San Francisco Giants: Arroyo Collects First Hit in Loss to Dodgers

A day after making his major league debut, San Francisco Giants third baseman Christian Arroyo had his first career hit off of Clayton Kershaw in Wednesday night’s 2-1 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Coming off of a much needed win against the rival Dodgers yesterday, the San Francisco Giants looked to repeat that success on Tuesday night. Ty Blach got the start on the mound for the Giants in a rematch against Clayton Kershaw, and much like the October 1st matchup last season, it was a pitcher’s duel throughout.

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The San Francisco Giants have been tinkering around with their lineup quite a bit lately trying to find some sense of success, and there was one major change in tonight’s lineup. A day after making his major league debut in the sixth spot in the order, Christian Arroyo moved all the way up to second in the order, which says a lot to me about the trust the organization has in Arroyo, especially with Kershaw on the mound.

That move paid off as Arroyo came up in the bottom of the first and delivered with his first career hit off of the best pitcher in the league–just how we all drew it up.

Unfortunately, for the orange and black there was not much offense on the night other than that, which is to be expected when Clayton Kershaw is on the bump. The Giants did however take the lead in the third inning all starting after Blach decided to take matters into his own hands, leading off the inning with a double. Hunter Pence followed with a single to second base, which moved Blach to third.

Honestly, the Giants should have scored more with runners on first and third, which is frustrating because Kershaw will not give teams many opportunities to score, so you have to take advantage of any opportunity you have. Arroyo and Nunez followed with back-to-back strikeouts, and Buster Posey saved the inning from complete disappointment with a two out RBI single.

The Dodgers would eventually take the lead in the fourth inning on a RBI single by Yasiel Puig, and a groundout by Adrian Gonzalez to Buster Posey.

The score would hold up from there as the Giants would eventually lose by a score of 2-1. The Giants threatened in the eighth inning, but to no avail. Posey and Brandon Crawford both singled with two outs in the inning before Brandon Belt struck out off of Kenley Jansen to end the inning. The Giants would then go down in order in the bottom of the ninth inning.

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Here are some takeaways from tonight’s ballgame:

Ty Blach pitched well tonight: Making his first start of the year against the Dodgers was an ideal matchup for Blach. The Dodgers flail against left-handed pitching and Blach pitched the best game of his career against them last year. He only went five innings tonight, which is understandable since he has not stretched it out yet this year, and filled Bumgarner’s void nicely.

The offense really needs to step up. The team may have been fortunate winning yesterday after only scoring two runs, but more often than not that is not going to cut it. Someone needs to step up and deliver in clutch situations.

Brandon Crawford left the game after grabbing his hip in the eighth inning. It is unclear the extent of his injury, but let’s hope it is not anything too serious.

Next: Why Christian Arroyo Had to be Called up Now

The San Francisco Giants will be back in action tomorrow night at 7:15 PM against the Dodgers, as Johnny Cueto will matchup against Alex Wood.