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SF Giants Press Clips

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

San Francisco Chronicle

Giants lose on a blistery night at Wrigley

Henry Schulman

CHICAGO — Johnny Cueto is damned either way, on the mound and in interviews, because of

the blisters on his pitching hand.

That’s right — blisters, plural.

If Cueto blames them for his bad first two months, which continued in Tuesday night’s 4-1 loss

to the Cubs, he sounds like he is making excuses. If he doesn’t, he has to deny what everyone

can see. His velocity is down, and he is not getting the late life on his pitches that makes them

harder to square up.

“Really, I’m not making excuses, but my fingers are bothering me,” Cueto said.

Cueto put three pitches on a tee, to Kyle Schwarber, Jason Heyward and Anthony Rizzo. All left

Wrigley Field, the difference in his loss to Jon Lester in what would have been the Game 5

matchup in October.

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The homers accounted for the four Chicago runs, the first time Cueto has allowed three in a

game with the Giants. In 64 innings this season, he has surrendered 11 home runs, four short of

his 2016 total.

Cueto also fell to 4-4 after losing five games in all of 2016.

Schwarber sent a first-inning fastball over the bleachers and onto Sheffield Avenue. An inning

later, Heyward lined a cutter into the right-field basket. Rizzo hit a fastball halfway up the right-

field seats with a runner on in the fourth.

Those swings did not jibe with the rest of Cueto’s six innings. He allowed only two hits that did

not leave the park and struck out eight, a sign that he has enough arrows in his quiver to

compete even with the blisters.

“It seemed like today they were on his fastball,” catcher Buster Posey said. “We ended up

mixing in more off-speed pitches than we typically would. He really did a nice job getting

through six the way the game started.”

Cueto has had a blister on his middle finger all season. In St. Louis, he developed another on the

pad of his index finger.

He said that skipping a start would be counterproductive because he wants the blisters to

callus, which will happen more quickly if he pitches. In fact, the original blister has callused and

feels better.

Blisters or not, the Cubs who homered deserve credit for not missing the pitches. And a Cueto

win Tuesday would have been problematic the way Lester threw in his and the Cubs’ first

complete game of the year, a four-hitter.

Lester struck out the side to start the game and finished with 10. His efficiency contributed to

an old-school, 2-hour, 5-minute game that started after a 65-minute rain delay.

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The Giants had one good crack at Lester, in the fifth, when Posey hit a leadoff double and

scored on Brandon Crawford’s one-out double.

An Eduardo Nuñez bloop single moved Crawford to third, but the rally died soon after Nuñez

was caught stealing second.

That ordinarily is a cardinal sin down three runs, but not against Lester, who has a phobia about

throwing to first base. That allows runners to take bigger leads. Nuñez, the fastest runner on

the team, had a green light.

“We’re not going to stop being aggressive,” Bochy said. “We’re going to continue to play the

game.”

Notwithstanding the phobia, Lester has helped thwart eight of 14 potential thieves with a quick

move to the plate in concert with catcher Willson Contreras’ strong arm.

Gorkys Hernandez struck out to strand Crawford at third, the first of 13 straight outs Lester

recorded to end the game.

The Cubs evened the series at a win apiece. If the Giants can win one of the final two games,

they will have a winning trip.

San Francisco Chronicle

Ivy leads to confusion on Justin Ruggiano’s homer for Giants

Henry Schulman

CHICAGO — You have seen it so many times on TV. Someone hits a ball into the ivy at Wrigley

Field and the outfielder raises both hands to let the umps know. It’s a ground-rule double. A lot

of batting-practice balls find the vines as well.

Well, a lot of the baseballs remain there for a long time. During the Giants’ 6-4 win Monday

night, one of them reappeared and caused momentary confusion.

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Justin Ruggiano hit an eighth-inning homer to center field. The ball reached the basket over the

wall, but when Albert Almora Jr. leaped into the ivy in a vain attempt at a catch, he jarred a ball

loose and it rolled onto the field.

As Ruggiano got to second base, he heard umpire Jeff Nelson yell, “Double.”

“I didn’t know what was going on,” said Ruggiano, who was running with his head down and did

not see the ball clear the fence. Third-base umpire Laz Diaz did and quickly said home run.

Ruggiano hit his second of the season and the Giants’ third of the night.

Span improved: Denard Span, who has missed the two games at Wrigley Field with a sprained

left thumb, said the swelling has reduced considerably and he has some hope of playing

Wednesday night.

X-rays were negative. Span plans to arrive early for treatment and see if he can grip a bat and

swing.

Blach against Zobrist: Folks were still talking about Ty Blach’s 13-pitch strikeout of Ben

Zobrist to start the Cubs’ half of the first inning Monday night. Zobrist fouled off four 3-2

fastballs before Blach caught him looking at the fifth.

“How about that? He won the at-bat,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “I don’t have the numbers in

front of me, but usually the hitter wins that. Ty kept his focus and got a strikeout, and here he

was still pitching in the eighth inning.”

Blach shows the Giants a little more with every start, as any rookie would. On Monday, he

showed he likes to challenge a good hitter.

“It’s good to have a battle like that to get you locked in, especially to win it,” Blach said. “You’re

thinking, ‘OK, I can execute pitches and get guys out.’”

Blach is second on the team in starts of at least seven innings, four. Jeff Samardzija and Johnny

Cueto each have five.

Henry Schulman is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.

On deck

Wednesday

5

at Cubs

5:05 p.m. NBCSBA

Moore (2-4) vs.

Hendricks (3-2)

Thursday

at Cubs

11:20 a.m. NBCSBA

Samardzija (1-5) vs. Butler (1-0)

Friday

vs. Braves

7:15 p.m. NBCSBA

Garcia (1-3) vs.

