SF Giants Press Clips Monday, May 29, 2017

San Francisco Chronicle Giants solve knuckleballer R.A. Dickey, win series Henry Schulman Brandon Crawford found it funny that reporters encircled his locker as if he were the oracle of hitting knuckleballs. After 10 hitless at-bats against R.A. Dickey, Crawford finally smacked one into left field Sunday for two his three RBIs in the Giants’ 7-1 victory over Atlanta at AT&T Park. “I’m not the right guy to ask,” Crawford said. “In my last at-bat, the pitch moved 3 feet and I hit a grounder to third. It’s not like I was really crushing them today.” Indeed, the difference between the Dickey who two-hit the Giants over 81/3 shutout innings in a 2013 game at AT&T Park and the Dickey who allowed a season-high seven runs by the third inning Sunday might have been the wind. It was blowing pretty strongly, and Dickey could not get his pitches to knuckle anywhere near the plate. Bedraggled catcher Kurt Suzuki looked as though he needed a butterfly net more than a mitt, and the Giants patiently let the 42-year-old right-hander dig his own pit. Dickey walked Brandon Belt and Buster Posey after Eduardo Nuñez’s first-inning single. The Giants scored twice, on a passed ball and Crawford’s infield out, then raced to a 6-0 lead in the second after Joe Panik’s leadoff triple. Gorkys Hernandez and Nuñez each had RBI singles before Crawford lined a two-strike, two-out single to left to drive in two more. Johnny Cueto added a sacrifice fly in the third before Dickey finally found a way to flutter his pitches properly. The Giants did not put a runner on base after the third inning. Cueto overcame his blisters to win for the first time since May 1, allowing one run in six innings, a better sign for the Giants than their seven-run outburst against a novelty pitcher. “He was Johnny,” manager Bruce Bochy said. Not quite. Cueto admitted he threw more changeups and fewer cutters because they put less pressure on his fingers. The blisters still bothered him some, particularly late in the game, but Cueto

demonstrated that he can squash an offense and strike out eight over six innings without his full repertoire. In one stretch, he struck out five hitters in a row. “They’re not bothering me like they were before,” Cueto said of the blisters. “I’m getting used to it. I have to continue to pitch through it until they get better.” And the Giants need to continue to win series at home to have any shot of becoming relevant. They have taken their past three series at AT&T but face a severe test against Dusty Baker’s Washington Nationals, who ride into San Francisco with a 30-19 record and a secure lead in the East. They are the only team in their division with a winning record. “You play a team leading its division, hopefully you pitch well and get timely hits,” Bochy said. “We did a good job until we stumbled in Chicago.” The Nationals are throwing three tough pitchers in Tanner Roark, Gio Gonzalez and Max Scherzer. None throws a knuckleball, which, notwithstanding the Giants’ success Sunday, is not fun to hit. Bochy said hitters sometimes focus so much on the odd flight of the pitch that they forget to swing. He reminded them to take their cuts. Posey said the key was laying off pitches that started down the middle because those disappear, and to wait for knucklers up. “His were moving all over the place,” Posey said. “The adjustment he made later in the game was taking some velocity off. He was able to control it a little better.” By then, the Giants had a 7-0 lead and Cueto on the mound, a tough combo for any opponent to overcome. San Francisco Chronicle The little batboy who could: Darren Baker, now 18, grows up John Shea Joe Potulny remembers hearing from an acquaintance the news of a kid who was enrolling at Jesuit High School in the Sacramento area. “Darren? Darren who?” Potulny asked. “Darren Baker,” he was told. “You mean the batboy with the Giants who was carried off by J.T. Snow?” That’s the one. “The context just didn’t register at the time,” said Potulny, Jesuit’s longtime baseball coach.

The context evolved since Darren Baker was last seen on a national stage as a Giants batboy, going after Kenny Lofton’s bat during Game 5 of the 2002 World Series. The boy was 3 then, Giants manager Dusty Baker’s cute and cuddly son who didn’t get trampled at the plate by a charging David Bell only because Snow scooped him up and carried him to safety. Well, look at Darren now. He’s 18, graduated from Jesuit (in Carmichael) on Saturday and plans to go to Cal in the fall, unless he changes course and signs with a major-league team. The baseball draft is June 12. “I’m keeping every option open,” said Darren, who batted .396 as Jesuit’s shortstop and leadoff hitter. “We’ll see how it goes.” Darren’s parents were at the graduation. His dad took the weekend off from managing the first-place Washington Nationals to be at the family’s Granite Bay home and will stick around a while. The Nationals play the Giants the next three days at AT&T Park beginning with a Memorial Day matinee, are off Thursday (Dusty’s day to fish), then play three interleague games against the A’s at the Coliseum. At the ballpark, Darren will be hanging with his dad again, like old times. Except now, he’s a legitimate prospect who was seen by pro scouts his senior year, especially after his standout showing in the Area Code Games at Long Beach State in August. At that prestigious event, many scouts projected the 5-foot-11, 165-pound infielder, known for his speed, hands and baseball IQ, as a center fielder after seeing him chase down balls in the gaps. “Everybody knew Darren as the little batboy,” said his mother, Melissa Baker. “All of sudden, it’s Darren the baseball player, not Darren the batboy. An amazing thing.” Darren’s certainly OK with that. Who wants to peak at 3? He gets it. He realizes for some people, he’ll always be that adorable batboy with the oversize uniform who was determined to pick up Lofton’s bat despite all the traffic around the plate. Fifteen years later, he can laugh about it. “Even though I don’t remember it, personally, I think it’s funny,” he said. “I embrace it. You look back on it now, it’s like, ‘Wow, that was really me.’ At this point, how many years later, I think I’ve been asked about it a thousand times. Kind of comes with it.” That World Series was Dusty’s swan song to a 10-year run as Giants manager, and he took over the Cubs in 2003, his first of four seasons in Chicago. He took 2007 off, managed the Reds six years, took two years off and is in his second year with the Nationals. Darren has traveled extensively with his dad, especially summers, but played his junior and senior seasons on varsity with his dad based in Washington. Melissa picked up the slack on all fronts, including supporting her son’s baseball dream, which was not forced by either parent.

