Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — For the first time since Cactus League opening day, the Giants are under .500. Ring the alarms, #FireFarhan, fire off the tweets, it’s panic time.
The Giants fell to 6-7-1 in a 7-1 loss to the Indians on Thursday in front of 6,985 at Scottsdale Stadium, a game that was colored by one starter who struggled and a possible starter who’s making a claim at a spot.
Here are a few takeaways:
The forgotten man
Andrew Suarez ditched a pitch. Perhaps he’ll gain a rotation spot.
The Giants have a fairly wide-open competition for the No. 5 spot after Tyler Beede went down, filled with interesting veterans like Trevor Cahill, young talent like Logan Webb and untested fliers like Trevor Oaks.
And then there’s Suarez, who may be the forgotten man after starting 29 games in 2018 to middling success (4.49 ERA), only to struggle mostly at Triple-A Sacramento in 2019. He had a few major league appearances, but was mostly off the radar as they entered 2020 with a new regime.
The new regime, after digging through his video and pitch performance, eliminated a pitch he’s thrown “my whole life.”
“We went over my numbers with the two-seam and it wasn’t that good,” Suarez said after going 2 2/3 innings, his one mistake a two-run home run to Cleveland’s Oscar Mercado. “… When they told me to stop throwing it, it was a little weird at first.”
He’s getting the hang of his four-seamer, which he wants to run up to righty hitters, who have killed him in the past. In 588 major league plate appearances against the lefty, righties have slashed .296/.356/.535.
The Giants identified something had to change, and plenty has. The four-seamer has been introduced, and he was hitting 93 mph in the loss. The pitching minds, led by Brian Bannister, want him throwing more offspeed, and he’s working on a sharper slider that he “wasn’t getting any swing and misses” on last season, which he acknowledged was a poor year for him.
Projects dot the Giants like Starbucks dot Seattle, and the early results on Suarez have been encouraging. He had been nearly perfect through four scoreless innings entering the game, with just one hit and a walk plus six strikeouts in four innings. He was the third pitcher called upon Thursday and settled in until his hanging slider to Mercado.
The Giants have a rotation void, but that does not appear to have caught Suarez’s eye, who said with a smile, “I don’t really know what’s going on.”
The Giants have asked him to be flexible, and he’s started once and relieved twice thus far.
“If I start, if I come out of the pen, doesn’t really matter as long as I can contribute to the team,” he said.
Grins and bears it
Drew Smyly couldn’t escape the first inning, throwing 32 pitches and not being able to put away any batter until a good breaking ball got Carlos Santana looking.
Gabe Kapler, perhaps concerned with the workload of a Tommy John survivor, gave him a quick hook, and the 30-year-old threw another 15-20 pitches in the bullpen to ensure he’s on schedule.
Smyly, who had been solid in his first two outings, still was encouraged by his third.
“I felt really good. I thought the ball was coming out of my hand great, stuff seemed really sharp. Frustrating — just one of those days I couldn’t seem to put them away,” said Smyly, who will be part of the rotation.
His all-important ERA still is unblemished after minor league callup Brandon Lawson immediately induced a ground ball that became a double play.
“Next guy throws one pitch, gets two outs. Crazy game,” Smyly said.
Quick hits
— Brandon Belt hit his second home run of the Cactus League.
— Sam Selman (one inning) Andrew Triggs (1 1/3) and Jarlin Garcia (one) continued solid bullpen work, none allowing a run thus far.
— Evan Longoria finished 0-for-3 with a strikeout and is 3-for-18 with two doubles in spring.