Cain (3-2)

Leading off

Marrero gone? The Giants are negotiating a sale of minor-league outfielder Chris Marrero to

the Orix Blue Wave in Japan.

San Francisco Chronicle

Is baseball ready for two-way players

John Shea

The Dodgers acquired outfielder Brett Eibner in a January trade with the A’s and now are trying

him out as a possible relief pitcher.

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Because Eibner throws hard, pitched in college and is developing some sort of repertoire, the

Dodgers are considering using him on the mound in a pinch, not just as a backup outfielder.

Starting pitchers are working fewer innings these days. More relievers are being used. Benches

can be thin as a result. So the Dodgers are willing to experiment with Eibner to get maximum

versatility and value from their 25-man roster.

While they’ve been called everything from novel to nutty, we wonder if this two-way business

could become acceptable.

Three players known for both hitting and pitching are hoping to reach the big leagues in the

near future: Shohei Ohtani of Japan’s Nippon Ham Fighters, Brendan McKay of Louisville and

Hunter Greene of Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks (Los Angeles County).

Greene, 17, can throw 100 mph, which is why some teams like his future on the mound more

than in the batter’s box, but he’s also a dandy shortstop prospect and has tremendous pop for a

high school kid. “Two-Way” McKay, 21, a left-handed pitcher and first baseman, is so good

overall that scouts are mixed on whether he’s a better pitcher or hitter.

Green and McKay could be the top selections in the June 12 draft. The Twins and Reds pick first

and second, respectively, followed by the Padres, Rays, Braves and A’s.

Ohtani, 22, has a power arm and power bat. He had a 1.86 ERA and 9.957 WHIP last season

while hitting .322 with 22 homers and 67 RBIs. He has missed most of this season with a

hamstring injury but is targeted for the majors in 2018, perhaps as an American Leaguer so he

could be a designated hitter.

Nobody’s the next Babe Ruth, the freakiest of freaks (with apologies to Tim Lincecum) because

of how he dominated as a pitcher and hitter, but let’s not rule out the possibility of a star

pitcher-hitter down the road.

Analytic-driven front offices are open to change and creativity, and perhaps it’s the right time

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to give two-way players a chance. Or two chances.

San Francisco Chronicle

Giant Notes

Henry Schulman

CHICAGO - One of the weirdest nights of my career happened in 2002, in San Diego, after the

big dugout fight between Jeff Kent and Barry Bonds. Bonds ducked out of the clubhouse at

Qualcomm Stadium, but Kent hung around to talk.

He did not get into the Xs and Os of a fight that ended up with Bonds shoving Kent against the

wall, but he did discuss his often-tense relationship with Bonds.

I'll never forget one thing Kent said, that he and Bonds fought far more than anyone realized,

sometimes to the team's benefit. Kent said he once hit a grand slam shortly after one of their

physical altercations.

Buster Posey and Brandon Belt are not Bonds and Kent. Not by a longshot. But the point is the

same. Think of the interpersonal relationships of a baseball team as an iceberg. We see the tip.

We usually do not see what is below the surface.

Posey and Belt are both competitors, but in different ways.

Posey is intense and has an aura of quiet leadership. We've known for years that behind the

purposely boring postgame quotes and almost Zen-like demeanor when writers are in the

room, he is the first among equals in that clubhouse and not afraid to stand on a proverbial

lectern and speak his mind.

Belt could not be more different. He wears his heart on his sleeve. I think way too much is made

of the "slumpy shoulders" thing, but I have been told privately that some do get annoyed at

times by Belt's sulking, or just the appearance that he is.

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As an aside, I have sensed a change in Belt the last two seasons, a seriousness we had not seen.

I've been told something I actually can relate to personally, that Belt got weary of being the

butt of a lot of jokes and did not want to offer as much fodder.

I remember asking him last spring training why he seemed so serious, if something was wrong.

He said no, that he felt at that stage of his career he was uber-focused on trying to reach the

next level as a hitter. He knows as much as anyone that there is more in that bat than we have

seen.

If that is how Belt feels he needs to be now, let him.

This is the second story I have written on the Belt-Posey relationship. I had to write the first,

after Posey's dressing-down of the first baseman Saturday night, because it happened in plain

sight of the television cameras. I'm writing this one because I feel compelled to say I do not

think this is a big deal.

If someone built a team with 25 guys who had the same personalities, that would be weird. It

doesn't happen, and I'd like to think that after decades of watching and writing about baseball I

could discern if a personality conflict was roiling the clubhouse, or worse, affecting the team's

performance on the field.

Neither player would comment on what happened Saturday. They would not even say if they

talked it through. I would like to think they did.

These are the two best hitters on the team. It would be nice if they respected each other and

were able to work out their differences with no intervention from the staff.

Bruce Bochy, as much or more than any other managers, wants players to police themselves.

He needs Posey and other leaders to step up when something needs to be fixed.

Again, it happens a lot more than we realize. If we could somehow see video from a hidden

camera in the clubhouse, we probably would be shocked at some of the arguments that arise

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between 25 hard-headed men.

Cueto vs. Lester: There's not much more for me to say about Tuesday night's matchup between

the pitchers who would have met in Game 5 of the Division Series last year, but Cubs manager

Joe Maddon had some interesting thoughts Monday. You can read them here.

The forecast calls for heavy rain throughout the night, so we’ll see if they get the game in. The

alternative would be a doubleheaders either Wednesday or Thursday. The best forecast is for

Thursday, the getaway game.

If I read the rules right — and that’s a leap of faith — if there’s a rainout Tuesday and the

doubleheader is Wednesday, the teams can summon a 26th player for the nightcap. If it is

rescheduled for Thursday, th 26th player can appear in both games. If that’s wrong, I’ll let ya

know.