“My mom’s been amazing,” Darren said. “She’s done everything possible to put me in the best position to be successful. She’s been everything and above, and I can’t thank her enough.” Darren’s relationship with his dad stayed strong. They continued to talk about baseball and life. Dusty wasn’t managing during Darren’s first two high school seasons and got more chances to see him play, but made a point not to interfere with the coaches and often sat several hundred feet away. “I almost had to tell him, ‘You can get a closer view,’” Darren said. “He likes to sit way out, be by himself with a toothpick watching me play, but he knows when to add a comment here and there. I couldn’t ask for a better dad and role model. Our relationship is so close. He’s everything I could ever ask for.” Dusty’s presence at high school games didn’t go unnoticed by the coaching staff. In fact, Potulny once asked him if he wanted to take over the entire program. Dusty took a pass, then got the Nationals’ gig. Potulny, 59, had known all about the Baker name, having grown up in the Sacramento area and watching Dusty play American Legion ball. Dusty, 67, graduated from Del Campo High School in Fair Oaks, 7 miles from Jesuit. “He didn’t want to be intrusive and went out of his way not to step on anyone’s toes,” Potulny said. “He worked with some kids in the cage, but he was so humble. I joked with him, ‘You took this job with the Nationals, you could’ve been here running the show.’” During his dad’s latest two stops, Darren received some big-time mentoring. In Cincinnati, he got pointers from Joey Votto and Brandon Phillips, who tutored him on playing second base, Darren’s position through his junior year. In Washington, he has gotten help at shortstop from Stephen Drew and bench coach Chris Speier, the former Giants infielder, and guidance from several others, including 2015 National LeagueMVP Bryce Harper. Darren also has connected with prolific base stealer Vince Coleman on the art of baserunning. How cool is that? Melissa said Darren has remained “a mellow kid, a humble kid,” and Potulny said accountability is a trait acquired from the parents. “They’ve got it figured out,” Potulny said. “Darren’s very comfortable with the fact his dad’s doing what he’s doing. It’s not, ‘I was a major-leaguer, and that’s going to be his dream.’ They want him to be his own man.” If Darren goes to Cal, he plans to study history; he has been inspired by his travels and visits to museums and monuments, especially in Washington. His final semester at Jesuit, his GPA was 3.7. He committed before his sophomore year because he long had a desire for Cal, and the baseball recruiters anticipated plenty of upside.

The scenario brings to light the story of young Dusty signing with the Braves out of high school, disregarding his father’s wishes for him to enroll at Santa Clara and play basketball. The father-son relationship took a beating, and they stopped talking to each other. Hank Aaron promised Dusty’s mother he’d take care of him, and away went the California kid to play minor-league ball in the 1960s South. It was a whole new world for Dusty, who, as an African American, confronted racial discrimination like he hadn’t before. It didn’t help that he wasn’t talking with his father, though they eventually reconciled. Darren knows the stories of his dad’s past and called it “a different time, a different situation.” Through it all, Dusty “wants the best for me and doesn’t want me to go through things he went through. His advice, I take to heart.” Dusty and his brother, after moving with their family from Riverside, were the only African Americans at Del Campo. Darren is the only African American in Jesuit’s baseball program. “The bigger issue isn’t that there’s one on the team but that others aren’t trying to play,” Darren said. “We have more in the school. It’s pretty diverse. That’s the issue, getting young African Americans to come out.” Darren will participate in predraft workouts, and then he and his mother will join his father in Washington for the summer. A team trip or two is in order, as well as working with kids at the Nationals’ youth academy for the second straight summer. It’s a momentous time for the teenager who 15 years ago made his famous dash to the plate only to be hauled from harm’s way. From that, the so-called “Darren Baker Rule” was established, requiring batboys and batgirls be at least 14. “It’s 3-year-old me,” he said. “I look back at it and laugh.” San Francisco Chronicle Giants’ Christian Arroyo, like the best of ’em, deals with slump Scott Ostler Legend has it that when Willie Mays began his big-league career with three hitless games, 0-for-12, he sat in the clubhouse and wept. That famous vignette might cheer up Christian Arroyo, if he wasn’t smart enough to know that a million other promising rookies went 0-for-whatever, then disappeared forever. Arroyo, 31 games into his big-league career, has hit a speed bump. The 21-year-old infielder is hitless in his last 21 at-bats, dragging his batting average down to .186. The slump earned him two games in Bruce Bochy’s cooler, Saturday and Sunday. Sunday might have been a mercy sit, Bochy sparing the kid his first exposure to a big-league knuckleballer, Atlanta’s R.A. Dickey.

But despite the slump and the mini-benching, no tears from Arroyo. “It’s kind of the point I’m at right now. I’m just trying to get back on track. I think the little slump that I’ve been going though is good for me early in my career, just to learn how to deal with it,” Arroyo said before Sunday’s game. “Obviously, I’ve failed before. This is a game of failure, but I think it’s good for me to be going through this right now.” I checked it out. Sure enough, Arroyo failed right out of the box, hitting .203 in 31 games with Class A Augusta in 2014. He bounced back, finishing that season hitting .333 in 58 games at short-season Salem-Keizer. Mays had manager Leo Durocher in his corner, bucking him up. Arroyo has, among others, Will Clark. They’ve known each other since Arroyo was drafted in 2013, and Clark worked with Arroyo as he advanced through the minors. Early Saturday morning, Arroyo sent an SOS text to Clark, asking if he would meet him for some early pregame work in the cage. Clark, along with hitting coach Hensley Meulens, helped Arroyo iron out a hitch or two. One factor working in Arroyo’s favor is his swing. “It’s sort of short and compact and not a lot of moving parts,” Clark said, “so it’s easy to work with. When you have a swing like that, once you get your swing down pat, all it is after that is just picking out a strike to hit, and a strike that you want to hit.” Hitting is a head game, too. Arroyo doesn’t lack for confidence, but even the cockiest rookie needs a pat on the back. “When you’re going well,” Clark said, “everything’s upbeat. You’re walking around with your head up, your chest out. When things are going a little rough for you, sometimes you’re slouching your shoulders.” That describes Arroyo, a month ago and now. And it describes Clark, three decades ago. Clark was a 22-year-old rookie in 1986, got off to a good start, broke his elbow, missed 47 games, and had to fight his way back into the lineup. “I would say I had those doubts, a lot like Christian,” Clark said Sunday. “So some of the stuff he and I talk about in the cage, I talk about from experience. Now, looking back on it, it made me a better player, because when I came back, I absolutely was more aggressive. I’m just trying to impart some of that wisdom to him.” Arroyo is great fodder for debate among the Giants’ fans and followers. What should the Giants do with their slumping youngster? Send him back to Triple-A to allow him to breathe and re-groove? But wouldn’t that break his spirit? Or will a few more hitless games in the glaring spotlight crush his spirit even more? Where will he be Tuesday, when he turns 22?

