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Late-inning offense from Dodgers spoils Giants’ two-homer night

By

Jacob Hutchinson

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© Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports

LOS ANGELES – As the Giants closed out their opening week series against the Dodgers tonight, most of the attention was set squarely on the team’s new outfielder and the setup that definitely wasn’t going to change to accommodate him, but then very much did.

Here are three thoughts from the Giants’ 5-3 loss to the Dodgers:

Moronta, Watson dinged late

The bottom of the seventh inning changed the course of tonight’s game. As the Giants led 3-2, Bruce Bochy called on his go-to reliever in tight situations, Reyes Moronta. It was Moronta’s first appearance for the Giants since the blisteringly good two innings he put together against the San Diego Padres on April 30, which featured a career-high five strikeouts, four of which came in order.

Tonight featured no such glory for Moronta. While it was far from a disaster of an inning, the astounding control and near-unhittability on display in his last outing was not quite there.

Moronta’s first batter, Austin Barnes deserves all the credit for his leadoff double, which he dug out from about his shins.

Moronta then seemed to resume course from this weekend, striking out a pinch-hitting Alex Verdugo with his first changeup of the season. Verdugo was as fooled as any hitter you’ll see all year, and it seemed like a primer for a solid recovery:

Instead, Moronta walked Kike Hernandez after getting a 2-2 advantage in the count. He threw a pair of sliders which were both wayward, and hung low and off the plate. Then, he secured a fly ball from Justin Turner which advanced Barnes and placed David Freese at the plate with a couple of runners on and two outs.

Moronta challenged Freese down in the zone, but after two consecutive, 96.5 mph fastballs in identical locations, Freese was expecting the third (at 96.6 mph) and torched a double between Duggar and Pillar to score two. After the game, Bruce Bochy said Moronta missed his spot, and the ball caught too much of the plate:

The 4-3 Dodgers lead was ameliorated an inning later after Cody Bellinger reached on an infield-outfield single off Tony Watson which, in theory, played perfectly into the Giants’ hands, with Joe Panik perfectly positioned to scoop it grounder up. But with Panik playing a couple dozen feet into the outfield, and the ball rolling towards him slowly, the pacy Bellinger beat out a throw with relative ease. It appeared Panik was too slow to gather the ball, and Panik himself acknowledged his mistake and lack of urgency after the game, according to Andrew Baggarly:

That single put Chris Taylor at the plate, who took Watson’s low-and-outside changeup deep into the right-center field gap for a run-scoring double before advancing on the throw. The 5-3 deficit was held intact by Mark Melancon, but the Giants’ offense had little left in the tank. The Giants’ last nine batters were retired in order.

This all came after an odd night for Derek Holland, who recovered after a two-walk, two-run first inning to finish with five shutout innings, three hits allowed, four walks allowed, and seven strikeouts. He had a bases-loaded chance to drive in another run or three in the three-run fourth inning, but Holland, a .057 hitter with just three hits last season, flew out to left. Holland said after the game that he needs to take advantage in those situations, but that he’s been working with Madison Bumgarner on improving at the plate.

Steven, meet Kevin; Kevin, meet Steven

Last night, Bruce Bochy was all but certain Steven Duggar would not be moved from center field to accommodate Kevin Pillar. That firm decision was firm for all of a few hours as Bochy moved Duggar to right field and played Pillar in center. After the news of that 180-degree shift came through, Duggar was happy to discuss the move, and his apparent excitement to share the outfield with Pillar.

The 25-year-old outfielder credited the combined defensive abilities of the pair before the game, saying, “I think if a ball drops out there, it was meant to be a hit.”

That premonition and confidence in two rangy, defensively stalwart presences in the outfield was far from hyperbole. Duggar, it seemed, wanted to make a point of showing off his defensive capabilities, as he made three long-distance catches tonight, one of which was up for grabs between him and Pillar. He also kick-started the Giants’ offense with a solo home run in the fourth inning.

Stripling’s Sliders: Not a bad burger joint, just bad pitch locations

Duggar’s home run came on a hanging slider from Ross Stripling that hung over the middle of the plate at 86.8 mph, and after Evan Longoria singled, Brandon Belt did nearly the same thing on nearly the same pitch. Here’s the pitch Duggar saw:

When Belt came up, he took an 87.1 mph slider in nearly the same place and did essentially the same thing:

The pair of homers on that slider saw a pretty immediate change from Stripling, who threw sliders with just three of his last 38 pitches (7.9 percent), and one of the next 31 pitches following the home run.

The only player who Stripling seemed confident in going after with the slider was Pillar, who faced three of the 12 sliders that Stripling threw. Two of those three resulted in swinging bunt attempts, the first of which Pillar made a concerted effort to leg out. The second, however, was odd, as Stripling through a soft, lazy lob that bounced into Freese’s mitt at first. Had Pillar run like he had on the first attempt, he would’ve likely been in for an infield single.

The play was inconsequential, but was nevertheless odd to see considering the full-forced way Pillar plays.

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