Giants’ right-hander Jeff Samardzija entered his Saturday start in the midst of a historic run.
The man the Giants affectionately call “Shark” became the first pitcher since 1900 to record over 50 strikeouts while issuing just one walk or fewer in a span of seven starts dating back to the first week of May.
But against the Twins, Samardzija’s ability to find the plate with remarkable regularity proved to be his downfall, as a pair of mistakes propelled Minnesota to a series-clinching 3-2 victory.
Armed with a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning, Samardzija threw a 97-mile per hour fastball right down the middle, and Twins’ first baseman Kennys Vargas ensured the ball met the sweetest part of his barrel. Vargas sent the pitch into orbit, recording the third longest home run of any Major League hitter this season (471-feet) and joining an elite list of players who’ve managed to make AT&T Park look small over the 17 seasons of the ballpark’s existence.
Vargas’ towering shot invoked memories of Barry Bonds, who made a habit out of launching pitches onto a set of bleachers only the game’s most powerful sluggers can locate.
Speaking of the game’s home run king, Bonds’ spot atop the all-time Splash Hit list at AT&T Park is still safe, but Pablo Sandoval’s grip on the No. 2 slot on the leaderboard is not.
In the bottom half of the first inning, Giants’ first baseman Brandon Belt blasted his seventh career splash hit, tying Sandoval and placing Belt a mere 28 splash hits behind Bonds, whose spot atop the leaderboard doesn’t appear to be in great –or any– danger.
Prior to Belt’s home run, opposing hitters were just 1-for-15 off of Twins’ starter Jose Berrios in the first inning of games this season, as no team had managed to push a run across against the Puerto Rican right-hander until at least the third inning in any of his five starts this season.
Though Belt’s home run gave a Giants team that was shutout for the seventh time this season on Friday evening an early lift, the club failed to capitalize on the momentum, and instead allowed the Twins to take command of the game.
With the game tied 1-1 in the top half of the fifth, second baseman Brian Dozier turned around a Samardzija slider and deposited it over the left field fence for his 10th home run of the year. Dozier’s two-run shot came with two outs on the scoreboard, and gave Berrios some much-needed insurance.
“Those couple pitches are a big part of the game, so although you liked how you feel out there and you’re okay with the results, you’d like to keep definitely that Dozier ball in the park and make him get a couple of hits to score those runs,” Samardzija said. “But we were attacking the zone and we were down 1-0 on him and tried to throw a good slider for a strike and he put a good bat on it.”
Berrios lasted just 5 and ⅓ innings against San Francisco, but the Twins’ right-hander pitched his way out of danger in both the first and third innings to keep the game within reach.
After Belt’s blast, Giants’ catcher Buster Posey smacked a double to right center, but Berrios induced a harmless groundout from shortstop Brandon Crawford to limit the damage.
In the third inning, Berrios allowed a leadoff double to center fielder Denard Span and walked Belt and Posey to load the bases, but back-to-back strikeouts of Crawford and right fielder Hunter Pence crushed the Giants’ hopes of a potential rally.
The defining pitch of Berrios’ outing came against Pence, who froze on a brilliant breaking ball that floated across the inside corner to end the inning.
“Those are the guys you lean on and the third inning, that’s the difference in the game,” Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy said. “We’ve got the bases loaded, we’ve got our guys coming up and we couldn’t cash in. If you don’t take advantage of those things, it’s going to come back to haunt you.”
Samardzija ended up outlasting Berrios, but the Giants’ starter still took his eighth loss of the season despite allowing just four hits over six innings of work. The Twins’ ability to capitalize on the handful of pitches Samardzija left over the heart of the plate proved to be the righty’s downfall, as he still demonstrated excellent control in a six-strikeout effort.
Twins’ left fielder Robbie Grossman did manage to coax a walk out of the Notre Dame product, the second he’s allowed since April 28, but it came immediately following the Dozier home run, a blow that cost the pitcher –and the Giants– dearly.