By the way, you think the Giants can run wild on Lester because of his throw-a-phobia? Only

seven have tried this year and six were caught, a far better percentage than last year (13 of 28

caught) even though his personal catcher, David Ross, retired. Some of this year’s foiled thefts

are back picks from catcher Willson Contreras firing back to first. Ross was good at that, too.

Lester also must be doing something right as far as stepping off and changing his timing.

For now, the lineups. Bochy did say after Monday’s 6-4 win that Panik would return to leadoff

Tuesday, even against the lefty, based on his performance in the series opener.

GIANTS (vs. LHP Jon Lester)

Panik 2B

Arroyo 3B

Belt 1B

Posey C

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Ruggiano RF

Crawford SS

Nuñez LF

Hernandez CF

Cueto P

CUBS (vs. RHP Johnny Cueto)

Zobrist 2B

Schwarber LF

Bryant 3B

Rizzo 1B

Happ CF

Heyward RF

Contreras C

Russell SS

Lester P

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San Jose Mercury News

Cueto gives up three homers, Giants lose to Cubs at Wrigley

Andrew Baggarly

CHICAGO – Johnny Cueto spooked the Cubs like no other starting pitcher last October. He

threw a masterful Game 1 in the NL Division Series here at Wrigley Field. The only run against

him came when Javier Baez lofted a home run that rattled in the basket that fronts the left field

bleachers.

The Cubs hit a few more jumpers against Cueto on Tuesday night. And they were all long range.

Kyle Schwarber parked a 470-foot drive onto Sheffield Ave. in the first inning, Jason Heyward

went deep four batters later and Anthony Rizzo hit a two-run shot in the fourth as the Giants

lost 4-1 at Wrigley Field.

Cueto couldn’t match Jon Lester, who struck out 10 in a four-hitter. The previous time out,

Cueto allowed five runs while failing to match the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw. The Giants need

Cueto to be an ace with Madison Bumgarner out past the All-Star break, but his 4.64 ERA

through 10 starts more closely resembles a rotation filler.

There is a perfectly sound explanation: In addition to the blister on his middle finger that has

bothered him all season, Cueto revealed that he developed another blister on his index finger

while throwing on the side in St. Louis over the weekend.

“My fingers were bothering me, but that’s not an excuse,” Cueto said through Spanish

interpreter Erwin Higueros. “I mean, I’m getting hit. … I’m not going to feel bad for myself.

There are still a lot of games to be played.”

Cueto insisted that it made “no sense whatsoever to skip a start,” even though several starting

pitchers around the major leagues have used the 10-day disabled list for that precise purpose.

He said he needs to stay on routine, keep throwing and build up callouses on the pads of his

fingers.

In the meantime, there are few pitchers who can get by on guile as well as Cueto. He managed

to complete six innings while striking out eight and giving up just two hits other than the three

homers. He is pitching reliably deep into games.

But the Giants need more than that, especially after Bumgarner separated his throwing

shoulder in a dirt bike accident. And Cueto hasn’t had the stuff to match up well against No.1s,

or lift up a team that has the third lowest scoring offense in the major leagues.

Cueto has not given up fewer than two runs in any of his 10 starts. Last year, he held opponents

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to one run or fewer in six of his first 10 starts.

His velocity is down a tick, the finish on his pitches isn’t always there, and catcher Buster Posey

gave a diplomatic answer when asked if he had to rearrange the game plan against the Cubs.

“It seemed today they were on the fastball,” Posey said. “We ended up mixing more offspeed

than we typically would. He did a nice job getting through six with the way the game started.”

Cueto had to mix more often than a Jamba Juice franchise. He threw a whopping 32 changeups

and 31 cutters along with 32 fastballs. Heyward’s homer was the first he has allowed on a

cutter all year.

Schwarber’s tape measure shot — the first onto Sheffield Ave. since they reconstructed the

bleachers here – came on a 90 mph fastball with a full count. Rizzo jumped on a first-pitch, 90

mph fastball after Kris Bryant had hit a one-out single in the fourth.

Bochy called Cueto’s mistakes uncharacteristic, and said he didn’t believe the right-hander was

putting additional pressure on himself to be a weightier presence in a rotation that has been

uneven all season.

“I don’t think so with Johnny. I don’t,” Bochy said. “He just knows pitching. He loves the stage. If

he’s going against their best guy, he’s looking forward to it. He’s not going to put added

pressure on himself.”

Cueto has not brought the same presence to the mound that he did last October, when he

thoroughly dominated the Cubs in a 1-0 loss in Game 1, and was set for a rematch in a deciding

game against Lester at Wrigley Field before the Giants blew a three-run lead in the ninth inning

of Game 4.

Cubs manager Joe Maddon on Monday reiterated what he said after the Cubs won the World

Series: their clinching comeback against the Giants was the most important game of the

postseason, not the classic, back-and-forth Game 7 against the Indians in the Fall Classic.

“I’m telling you, man, Game 4 pretty much won the World Series,” Maddon said. “I did not

want to see Mr. Cueto pitching back here again. I’ll get to see him (Tuesday night), but that’s

OK, compared to whatever that day would’ve been.”

It turned out OK for the Cubs Tuesday night.

The Giants couldn’t heat up much besides Cueto’s finger against Lester, who limited them to

Brandon Crawford’s RBI double in the fifth inning; a bigger chance failed to materialize after

Eduardo Nuñez was thrown out trying to steal second base and No.8 hitter Gorkys Hernandez

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struck out.

Bochy lamented the minimized inning but took no issue with Nuñez, who would have been safe

if not for an athletic throw from catcher Willson Contreras.

“I’m not going to stop him there,” Bochy said. “We’re not going to stop being aggressive. It’s

part of our game, and he’s one of our guys who can get second base. They made a great

throw.”

After a rain delay of one hour, five minutes prior to the first pitch, the game lasted just 2:05.

Lester didn’t walk a batter. He didn’t even have a three-ball count all night.