In the press-box lunch room Sunday, broadcaster Marty Lurie said he’d like to see Arroyo in a utility role for now, keep him in the majors but remove the everyday pressure. Joan Ryan, a Giants employee and former Chronicle columnist, said no way, play him every day, that’s how he’ll learn and develop. They agreed, as did I, that shipping Arroyo back to the minors isn’t the answer. The Giants are convinced Arroyo has certified big-league talent, so there’s no gain in demoting him. On the other hand, this isn’t summer camp. The Giants are struggling, but they aren’t ready to bag their season. They’d like to make a run, and a power-position player hitting under .200 would be a liability. But the fact that Arroyo is still here despite his slump is an indication that the Giants believe strongly in him and are willing to be patient. Two hours before Sunday’s game, Arroyo was at his locker, changing into his hitting clothes for another session in the cage with Meulens and Clark. “I’m going to get some good work in,” Arroyo said. “I think it’s going to happen here pretty soon.” In the cage, Clark would continue to remind Arroyo that, based on the meteorological wisdom Clark acquired as a rookie, the sun will come up tomorrow. This is San Francisco, so it might not peek through the clouds until noon, but it’s coming. San Francisco Chronicle Giants’ Madison Bumgarner set for 1st step: playing catch Friday Henry Schulman We now know exactly when Madison Bumgarner is scheduled to play catch for the first time since his dirt-bike accident, and how much time he will spend in the minors once he is ready to compete. Manager Bruce Bochy said Bumgarner is expected to toss a ball Friday, 53 days after he separated his pitching shoulder and bruised some ribs in the accident in Colorado. Bochy also said Bumgarner will need to make five rehab appearances in the minors before he can rejoin the Giants, essentially a second spring training, which makes it unlikely he would return before the All-Star break. Bumgarner still needs to throw off flat ground several times before he can pitch off a mound. “He is seeing light at the end of the tunnel,” Bochy said. Catching butterflies: Bochy said hitting against a knuckleballer is easier than catching one. He knows from experience. Bochy caught Joe Niekro’s knuckler back in the day. Bochy and fellow Houston catcher Alan Ashby would look at the lineup card on Niekro’s day and hope the other was behind the plate. “I’m not going to lie to you: It’s a stressful game when you catch a knuckleballer,” Bochy said. “When you’ve got a man on third and you’re catching a knuckleballer, you become a goalie, not a receiver.”

Bochy said that before Atlanta catcher Kurt Suzuki struggled to catch R.A. Dickey over the first three innings Sunday. Suzuki was charged with a passed ball that allowed Eduardo Nuñez to score and had to dive all over the dirt to keep pitches in front of him. Giants catcher Buster Posey said he sympathized with Suzuki, saying, “It’s not fun to hit. It doesn’t look fun to catch.” Suzuki has caught Dickey’s 10 starts this year and been charged with only five passed balls, three in the first game. Briefly: Bochy had Justin Ruggiano and Gorkys Hernandez start because each had a homer against Dickey. Ruggiano went 0-for-3 against Dickey and 0-for-4 overall, but Hernandez singled twice off Dickey and had an RBI. Hernandez had the play of the game in left field, a diving catch to rob pinch-hitter Emilio Bonifacio in the seventh. … Johnny Cueto allowed five of his six hits to two batters. Matt Kemp had three hits, including a double, and Nick Markakis had two singles. No. 99’s back: Taira Uematsu, familiar to Giants fans as the bullpen catcher who wears No. 99, is back at work after recovering from a broken hand. San Jose Mercury News Cueto returns to ace form as Giants clobber Braves Paul Gackle SAN FRANCISCO — Johnny Cueto is still pitching with a pair of blisters on his right hand, but he’s growing accustomed to dealing with the nagging discomfort. After four subpar outings, the veteran right-hander threw like an ace against the Atlanta Braves Sunday afternoon. Cueto (5-3) followed up strong performances from Matt Cain and Ty Blach this weekend, surrendering just one earned run on six hits over six innings of work in a 7-1 win at AT&T Park. “I thought Johnny was as sharp as he’s been this year. Hopefully, it’s something he can build on,” catcher Buster Posey said. The 31-year-old right-hander had struggled in his previous four outings, going 0-3 with a 4.33 ERA while pitching with a blister on the middle finger of his throwing hand. A second blister appeared on his right index finger before his start in Chicago Tuesday night. But the blisters didn’t stop him from fanning six of the first nine batters he faced Sunday, including five-consecutive strikeouts starting with the last out of the first inning. Although Cueto’s pitch count (106) forced him out of the game after the sixth, he still managed to rack up eight Ks. “They’re not bothering me like they were before,” Cueto said, referring to his blisters through an interpreter. “I’m just getting used to it, but I have to continue pitching until they get better.” For the second day in a row, the Giants bats spotted their starter with an early lead, scoring seven runs in the first three innings, which was more than enough for Cueto, who carried a 43-0 record into the game when receiving six or more runs of support.

