Couldn't find a "PG" headline, and you know why

It’s an accepted part of baseball that one or two swings of the bat can alter the course of a game, a series or even a season. Which way momentum will swing is rather easy to predict when only one team does the swinging.

That was certainly the case (again) on Friday as San Francisco was three-hit for the second straight day, falling to the Cubs in Chicago by a 2-1 score.

Pence accepts congrats. that's your highlight. Yay! (AP Photo)

Hunter Pence’s solo home run was the only blemish on the ledger of Jon Lester; he who spurned the Giants’ invitation to join them a year ago. In hindsight, maybe he knew what he was doing. Would you rather pitch for these guys or to them?

Pence’s long ball broke up a no-hit bid two outs into the seventh inning. Prior to that, 41 batters over two games had come to the plate without getting a hit as the Giants put together 12 straight hitless innings for the first time in 36 years. Buster Posey’s two-out walk in the first was the only break in the monotonous “click, click, click” of the scoreboard out indicator. Or maybe what we heard was the dramatic “tick, tick, tick” of the clock starting to run out on the season. All that was missing was Dennis Hopper.

 “Pop quiz, hot shot. You’re can’t get a clutch hit (or any hit) to save your life. What do you do? WHAT DO YOU DO?” U, right now the answer is “lose”.

San Francisco doesn’t seem to have an answer. It was their good fortune that division-leading Los Angeles dropped a 4-2 contest at home to San Diego so the deficit in the NL West stayed at two games. But at 72-62 the Giants have posted a 15-29 mark since the midsummer classic; a set of numbers that doesn’t inspire confidence heading into the campaign’s final 28 contests.

Come on, give it a good kick. We need the therapy. (AP Photo)

Friday’s loss was a tough pill to swallow even outside of the missed opportunity to gain ground. Giants batters scalded the ball but had little to show for it. The team that got every break in May and June seems so have used up its season’s allotment, and the baseball fates are exacting their revenge in excruciating fashion.

Brandon Crawford had a pair of infield rockets taken away and Dexter Fowler robbed newly-recalled Kelby Tomlinson with a diving catch of his sinking liner in center. But no one suffered more than Eduardo Nunez, whose bullet to third was the play of the game.

After Pence’s homer, Brandon Crawford singled past second and legged out a double when Fowler dogged the play. Nunez turned on a Lester offering and got every bit of it – lining it into the glove of Kris Bryant at third. Nunez slammed his helmet into the clay. A remote control in our house suffered a similar fate.

The offensive drought wasted a game effort from Albert Suarez, who gave up two runs over five innings. He surrendered just three hits; unfortunately, all three came in the home half of the third and two of them went for extrabases.  That was enough to plate two runs and ultimately sent the 2016 version of the Titanic hurtling toward the sea bed.

Of course, this was the day the relievers decided to pitch. Four men (Steve Okert, Corey Gearrin, Sergio Romo and Josh Osich) scattered five baserunners over four innings to keep it close; waiting for the offense to find the equalizer. They’re still waiting.

Madison Bumgarner (13-8, 2.49 ERA) will try to put the Giants back on the right path Saturday but that’s a tough order with the MIA offense going up against Cubs ace Jake Arrieta (16-5, 2.84 ERA).

Yes, there is another game. Said Giants announcer Duane Kuiper during Thursday’s on-air post mortem: “That’s what’s great about baseball, there’s always tomorrow.” Don’t look now Kuip, but the Giants’ supply of tomorrows is running out.

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