“We expanded quite a bit,” Bochy said. “That’s something we haven’t been doing. That’s a

credit to him and his stuff. With two strikes, we really expanded tonight.”

Said Posey: “He threw a lot more changeups than I’ve ever seen facing him. It wasn’t just a

show-me pitch. He threw it to me 2-0, and he threw it to lefties as well.”

—

Center fielder Denard Span did not grip a bat but said the swelling in his sprained thumb had

subsided quite a bit. He is a game-time decision to return to the lineup Wednesday after

missing the previous two games. X-rays were negative for any structural damage.

—

The Giants are nearing a deal to sell the contract of first baseman/outfielder Chris Marrero to

the Orix Buffaloes of the Japanese Pacific League. Marrero, who hit eight home runs in the

spring, opened the season as a right-handed platoon partner for Jarrett Parker before hitting

.132 in 38 at-bats.

San Jose Mercury News

Want we learned from the Buster Posey-Brandon Belt spat-and how the Giants are already

better for it

Andrew Baggarly

CHICAGO – It was hard to miss the sight of Buster Posey glaring at Brandon Belt and snapping at

him in the handshake line last Saturday in St. Louis.

It was much easier to miss what happened in the ninth inning Monday at Wrigley Field.

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Posey’s apparent frustration with Belt in St. Louis had to do with where the first baseman was

playing. Posey wanted Belt to play a little nearer to the bag to keep Cardinals baserunner

Stephen Piscotty from getting a bigger lead, but Belt was either inattentive or uncooperative.

When Piscotty stole second base, barely beating Posey’s throw … well, to describe the Giants’

Gold Glove catcher as perturbed would be an understatement.

It’s not as if Belt was completely checked out. Defensive instructions come from the bench,

with coaches Ron Wotus and Jose Alguacil providing the signals. And Piscotty wasn’t the tying

run – the Giants led by two with Mark Melancon on the mound – so Belt was following orders

and playing the line against Matt Carpenter, a left-handed hitter.

But Posey has the authority to override, which he might do if he plans to call a certain pitch

sequence, notices a baserunning tendency or otherwise sees an opportunity to gain an

advantage.

So what happened in the ninth inning Monday night against the Cubs?

It was almost an identical scenario. The Giants led by two. They were one out away from

victory. And Melancon gave up a single to Javier Baez. Next up: Ian Happ, batting from the left

side.

This time, Posey did not merely try to get Belt’s attention. He jogged to the mound. So did Belt.

They took a moment with Melancon to make certain they were all on the same page.

That is what good and experienced teams do. When you play 162 games, you’ll have the

occasional disagreement or moments when two teammates miscommunicate. You can either

hold a grudge or you can take that moment and learn something from it, maybe be better for it.

Neither Posey nor Belt would shed any light on what happened in St. Louis – not that they

needed to, since it was pretty clear – and both insisted that they would keep it a private matter.

They wouldn’t even comment on whether they had hashed it out or reviewed the situation.

Clearly, they did. The ninth inning Monday night showed as much.

Belt played a little closer to the bag against Baez and Melancon struck out Happ on a pitch in

the dirt. Posey collected the ball and threw it to Belt for the out that clinched a 6-4 victory.

And then, a handshake line. Wholly nondescript, this time.

If there’s anything left to discuss about Saturday’s 13th inning, it’s the fact that cameras have

caught Posey twice this season letting out frustration about a teammate. He is looser with his

emotions when it comes to his own performance, too. He has tossed a bat or two upon making

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an out, and his relieved reaction upon hitting that 17th-inning homer against the Reds on the

last homestand bordered on comedy.

Based on everything I know about Posey, and from what others have told me behind the

scenes, he certainly doesn’t intend to show anybody up and sees no profit in publicly

embarrassing a teammate. He isn’t what you would call a vocal leader, but behind closed doors,

he is more active than you might imagine to challenge teammates to get their best effort.

Sometimes those teammates respond to him. Sometimes they don’t. Did you know that Angel

Pagan was barely tolerated during most of his five seasons as a Giant? You probably didn’t. And

that’s the point.

You’ll find every personality trait under the sun in a big league clubhouse, just as you would in

any workplace environment. You might respect some teammates more than others. That

doesn’t mean there’s a rift there. It’s not like Posey and Tim Lincecum hated each other just

because their working relationship was strained at times.

It’s always healthier when teams can take care of their business privately. But maybe it’s not a

bad thing if Posey occasionally lets out his red ass in full sight.

When you get off to such a miserable start, as the Giants did, it’s all too easy for the clubhouse

to fracture, for the finger pointing to start and for players to begin punching the clock.

That is the last thing that fans want to see. They want to see that the players care. They want

them to be fully invested and absorbed in the game. They want to know that some players will

bring an edge to the clubhouse. They want them to be relentless to the point where they are

dissatisfied when something gets overlooked, even after they win a 13-inning game.

After Saturday in St. Louis, can there be any doubt that Posey is all in? That he’ll demand the

same of his teammates? And that the Giants are nowhere near ready to give up on this season?

Handshakes, then.

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MLB.com

Giants stymied by Lester as Cubs muscle up

Chris Haft and Carrie Muskat

CHICAGO -- When Jon Lester and Johnny Cueto last squared off, it was Game 1 of the National

League Division Series, and the Cubs won on Javier Baez's eighth-inning home run. On Tuesday,

the Cubs didn't wait that long to connect against the Giants right-hander.

Kyle Schwarber and Jason Heyward homered in the first and second innings, respectively,

and Anthony Rizzo added a two-run shot in the fourth to give Lester all he needed and power

the Cubs to a 4-1 victory Tuesday night over the Giants.

