SF Giants news: Hunter Pence ‘losing sleep’ over MLB The Show play

Hunter Pence’s play as the SF Giants in MLB The Show has left a little be to desired.

It started so well for Hunter Pence: a walk-off home run to lift the SF Giants to a 3-2 victory over the Royals on his birthday. Since then, things in MLB The Show have gone a bit south.

Pence’s team fell to 3-9 on Friday, leaving him five games outside of the playoffs already. There’s a little time to turn things around, but it’s not looking good.

"“I’m losing sleep for how bad I am at that game,” Pence joked on NBC Sports Bay Area’s “Triples Alley” on Friday. “I feel like the whole Giants organization is on me playing this video game good, and sorry my right thumb is not the same as my right arm.”"

With the MLB season postponed indefinitely, the league found one representative for each of the 30 teams to participate in a simulated season. It’s a 29-game season where each team plays each team once, with the top eight finishers moving on to the playoffs.

You can watch every game on Twitch, and MLB.com is tracking all of the stats and standings.

Pence, arguably the Giants’ most fun player, was picked to represent his team. Pence told NBCBA that it was the coolest thing he’s been a part of and added that the game looks so realistic it helps fill in that need for baseball that everyone has right now.

After that first win though, the season’s been a bit of a struggle. Pence went 1-2 on Friday, falling to 3-9 overall. Before Friday, MLB.com’s Juan Toribio put him 23rd in the power rankings.

“Nobody is having more fun in this league than Pence. The Giants outfielder loves the league so much that he celebrated his 37th birthday by playing four games of MLB The Show,” he wrote.

The Rangers’ Joey Gallo (11-1) and the Rays’ Blake Snell (13-3) are leaders right now. Gavin Lux of the Dodgers is pacing the NL West at 9-3.

Pence has a chance to improve a bit with games again Card Edwards Jr (3-8) of the Mariners and Lance McCullers Jr. (5-7) of the Astros on Sunday. Of course he also has to face Jeff McNeil (8-3) of the Mets and Rhys Hospkins (8-4) of the Phillies, so … maybe not.

You can watch all the games beginning at 6 p.m. PT on Pence’s Twitch channel.