SAN FRANCISCO – In the wake of the infamous brawl between Giants’ reliver Hunter Strickland and Nationals OF Bryce Harper, Giants manager Bruce Bochy spoke to the media Tuesday before the second of three games between the two teams. When asked about the potential for a retaliation from the Nationals (as is common with the, “You hit our star we hit yours,’” mentality of some MLB teams), Bochy said that he wasn’t sure if the incident Monday would cause any further issues.
“I don’t know whats going to happen, I don’t.” Bochy said. “This is why we don’t have our pitchers throw at guys or start things because that’s what the other team’s going to do too. I’m glad nobody really got hurt yesterday. It’s unfortunate but hey it happened, it’s over and we’ll move on.”
Bochy said that the most important thing is for his team to not lose their focus in the midst of a recent slump where the Giants have gone 2-5 in their last seven games.
“We can’t lose our focus,” Bochy said. “We’ve had a tough go of it here and that brawl is done with. You play to win and try to stay away from that stuff. We gotta get over it and win some ball games.”
Game Notes:
-The Giants recalled infielder Orlando Calixte from Sacramento and optioned OF Mac Williamson back down to the minors. Calixte was hitting .287 with eight home runs and 23 RBI’s in triple A, while Williamson was hitting just .161 through ten games in the majors.
-Brandon Crawford, Joe Panik, and Denard Span are all sitting out Tuesday with scheduled rest days. Christian Arroyo, Aaron Hill and Gorkys Hernandez are filling in for them at shortstop, second-base, and shortstop respectively.
-Bochy said outfielder Hunter Pence ran the bases Tuesday and could be back as soon as Wednesday but most likely would return on Thursday.
-Hunter Strickland received a six game suspension from the MLB but Bochy said Strickland will appeal the suspension, meaning Strickland can still play until the appeal process is over.
-Jeff Samardzija has only allowed 30 hits in the 115 times he has faced the players on the Nationals in his career with just five walks, allowing a .293 on base percentage.