In the first half of the season, the San Francisco Giants were down and out.
When they started the second half on Friday night in San Diego, they went down and starter Johnny Cueto came out.
But then, a bottom-of-the-order rally provided the Giants with a spark, catcher Buster Posey slugged a home run, and San Francisco came storming back in a come-from-behind 5-4 win over the Padres.
After staking out an early 2-0 lead, Cueto labored through his shortest outing of the season, a four-inning stint that lasted just 82 pitches and left lingering questions regarding Cueto’s health and command.
The 31-year-old Dominican Republic native allowed six runs over six innings of work on the final day of the first half against the Miami Marlins, and admitted missing the first three weeks of Spring Training provided him with a setback he’s yet to overcome.
On Friday, Cueto struggled against a Padres’ lineup that entered the contest with the fewest runs scored of any Major League team. In four lengthy innings, Cueto surrendered six hits and issued three walks while striking out five, and for the third straight start, Cueto’s command evaded him.
Cueto entered the month of July as one of the few true trade chips on San Francisco’s roster, but after an inner ear infection pushed back his first start of the month, Cueto has now surrendered nine earned runs in his last two outings and no longer represents the type of can’t-miss value contenders are pining for.
Cueto’s night did begin on a positive note, as he struck out two batters in a scoreless bottom of the first before drilling his third hit of the season in the top of the second to drive in Giants’ shortstop Brandon Crawford and give himself a 2-0 lead.
After slapping a Clayton Richard fastball past the dive of Padres’ first baseman Wil Myers, Cueto took a wild turn around the bag at first, and flopped awkwardly back toward the bag when catcher Austin Hedges threw back to first base to gun down a giddy Cueto. It’s unclear whether the impact of the dive took a toll on Cueto’s body, but from that point on, he struggled to locate his breaking pitches.
The Padres tied the game at 2-2 on an Erick Aybar single in the bottom of the second, and took a 3-2 after Hedges knocked in Aybar following his leadoff double in the bottom of the fourth inning. Though Cueto retired the final two Padres’ hitters in the fourth inning with a runner in scoring position, Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy lifted the right-hander and turned the rest of the contest into a bullpen game.
The Giants’ bullpen responded as Cory Gearrin, George Kontos, Steven Okert, and Hunter Strickland combined to throw four innings of relief before Bochy called on closer Sam Dyson. Dyson recorded his fourth save of the year for the Giants in place of Mark Melancon, who remains on the disabled list with a pronator strain, but it wasn’t without drama.
An infield single off the bat of Jose Pirela knocked in Manuel Margot to cut the Giants’ lead to one and place the tying run in scoring position, but Dyson wiggled his way out of a bases loaded jam by getting Jabari Blash to fly out on a 3-2 fastball to end the game.
In the top of the sixth, rookie Miguel Gomez pinch hit for Gearrin and smashed a sacrifice fly for his second RBI in as many games, and center fielder Denard Span slapped a bounding single through the right side of the infield to give the Giants a 4-3 lead.
After opening the Giants’ scoring with an RBI single in the first inning, Posey clobbered his 11th home run of the year to dead center field in the top half of the seventh to extend San Francisco’s lead. The towering shot to center field from the Giants’ All-Star landed in a row of bushes in center field, and was registered at 422 feet.
The offensive star of the night for San Francisco was left fielder Gorkys Hernandez, who started after the Giants placed rookie Austin Slater on the disabled list with a torn adductor muscle in his hip on Saturday. The last time Hernandez faced the Padres, his average was hovering in the .150s, but the 29-year-old enjoyed the first four-hit game of his career in the win.
With Slater out until at least September and the Giants carrying just three outfielders on their roster, Hernandez figures to have his playing time increased in the immediate future, and on Friday, he issued an impressive opening statement exiting the All-Star break.