The fourth inning was unkind to a pair of Giants left-handers over the weekend. On Saturday, Matt Moore gave up four runs in the fourth inning to the Padres, followed by Ty Blach allowing four runs in the fourth inning again on Sunday.
The Padres bats clearly made adjustments in their second plate appearances against Moore and Blach to take an early lead. The Giants’ bats were able to pick up Moore and win 5-4 in 12 innings on Saturday, but Blach’s fourth inning ended up being the difference in the Giants 5-2 loss in the series finale.
“It is amazing how similar Matt Moore’s start and Blach’s start went,” Bruce Bochy said following Sunday’s game. “The fourth inning. A home run and then things just unraveled. He really, you take that inning away, you can’t take it away obviously, but he throws a nice game. It got away from him there, left some pitches up there in the fourth similar to what Matt did yesterday.”
One constant in both of the Padres rallies: Wil Myers. The 26-year-old tagged Moore for a solo home run to kickstart the Padres fourth inning rally on Saturday. After getting taken deep by Wil Myers in the first inning on Sunday, Blach pitched around him in the fourth, a walk that turned out to be the start of the Padres’ rally once again.
“He’s a good player. Good players take advantage of pitches,” Bochy said. “In this ballpark, he seems to hit well here.”
If Moore and Blach can prevent the opposing lineups from having a big inning like the Padres did this weekend, expect the Giants to be more competitive in their starts moving forward.