It helped that the Giants (22-30) have figured out how to hit a knuckleball over the last three years. The last time the Giants faced a knuckleballer on June 15, 2013, R.A Dickey tossed 8 1/3 innings of shutout baseball. The Giants chased Dickey (3-4) from the game after six innings Sunday, compiling seven runs on six hits before they recorded nine outs. The Giants also benefitted from the knuckleballer’s inability to control his signature pitch over the first three innings as he walked five batters and got charged with a wild pitch. Eduardo Nunez scored the first run by crossing the plate on a passed ball with the bases loaded after catcher Kurt Suzuki got handcuffed by one of Dickey’s dancing-and-diving knucklers. Posey felt empathy for Suzuki as he watched the veteran catcher fumble around with Dickey’s knuckleball throughout the afternoon. “It’s not fun to hit, it doesn’t look fun to catch either,” he said. After Nunez scored the opening run, Brandon Belt made it 2-0 on the very next pitch, coming home on a Brandon Crawford grounder to first. The Giants scored four more runs in the second. Joe Panik led off the inning with a three bagger to triple’s alley and Gorkys Hernandez brought him in by punching a single through the hole between first and second base. After Cueto moved Hernandez to second and Denard Span walked, Nunez brought in a run by ripping a line drive into left field off third baseman Rio Ruiz’s glove. Span and Nunez eventually scored on Crawford’s two out single to left, his first career hit off Dickey in 11 at bats. “I’ve never had a whole lot of success off of him,” Crawford said. “But I’ve been told to try to see the knuckleball up in the zone and it’ll eventually try to drop back into zone. When it’s down, it’ll stay down. You want to take those and try to see the ball up.” The Giants added a seventh run in the third when Cueto helped his own cause by bringing in Panik for his second run of the game on a sacrifice fly to right. The Braves eventually knocked a run across the plate in the sixth after Suzuki brought in Nick Markakis on a fielder’s choice. Manager Bruce Bochy said the Giants patience at the plate allowed them to take advantage of the knuckleball’s wild movement over the first three innings, which proved to be the difference in the game. Dickey retired the last nine batters he faced in order. “It was pretty windy out there, and Dickey, at times, had trouble getting the ball over in the strike zone,” the Giants manager said. “The knuckleball was moving quite a bit and we did benefit from some walks. We got, what, six hits? If you only have six hits, it’s good to do them in a bunch like we did in the first three innings. That’s how we put the big numbers up.”

San Jose Mercury News Giants set date for Bumgarner to resume throwing PAUL GACKLE SAN FRANCISCO — Madison Bumgarner is on schedule to take the first step in his recovery from a left-shoulder later this week. Manager Bruce Bochy said the Giants left-handed ace will likely throw a baseball for the first time since he sprained his left shoulder in a dirt bike accident in Colorado last month on Friday. Bumgarner won’t be throwing a full bullpen session from the mound; he’ll be tossing the ball around on flat ground. The team doesn’t have a timetable for his return to the rotation, but it will likely be after the All-Star break. Bumgarner will eventually throw from the mound before he begins his rehab assignment. “He could be throwing by Friday,” Bochy said. “The progress is happening, I think he sees light at the end of the tunnel. I can’t give you a target date, but good news is, Friday he starts throwing.” — Conor Gillaspie’s MRI Saturday revealed inflammation in his lower back, delaying his activation from the 10-day disabled list. The Giants were planning to activate the infielder during their current six-game homestand, but his recovery from back spasms hit a setback when he experienced tightness while swinging a bat. “We’re hoping it resides in the next day or two, then he starts rehab again,” Bochy said. — Jarrett Parker’s first on-field batting practice since he broke his right clavicle on April 15 left quite an impression on Bochy Saturday afternoon. “I asked him how it felt, he says it’s a little sore, but he hit some balls out. He was letting it go, he wasn’t hesitant,” Bochy said. “He’s actually further along than I thought.”‘ The Giants expect Parker to begin his rehab assignment next week. — Bochy can sympathize with catcher Nick Hundley’s plight. The Giants backup catcher went 3 for 4 Saturday night, collecting three RBI, scoring two runs and smacking his first home run of the season. But he’ll be riding the pine Sunday as Buster Posey will return to his position behind the plate when the Giants conclude their three-game set against the Atlanta Braves. “Nick had a great game, but that’s the life of a backup,” Bochy said. “I’ve been there. You have a great game, but your regular’s going to be back out there. He got two games in a row, which I think is good for Nick.” — Bochy offered a glass-half full perspective to Giants hitters who are dreading the assignment of facing knuckleballer R.A. Dickey on Sunday.

“It’s not an easy task, but I can tell you this, it’s more fun hitting off a knuckleballer than catching one,” the former catcher said. “They need to look at it like that.” The Giants haven’t faced a knuckleballer since they last batted against Dickey while he was a member of the Toronto Blue Jays on June 15, 2013. Dickey tossed 8 1/3 innings of shutout baseball that day, striking out five batters and earning the win. The knuckleballer is 3-3 with a 4.17 ERA this season. “It’s a big adjustment for the guys, it really is,” Bochy said. “It’s been said, a knuckleballer can put a guy in a slump. It’s a different pitch, you just don’t see it very often. You try to get the guys to try to be patient, but also be aggressive once it’s in the zone. “You can’t forget to take a good swing. What happens a lot of times, because the ball is moving so much, they’re trying to adjust as they’re swinging. You can’t do that, you’ve got to let it go.” Bochy penciled outfielders Gorkys Hernandez and Justin Ruggiano into the lineup Sunday because both have had success against Dickey in the past. Ruggiano is 4 for 8 with a home run against Dickey while Hernandez is 2 for 7 with a round tripper. Shortstop Brandon Crawford, who’s 0 for 9 with three strikeouts against Dickey, said this time around, he’ll be looking for pitches with a high-release point. “If it’s up there, it’ll probably drop down into the zone,” he said. “If it’s down, it’ll probably drop all the way down out of the zone.” MLB.com Moore looks for more success at home Kyle Melnick The Nationals begin a nine-game California road trip Monday afternoon against the Giants after winning four of six games of their most recent homestand. San Francisco, meanwhile, will finish its homestand against Washington before starting its own road trip. Tanner Roark, the Nationals' starter Monday, has fallen behind in counts often this season, which has raised his pitch counts. But the right-hander broke out of that tendency Wednesday when he allowed one run and struck out eight in seven innings of the Nationals' 5-1 win over the Mariners. He looked more like the pitcher who held a 2.83 ERA last season. The Giants entered Sunday with the second-worst batting average in the Majors, an opportunity for Roark to prove he's out of his funk for good. The Giants will turn to Matt Moore, who has been inconsistent this season. But his best outings have come at home. The left-hander has a 2.57 ERA at AT&T Park and a 7.80 ERA on the road. He gave up a combined six runs (five earned) in 12 innings in his past two starts -- both of which were away. But in his last home start May 13, Moore allowed one run and struck out seven in 7 1/3 innings. Moore will be put to the test against an offense that leads the Major Leagues in almost every offensive category.

