Crick comes up big in tight spot, but Giants fall to D'Backs

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PHOENIX — For months now, the 2017 Giants season has been about finding out what some players can do in 2018. In that respect, this was a big night for a young right-hander. 

The Giants lost 4-3 to Zack Greinke and the Diamondbacks, but in the seventh inning of the defeat, Kyle Crick opened some eyes by getting Josh Osich. Crick entered with runners on the corners and got a strikeout and pop-up to end the inning and strand both runners. 

“It was a good spot for him with his stuff,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “He hasn’t really been in a situation like that, and I loved the way he handled himself.”

Crick came on after Osich did something he has done so often in a disappointing season. He walked the first batter he faced, and a seeing-eye bouncer by David Peralta kept the Diamondbacks going. Crick went 3-2 on Chris Iannetta before blowing a 96 mph fastball past him on the outside corner. A.J. Pollock, the No. 3 hitter, saw two pitches at 96 mph. He popped up to second to end the inning. 

Crick lowered his ERA to 2.70 with a 1.16 WHIP. After years of struggling with his command in the minors, he has reigned that in just enough to be effective. Crick has 10 walks in 23 1/3 innings to go with 21 strikeouts. 

The Diamondbacks held on by getting a big inning out of Archie Bradley, who has a similar profile to Crick. He’s a hard-thrower who couldn’t stick in the rotation and now dominates out of the big league bullpen. That’s the model that would be a dream scenario for the Giants, but for now, they’ll settle for just having another reliable reliever. 

“He’s just matured as a pitcher and he can handle it, so I’ll up his role here,” Bochy said of Crick. “We have our setup guys and a closer, but that was a tight ballgame tonight and we’re trying to keep it at one run. What a nice job he did.”

The Giants couldn’t take advantage of it. They scattered three runs and gave up four in the third. The big blow was a three-run homer from Paul Goldschmidt on a Ty Blach changeup that wasn’t buried as much as he had hoped. Blach was visibly frustrated after the game, but his manager said he should keep his head up.

“I know you’re looking at four runs, but he could have come out of that better,” Bochy said. 

Blach was hurt by his defense, with Denard Span making an error on a bloop to center and Pablo Sandoval failing to make a play on a slow roller to third. Those are issues the Giants will need to fix in the offseason. The bullpen needs some help, too, particularly from the left side, but the Giants can at least be a little excited about the continued developments they’re seeing from a young right-hander who recently joined the group. 

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