Hunter Pence is healthy at last. By the time he reached his position on the worn spot in the right field grass, the applause enveloped him.
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The Giants stranded him there.
It was a reminder: It takes more than one effervescent player to make a flat team sparkle again. The rest of the Giants bullpen – the same one that caused so much stress in the first half – pitched three more innings of hitless ball to shut this series down.
San Francisco Giants’ Hunter Pence hits a double against the Washington Nationals in the second inning at AT&T Park in San Francisco on Saturday, July 30, 2016.
Scherzer (11-6) had lost four of his five career starts against the Giants and a no-decision in Game 4 of the 2012 World Series before holding San Francisco to one run over seven innings. SF starter Jake Peavy gave up all three runs on five hits through four innings with six relievers putting up zeros.
Pence missed 48 games with a right hamstring strain and underwent surgery June 9 to remove a torn tendon. So Bochy’s current closer, Santiago Casilla, might have made a statement when he shook off a hit batter and struck out MVP candidate Daniel Murphy to record his 24th save.
Two of San Francisco’s runs came via errors by Trea Turner and Anthony Rendon, mistakes that prevented Gio Gonzalez from pitching his way out of jams. “Great job by Sammy (Solis) coming in and getting two pitches and three outs”. He was charged with three runs in four innings.
That put the Giants ahead 2-0 and proved to be the game-winning run.
The Nats immediately dashed any hope of history when Bryce Harper led off the sixth with a single off George Kontos. Then Ryan Zimmerman caught the ball, doubled off the runner at first and to everyone’s amazement lobbed a rainbow toss to Anthony Rendon at third. A decent relay would have arrived in plenty of time to cut down Zimmermann, but Gregor Blanco’s throw wasn’t especially strong and Panik’s attempt to the plate went wide.
They got a “hit with runners in scoring position” and followed that up with the trusty “productive out”.
“We have to get better here, really in all facets of the game”, said manager Bruce Bochy Friday.
Taking advantage of a left-righty matchup, Bochy chose pitcher Madison Bumgarner as the pinch hitter.
He allowed just a Gillaspie single in the fourth and a Blanco two-out walk in the seventh over the next four innings before exiting the game.
Hernan Bernardello scored in the 86th minute to give the Montreal Impact a 1-1 tie with D.C. United Sunday night.
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Not a whole lot has been going right for the Giants of late. San Francisco managed eight hits and nine walks with Eduardo Nunez driving in two with Brandon Belt scoring and driving in a run.