Things to know about this game • Roark is 5-0 in his career against the Giants with a 2.51 ERA. In two starts against San Francisco last year, Roark allowed one run in 14 innings. • Giants catcher Buster Posey entered Sunday with the Majors' longest current streak of plate appearances without a strikeout at 51 and has been controlling the count since he last punched out May 14. Since that date, Posey had seen 34.2 percent of his total pitches while being ahead in the count, the third-highest rate of any qualified hitter (min. 150 total pitches). It shouldn't come as too much of a surprise, then that Posey had posted an .839 OPS in that same span entering Sunday's game against the Braves. • Michael A. Taylor has been on a hot stretch lately, hitting 29-for-96 (.302) with four home runs since taking over for an injured Adam Eaton in center field on April 29. He belted homers in back-to-back games this past weekend for the first time since 2015. • Twenty of the Giants' past 22 home runs have been solo shots. They've hit the second-fewest homers in MLB as part of their struggling offense. • Moore has made just one career start against the Nationals -- which came in 2012 -- but he's had plenty of experience pitching against Matt Wieters. The former Oriole has hit 9-for-26 (.346) against Moore in his nine-year career. MLB.com Seven years ago today, Posey era began in San Francisco Chris Landers From 2010 to 2016, the San Francisco Giants made the postseason four times, won the NL West twice, threw three no-hitters and one perfect game, took home three World Series championships and conjured a force of pure baseball magic the likes of which we may never see again. Obviously, all that success wasn't the product of any one player -- it takes a whole team to win big, and there have been plenty of heroes along the way. (Let us always remember 2012 Marco Scutaro .) But San Francisco's recent winning does happen to line up pretty neatly with one particular roster transaction: On May 29, 2010, the Giants called Buster Posey back up to the big leagues, and he hasn't been back down since. The Giants drafted Posey fifth overall in the 2008 Draft out of Florida State, where he starred literally all over the diamond and still holds the single-season batting average record. It didn't take long to realize that he was a player to build around: After hitting his way from Class A to Triple-A in a matter of months, Posey made his Major League debut in late September 2009 and entered 2010 as a consensus top-10 prospect. He had to wait a couple months for another shot at the big leagues -- San Francisco was set with three-year starter Bengie Molina at catcher -- but eventually, the team decided it needed his bat in the lineup. The Giants called him up to start at first base for their May 29 game against the D-backs, and all Posey did was go 3-for-4 with 3 RBIs, including a two-run single to break things open in the fifth.

By June 11, Posey had a 1.074 OPS, and the Giants felt comfortable enough to trade Molina at that year's non-waiver Trade Deadline -- officially installing the 23-year-old as their full-time catcher and heart of the lineup. Three championships, an MVP Award and countless world-class hugs later, it's safe to say that was the right call. Posey hasn't played a Minor League game since -- even when he missed most of the 2011 season with an ankle injury, he returned for Spring Training the following year and slotted right back into the Major League lineup. So happy anniversary, Buster. You've come a long way in just seven years: And who knows, the journey might just end in Cooperstown. MLB.com Giants win after early outburst vs. Dickey Chris Haft and Michael Wagaman SAN FRANCISCO -- The San Francisco Giants jumped on Atlanta knuckleballer R.A. Dickey immediately, scoring in each of the first three innings and cruising to a 7-1 victory Sunday at AT&T Park. Brandon Crawford paced San Francisco's offense by driving in three runs, scoring one with a first-inning groundout and sending home a pair with a second-inning single as San Francisco surged to a 7-0 lead. Dickey also issued a season-high five walks; three of those runners scored. Crawford, who entered the game 0-for-9 against Dickey, downplayed his success. "It wasn't as if I hit the ball all over the place," he said. "I just tried to see the knuckleball up. That's the hardest part of a knuckleball, that it's dancing all over the place. Fortunately, I think, it was dancing so much that he couldn't find the strike zone." The Giants were retired 1-2-3 in each of the final five innings. "When you get six hits," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said, "it's good to get them in a bunch like we did the first three innings." That provided more than enough support for Johnny Cueto, who ended a personal three-decision losing streak while allowing six hits and Atlanta's lone run in six innings. For the second start in a row, Cueto struck out eight and walked one. Braves manager Brian Snitker said Dickey battled himself early and credited the right-hander for pushing through six innings to help save Atlanta's bullpen. "In the beginning it was like there was no in between," Snitker said. "It was either an unbelievable knuckleball or something that was really flat. He found his release point in the middle and did a good job of stretching the game a little bit. That's what we needed, innings." The Giants secured their seventh victory in their last nine home games and won their third consecutive home series.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED Knuckling down: A knuckleball's movement is so fickle that even its most elite practitioners often don't know where it's going. The Giants got an indication this would be a rough day for Dickey when catcher Kurt Suzuki mishandled a first-inning knuckler for a passed ball that enabled Eduardo Nunez to score the game's first run. Dickey also flung a second-inning wild pitch that helped the Giants add four runs. "It wasn't that I didn't have a good knuckleball," Dickey said. "It was moving but I would throw two that would be the most hellacious knuckleballs you've ever seen and then I'd throw a third that would just kind of flatten out with the same release point and get hit. I didn't really have the right formula early on." Ruiz's rough go: Atlanta's Rio Ruiz entered Sunday batting .346 (9-for-26) in his previous eight games. However, the rookie infielder wasn't able to stay hot. He grounded out in the fourth inning with a pair of runners aboard and struck out in the sixth to strand a runner on third. QUOTABLE "This can be a challenging place because of the wind, it swirls so much. A lot of it's about finding the right speed out of my hand. The last three innings I backed off it a little bit and was getting consistent movement in the strike zone rather than erratic movement outside the strike zone. But I didn't give us a chance." – Dickey SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS Ender Inciarte's double in the fifth inning was his 36th hit this month, the most by a Braves player in May since Freddie Freeman had 36 in 2013. The modern-era franchise record for hits in May is 47 shared by Hank Aaron (1959) and Ralph Garr (1974). UPON FURTHER REVIEW The Giants challenged a ninth-inning ruling that declared Ruiz's foot touched second base before Crawford's as San Francisco attempted to turn a double play on Dansby Swanson's grounder. The call was overturned after a video review and Ruiz was called out. WHAT'S NEXT Braves: Right-hander Julio Teheran makes his first career appearance against the Los Angeles Angels on Monday in the opener of a three-game series in Anaheim beginning at 9:07 ET. Teheran has only one win since April 26 but has not allowed an earned run in two of his previous three starts. Giants: San Francisco will open a three-game series Monday against the Washington Nationals with a Memorial Day matinee at 1:08 p.m. PT. Matt Moore, San Francisco's scheduled starter, has compiled a 2-1 mark with a 2.57 ERA at home, compared with 0-4, 7.80 on the road. Opponents are batting .217 off Moore at AT&T Park and .336 outside of it.

