SFGate/San Francisco Chronicle
Jonathan Sanchez did not come close to another no-hitter Monday night, and nobody expected him to. He did accomplish what he had hoped. He provided a quality start and gave the Giants a chance to win.
Only problem was, once Sanchez departed, an event almost as rare as a no-hitter occurred, at least for 2009. The bullpen imploded and the Braves broke a 3-3 tie with six runs in the seventh inning to win 11-3, the Giants' third loss in four games since the break.
Sergio Romo, now officially a concern, allowed hits to all four of his batters. That included Matt Diaz, who hit a two-run, tie-breaking triple after twice failing to sacrifice. Including Sunday, Romo has allowed hits to his last six hitters. Going back four games, nine of his 13 batters have reached base.
The normally free-spirited reliever seemed agitated in the clubhouse and brushed past reporters, quietly saying, "Not today, fellas."
After a Casey Kotchman RBI single chased Romo, pinch-hitter Ryan Church hit a two-run homer against Justin Miller to give Atlanta an 8-3 lead. Brian McCann added a run-scoring single.
The Braves got two in the eighth against Bob Howry after Kevin Frandsen, just into the game, bobbled a sure-thing double-play ball.
"They've been so good," manager Bruce Bochy said of his relievers. "They're going to trip once in awhile. You get into a tight game and they've all done a terrific job. This one got away from us tonight."
Bochy planned to speak to pitching coach Dave Righetti about whether they need to drop Romo to a less crucial role while he sorts through his issues.
"If we have to shuffle the deck here a little bit, we'll do that," Bochy said.
The Giants managed to do what the Red Sox and Yankees could not against 22-year-old Tommy Hanson. They scored against him, three times in fact.
Mixed among his personal-best 11 strikeouts were a two-run Randy Winn double and a sacrifice fly by Aaron Rowand that tied the game 3-3 in the seventh after a Juan Uribe flyball turned into a gift triple when center fielder Nate McLouth lost it in the twilight.
Nevertheless, Hanson improved to 5-0 as a major-leaguer.
Rowand left in the eighth after his right forearm tightened. It bore a huge knot from being hit by Hanson in the first inning and tightened as the game progressed. When he could not grip the ball properly returning a Diaz single to the infield, he asked out. Rowand, hitless in 19 at-bats, is expected to miss a few games.
The Braves knew they would not be hitless against Sanchez when Garret Anderson homered in the second inning.
One difference for Sanchez on Monday was not throwing to Eli Whiteside, who caught the July 10 no-hitter because Bengie Molina was at the hospital for his daughter's birth. Molina caught this game.
"I knew that would come up," Bochy said, "but Bengie went 3-for-3 (Sunday) and he's our catcher."
The larger difference was that Sanchez lacked the pinpoint command, particularly of his breaking pitches, with which he muzzled the Padres. He fell into too many hitters' counts against the Braves.
When he fell behind Chipper Jones 3-1 in the third inning, he had to throw a get-me-over fastball. Jones did what a man with 418 career homers should with that pitch. He hit his 419th, with a man aboard, and gave Atlanta a 3-2 lead.
Sanchez generally was pleased with his outing, saying, "Last time, I threw a no-hitter. This time, I did what I had to do: I battled."
Deep-sixed
Before Sunday, Giants reliever Sergio Romo had a 2.63 ERA. He faced a combined total of six batters Sunday and Monday. Each man got a hit and each scored, ballooning Romo's ERA to 6.59. Those six at-bats:
HitterResult
McCutchen, Pit.Single
Sanchez, Pit.Single
Escobar, Atl.Single
Anderson, Atl.Single
Diaz, Atl. 2 RBIsTriple
Kotchman, Atl. RBISingle
 San Francisco (50-42) Lost 1 | Atlanta 11, San Francisco 3 |  Atlanta (47-46) Won 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Standings thru 7/20/09 | Recap: SF | ATL | Gameday | Giants stats | Braves stats |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
No comments:
Post a Comment