© John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports
Early in the first inning, before sunset and late fans had trickled into AT&T Park, Giants pitcher Derek Holland made a mistake. He left a sinker high in the strike zone, which Paul Goldschmidt sent to the deepest part of the ballpark in right-center field for an RBI triple. One batter later, Goldschmidt scored on a sacrifice fly.
And that was the game.
The Giants scored a run in the 8th inning, cutting Arizona’s lead to 2-1, but a fruitless 9th inning sealed the game: Arizona 2, San Francisco 1.
Holland, an offseason transplant from the Chicago White Sox, produced one of his best pitching lines in recent memory: two hits, one walk, eight strikeouts, and two earned runs. But the Giants fell victim to a recurring ineptitude: capitalizing on runners in scoring position.
With two outs in the bottom of the 5th inning, outfielder Gregor Blanco failed to knock in runners on second and third. It was the Giants’ best potential scoring situation of the night.
Three of the four times the Giants started an inning with a hit ended without runs. Posey began the 2nd and 5th innings with singles, but San Francisco finished with nothing to show for it.
Andrew McCutchen started the 8th inning with a single scorched to left field. One batter later, Posey popped up to right field. The ball somehow found green grass, but right fielder Chris Owings promptly scooped the ball and threw out McCutchen, who erred cautiously near first base, at second base.
AT&T Park’s collective rise and fall of hopeful cheering with subsequent disappointed ‘ooh’ epitomized a frustrating night for the Giants faithful.
In nine games, the Giants are 7 for 61 with runners in scoring position.
Arizona pitcher Zack Godley’s angelic curveball continued to haunt Giants batters. McCutchen was the only San Francisco hitter to connect with the sweeping pitch for a hit. Godley finished with four hits allowed, no walks, and nine strikeouts in a shutout.
The Giants imbued AT&T Park with some life in the bottom of the 8th inning. Brandon Crawford doubled to lead off. Hunter Pence moved him over with a sacrifice fly. And Blanco grounded out to the second baseman, perfectly executing his job, to score Crawford.
Finally, the crowd had woken up.
With two outs, the Giants trailed by one run as Pablo Sandoval stepped up to the plate. Humming fans rose to their feet, but Sandoval struck out swinging.
The 9th inning was three up, three down, and the Giants lost their second straight game by the same score of 2-1. Monday night’s loss puts the Giants at 4-5 on the year. Offensively, their season has been marked with drastic highs and lows.
They have failed to produce more than one run in five of their nine games. They have also gotten hot, scoring seven and 10 runs in consecutive games last week.
Monday night featured the former.