Full Game Coverage

"We were able to get four tonight instead of one like we did against Cueto in the playoffs,"

Heyward said. "It was kind of a similar game. It's another four-game set against these guys like

we had last year [in the postseason]. It's going to be a good [series]; pitchers are going to pitch

and we have to take what we can get on both sides. For Jonny to come out and do something

like that is huge, especially against a guy like Cueto."

After a rain delay of 1 hour, 5 minutes, Lester struck out the side in the first on 15 pitches and

then posted the first complete game by a Cubs pitcher this season, and his first since Sept. 2

when he went the distance against the Giants. The lefty struck out 10 and faced the minimum

in every inning but the fifth when the Giants tallied on Brandon Crawford's RBI double.

"The complete game now is few and far between," Lester said. "There's always that

gratification to finish it and walk off and shake everybody's hand as they come off the field."

Lester felt the Giants were aggressive against him -- he did not have a single three-ball count in

the game -- and felt he and catcher Willson Contreras were able to disguise their pitches.

"He threw a lot more changeups than I've ever seen when facing him," said Giants

catcher Buster Posey, who recalled seeing that pitch from Lester on a 2-0 count. "He's shown it

in the past, but tonight he had good command of it. It wasn't just a show-me pitch. He used it a

lot. He used it to lefties as well."

Cueto now has given up 11 homers this season after serving up 15 all of last year. It's the first

time he's given up three in a game since the Orioles hit four off the right-hander Sept. 13, 2015.

Cueto did strike out eight over six innings, scattering five hits. The Giants lost for only the third

time in their last 11 games.

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"He just pitches so well," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. "He's a fun baseball player. He's

definitely a throwback and I really enjoy watching him play, even his at-bats."

• Cueto hampered by blisters

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED

Ballhawks: Schwarber gave a 3-2 slider from Cueto a ride with one out in the first, launching

the pitch over the right-field bleachers and onto Sheffield Avenue. It was Schwarber's seventh

homer of the season and the first by any player to hit the street this year. It also was

Schwarber's first home run with two strikes in the count. The ball had some oomph as the exit

velocity was measured at 114 mph and it sailed 470 feet. It's the longest non-Kris Bryant home

run tracked by Statcast™. Bryant leads the team with homers of 495 feet and 477 feet.

"It got small fast," Maddon said of Schwarber's blast. "It's almost like when you used to watch

'Star Trek,' when it came on, and the Enterprise would just fly by and get really small. It kind of

had that Enterprise-esque look to it -- it was there and it was gone. It got small quickly." More >

Defense: Lester faced the minimum number of batters through four innings. Posey then

doubled to open the Giants fifth and one out later, he scored on Crawford's double. Eduardo

Nunez singled, but catcher Contreras threw him out attempting to steal second and Lester

struck out Gorkys Hernandez to end the Giants' threat. It's the ninth time Contreras has thrown

out a baserunner this season. According to Statcast™, Contreras' pop time was 1.89 with an

arm strength of 84.8 mph.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy defended Nunez, who had the green light to run if he wished.

"We weren't going to stop him there," Bochy said. "We're going to keep on being aggressive."

Said Lester: "[Contreras] was the one who called time before he threw Nunez out because we

had a different pitch and he had a feeling they were going to try to go there. I knew if I was

fairly quick to the plate, we had a chance. I thought Crawford was going to try to go and do a

double steal, but Willie put it on the money again."

QUOTABLE

"It impacts the rest of the starting pitchers. It's contagious, like hitting is contagious. They feed

off one another and that's what we have to do on a more consistent basis. I like to believe

something like that can tweak the starters in a good way." -- Maddon, on Lester's complete

game

SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS

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Lester is the first Cubs pitcher with a complete game under 100 pitches since Carlos

Zambrano did so on Sept. 25, 2009, against the Giants (98 pitches).

WHAT'S NEXT

Giants: Matt Moore hopes to continue his mini-surge when he opposes the Cubs in

Wednesday's 5:05 p.m. PT encounter. The left-hander is 1-0 with a 2.89 ERA in his last three

starts. He has never faced the Cubs in the regular season, though he allowed them two runs

(one earned) while striking out 10 in eight innings in Game 4 of last year's Division Series.

Cubs: Kyle Hendricks will make his fourth career start against the Giants on Wednesday night in

the third game of this four-game series. He's 2-1 with a 1.82 ERA in his last five starts after

opening the season with a 6.19 ERA in three outings. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. CT.

MLB.com

Blister hamper Cueto in loss to Cubs

Chris Haft

CHICAGO -- Putting a finger on Johnny Cueto's pitching problems became much easier after he

explained himself Tuesday night.

Cueto repeated he had no excuse for yielding the unseemly total of three home runs in the

Giants' 4-1 loss to the Chicago Cubs. But he did offer a reason: the blisters on the index and

middle fingers of his throwing hand, which limit his ability to impart late movement on his

deliveries.

Full Game Coverage

"My fingers are bothering me," said Cueto, who lasted six innings and allowed all of Chicago's

runs. Speaking through interpreter Erwin Higueros, Cueto continued, "With the fingers not

being the way I want them to be, that's affecting them a little bit."

Cueto has pitched virtually all season with a blister on his middle finger. He said another one

developed over the weekend in St. Louis while he played catch.

Cueto insisted that missing a start would be a bad idea. If anything, he indicated, he needs to

continue pitching so the tender skin will turn to calluses.

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"That's not an excuse," Cueto said. "I'm getting hit."

Giants catcher Buster Posey admitted Cueto altered the pitching patterns that made him a two-

time All-Star and the ace of San Francisco's starting rotation in Madison Bumgarner's absence.

"It seemed like today they were on the fastball," Posey said, referring to the Cubs sluggers. "We

mixed in a little more offspeed than we typically would."

