In the desert, stupidity trumps shaky pitching

Sometimes you win games on great pitching, sometimes on a clutch hit, sometimes on a lucky bounce. And then, there are times someone just does something willfully ignorant and you beat them into submission with it. If you’re wondering why Arizona is so woeful at home (13-29), here’s a partial explanation.

Arizona starter Shelby Miller, one of the off-season pickups expected to lead the Diamondbacks to greatness, suffered his eighth loss against two wins largely due to one at-bat and a pitch that conventional wisdom says never should have been thrown. It was the pivotal moment as the Giants rallied from an early three-run deficit to score a 6-4 road victory.

The beneficiary was Johnny Cueto, who picked up his 12^th win despite being less-than sharp. A pair of home runs put the Giants behind the eight ball but San Francisco chipped away at the lead a scored five unanswered runs to win going away; with a side trip to insanity thanks to (who else?) Santiago Casilla.

Conor Gillaspie looks for a fuel stop en route home. (AP Photo)

Winning Game One of 2016’s Part Two lifted the Giants to 51-31, maintaining a six-game edge over The Hated Dodgers. LA thumped Colorado 5-0 to send the Rockies 12 ½ games off the pace; and they’re the next closest adversary.

The D-backs jumped on top in the first, using doubles from Jean Segura and long-time Giants killer Paul Goldschmidt to grab a quick lead. Perennial thorn in the side Jake Lamb was a strikeout victim but Cueto hung a breaker to Wellington Castillo and the Giants were in a 3-0 hole before the beer had a chance to get warm…or cold…or whatever they do with the beer down among the tumbleweeds and tarantulas.

San Francisco did get one back quickly. Conor Gillaspie was on his way to a big night when he lined a ball inside first base that died in the corner. Gillaspie had a triple and Brandon Crawford, who had walked ahead of him, cruised home. It was 3-1 and might have been closer, but Gillaspie broke late on Grant Green’s grounder to short and was cannon fodder at the plate. So much for the rally.

Cueto seemed to settle in but had one misstep in the third, and of course it involved Lamb. He re-established the three-run led, taking Cueto well beyond the fence in right center with a no-doubt solo shot.

All of the signs were there. The nemeses (or is that nemisi?) had each struck, the Giants had surrendered untimely hits and long balls, and there had been yet another base running gaffe. Time to see who’s guesting on Bill Maher.

Not so fast. Brandon Belt drew a walk to start the fourth and two outs later Gillaspie one-hopped the left field wall for a ground-rule double. It might have cost the Giants a run but call-up Grant Green stroked a single through the middle to score two, and the Giants had drawn within a run.

But the real fun took place in the top of the sixth. This was the kind of action that keeps sports talk radio in business because the second-guessers will be out in force. Allow us to pile on.

Jarett Parker and Gillaspie each singled to put runners at the corners with one out. Green could have tied the game with a well-placed out but was caught looking on a third strike that MLB Game Day confirmed wasn’t. With a base open a Cueto on deck, it was a given Trevor Brown (catching because Buster Posey rested for reasons unknown) wasn’t going to get a pitch to hit.

Yeah, right. Miller pitched to him, running the count to 2-2 before trying to backdoor the righthander with something that caught too much plate. Brown sliced a double just inside the right field line, scoring both runners and giving the Giants a 5-4 advantage.

The Gas Can again cast a shadow over a contest. (SF Giants via Twitter)

Parker added on in the eighth against Randall Delgado. His opposite-field solo blast was a threat to incoming flights at nearby Sky Harbor Airport, which by the way is the worst (choke, gag) major airport in existence. Any damage was an improvement. The score improved as well. Giants 6, D-Backs 4.

Cueto had departed after seven innings (4ER, 7H, 9K) and turned the ball over to the bullpen. Cory Gearrin, whose pace makes us wistful for the speed of Juan Gutierrez, pitched a quiet eighth. In the ninth, Gas Can Casilla offered no such solace.

Castillo and Chris Hermann singled to put runners at the corners with no outs and the power coming up. Brandon Belt saved his bacon. Yasmany Tomas slapped a grounder toward first. Belt fielded, looked back Castillo then unloaded a strike to second base. Crawford’s return throw found Belt already back at the bag and suddenly there were two outs and Castillo still at third. Perfection.

Of course, Casilla is Casilla. He put the tying run right back on base with a five-pitch walk of Phil Gossselin to bring up pinch hitter Peter O’Brien; a pure chicken-or-feathers guy. Casilla got a quick 0-2 count, missed off the plate, then froze O’Brien with a curve ball to notch his 18^th save and our 19^th nervous breakdown.

The Giants had 10 hits in the contest, keyed by Gillaspie’s three-hit night, coming up a home run short of a cycle. Parker, Green and Gregor Blanco added two hits each.

A third straight win on Saturday would counter the trio of losses to Oakland, and the Giants will send Jeff Samardzija (8-5, 3.91 ERA) after it. The Shark will look to rebound from his Tuesday start when the A’s got to him for six runs. Patrick Corbin (4-6, 4.99) takes the mound for Arizona.

(box)