© Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports
SAN DIEGO — On Friday night, the San Francisco Giants were defeated 5-1 by the San Diego Padres in the battle of Tysons — Ty Blach (whose full name is actually Tyson) and Tyson Ross. Although he started off strong, the Padres eventually got to Blach as Ross kept the Giants quiet through his six-inning start.
First time through the order, the Padres were only able to muster a walk, coaxed by Christian Villanueva in the second, against Blach. He pitched efficiently through the first three innings, throwing 40 pitches, 26 for strikes, before needing only five pitches to get through the fourth.
It wasn’t until fifth inning that Villanueva got the Padres in the hit column with a weakly-hit single, which broke up Blach’s brief bid for a no-hitter.
That’s where Blach’s outing took a turn.
Shortly after, an overturned call at first base put Blach into a bases-loaded-one-out jam. Brandon Belt bobbled a ground ball from Carlos Asuaje and was late with the throw to Blach covering first.
That brought Ross to the plate. Faced with a 3-2 count, Blach’s opposing pitcher drove in the first run of the game with a single into right field. Two batters later, Jose Pirela followed suit, hitting another RBI single into right field to give the Padres a 2-0 lead.
After the two-run fifth inning, the Padres started the sixth with three consecutive hits — back-to-back doubles and a single — which bumped their lead up to 4-0. The single, hit by Freddy Galvis, knocked Blach from the game.
Blach left the mound after five innings of work, allowing seven hits, four runs, and one walk while tying a season-high with three strikeouts. Pierce Johnson relieved Blach and stranded his adopted baserunner with a fly out and two strikeouts.
Brandon Belt beat the shift multiple times on his way to a 2-for-3 game. In the first, he beat it with a bunt towards a vacated third base. Then, after walking in the third, Belt singled past the second and third baseman into left field.
The other Brandon — Brandon Crawford — also had a fantastic night at the plate; his best of the season. He went 3-for-4 with three singles.
That plus a single, and hit-by-pitch from Joe Panik, was the extent of what the Giants offense did against Ross through the first six innings.
Once San Francisco knocked Ross from the game in the seventh, the Giants pulled within three runs when Panik hit an RBI single.
However, an inning-ending double play kept the Padres ahead, and Franchy Cordero made up for the run with a deep solo homer to start the bottom of the seventh off Sam Dyson. Dyson went on to pitch through the eighth inning, only allowing the home run while striking out one.
The Giants stick around to play the third of their four-game series with the Padres, in which Derek Holland will start against Clayton Richard.