The thought of a subpar Cueto is chilling for the Giants, who probably won't get Bumgarner

back until after the All-Star break. Cueto's 18-5 record last season for the Giants demonstrated

that he's more than skilled enough to anchor a rotation. The Giants (20-27) need him to be

healthy and effective to entertain the notion of reaching the .500 mark, a precursor to

achieving contender's status.

In fact, Cueto looked more competent than not while becoming a latter-day version of

Mordecai "Three-Finger" Brown, a Cubs Hall of Famer who pitched during the early 20th

century. Cueto surrendered one hit besides the trio of homers and struck out eight while

walking just one.

Speaking before Cueto updated reporters about his blisters, Giants manager Bruce Bochy said,

"Overall, the numbers don't look that good, but he threw better than the numbers are showing.

It's hard to say that when you give up three home runs."

MLB.com

Moore hoping for better result vs. Cubs

Scott Chasen

Matt Moore's last start against the Cubs was excellent. He went eight innings, struck out 10

batters and allowed two hits and two runs (one earned) in Game 4 of the National League

Division Series. If he has his way this time, though, his start will end with a win.

Moore (2-4, 5.37 ERA) will be back on the mound Wednesday as the Cubs and Giants play the

third of a four-game set at Wrigley Field. After a couple of shaky outings April 22 and May 2,

Moore has started to regain his form, allowing a combined six runs in his last three starts.

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However, the man he'll square off with Wednesday might be on an even better run.

Full Game Coverage

While some of the Cubs starters have struggled into May, right-hander Kyle Hendricks (3-2, 3.35

ERA) has been immune to such a slump. The right-hander is 2-1 with a 1.82 ERA over his last

five starts and has only surrendered more than three runs in a game twice this season. He'll

look to keep that momentum going against a Giants offense that knocked him out of the game

early the last time they squared off -- Game 2 of the NLDS.

Things to know about this game

• Ben Zobrist has reached safely in 21 consecutive games, which marks the third-longest streak

in the Majors. Since sitting out two games to help his ailing back, the super-utility player has

thrived. In the five games after he sat out, Zobrist hit 8-for-19 (.421) with two home runs and

four RBIs.

• As a team the Giants have begun to heat up when it comes to the long ball -- they entered

Tuesday having hit 19 homers in their last 14 games -- but still haven't turned that into much

offensive production. The last Giants' non-solo home run was hit by Hunter Pence on May 8.

• Over his first six starts of the season, Hendricks got a total of 14 swinging strikes with

fastballs. But over his past two outings, he has racked up 17, including a career-high nine his

last time out against the Reds. Hendricks also has gone to fastballs more often in those two

starts (75 percent) than he did previously this year (64 percent).

• Hoping to rejoin San Francisco's lineup, center fielder Denard Span said Tuesday that he'll test

his injured left thumb before Wednesday's game. Speaking after the Giants' 4-1 loss, Span said

he didn't try taking batting practice Tuesday but reported his thumb, which also sidelined him

Monday, felt significantly better.

Span, the leadoff hitter who has appeared in 23 of San Francisco's 47 games, is batting .258

with two home runs and eight RBIs. In nine games before injuring his thumb, Span batted .326

(14-for-43) with a double, triple, two homers and six RBIs.

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MLB.com

Posey remains potent as defender

Chris Haft

CHICAGO -- Giants manager Bruce Bochy said catcher Buster Posey, the National League's

reigning Gold Glove winner at his position, is just as good this season.

Bochy cited Posey's throwing during his pregame address Tuesday, one day after the four-time

All-Star threw out Chicago's Javier Baez on an attempted steal of second base. Baez initially

looked destined to pull in safely, having gotten a good jump. But Posey's flat, hard throw retired

Baez without a fuss.

Full Game Coverage

"If he's given a chance, I don't think there's anybody better in the game," Bochy said. "He's

taken a lot of pride in it."

Posey has thrown out 36 percent (9-for-25) of attempted basestealers this season, essentially

unchanged from last year's 37 percent (28-for-75).

Bochy said San Francisco's starting pitchers, who he believes have improved at holding runners

on base, can continue to assist Posey with their attentiveness.

• Phil Nevin, the Giants' rookie third-base coach, drew praise from Bochy for his collaboration

with baserunners.

"He has great game awareness -- when to be aggressive, when not to be. It's worked out well

for him," Bochy said.

Bochy added that Nevin has kept the Giants alert: "Once you get on base, he's not going to give

a sign until he gets their attention. He'll bark at 'em if they don't look at him."

Nevin replaced Roberto Kelly, who was not offered another job in the organization.

22

CSNbayarea.com

Now dealing with a second blister, Cueto gives up three homers to Cubs

Alex Pavovic

CHICAGO — Even after losses, Johnny Cueto tends to find a way to flash a smile or two in post-

game interviews. He is as competitive as it gets between the lines, but off the field he embraces

a relaxed attitude.

There was none of that Tuesday night at Wrigley. Cueto wore a dour look while describing a 4-1

loss to the Cubs, perhaps because he is a man searching for answers. Cueto was already

pitching with a blister for the first time in his career. On Tuesday, he admitted he’s now trying

to make the ball dance while dealing with a second blister.

The first, on his middle finger, popped up at the end of the spring and has bothered Cueto off

and on. The second, on his index finger, formed in St. Louis last week.

“It’s not an excuse,” Cueto said several times. “I was getting hit.”

The Cubs crushed three homers, including a 470-foot bomb from Kyle Schwarber. All three

pitches leaked right over the heart of the plate, and Cueto admitted that he can't get that final

twist on the ball as he normally does. A tad of his movement is missing, and hitters are taking

advantage.

“It’s just those pitches I left hanging,” Cueto said through interpreter Erwin Higueros. “When

you leave pitches hanging or put them right in the middle of the plate, you’re going to pay the

price.”

