D. Ross Cameron-USA TODAY Sports
It got to the point that the lines blurred between what constitutes a shimmy and what could be defined as a slip.
Johnny Cueto battled with C.J. Cron, the count 2-2 in the seventh inning of a tie game. He started his windup with a hitch before he even did his 180, twisting his body toward center field. He rocked back and forth a few times, pausing in air for what seems like years in windup time. And then he unleashed a nasty, 79.6-mph changeup — one pitch after a 93.3-mph fastball — and Cron swung through for Cueto’s sixth strikeout on his 89th pitch of his afternoon.
Gabe Kapler has preached endlessly about pace, about pitchers who get the ball and are ready to throw, about playing a crisp style of baseball. Cueto was all that and more in a complete-game shutout as the Giants welcomed their fans back with a 3-1 victory over the Rockies in the home opener, soaked in on a gorgeous, sunny and windy day by 7,390 fans a season after that number was zero.
Cueto with the triple-shimmy strikeout ? pic.twitter.com/La9OZcZZZA
— KNBR (@KNBR) April 9, 2021
Cueto, who was electric throughout, was at 99 pitches after his eighth inning, after which the fans gave him a standing ovation. Gabe Kapler gave him a shot for the ninth, and the opening batter, Chris Owings, drove a triple off the right-field bricks. After a sac fly, Kapler talked with Cueto, who appeared to talk his manager into letting him stay — for a while at least. It took 118 pitches for Cueto until the leash ran out, the Rockies’ fourth hit (against the shift) ending a bid at the first complete-game shutout by a Giant since Chris Stratton on Sept. 14, 2018.
Not getting the last out — Jake McGee earned it — was just about the only thing that went wrong on a day on which cheers of “Johnny! Johnny!” rang through the crowd.
It was a relatively quick game, 2 hours and 54 minutes, with a few moments for the fans to let themselves be heard. In what could be their final home opener in San Francisco, Brandon Crawford and Buster Posey provided a few more reasons for the fans to get up.
Posey’s fifth-inning single to right was the first hit for either team, an inside-outed swat that has been seen hundreds of times, even after the iconic catcher missed last season to care for his family during the pandemic.
The next biggest cheer came two innings later, when the struggling Crawford stepped to the plate with the bases loaded in a 0-0 game. Darin Ruf and Posey had walked — knocking Colorado lefty Austin Gomber from the game — and a pinch-hitting Alex Dickerson made it three walks. Facing righty Tyler Kinley, Crawford came through for the Giants’ second hit of the afternoon, a lined double to right-center that might not have made the park feel like 2014, but at least made it rock significantly more than 2020.
Brandon Crawford go-ahead double?
— KNBR (@KNBR) April 9, 2021
Crawford entered the at-bat 2-for-20, part of a season-starting swoon of plenty of lefty Giants. Brandon Belt, too, has been struggling, but pinch-hit in the eighth and lobbed a single into right, beating the shift. If the Giants’ veterans wanted to send a message in the home opener, the only hits coming from Posey (who added an eighth-inning single), Crawford, Belt and Dickerson, along with a tremendous Cueto outing, is a nice way to start.
Cueto didn’t allow a Rockies hitter to reach scoring position until the ninth and had them off-balance all day. He struck out seven and walked just one in his longest start since 2016, the other side of Tommy John surgery.
Cueto had not showed much in the Cactus League, and last year his 5.40 ERA was the second worst among qualified starters in baseball. With a contract that can expire after the year, he has been eager to show he has more to offer.
As have Crawford and Posey. What a way to start the campaign in front of their fans.