SAN DIEGO — Travis Wood has a 5.70 ERA and 1.67 WHIP this season. His stuff is not close to overpowering and his command left him for long patches of Wednesday night’s game. He is probably a nice man, but the truth is that in today’s game, he is not the type you expect to do the heavy lifting in a shutout.
Of course, the 2017 Giants are willing to throw all conventional wisdom out the window.
They failed to cash in against Wood and once again got completely stymied by the Padres bullpen. A 5-0 loss was the second shutout in four days for the offense, and it was no coincidence that a lefty started both games.
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This roster has no chance against southpaws right now, especially with Buster Posey sidelined by a bone bruise in his left hand. Over a six-game trip, the Giants scored just 10 runs while losing five games. Nick Hundley’s two RBI on Friday were the only runs driven in by a right-handed batter the entire trip.
“We’re not doing a lot,” manager Bruce Bochy said, the frustration showing on his face.
Bochy had four right-handed bats in the first five spots against Wood, but they were hardly marquee names. Kelby Tomlinson, Gorkys Hernandez and Hundley primarily ride the bench for this team, which lost its 82nd game on Wednesday, officially guaranteeing a losing record. Hunter Pence, hitting cleanup, has had a down year.
Pence was in the middle of a particularly frustrating stretch Wednesday. With the bases loaded and one out in the fifth, Pence struck out. Hundley bounced out to second to end the inning. The Giants went down quietly from there. They were 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position on the night and 3-for-33 on the road trip.
San Francisco Giants
“That’s what wins games for you,” Bochy said. “You get those hits or come through. (The Padres) did it. Driving in runs is what wins games for you … on this road trip the most runs we scored was, what, three?”
Yep. The Giants scored three runs twice in six games. The rest was even more of a disaster.
In this loss, at least Bochy found one thing to be happy about. He thought Ty Blach threw well, and Blach — who added two hits at the plate — said he was happy with his pace and feel on the mound.
“I felt crisp,” he said.
The Giants are not worried that Blach might be wearing down, despite a rough August. Even so, he’ll get an extra day of rest before his next start. Johnny Cueto is likely to start Friday at AT&T Park, with the Giants temporarily going to a six-man rotation.
Blach and Chris Stratton, part of that six-man group, are part of the future. As the Giants figure out the rest of their 2018 roster, they'll need to find some balance. They were too left-handed coming into the year, and many of the second-half lineup additions -- Ryder Jones, Jarrett Parker, Pablo Sandoval (switch-hitter but far better from the left side -- continue the trend.
The Giants will try to fix that problem a bit in November. Here in August, it has led to some ugly results.