San Francisco Giants: Cueto, Watson Struggle in Loss to Indians

The San Francisco Giants lost a close one to the Indians on Monday as Johnny Cueto and Tony Watson struggled.

Cueto got the start and lasted just 4.1 innings in what was a scheduled 5 inning start for him.

He allowed 4 earned runs on 7 hits and 2 walks with 4 strikeouts.

The Indians got to Cueto quickly with a 3-run home run in the first by Yonder Alonso. He also hit a solo home run in the fifth to chase Cueto from the game.

Cueto’s speing ERA now sits at 5.79. He’ll likely get at least one more start before the regular season.

As for Watson, he came on for Cueto Iin the fifth and promptly gave up back-to-back hits. A double-play got him out of the jam.

He gave up another hit in the sixth before getting pulled, but Hunter Strickland allowed the inherited runner to score.

Watson’s spring ERA now sits at 6.75. But on the bright side, Mark Melancon pinched a scoreless inning in this game to bring his ERA down to 3.00 this spring.

Offensively, the B’s had it going on. Brandon Belt, Buster Posey and Brandon Crawford each collected two hits in this game.

Of those fighting for a spot on the Opening Day roster, Jarret Parker hit a solo home run, but I’m afraid it may be too little, too late for him. He needs a huge week to make this roster out of spring training.

On that note, Gregor Blanco walked and drove in a run, while Mac Williamson was 0-2. Those are still the leaders to be back-up outfielders in my eyes.

The three main guys battling for a back-up infield spot got one at-bat each today. Kelby Tomlinson was the only one who got a hit.

In Spring Training you mainly want to see your offense collecting hits, and that’s what the San Francisco Giants did on Monday picking up 11.

On the flip side, the pitching staff gave up 13 with 10 of them being allowed by Cueto and Watson.

So while the hitting was good, the pitching wasn’t great. We saw too much of that last season where we either hit and did not pitch, or pitched and didn’t hit.

Hopefully they will start to put it all together as we inch closer to Opening Day next week.