© Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports
SAN DIEGO — When Petco Park opened in 2004, Tyler Beede and Joey Lucchesi were both 10-years-old. On Sunday afternoon, the now 24-year-olds went head-to-head in a four-game series finale between the San Francisco Giants (6-9) and San Diego Padres (7-10).
In the end, the Giants lost their series against the Padres with a 10-1 loss.
Walks were an issue for Beede in his mixed bag of a major league debut. They proved costly in his sophomore start.
Although he held the Arizona Diamondbacks to three hits and two runs over four innings, Beede’s struggles with command in his previous outing were evident in the five walks he allowed. Of the 87 pitches he threw, 42 were called balls and several of those fell well out of the strike zone.
Beede showed much better command against the Padres; giving up only three walks and striking out six with 52 of his 79 pitches falling in for strikes. However, he lasted only 3.2 innings, allowing six hits and five runs to receive the loss.
Yet, the Padres took advantage of the walks Beede gave up, as few as they were.
Once Freddy Galvis coaxed a walk on a 3-2 count, Franchy Cordero singled into right field, brining Christian Villanueva to the plate. He doubled in both runs to give the Padres a 2-1 lead in the third.
The following inning, another walk — this time, a leadoff free pass to Chase Headley — was brought home on a double from Corey Spangenberg. The Padres went on to score another two runs off a double from Jose Pirela and single from Freddy Galvis, the latter of which knocked Beede from the game.
Initially, the Giants took an early-one run lead over the Padres after Nick Hundley led off the second with a single.
All year, Hundley has hit the ball hard, as seen in his 89.29 mph average exit velocity. Yet, all it got him heading into Sunday was a .067 batting average. No matter how hard he hit the ball, a majority of those would-be hits found the gloves of well-placed fielders.
In his first plate appearance, Hundley hit a curveball from Lucchesi that left his bat at 96.6 mph. Instead hitting it right at an infielder, he shot it through the infield for a leadoff single. Two innings later, Hundley hit a single that came off his bat much slower, only 77.8 mph, to finish the game 2-for-4.
Shortly after, Hundley reached third on a single from Evan Longoria and scored off a sacrifice fly, hit by Brandon Belt.
It’s safe to say that Longoria came to San Diego with his fair share of offensive struggles; batting .132 with 13 strikeouts. He was 0-for-7 before the four-game series started on Thursday.
However, with his 2-for-4 game on Sunday, Longoria brought his batting average up to .204 and is showing encouraging signs of life at the plate. Since moving down a spot in the lineup on Saturday, he’s gone 4-for-7 with a home run and two doubles.
All told, Longoria went 6-for-16 in San Diego.
That solitary run was all the Giants could get past Lucchesi, who held the Giants to five hits and one run with a career-high nine strikeouts over six innings
Josh Osich came in for relief in the fourth inning and stayed into the sixth. It took Osich a couple batters to settle in after Christian Villanueva hit a home run on the first pitch of the fifth, but kept the Padres to that solitary run in the inning.
The Padres extended their lead to 7-1 in the sixth, thanks to a two-out RBI single from Franchy Cordero that brought Osich’s night to an end. They went on to add another three runs off Derek Law in the seventh with Pirela’s triple and an error by Joe Panik.
The brightest moment for the Giants’ pitching staff came in Hunter Strickland’s perfect ninth inning. After sitting unused in the bullpen for five days, he induced two ground balls and a strikeout
After taking the day off on Monday, the Giants begin a three-game series against the division-leading Arizona Diamondbacks in the desert. The series-opener with take place on Tuesday, April 17, at 6:40 PM.
After dealing with a sprained ankle, Johnny Cueto is expected to start for the Giants with Patrick Corbin going for the Diamondbacks.