Welington Castillo launched a key three-run home run that put the Diamondbacks ahead to stay in their 6-5 victory over the Giants on Saturday.
Advertisement
A night earlier, Castillo’s three-run home run off Hunter Strickland in the eighth inning beat the Giants.
Jeff Samardzija (8-5 3.91 ERA) takes the hill tonight for the Giants and he has been tagged up for six earned runs in each of his last two starts. “It means a lot, especially here at home”.
“I tried to throw a two-seamer and left it over the plate”, Strickland said. He lost Lamb there, and Strickland, that’s just a badly located pitch, and that’s the game. “I was trying to throw it in, trying to get a ground ball”. “They’re eager to show what they can do, and they got me a win”. Williamson s homer was a gargantuan shot that scuffed the scoreboard in center field and was estimated at 460 feet.
The Giants have had the D-Backs’ number winning their last five games facing them and they have won 39 of their last 58 games facing them in Arizona. “We’ve just got to start holding those leads a little better”.
Yasmany Tomas led off the Arizona 11th with a single, was sacrificed to second and a wild pitch put him on third with one out.
“He made a nice running catch in left field”, San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy said.
Cueto (12-1) allowed four runs in the first three innings and none in the next four. Buster Posey walked, took third on a single and scored on a fielder’s choice when Diamondbacks shortstop Jean Segura threw wide to home plate for an error after fielding Williamson’s grounder.
Belt’s two-out, two-run double in the fourth inning after Suarez singled with one out and Ruben Tejada doubled. Then Samardzija grounded to Segura, who bobbled the ball and could only get one out to allow Williamson to score.
Cueto was the beneficiary, tilting his shoulders while shaking off another problematic first inning to win his 10th consecutive decision.
The Giants (52-32) prevailed on a night when their bullpen blew a lead in the sixth inning or later for the 16 time this season – second only to the Reds in the major leagues.
Diamondbacks infielder Nick Ahmed is on paternity leave after the birth of his first child, a son.
“You know what? I’m on one of the best teams in baseball”, said Gillaspie, who is 8 for 12 over his past four games to raise his average from.221 to.288.
The Diamondbacks recalled Tuffy Gosewisch from Triple-A Reno, giving them three catchers on the roster. Weeks has been away from the team since Thursday.
The Giants had Span in Friday s original lineup but Bochy scratched him because of right neck stiffness that wasn t subsiding. OF Hunter Pence (hamstring strain) took on-field batting practice Saturday. The Giants are optimistic that Pence can return soon after that date; that s why they didn t transfer Pence to the 60-day disabled list (which would ve pushed back his activation date to August 2) when they needed to free up 40-man roster spaces to promote Ruben Tejada and Grant Green. INF Ramiro Pena (ankle) was available for pinch-hitting duty Saturday. 2B Joe Panik (concussion) is still resting and is eligible to return Tuesday.
Advertisement
NOTES: Arizona RHP Zack Greinke (left oblique strain) was placed on the disabled list, retroactive to Wednesday, after an MRI done Saturday revealed a strain. Greinke could pitch as soon as next weekend if all is well and can still be named an NL All-Star, but may not pitch in San Diego. OF David Peralta and OF-IF Chris Owings, both on the 15-day disabled list, are moving closer to being able to play in games. “Hopefully he’ll be ready for us after the (All-Star) break”, manager Chip Hale said. OF Socrates Brito (fractured toe) is also close to returning from the DL. RHP Jake Peavy (4-7, 5.33), coming off a rough outing against Oakland, gets the start for San Francisco the Monday afternoon opener against the Rockies’ Tyler Anderson (0-2, 2.66).
