SAN FRANCISCO — Albert Suarez spent all of last year pitching for the Arkansas Travelers, the Angels’ Double-A affiliate. He made his home starts in Dickey-Stephens Park, planted on the lip of the Arkansas River and capable of holding crowds just over 7,000.
On average last year, just a handful over 5,000 people showed up to the games in Little Rock, Arkansas. They cheered, Suarez said, but not nearly as loud as the AT&T Park crowd boasting eight times as many cheerleaders on Tuesday night.
They rewarded Suarez (1-1, 3.09 ERA) thunderously for allowing three runs in 6.1 innings against the best lineup in baseball, but were outmatched by Red Sox (34-24) fans come the the 10th inning, when the Giants’ (35-25) bullpen relinquished the lead once more to fall 5-3. Santiago Casilla was undone after a spotless ninth inning, and failed to get out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the 10th inning.
“Tough game to let get away,” manager Bruce Bochy said, “because Albert threw great.
“He did a super job to get us to the seventh, and that’s what we were hoping for.”
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The 26-year-old rookie was making his second major-league start in place of the injured Matt Cain. He allowed three runs on five innings against a feeble Braves offense, and had a much bleaker matchup against the Red Sox on paper. Boston entered Tuesday night as the major-league leading team in runs, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS). He found out only hours before his first pitch that he would be without veteran backstop Buster Posey, nursing an irritated nerve in his thumb.
It was a rookie battery taking on baseball’s most lethal offense, and Suarez did his part to keep the game within reach. He allowed a pair of runs between the second and third innings, yielding three doubles in a four-batter span to the team that also leads the majors in two-baggers. But Suarez started his carving afterward, facing the minimum nine batters from the third inning to the sixth on 34 pitches.
As he silenced the visitors, AT&T Park’s 41,512 hosts filled the void.
“You feel more energetic,” Suarez said of the crowd. “They give you a little bit of a rhythm just to come back out and do it again.”
And he did until walking Jackie Bradley Jr. with one out in the sixth inning, when Bochy ended his night. It led to Suarez’s final standing ovation, one likely full of surprises from both the fans and Giants. This was only the fifth time Suarez pitched in San Francisco, and the Giants couldn’t of predicted this scenario in a year where Chris Heston started the season as the emergency sixth starter.
Suarez landed comfortably in the Giants’ hands after leading the Travelers’ full-time starting staff last year with a 2.98 ERA. Yet the Angels still cut him loose, while Tim Lincecum is about to become the 10th pitcher in Anaheim to start a game for the Halos. Suarez only chuckled when reminded of that, knowing he’s solidified his spot somewhere on this starting staff, whether it be with the relieving corps. or every fifth day with the starting rotation.
“If they let me (keep starting), Suarez said, “I’m gonna do it.”
***
Briefly:
-Bochy exuded faith in Casilla after the game, saying he kept his closer for a second inning because he threw just 10 pitches in the ninth. He thought largely his pitchers did well to handle the Boston’s dynamic lineup.
-The Giants are batting just .201 in their last eight games.
-Bradley Jr., who scored the tying run in the seventh inning after moving to third base on a steal and errant throw by Brown, has reached base in 49 of 54 games this year. He’s one cog in a relentless, relentless lineup.
