Seven-year-olds ready to protest shaky closer

A seven-year-old, half his attention held by a video game, glanced at the TV and spoke truth to his father: “Number 46 is killing us.”

Madison Bumgarner threw 6 2/3 innings of three-hit ball and left Wednesday’s tilt with Toronto in possession of a 4-1 lead. It took the bullpen just four outs to wreck it. Fortunately for San Francisco, Toronto refused to accept charity and was rather generous itself as the Giants bested the Jays 5-4 in 13 innings.

Casilla is up in arms, and apparently so are seven-year-olds. (AP)

For the second time this season it was Santiago Casilla, the afore-mentioned Number 46, who proffered the ultimate gut shot; a ninth-inning home run to surrender a lead. Coupled with a pair of runs allowed by Cory Gearrin in the eighth, the blast to dead center from Toronto’s Michael Saunders erased Bumgarner’s excellent adventure. Totally bogus.

Until the bullpen got involved, it was the kind of game we’d expected from the Giants out of spring training. Bumgarner survived a 31-pitch first frame and settled into a groove while the offense got a few timely hits and took advantage of miscues to build a somewhat-comfortable edge. But the problems that have plagued a distinctly “meh” early season lurked just below the surface; and eventually came ashore.

Bumgarner wriggled of the hook in the first, giving up one-out singles to Josh Donaldson and Jose Batista and a two-out walk to Troy Tulowitzki but striking out Russell Martin to leave the bases loaded.

But the real Houdini was pulled by Blue Jays starter Marcus Stroman.  The diminutive hurler hadn’t been charged with a loss in his last 15 starts, and wouldn’t be on this day either despite allowing four runs in his six innings of work.

The previously-punchless offense did register eight hits against Stroman and 12 in the game, getting rolling in the second when Brandon Crawford singled and Conor Gillaspie reached on Tulowitzki’s first of two errors. Gregor Blanco provided the breakthrough hit, an RBI double, and Denard Span added a run-scoring groundout.

Toronto shaved the lead in half in the third, with some help. Two walks, a stolen base, a fielding error and an RBI ground out did the damage. The walks, oh the walks. Bumgarner would allow four and each team would eventually receive seven, and they’d be big.

Hey, anyone here seen a strike zone?

What wasn’t big, or consistent, was plate umpire Tony Randazzo’s zone. Deadpool is a better example of stability, and it had both benches and staffs feeling equally confused and irate. There are unconfirmed reports that one of the kiosks on the concourse was taking bets on which manager would get tossed first.

The Giants added to the lead in the fifth. Span and Joe Panik singled and Matt Duffy walked to load the bases with no outs. Buster Posey, still mired in the slump from Hell, grounded into a double play but Span scored and Panik took third. Hunter Pence followed with a double. At that point, 4-1 felt pretty comfortable.

Oops. Gearin allowed two hits and a sac fly, and Josh Osich gave up a single to plate the runner he inherited, cutting the lead to one. Then Casilla, scourge of seven-year-olds and all fans of clutch pitching, gagged again. He’s had 10 save opportunities thus far – and he’s blown three. The only thing missing is the Armando Benitez-like “I did my job” quote.

So began the battle of missed opportunities. The Giants put two on in the bottom of the ninth but Posey grounded into the third out. A hit batter and another Tulo error provided hope in the 10^th, but a strikeout and grounder squelched that. Toronto put two on and had some loud outs  in the 11^th against Derek Law, but nobody seemed to want this one.

Toronto finally gave it away in the 13^th, but not before giving the home team a scare. Albert Suarez fooled no one. Three Blue Jay singles failed to score a run only because Gregor Blanco gunned down Ryan Goins’ ill-advised attempt to stretch a lead-off single into a double. Then it was Totonto reliever Ryan Tepera’s chance to play Santa.

At this point the elastic strike zone didn’t matter. Tepera couldn’t have found It consistently had it been the size of Donald Trump’s ego. He hit Brandon Belt with a pitch, a throw to second on Span’s bunt attempt was bounced by catcher Martin, Tepera wild pitched both men up 90 feet, and Panik drew an intentional pass to load the bases.

Duffy, who walked off the Rockies on Saturday, had an opportunity to repeat the feat but managed only a soft liner to first, setting the stage for Posey. While his bat has been largely silent (1-for-24 going into the AB), there’s nothing wrong with his eye. Tepera’s second walk of the frame ended the game.

The Giants finished with 12 hits to go with seven walks, two hit batsman and two Blue Jays errors: 23 total baserunners. What they continued to do was squander chances. They left 16 on base, hit into three double plays and were 2-for-17 with runners in scoring position.

The win got San Francisco back to .500 at 18-18 heading into a four-gamer at Arizona, where they’ll look for payback from an April sweep at the, uh, hands (whatever) of the Snakes starting Thursday. The mediocre record is good enough for a share of first in the NL West with The Hated Dodgers, who are 17-17 after a 4-3 loss to New York.

The road trip starts with Johnny Cueto (4-1, 3.02) facing Zack Greinke (3-2, 5.15) in the battle of free agent gazillionaires.

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