming off a solid 2015 season, gave up five earned runs without recording an out. Two of those runs came when former Giants hero Travis Ishikawa went deep on his old team with a shot to right-center field.

The Giants remember that home run stroke well, as it was Ishikawa who sent the Giants to the 2014 World Series with a walk-off, ninth-inning home run against the St. Louis Cardinals off Michael Wacha in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series.

Avisail Garcia capped the onslaught against Kontos with an opposite-field, two-run home run that extended the White Sox lead to 10-6.

“George just made some mistakes there. He’s got to pitch a little bit better, which he’s capable of,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy told the Associated Press. “That’s a couple of rough outings for him.”

Sergio Romo had been having a good spring until he took the mound in the eighth, when he gave up three runs on four hits, including a two-run homer to Todd Frazier, in just 2/3 innings.

The White Sox finished their scoring with a Jerry Sands RBI-single against Romo.

On the positive side, hard-throwing Derek Law and Santiago Casilla each pitched a scoreless inning. Casilla struck out two in the ninth.

DEFENSE:

The Giants’ only defensive miscue on the Williamson error, a missed fly ball in left field. It was Williamson’ third error in 23 spring games.

WHAT’S NEXT?

The Giants begin their final week of spring training against the Arizona Diamondbacks 7:05 p.m. Monday. Chris Heston will take the mount against Kyle Drabek. The game will be televised on Comcast SportsNet Bay Area.

INJURY REPORT:

Buster Posey was scratched from Sunday’s game with hip tightness, but he is expected back in the lineup Monday night. Trevor Brown replaced Posey on Sunday, going 1-for-3.

Next: Recap 3/26

“We said ‘Let’s back it off,'” Bochy told the AP. “Last game (Friday) he felt it a little bit.”

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