The San Francisco Giants dropped their fourth straight game, and only compiled one hit in a 1-0 loss. Johnny Cueto gets “Cain’ed” in a seven inning, 11 strikeout performance.
The San Francisco Giants bats went, were cold, don’t exist. Nothing new. Patrick Corbin pitched well, but the Giants hitters are just free swinging, without any regard for the strike zone, their own plate discipline, whatever else. Everything they’re doing right now literally isn’t working.
Corbin is a good pitcher. I’d even say a very good pitcher. But that type of performance is something you’d expect out of Chris Sale. The Giants literally made Corbin look that good.
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Corbin struck out nine, walked one, and gave up one hit, which was a check swing contact made by Brandon Belt against the shift. Luckily it was someone fast who hit that ball, or we’d be writing about how Corbin threw a no-hitter. Still, regardless of the fact that they kept them from throwing a no-hitter, the optics were literally no better.
The Giants team made routine weak contact, and consistently worked themselves into bad counts with either terrible swings, or terrible takes. Corbin is known for pumping in his slider, and the Giants just hacked away at it, and instead, they laid off the fastball for the most of the night. Corbin’s fastball isn’t deceptive.
It’s just a good 92 MPH heater. A few times he left it up and away, perfect for someone to poke down the line or lift the other way. But too many guys are trying to do it all at the plate, too much. They’re trying to backspin the ball out, and just can’t square up the barrel on the ball.
So what is it going to take for this lineup? I’m not sure. I’m at a loss for words at the moment.
The picture looking forward? It actually could be bright if we continue to get Johnny Cueto performances like that. As they continue to get healthy, that’s going to be the silver lining. The pitching this year will be good enough, it’s a matter of if the bats can come around. Nothing has convinced me of that at this point though.
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They’re in dire need of patience, and a deep, deep breath. A shot in the arm might help too. Mac Williamson clubbed his sixth homer of the year, which is barely two weeks old in AAA. But the Giants have been bullish on calling him up. Maybe tonight finally changes their tune. Do I doubt that? Oh yes. But it’s worth hoping for.