The homers — by Schwarber, Jason Heyward and Anthony Rizzo — represented 60 percent of

the hits Cueto gave up. He struck out eight in six innings.

“It’s a little unlike Johnny to make mistakes like that,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “You like to

think you could make a mistake and get away with it, but he didn’t tonight. A couple of fastballs

he pulled over the heart of the plate and then one cutter.”

Catcher Buster Posey said the Cubs were on Cueto’s heater, so the duo tried to adjust. You

can’t pitch without your fastball, though, and Cueto’s isn’t quite as explosive as it was in his first

year with the Giants. The velocity is down a couple of ticks, but it’s unclear if that too is related

to the blisters.

What is clear is that Cueto is a different pitcher in his second season in San Francisco. He has a

4.64 ERA and opposing hitters are batting .253 with 11 homers. Through 10 starts last year,

Cueto had a 2.83 ERA and was holding hitters to a .229 average. He had allowed just two

homers.

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“Gosh, it’s just probably a few more mistakes than he made last year,” Bochy said. “He’s still

competing so well and he gives you a chance to win every game.”

Cueto made it through six despite the long-ball issues, but that wasn’t enough against Jon

Lester, who would have faced Cueto in Game 5 last October. Lester needed just 99 pitches to

carve up the Giants for a complete game. He threw 70 strikes.

That’s the type of efficient performance the Giants came to expect from Cueto last year. Cueto

still expects it from himself, but his fingers aren’t cooperating. Asked if he would take a short

stint on the DL to get right, Cueto said he can’t. He needs to keep pitching and have callouses

form. Plus, any break without throwing would be a significant blow to a team trying desperately

to stay within shouting distance of a playoff spot.

“Basically, it makes no sense whatsoever,” to take a break, Cueto said.

CSNbayarea.com

Instant Replay

Alex Pavlovic

CHICAGO — The rain stayed away Tuesday after an initial delay of just over an hour. Once the

first pitch was thrown, the Giants you watched over the previous week pulled a similar

disappearing act.

The lineup had no answer for Jon Lester, who threw a 99-pitch complete game and led the Cubs

to a 4-1 win in two hours and five minutes. On the other side, the Cubs bashed three homers

off Johnny Cueto, who still hasn’t found that 2016 groove.

Here are five things to know from Wrigley, where tarp management is no longer a problem …

--- Cueto gave up three homers for the first time since joining the Giants. It started with Kyle

Schwarber’s 470-foot blast onto Sheffield that the Cubs said was the first to reach the street

since 2014. The pitches Schwarber, Jason Heyward and Anthony Rizzo crushed had one thing in

common: All were left right over the heart of the plate.

--- Cueto became just the fourth Giants pitcher in the last 15 years to strike out at least eight

but also give up three homers. Jeff Samardzija did it earlier this season against the

Diamondbacks.

--- Addison Russell started a double play on Brandon Crawford in the second inning that gave

Crawford a taste of what it’s like to hit a ball up the middle against the Giants. A year ago,

Russell led NL shortstops in the SABR Defensive Index, which is a chunk of Gold Glove voting.

This year, he leads the NL with nine Defensive Runs Saved; Crawford is at four. Personally I

24

think Cincinnati’s Zack Cozart is the second best defensive shortstop in the NL, but Russell is

certainly the guy who is the biggest threat to Crawford winning a third straight Gold Glove.

--- The Lester Yips thing gets talked about quite a bit … but it should probably be talked about

more. It’s simply incredible that one of the best pitchers in the world refuses to throw to first.

Lester didn’t even move off the mound when Buster Posey hit a slow roller in the second,

forcing his catcher to make a much tougher play. In the seventh Posey hit a similar ball and this

time Lester had no choice; he fielded the ball and threw underhanded to first.

--- Josh Osich did not shave his mustache, he simply grew the rest out until he had a beard. It’s

the smarter way to go. This way Osich still has the stache in his back pocket if the team needs

some luck. He pitched a scoreless eighth, striking Schwarber out with a nasty slider.

ESPN.com

Is Buster Posey having the strangest season ever?

David Schoenfield

Here’s the kind of season Buster Posey is having: He’s hitting .361/.444/.564, good for a wRC+

of 172. That’s weighted runs created plus, an advanced metric that controls for park effects and

the current run environment. Here are the highest wRC+ figures for qualifying catchers since

World War II:

PLAYER YEAR WRC+

Mike Piazza 1997 183

Buster Posey 2017 172

Joe Mauer 2009 170

Mike Piazza 1995 168

Chris Hoiles 1993 166

That’s a pretty awesome start for Posey.

This is also the kind of season Posey is having: He has hit seven home runs and has just 11 RBIs.

That’s just one more RBI than Anthony Rendon had in one game earlier this season.

According to Baseball-Reference.com, an average MLB hitter with 145 plate appearances would

have 16 RBIs. Posey has fewer than that, even though he’s second in the majors in batting

average and has hit for power. How is this possible?

• All seven of his home runs have been solo home runs. (That problem has afflicted the entire

Giants team. The past 18 home runs they have hit have been solo shots, and only six of their

season total of 38 have come with a runner on base.)

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• As you would expect, he has hit with fewer runners on base than the typical hitter. Posey has

had 79 runners on base when he hits, compared with the MLB average of 86 for 145 PAs. Of

course, a cleanup hitter should have more runners on base than average, but the first through

third hitters for the Giants rank 26th in the majors in OBP.

• He has had 22 runners on second and 10 runners on third, compared with the averages of 27

and 14.

• He hasn’t hit as well with runners on base, so some of this is on him. With the bases empty,

Posey is hitting .425; with runners on, he’s hitting .264. With runners in scoring position, he’s 6-

for-24 with six walks, but those six hits have produced just four RBIs. Breaking it down, he’s 2-

for-7 with a runner on second (one RBI), 1-for-5 with a runner on third (two RBIs), 2-for-9 with

runners at first and second (no RBIs), 1-for-2 with runners at the corners (one RBI) and 0-for-1

with the bases loaded (no RBIs).

