© Chris Mezzavilla
On a night when the Giants honored their best hitter, the team failed to score a single run. After Barry Bonds had his number retired in a ceremony that expectedly went longer than scheduled, it was almost worth reminding that the Giants had a game to play. It seemed the Giants never got that reminder, as they lost 4-0 to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
This was a night that could have bared fruit for the Giants in their far-fetched playoff hopes. Both the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Los Angeles Dodgers lost earlier in the night.
Yet, the night after a 13-run performance, the Giants reverted to their old ways, mustering six hits in a shutout loss. Manager Bruce Bochy and third baseman Evan Longoria both called for the team to build on their performance last night, but it was not to be.
Ty Blach struggled mightily in his first start since May 27, an 8-3 loss to the Chicago Cubs in which Blach lasted just four innings and allowed five earned runs. He didn’t fare much better tonight.
Blach pitched four innings and gave up four runs to the Pirates. After a shutout first two innings, Blach allowed a sac fly in the third. Then in the fourth, after a pair of singles opened the inning, Blach allowed a three-run home run to Josh Bell, giving the Pirates a 4-0 lead.
The Giants failed to mount any sort of comeback and were shutout for the first time since a 2-0 loss to the Chicago Cubs on July 10. But the loss wasn’t entirely fruitless. After Blach’s four-inning outing, Casey Kelly, who was making his debut for the Giants, pitched five shutout innings.
“We got some singles, but we just couldn’t generate the offense,” Bochy said. “But you could feel the crowd, the energy. And the effort we got from Casey Kelly, you like to think you’re going to find a way to get back in it, but we just couldn’t get it going.”
After Kelly’s performance, Bochy said he’d discuss giving him a start next week.
“Yeah, we’ll talk about it,” Bochy said. “I mean what a great job he did. He really pitched well and he’s been throwing the ball well, that’s why he’s up here.”
Buster Posey said Kelly was “really good,” but was disappointed to be shutout following a breakout offensive performance the night prior.
“Baseball’s such a game of momentum, unfortunately, it’s been going the wrong way the last week or so,” Posey said. “You hope a game like last night would kind of turn the tide. And it still can. It doesn’t mean just because today went that it did, that it won’t.”
The loss moves the Giants (58-60) back to two games under .500.