MLB.com Cueto back in fine form in beating Braves Chris Haft SAN FRANCISCO -- Giants manager Bruce Bochy summarized Johnny Cueto's performance succinctly: "He was Johnny," Bochy said. For the 31-year-old right-hander, being Johnny typically guarantees success. Cueto ended a personal three-decision losing streak Sunday while subduing the Atlanta Braves, 7-1. Cueto muted the Braves' bats enough to help the Giants match their largest margin of victory of the season. He yielded Atlanta's lone run and six hits through six innings. He walked one and struck out eight for the second game in a row. Cueto reported trouble with the blisters on the middle and index fingers of his throwing hand last Tuesday at Chicago. But those nuisances weren't a factor against Atlanta. "They're not bothering me like they were before," Cueto said through interpreter Erwin Higueros. "I'm just getting used to it. I just have to continue pitching until they get better." Cueto's durability enabled him to throw 106 pitches, including 71 strikes. "I kept the ball down, which is the job of a pitcher," he said. Braves hitters went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position, including 0-for-6 off Cueto. "I thought Johnny was as sharp as he's been this year," said Giants catcher Buster Posey, who praised Cueto's fastball and changeup. "Hopefully it's something to build on." Cueto, who was 0-3 with a 4.33 ERA in his previous four outings, perpetuated the effectiveness of the Giants' starters at AT&T Park. The five-man contingent has compiled a 2.23 ERA in San Francisco's last 10 home games. The Giants' overall home ERA of 2.95 matches Los Angeles for the National League's best. Cueto even contributed offensively by executing a sacrifice bunt and a sacrifice fly. "I was just trying to put the ball in play," he said. MLB.com Mike Krukow's autograph for 5-year-old Brandon Crawford included the phrase 'a future Giant!' Adrian Garro In many ways, Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford's dreams have come true. Growing up in Northern California, Crawford was a big Giants fan. There's even a now-classic photo of young Brandon at Candlestick Park which adult Brandon recreated to great effect last year. He also has a handful of World Series rings in his collection, earned with the club he grew up idolizing. That's pretty perfect, right? So is this: During the NBC Sports Bay Area broadcast of Sunday's 7-1 win over the Braves, a photo unearthed by Brandon's father, Mike Crawford, was discussed on the air. The

photo depicts then 5-year-old Brandon meeting Giants announcer/former pitcher Mike Krukow at Giants Fan Fest in 1992. And if you were curious, yes, lil' Brandon sported the same perfect smile (and hair) he has today: The kicker: As seen in the clip atop this post, Krukow's autograph to young Brandon included the phrase, "A future Giant!" Does it get any more storybook than that? And, also, can Krukow predict the future or what? MLB.com Bumgarner slated to start throwing Chris Haft SAN FRANCISCO -- Giants ace Madison Bumgarner will resume throwing Friday, according to the latest update that manager Bruce Bochy issued Sunday. Bumgarner, who bruised his ribs and sprained a joint in his left (throwing) shoulder in a dirt-bike accident near Denver on a scheduled off-day April 20, will begin regaining his form by simply playing catch. He must gradually rebuild his arm strength before he can start throwing off a mound. When Bumgarner reaches that stage, Bochy said, the four-time All-Star will make five starts on a Minor League injury rehabilitation assignment before returning to the Giants. All of this, of course, is subject to change, depending on whether Bumgarner can avoid physical setbacks. Bumgarner initially was expected to return to the Giants after the July 10-13 All-Star break. Bochy would not say whether this remained the endpoint of Bumgarner's timetable for recovery. Bumgarner was 0-3 with a 3.00 ERA in four starts before being injured. The Giants will open a three-game series in Philadelphia when Bumgarner is expected to start his throwing regimen. • Third baseman Conor Gillaspie's MRI showed he has inflammation in his lower back, which interrupted his injury rehab stint. Bochy said Gillaspie, who went on the 10-day disabled list May 11 with back spasms, will rest for a couple of days before resuming his recovery program. NBC Sports Bay Area EARLY OFFENSE, SIX STRONG FROM CUETO LIFT GIANTS PAST BRAVES IN FINALE NBC Sports Bay Area Staff SAN FRANCISCO -- The blisters on Johnny Cueto's middle and index fingers that limited his effectiveness in his last few starts haven't yet completely healed. But the two-time All-Star is learning to pitch with them. Cueto threw six strong innings and Brandon Crawford drove in three runs as the San Francisco Giants defeated the Atlanta Braves 7-1 on Sunday.

