SAN FRANCISCO — As Santiago Casilla put the finishing touches on his bullpen’s meltdown, hoards of Giants fans filed out of AT&T Park. At least two remained. With the home crowd lulled, two Giants fans cupped their hands around their mouth and croaked, “We want Romo!”
Referring to Sergio Romo, the Giants’ setup man who’s been shelved since April 15 with a right flexor strain. He was the Giants best pitcher Tuesday night, firing two scoreless innings. Unfortunately that was for the San Jose Giants, while Romo’s San Francisco bullpen mates were torched for 10 runs.
Romo’s “very close” to returning, but won’t be activated on Wednesday. The plan, which general manager Bobby Evans said might change, is for Romo to throw once more in Triple-A. That leaves the Giants’ eight relievers to fend for themselves at least another night, on the heels of a beat down levied by one of the worst offenses in the American League.
“They’re big boys,” Bochy said of his bullpen. “They have to deal with this like all of us do. They’re going to have their moments.”
Collectively, almost all of them did. George Kontos, Cory Gearrin, Javier Lopez and Santiago Casilla were all touched up for multiple runs. The A’s (34-43) scored 12 of their 13 runs in the last four innings, and beat the Giants (49-30), 13-11. It was a strange result given how many things actually went right for the Giants, capped off by back-to-back home runs in the ninth inning.
Conor Gillaspie went 4-for-5 from the eighth spot in the lineup. Albert Suarez (3-1, 3.83 ERA) lasted 5.2 innings, with only one run scoring when he was on the mound. Brandon Crawford kept hitting with runners on base, nabbing his fourth career game with five-plus RBIs.
But none of those things mattered. Because once the ball left Suarez’s right hand in the sixth inning, that’s when things blew up.
“It felt like a spring training game,” Lopez said, reflecting on scoring outbursts.”
Kontos was the first reliever out of the dugout, the only safe haven from the A’s onslaught. He served a two-strike cutter that Stephen Vogt delivered into right-center, scoring a pair of runs that were tacked on Suarez’s ERA. That was the first blow dealt by the A’s in a series two-out, two-strike punches.
Billy Butler lined a two-run single three batters later to put the A’s ahead. Hunter Strickland finally ended the 25-minute meltdown, and Josh Osich provided a reprieve with a clean seventh inning. That was the last one the Giants would get.
The eighth inning started with Gearrin, and ended with Derek Law. Sandwiched between were nine batters, five runs (four with two outs), and the first right-handed batter to get a hit off Lopez. It was a big one, too, landing in the left-field seats with two runners on base.
“Throwing strikes here is the name of the game,” Gearrin said.
The Giants did, and the A’s just never stopped swinging. Lopez was stranded on the mound after Jake Smolinski’s pinch-hit home run, largely because Bochy didn’t see it coming. He had Santiago Casilla warming up in the bullpen, and said he’d have turned to Casilla if Smolinski had reached. Instead he ended up back in the dugout after circling the bases.
So Lopez remained, and the A’s bled him out for a couple more hits
“I’m definitely one of those (guys) that could’ve gotten us back in the dugout,” Lopez said. “… I didn’t do that. It’s disappointing.”
Casilla eventually did get his shot, and it didn’t go any better than his predecessors. He was barreled up for four doubles, three runs and threw 31 pitches. Bochy even had Chris Stratton warming up, a night after he threw a career-high 57 pitches. The Giants manager had no choice but to entertain his final option.
All his other ones flamed out.
“It’s hard to give up 12 runs in the last four innings and win a ballgame,” Bochy
–Joe Panik is likely headed to the disabled list on Wednesday. Bochy said they’ll check in with the league tomorrow on placing him on the 7-day concussion DL, and presumably a corresponding roster move will be announced afterward. Evans denied any possibility if that call-up being top infield prospect Christian Arroyo.
–Given how many pitches the bullpen was taxed, Bochy said Law is long man for the time being. He needed only four pitches to record his one out, an eighth-inning strikeout of Danny Valencia
