SAN FRANCISCO -- The Giants' front office showed faith in the current roster on MLB's trade deadline day. Aside from one big inning Tuesday, it was not rewarded.
The Giants lost 9-5 to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night to fall to 3-10 since the All-Star break. Six of those losses have come against a Dodgers team that seems to be able to approach double-digit runs with ease.
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A night after getting blown out, the Giants were in danger of getting boat raced again. But a five-run rally in the fourth cut a big deficit to one, and Alex Wood settled down and got the close game to the bullpen.
The Giants had a golden opportunity to complete the comeback in the sixth when Luis Gonzalez and David Villar drew walks and Joey Bart's popped-up bunt landed for a single instead of a double play. But two strikeouts and a pop-up ended the threat.
The Dodgers put their foot on the gas in the top of the eighth, scoring three insurance runs with four consecutive two-out extra-base hits, including two off lefty Alex Young, who was making his Giants debut.
Out Of Nowhere
San Francisco Giants
Four innings into Life After The Deadline, the Giants trailed 6-0. They were playing poor defense and showing no life at the plate. Everything changed with a fourth-inning flurry.
Brandon Belt and Wilmer Flores got the Giants going with singles off Tyler Anderson and Gonzalez got them on the board with a soft single to right. Villar followed with a pop-up to right that was placed perfectly and fell for an RBI double that cut it to 6-2. A wild pitch scored another run and Bart's no-doubter to left-center made it 6-5 in the blink of an eye, as Oracle Park roared and "Beat L.A." chants filled the yard.
Anderson was an All-Star last month and had allowed more than four runs in a game just once this season. It certainly was a good sign that the Giants got to a tough lefty a few hours after trading Darin Ruf, one of their best hitters against lefties.
His Time?
Before the game, Farhan Zaidi said the trade of Curt Casali was partly a vote of confidence for Bart, who has played better since returning. He certainly made that look wise.
Bart's blast into the home bullpen was his second long homer of the homestand and eighth of the season. It left the bat at 105 mph and traveled an estimated 408 feet. The homer was Bart's fourth in his last 17 games, matching his total from his first 76 career games.
Round II
Quite a bit was made of the fact that Villar hit for Belt a couple weeks ago at Dodger Stadium when the Dodgers brought in tough lefty Alex Vesia late in the game. Belt said all the right things, but also hoped to prove to Gabe Kapler that he is a weapon in those situations.
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Belt did get to face Vesia in the bottom of the seventh at Oracle Park. With the Giants trailing by a run, he led off the inning and struck out. Vesia also struck out Yermin Mercedes and got Wilmer Flores to pop up. What did we learn? Well, no matter what the Giants do, Vesia is very, very tough.