That’s the game the Giants have to win.
Nobody does what Johnny Cueto did to the potent Chicago lineup on Friday night, making a team that finished third in runs scored look more the South Bend Cubs for the first eight innings.
Cueto did his job in the Giants 1-0 defeat on Friday, more than that actually. The Giants offense, however, did not, getting a man in scoring position just three times, and twice squandering lead off singles by getting thrown out on the base paths. That’s not to take anything away from Chicago starter Jon Lester, who looked like the postseason stud that helped lead the Red Sox to two World Series titles.
Yet the fact remains that the Giants had a chance to beat the Cubs at Wrigley in Game 1 of a three-game series and didn’t take it. How significant is that? Historically, teams that win the first game of a five game series win the series 70 percent of the time. Yes the Giants came back from a 2-0 deficit in the 2012 Division Series, but that Cincinnati Reds team wasn’t comparable to this Chicago juggernaut.
The good news for San Francisco is their starting pitching continues to be out of this world. Friday’s loss is the seventh consecutive game that the Giants haven’t allowed more than three runs. They won the first six, including a 3-0 victory in Monday’s wild-card game that played like a bizarro version of this one, with Conor Gillaspie playing the part of nondescript hero.
It also wouldn’t necessarily be fair to say the bats have fallen back asleep, after catching fire to close the regular season. Yes the Giants have scored three runs in their last 18 innings, but that was against two pitchers who had the second and third highest ERAs in the major leagues this season.
You can even argue the Giants did enough to extend Friday’s game past the ninth inning, when Gorkys Hernandez was rung up on an obvious check swing to open the final frame on what should’ve been ball four, and might have scored from first on Buster Posey’s double two batters later.
At this point, however, none of that matters. The Giants will have to do more against top-tier pitchers or they will lose this series. It’s not as if they are going to get a break either.
What exacerbates the pain of Friday’s loss is how tough tomorrow’s matchup is going to be, facing Chicago’s Kyle Hendricks who had the best ERA in the major leagues, and gave up an average of 1.32 runs per nine innings at Wrigley this year. Going for the Giants might be their weakest link in the playoff rotation, sending Jeff Samardzija to the hill against his former club in his first postseason start. Samrdzija has experienced a late season renaissance, but hasn’t fared well against this Chicago lineup, with the Cubs hitters combining for a .879 career OPS against the 6′ 6″ right-hander.
The Giants will have the edge when Bumgarner takes the hill in Game 3 against Jake Arrieta, because the Giants always have the advantage when Bumgarner pitches in the postseason regardless of who is on the other side. But Bumgarner can’t pitch three games in a row (right?) and a 2-0 hole against a Chicago team without a weakness in the lineup may be even too much for the Giants and their even-yeared magic to overcome.
Or maybe this is simply the Giants being the Giants, squandering an opportunity in the first act and increasing doubt before making us all feel silly for ever thinking they weren’t just messing with us.
The Giants hung with the Cubs once again on Friday night, in the fourth game between the two clubs decided by one run. That’s good news. The bad news is that the Giants have lost three of them, and unless they can figure out a way to overcome Chicago’s dominant pitching, two more might be on the horizon.
