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Bochy praises Suarez’s ability to recover from four-run first inning

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© Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports

Andrew Suarez’s fifth start of his major league career didn’t start out very well.

In the Giants’ 6-3 loss against the Cincinnati Reds Wednesday afternoon, Suarez gave up four runs in the first inning, including a three-run home run to former Giant Adam Duvall. Despite the rough start to his outing, Suarez buckled down and managed to allow just one more run, a controversial one at that, through six full innings of work.

After the game, Giants manager Bruce Bochy praised his young starter for keeping his composure in the midst of a turbulent time.

“Really, first inning, I mean, he had good stuff — he was just overthrowing,” Bochy said. “You know, he had a good fastball, and he looked he was maybe trying to power his way through them a little bit instead of working the edges maybe a little bit more. Then he settled down, and pitched a great ballgame. Gave up a cheap run (in the sixth), got a bad break on a call there. Votto, that’s a fair ball; that cost us a run there. But (Suarez) really did a good job of regrouping, and gave us six innings there, gave us a chance to come back. You know, had a couple great chances there. Second and third, nobody out, bases loaded, one out. We were just missing, you know, a big hit.”

The call Bochy referred to occurred when Votto’s apparently inning-ending groundout to first base was called back, as the umpires believed Votto had fouled the ball off himself. The ball appeared to miss Votto on television replays. Votto later scored in the inning after a single and a passed ball.

“Well, that’s what I saw,” Bochy said. “It was a ground ball, and fair ball, and he was out. And he thought it hit him. You know, (the umpires) got together, and they didn’t overturn it, but the ball didn’t hit him. So that’s a bad break for Suarez. (Votto) ends up scoring there. And like I said, we had our chances. I mean, we did a great job, I thought. You know, you get down four, we came right back and put some runs on the board. You know, they were fighting hard there; we just were missing a big hit.”

Votto’s controversial run extended the Reds’ lead from 4-3 to 5-3. While it’s impossible to tell exactly how the run influenced the game, the Giants had the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the sixth, but were unable to score a run.