If it worked for Klay Thompson, why not Bruce Bochy?
More than four months after the Golden State Warriors’ guard penned his signature on a toaster –yes a toaster– the Giants manager figured signing a popular kitchen appliance before Sunday’s game couldn’t hurt San Francisco’s chances of reversing their recent struggles.
After Thompson signed a toaster at the request of a fan this March, the Warriors reeled off 15 straight wins, won 30 of their next 32 and clinched their second NBA title in three seasons. After Bochy signed his in the dugout Sunday morning, the Giants lost 8-2, finishing off a three-game sweep at the hands of the New York Mets.
Two weeks after the Warriors clinched the 2017 NBA Championship, Golden State still dominates the local news cycle. That shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, because these days, the Giants are toast.
The loss marked the Giants’ fifth straight defeat, their 12th in their last 13 games, their 21st in their last 26 and for the sake of updating you on exactly how San Francisco has fared this season, Bochy’s ballclub is 27-51, a staggering 24 games below .500.
“These are tough times, there’s no getting around that,” Bochy said. “I’ve been through some tough stretches here and this is as tough as any stretch I’ve ever seen or met and for some reason the baseball gods, I mean, they’re really testing us here and this group.
With the hopes of salvaging one game against a Mets team that began the series on a four-game losing streak, San Francisco sent left-hander Matt Moore to the mound against Rafael Montero. Moore might as well have faced Tom Seaver.
The New York right-hander entered Sunday with an 0-4 record and a 6.49 earned run average. He’ll now be accepting Cy Young votes.
Montero lasted just 5 and 2/3 innings against San Francisco, allowing five hits and one run, but he struck out seven Giants hitters, including five of the six he faced in the fourth and fifth innings.
After allowing a leadoff walk to second baseman Joe Panik in the second and a single to right fielder Hunter Pence, Montero found himself in his first legitimate jam of the afternoon. It didn’t matter. In a 3-2 count, Bochy put his baserunners in motion and catcher Buster Posey popped out to first baseman Lucas Duda, who snapped a throw to second to double off Panik.
Montero’s day ended with ice water pumping through his veins, as he set a season-high in innings pitched and gave way to reliever Josh Edgin, who struck out Brandon Belt to end the inning.
As for Moore, he was burnt to a crisp by the Mets’ lineup, allowing seven hits and five earned runs in just 4 and 1/3 innings. Moore has now given up 24 earned runs in 24 and 1/3 innings this June, while his earned run average has ballooned to 6.04.
Mets’ catcher Rene Rivera entered the day having hit safely in seven of his last 43 at-bats, and all Rivera did was record his first career mulit-home run game.
“I made some pretty big mistakes to Rene right there,” Moore said. “You know, fastball over the middle of the plate after he’d just taken a good swing at it and then his next at-bat, I wanted to kind of just, hanging a changeup in there, an 0-0 changeup and it’s got to be something that’s at the bottom of the zone if it’s 0-0 with him.”
Rivera’s two-run home run in the second inning came with two outs and the Mets’ pitcher, Montero, on deck, while his solo blast in the fourth inning prevented Moore from recording a shutdown inning after the Giants plated a run in the bottom of the third.
“The stuff is fine, he just couldn’t get the ball where he wanted it today,” Bochy said. “The first inning, walk, wild pitch, run. Then with the pitcher behind Rivera, gives up two home runs to him by making mistakes there and that’s what killed him really. Just command today was the issue.
Trailing 3-0, the Giants loaded the bases and had Posey at the plate with just one out, but a sacrifice fly to right field was all San Francisco managed before right fielder Hunter Pence ran into an out on the base paths.
With runners on the corners and Belt at the plate, Pence took off for second and was thrown out on an ill-advised steal attempt.
Though Belt is hitting just .188 with runners on base this season, Pence took the bat out of his hands, let Montero escape the inning, and allowed the Mets to turn up the heat on a Giants team that hasn’t done much cooking lately.
“I didn’t send him (Pence), but I didn’t put the don’t go there,” Bochy said. “The guy (Montero) was 1.5, 1.6 which is a time that you do run on, but no I didn’t send him there.”
The Giants were non-competitive the rest of the way, as a two-run home run off the bat of Jay Bruce off of left-hander Josh Osich in the top half of the eighth inning gave the Mets a 7-1 lead, and sent frustrated fans flooding to the exits early for the third straight day.
It’s hard to believe the Giants were swept in such seamless fashion by the fourth-place team in the National League East. It’s harder to believe San Francisco will now try to break its epic fall against the Colorado Rockies, a team that’s won nine of 10 against them this season. Good luck.