Jeff Samardzija has had his ups and downs throughout his career, but regardless of where he’s been, the Giants’ right-hander has built a reputation for going deep into ballgames
In each of the past four seasons, Samardzija’s diet has consisted of fruits, vegetables, and innings, as the “Shark” has notched at least 200 frames in his previous four campaigns.
On Friday night, though, when the Giants needed Samardzija to go deep into his outing against the San Diego Padres, he turned in the second shortest stint of the season, a 4 and 1/3 inning start that left San Francisco’s bullpen short-handed heading into the final two games of the series.
“In the first inning, you score four runs and you know, Shark, he just didn’t have his best stuff tonight,” Giants’ skipper Bruce Bochy said. “He was pitching without it, not his best command, I was trying to stick with him, I just felt at that point especially with who was up, I needed to make a change to stop things. They were scoring three consecutive innings there and he was working pretty hard and I just didn’t think he had his best stuff.”
The Giants spotted Samardzija four runs in the bottom of the first inning against Padres’ starter Trevor Cahill, but slowly and surely, San Diego crept back into the game. After Samardzija allowed a lone run in the third and fourth innings, he fell apart in the fifth, recording just one out while tacking three additional runs onto his ledger.
Any short outing is frustrating for Samardzija, but Friday’s was particularly disappointing because the Padres and Giants wound up playing 11 innings, and the Giants’ bullpen was taxed in a way it didn’t anticipate.
“You know, your guys go out there and battle for your early in the game and give you a nice, comfortable lead,” Samardzija said. “Essentially what I’ve asked for any time as a pitcher. You just wanted three-four runs to go do your job. They did just that and then some. Then to have it turn out the way it did. That’s not to high on my list of things I enjoy doing.”
After Samardzija exited the game, Bochy called upon seven different relievers, including right-handers George Kontos and Kyle Crick. Bochy said prior to Friday evening’s game that he didn’t plan to use Kontos because he’s been overworked this week, but with limited options in the top of the 11th inning, the Giants’ skipper wound up needing Kontos’ arm.
The Padres used the opportunity to take control of the game, scratching three runs across the board against Kontos to put the game out of reach.
“In fairness, tonight, I was trying to give George (Kontos) a day off, hoping to get one inning out of him and then turn it over to (Kyle) Crick who would have been our long guy but I mean, we couldn’t stop them,” Bochy said.
San Diego has now won 16 of its past 21 games against San Francisco dating back to last year’s All-Star break, and won eight of the 11 games the two sides have played this season.
After stealing the first two games of the series, the Padres are in excellent position moving forward, especially considering San Francisco’s bullpen will likely be short-handed come Saturday.
With Kontos all but certain to be unavailable, and Crick and closer Sam Dyson possibly limited in what they can give after pitching in multiple games in this week, the Giants might be in a position to make a roster move and call an additional arm up from the Minor Leagues.
“Long game, long innings, it was a grind all night,” Bochy said. “But for our guys to come back in the ninth inning it was quite a comeback there. It was a shame we couldn’t find a way to win that ballgame.”