DBacks 0, Giants 6: Opportunities Wasted

Record: 78-77. Pace: 82-80. Change on 2011: -11

This game hardly began with the most auspicious of starts for Arizona. Perhaps on the surface, it seemed like it might have begun well, as Adam Eaton's first pitch swinging ended up with him reaching on Brandon Crawford's throwing error. But two pitches later had Aaron Hill grounding into a double play, with Justin Upton popping out to shallow right on the next pitch. Yes, four pitches, three outs for Matt Cain- there's cruising through an inning, but this was a above and beyond that.

In his first inning on the mound, Wade Miley looked pretty solid for the Diamondbacks, at least, going 1-2-3. Not four pitches good, but still useful. However, it kind of went downhill from there. Gerardo Parra drew a two out walk from Cain in the second, but couldn't move any further. The Giants became the first to get a runner in scoring position in the bottom of the inning, with a Hunter Pence single being followed by a walk to Xavier Nady. More runners wasted. A error to start off the third inning gave the Diamondbacks another leadoff runner, but three straight ground balls rendered that meaningless. Eventually, someone had to score... Right?

Well, yes, but those aren't always the questions we like to ask. The Giants started off the third with a single from Matt Cain, of all people, followed up by a walk to Angel Pagan. A sacrifice bunt from Marcus Scutaro gave the Giants two runners in scoring position, and back to back singles from Pablo Sandoval and Buster Posey both brought in a run, putting the Giants up 2-0 before Wade Miley could get the next two outs to end the inning.

The Diamondbacks looked like they might make a fight of it, though. For brief moments, Matt Cain looked slightly mortal, as Justin Upton and Miguel Montero started off the fourth with back to back singles, the first Arizona hits of the game. But after Paul Goldschmidt remembered it wasn't Tim Lincecum on the mound and struck out looking, Gerardo Parra grounded into an inning-ending double play, ending the threat.

Then things got worse in the bottom of the inning.

It started with a Brandon Belt home run, followed up by a walk to Brandon Crawford. Matt Cain grounded to second base, and the usually sure-handed Aaron Hill couldn't come up with the ball, giving him an error and loading the bases. After an Angel Pagan pop out to right, Scutaro brought in another run on a single to the outfield. A Pablo Sandoval fielder's choice brought Crawford in to score as well, and it was 4-0 at the end of four innings.

That was the last we'd see of Wade Miley on the field today- certainly not going to help his Rookie of the Year efforts, unfortunately, as the hopes for that seem to be fading away.

The fifth inning gave us more of the same, unfortunately. Cody Ransom reaching on an error to lead off the inning, and the offense unable to take advantage of it. Ransom returned the favor in the bottom of the inning, letting Hunter Pence reach to start off the inning, and then Pence later scored on two out single from Matt Cain.

The sixth passed quickly, and the Diamondbacks made another effort to score in the seventh. A leadoff double off the wall by Paul Goldschmidt was met by a pretty awkward looking leap by Hunter Pence. Gerardo Parra dropped down a bunt that rolled all the way down to third, and then took second on a wild pitch, giving us two runners in scoring position with nobody out. And you saw the score up top, so you know how this ends, but in case you weren't sure: strike out, strike out, ground out to end the inning. That was the end of Matt Cain's night, but the Diamondbacks didn't have much more success against Guillermo Mota or Jeremy Affeldt, who combined forces to pitch the eighth inning. They got a single off each of them, but didn't really threaten.

Then, in case you thought things couldn't get worse, the Diamondbacks went to the bullpen and called for Zagurski. And he Zagurski'd it. After getting Pagan to fly out, Marcus Scutaro hit a double. Then Zagurski walked Pablo Sandoval, with Ball Four being a wild pitch that let Scutaro take third. And then he threw another wild pitch, allowing Scutaro to score. 6-0 Giants. Ugh.

The Giants sent in Dan Otero and a slew of defensive replacements in the top of the ninth, but other than a double from Gerardo Parra to start things off, it was a pretty quick surrender from the Diamondbacks, and San Francisco tied up the series.

So, an uninspired out from the team. The GDT was busy enough, at 346 comments, but many of those may have been about suits vs. polo shirts. No roll call, but I suspect imstillhungry95 won the comment count, and no green comments either, so I'll just remind you to be funnier next time, and link you to this YouTube video instead.

Afternoon game tomorrow, as Patrick Corbin faces off against Barry Zito, and hopes that the offense shows a little more fight this time. We're 40-40 on the road this season, tomorrow decides if we have a winning record there this season! Okay, yeah, that's all the enthusiasm I can force. Stop by and see if the Diamondbacks remember how to hit.