Cueto (5-4) bounced back from his roughest stretch as a Giant. He was 0-3 with a 4.33 ERA in his previous four starts. "They're not bothering me like they were before," Cueto said through a translator. "I'm just getting used to it but I have to continue pitching until they get better." The Giants won their third straight home series and posted their 11th victory in 18 games overall. Crawford's two-run single highlighted a four-run second against R.A. Dickey (3-4) that made it 6-0. Matt Kemp had three hits for Atlanta. But the Braves couldn't get much going against Cueto, who allowed one run on six hits and a walk. Cueto struck out eight, including five in a row at one point. "He did what he needed to do to get us out," Kemp said. "We had chances to score runs and we didn't. I think in this series we really didn't do a good score of scoring runs." Dickey allowed a season-high seven runs (six earned) on six hits and five walks in six innings. "This can be a challenging place to throw because of the wind because it swirls so much," Dickey said. Eduardo Nunez and Gorkys Hernandez each had two hits for the Giants. Joe Panik tripled to start the second-inning burst. Cueto had two productive at-bats, bunting a runner to second in the second inning and driving in a run with a sacrifice fly in the third. "It's always nice to have a lead and I thought Johnny was the sharpest he'd been this year," Giants catcher Buster Posey said. "Hopefully it's something he can build on. The changeup was working really well and his command of the fastball was really good." Posey was 0 for 2 with two walks. He hasn't struck out in 55 consecutive plate appearances. FUN FACTOR: The Giants scored the game's first run when Nunez came around from third when a knuckleball glanced off catcher Kurt Suzuki glove in the bottom of the first. The play was ruled a passed ball. Asked if he had any empathy for the plight of his counterpart, Posey said "Yes, no question. It's not fun to hit, it doesn't look fun to catch, either." FANCY FIELDING: Hernandez made a diving catch in the gap in left-center robbing Emilio Bonifacio of an extra-base hit with one out in the seventh inning. TRAINER'S ROOM: Braves: 2B Brandon Phillips left in the fifth for pinch-hitter Jace Peterson. Phillips fouled a ball off his foot in his last at-bat in the third. Giants: LHP Madison Bumgarner will start his throwing program on Friday, manager Bruce Bochy said. Bumgarner will start out playing catch and make five rehab starts. The 2014 World Series MVP suffered

a separated left shoulder in a dirt biking accident. "The progress is happening," Bochy said. "I think he sees light at the end of the tunnel." ... Slumping rookie INF Christian Arroyo was out of the lineup on Sunday and his playing status appears uncertain. Arroyo, who turns 22 on Tuesday, is 0 for 19 in his last five games. "I'll talk to him, about what his situation is," Bochy said. "I'm definitely planning on giving him a couple of days" off. UP NEXT: Braves: RHP Julio Teheran will make his first career start against the Angels in Anaheim on Monday. He is 3-9 with a 5.63 ERA in 15 career interleague starts. Giants: LHP Matt Moore will face the Nationals for the second time in his career. He was with Tampa Bay when he gave up two runs in five innings against Washington in 2012. San Francisco Examiner Cueto, early offense lead Giants past Braves Karl Buscheck AT&T Park — Johnny Cueto delivered six innings of one-run ball and the San Francisco Giants’ slumberous offense produced its highest-scoring day in nearly two weeks as the club dispatched the Atlanta Braves 7-1 on Sunday afternoon. Cueto, who has been pitching with a blister on his his middle finger all season and who recently developed another on the pad of his index finger, struck out eight Braves and walked just one during the matinee rout. “I felt really good *about my command+,” Cueto said, per team translator Erwin Higueros. “I kept the ball down, which is the job of a pitcher — to keep the the ball down.” Cueto, who could be seen shaking his head and grimacing as he trudged off the mound at the end of the sixth, admitted he’s still not 100 percent. “I was better today,” Cueto said. “Everything felt normal, just a little bit towards the end it started bothering me a little bit.” Entering the day tied with the San Diego Padres for the lowest runs per game average in the majors, the Giants immediately staked Cueto to a two-run advantage in the bottom of the first — courtesy of an R.A. Dickey knuckleball that eluded catcher Kurt Suzuki and a Brandon Crawford groundout. The Giants hit the Braves with a four-run barrage in the second before Cueto drove in the seventh and final run with a third-inning sacrifice fly. “We got, what? Six hits?” manager Bruce Bochy said. “If you you get six hits, it’s good to do them in a bunch like we did the first three innings. That’s how we put the big numbers up and won the game.” The seven-run day marked the team’s highest output since putting up eight in back-to-back wins on May 14 ad 15.

Crawford drove in three of the runs, while Gorkys Hernandez added an RBI and a couple of singles, recording his third multi-hit game of the season and his first since May 2. Hernandez also contributed a spectacular full-extension catch in the top of the sixth, robbing Emilio Bonifacio of extra bases. The Giants not only scored all seven of their runs in the first three frames, but also got all of their base runners during that stretch. “Guys battled and did what they’re supposed to do offensively,” Bochy said. “But as you, once *Dickey+ settled down, he was tough and we couldn’t get a runner on base after the third inning there.” CBS Sports Giants' Eduardo Nunez: Being evaluated for possible concussion RotoWire Staff The veteran outfielder got a rare start in left field due to his success -- albeit in a small sample size -- against R.A. Dickey (2-for-7 with a home run). The move paid off, as Hernandez delivered two hits and produced two runs for a struggling Giants offense. Despite injuries opening up playing time in the outfield, the 29-year-old is unlikely to see a regular role due to his paltry ,173 batting average. ESPN.com 'Progress is happening' for Madison Bumgarner, says Bruce Bochy ESPN.com news services San Francisco Giants ace left-hander Madison Bumgarner, who has been sidelined since mid-April following a dirt bike accident in Colorado, will start his throwing program Friday, manager Bruce Bochy said. Bumgarner, who suffered a Grade 2 AC joint sprain in his throwing shoulder and is expected to be out until after the July 10-13 All-Star break, will start out by playing catch. He is expected to make five rehab starts. "The progress is happening," Bochy said. "I think he sees light at the end of the tunnel." An MRI exam in late April determined the 2014 World Series MVP suffered no structural damage to his shoulder, and it was announced that he would not require surgery. Bumgarner, 27, is in the last year of a five-year, $35 million contract extension that he signed in 2012. He is 0-3 with a 3.00 ERA in four starts this season. McCovey Chronicles Giants take game, series from Braves Grant Brisbee At the end of the last series, which was against the Cubs in Wrigley Field, this space was reserved for some grumbling and whining about how the Giants weren’t as good as the Cubs. The series ended the way it was supposed to. What did you expect?

