Giants starter Jeff Samardzija was hit around in his only inning of work against the Rockies, starting Tuesday night’s game at Coors Field. The right-hander gave up a pair of runs on three hits with no walks and a strikeout on 23 pitches. He showed diminished velocity, sitting mostly in the high-80’s and low-90’s with his fastball.
Samardzija was frustrated with his situation, snapping a bat over his knee in the Giants’ dugout:
Clearly something is still bothering Samardzija physically. This was his reaction in dugout after getting pulled: pic.twitter.com/NBKuShIWv9
— Alex Pavlovic (@PavlovicNBCS) May 30, 2018
Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area reports that Samardzija exited his start with a tight right shoulder.
Samardzija, 33, got a late start to the season due to a strained pectoral muscle. Entering Tuesday’s start, he carried an ugly 6.23 ERA with a 25/23 K/BB ratio in 34 2/3 innings. Samardzija has been a maven of control in recent years, so it’s certianly out of character to see him with such a high walk rate along with the relatively low strikeout rate.
Samardzija will almost certainly be evaluated further and a stint on the disabled list may be in his future. Fortunately for the Giants, the club expects to get ace Madison Bumgarner back from the DL next Tuesday.