Posey's bad luck won't continue all season, but it has me thinking of some of the strangest

seasons ever.

Enzo Hernandez, 1971 Padres: In the most famous low-RBI season in history, Hernandez played

143 games and batted 618 times, but he managed to drive in just 12 runs. He hit .222 but had

just nine doubles, three triples and zero home runs. Believe it or not, this type of player was

fairly common in this era. He started in the leadoff spot 137 times, and batting behind the

pitchers didn’t help, but he also hit .182 with runners in scoring position.

Brady Anderson, 1996 Orioles: This was the year he hit 50 home runs. His second-highest total

in any season was 24. Here’s how big the numbers were back then: Anderson hit

.297/.396/.637, drove in 110 runs while primarily hitting leadoff and scored 117. He finished

just ninth in the MVP voting, even though the Orioles made the playoffs. Everyone assumes

Anderson was on steroids in 1996, though he has denied using PEDs, and his name never

appeared in the Mitchell Report. He was a notorious workout and nutritional nut. Even if he

was using, it stands out as a strange season in the context of his career.

Curtis Granderson, 2016 Mets; Jedd Gyorko, 2016 Cardinals: I’m lumping these guys together

because they share the “record” for fewest RBIs by a 30-homer guy. Both guys hit 30 home runs

last year while driving in just 59 runs. Which one was more improbable? Granderson batted

nearly 200 times more, and I thought the low RBI total was a result of his batting leadoff, but he

was the leadoff batter in just 81 of his 139 starts. Twenty-four of his home runs were solo shots,

however, and he hit just .152 with runners in scoring position. Gyorko, by comparison, had 12

home runs with runners on and hit .230 with runners in scoring position.

Roy Thomas, 1900 Phillies: One of the most extreme players in history. Even for the dead ball

era, Thomas had no power. In 1900, he batted 675 times and had just seven extra-base hits

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(four doubles, three triples). The next season, he had eight extra-base hits in 603 PAs. This isn’t

Enzo Hernandez, however; Thomas was a good player. He drew 100-plus walks seven times and

hit .290 in his career, so his lifetime OBP was .413.

Adam Dunn, 2011 White Sox: One thing about Dunn: He was consistent. From 2004 to 2012,

his season home run totals were 46, 40, 40, 40, 40, 38, 38, 11, 41. Wait ... what happened in

2011? Injury? Nope. That was the season he played 122 games and hit just .159. At minus-2.9

WAR, Dunn’s season shows up as the 11th-worst since 1901 (minimum 200 plate appearances).

Yes, there were 10 worse seasons.

Caleb Joseph, 2016 Orioles: Joseph batted 141 times last season and drove in zero runs, the

most PAs ever without an RBI for a position player. He didn’t hit a sacrifice fly. He didn’t record

an RBI groundout. He couldn’t get a little blooper with a runner on third. Incredible. He hit .174,

including 2-for-27 with runners in scoring position.

Dante Bichette, 1999 Rockies: Bichette hit .298 with 34 home runs and 133 RBIs, so why is this

season included? Because Baseball-Reference values him at minus-2.3 WAR. How can a guy

who drives in 133 runs be worth two wins below a replacement-level player? Well, his defense

apparently made Kyle Schwarber look like Jason Heyward, because he’s valued at 34 runs below

average (he was a 35-year-old left fielder at Coors, so maybe that’s possible). Plus, 1999 was at

the peak of the Coors Field run-scoring insanity, so Bichette’s .298/.354/.541 line wasn’t all that

impressive. The Rockies hit .325/.383/.549 as a team at home. Bichette’s season rates as the

worst ever by a 100-RBI guy, just ahead of Joe Carter’s 1990 (.290 OBP but 115 RBIs).

Alfredo Griffin, 1984 Blue Jays: This is a fun one. Griffin had a good glove but was a zero most

years at the plate. In ’84, he hit .241 but backed it up with four walks and 14 extra-base hits in

140 games. Get this: He was an All-Star that season for the only time in his career. How? Well,

teammate Damaso Garcia had invited Griffin to the game as his guest, and when Alan Trammell

hurt his arm, manager Joe Altobelli put Griffin on the roster primarily because he just happened

to be in town. The 1980s were the best.

Luis Aguayo, 1987 Phillies: This one popped up when I did a search for fewest RBIs with at least

10 home runs. Aguayo was a backup infielder in the 1980s, and in that weird rabbit-ball season

of 1987, he hit 12 home runs in 209 at-bats but drove in just 21 runs. As you might have

guessed, 11 of his home runs were solo shots, and he hit just .118 (6-for-51) with runners in

scoring position.

Barry Bonds, 2004 Giants: I just wanted to type this: .362/.609/.812.

Lloyd Waner, 1927 Pirates: Waner has the fewest RBIs by a player who hit .350 or better and

batted at least 500 times. He drove in just 27 runs despite a .355 average and 683 plate

27

appearances. We don’t have his complete stat record, but Waner was the team’s leadoff hitter

and hit just two home runs. A modern example would be Ichiro Suzuki’s 2009 season, when he

hit .352 and drove in just 46 runs (he even hit 11 home runs). Waner hit .328 with runners in

scoring position, but his singles often failed to score a runner from second base.

Ryan Schimpf, 2017 Padres: Posey might not even be having the strangest season of 2017.

Schimpf has raised the three true outcomes approach (walks, strikeouts, home runs) to a

unique level. He’s hitting .169 with 11 home runs. He’s on pace for 38 home runs, 72 RBIs, 90

walks, 179 strikeouts and seven doubles. That leads me to another idea: big home run seasons

with few doubles. Paging Dave Kingman ...