I don’t think any of us have changed our minds about that. A series win over the Braves isn’t going to make me reconsider how the Giants stack up with potential postseason contenders. But the corollary to the Cubs conundrum is that you would also expect the Giants to beat the Braves in a three-game series at AT&T Park. As in, sure, the season has been a dog relative to preseason expectations, but the team hasn’t fallen into the same pit as the 90-loss rebuilders and other ne’er-do-wells already, right? They should beat the Braves at AT&T, just like the Cubs should be the Giants at Wrigley. They’re in the middle, then. You hope it’s a crossroads with a choice still to be made, but until that’s obvious, the Giants should still beat the Braves at home. They beat the Braves at home. And these weren’t just the squeak-by kind of victories, either. The Giants scored early, they scored often, and even when the bullpen was being a little twitchy, the games were never in serious doubt. The early leads were substantial; the early leads were enough. Oh, how we used to take this sort of stuff for granted. You don’t realize what a treat convincing wins are until they aren’t around that often. The Giants scored seven runs on six hits. If you’re wondering if that’s rare, it most certainly is. The last time that many runs scored on that few hits was in 2002, and that was the only time it’s happened in the last 20 years. It happened three times in three weeks in 1996, and I’m not sure what to make of that, but this was just the 19th time that the Giants have scored seven or more runs on six or fewer hits. What most of those games have in common, of course, are the walks. Lots and lots of walks. Taking what the other team gives you. The Giants weren’t flailing at R.A. Dickey, who was cursed with a baseball that was spinning on Sunday. He wasn’t fooling anyone and it was clear from the first inning that if the knuckler was dancing, it was dancing like Elaine*. Dickey has feasted on the Giants over the last few years, mowing them down twice in 2013 and once in 2011. He’s an odd-year grifter, then, and he deserved a spinning knuckler today. Taking advantage in a team in the middle of the odd years like that. Have you no shame? In this game, the Giants were happy to look up and expect the ball to drift out of the strike zone often. It has to be weird to face a knuckleballer — it’s like someone dropping a football on the rink at face-off — but the Giants were prepared and unimpressed. But, really, they should beat the Braves two out of three at home. That’s not to belittle the Braves, who have been roughly as good as the Giants this year. It’s just a realistic look at where the two teams are and where they were playing. In Atlanta, you might argue that the Braves have the advantage over three games, and I wouldn’t argue vociferously against. In this series, though, the Giants were supposed to win, and they won. Good for them. Good for us! Johnny Cueto is still dealing with blisters, though he says they’re improving. But for four innings, he looked as dominant as he’s looked all season, which is the kind of dominance that makes a fella get starry-eyed and dream about spending the rest of our next five years together. He’s still gonna opt out, of course. But at least we’ll feel bad about it. That’s all I want at this point.

I do wonder if the Giants are deep in double-secret negotiations with him, using the early season weirdness and general uncuetosity as the opening for extension talks that had more leverage than they would have in the offseason. Because games like this make me remember the guy who literally started the All-Star Game last year because he was so awesome. Do you know what it takes for a pitcher to start the All-Star Game? Like, Tim Lincecum in his prime. Matt Cain in his prime. It’s not easy. That’s how good he was last year. That’s how good he can be again. I don’t know if All-Star-starter Cueto is the one we should expect going forward, but he’s better than the 4.64 ERA he started Sunday with. If the Giants aren’t still exploring ways to keep him around, I’ll be extremely disappointed. (They’re totally still exploring ways to keep him around.) Arbitrary endpoints, sure. But if you want to know which set of numbers I would have predicted before the season, given the choice of both, I would have gone with the happier numbers. The Giants probably weren’t as miserable as they were over their first 36 games. That goes for their lineup, rotation, and bullpen. Now, that doesn’t help them make up the ground they’ve lost already, but at least there’s a chance we’ll get to watch more games like this for the rest of the season. I hereby nominate Matt Kemp for the Most Annoying Baseball Player on Earth award. He’s not a valuable player, at least according to the modern metrics. His defense and baserunning hinder his production so much, that he’s been worth just 2.6 WAR since 2012. That’s barely above replacement level, and when you see him play defense, you get the metrics. There’s a child watching him play who will invent a time machine just to go back in time and invent the DH for him. With the irony being that he’ll never get to DH for some reason. That’s fine. Except WAR doesn’t mean a damned thing when that guy is at the plate, waggling his bat, looking to annihilate a mistake. Separate of the other context, he’s just about the most terrifying player in baseball. There’s nothing to be gained from screaming, “BUT HIS WAR IS BAD” when he’s at the plate. Trust me, I’ve tried. It doesn’t help to think about the defense when he’s hitting. He’s a monster in those situations, and you’re right to be scared, even as his overall value will sink because of something screwy he does in the outfield. Against another team, when you’re not watching. Which means he’s the most annoying player in baseball. Here’s your stupid award, Kemp. It’s a bust of David Eckstein that I made out of the burs that stick to your sock, and it smells like anise and dandruff. Put it next to your bed.