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Peavy Not The Answer, Giants Get Swept

Published

10 years ago

July 27, 2014

San Francisco, CA – The Giants made a move yesterday and acquired right-hand pitcher Jake Peavy from the Boston Red Sox along with cash considerations for minor league LHP Edwin Escobar and RHP Heath Hembree.

The problem is Peavy didn’t have the magic San Francisco needed to avoid being swept in the series. The Dodger 4-3 victory is the first sweep over the Giants since June 24-26, 2013 at Dodger Stadium and for the first time here at AT&T Park since July 27-29, 2012.

“I was comfortable out there, just hate the way it turned out,” said Peavy. “I can get much better and I expect to be much better. I’ve got to make better pitches and its tough when you give a good team extra outs.”

Peavy tossed six innings allowing six hits, four runs, three earned and five strikeouts. He lost his 10th decision (nine with Boston and one with San Francisco) and has gone 11 consecutive starts with receiving three or fewer run support.

The Giants defense crumbled in supporting Peavy’s quality start. Dan Uggla committed two critical errors including one that cost San Francisco an unearned run. Buster Posey who is usually stellar behind the plate faced some difficulty catching for Peavy.

“It was a weird inning, no excuses, I have to do a better job,” Posey said. “The mistake that bugs me more was the errant third strike that enabled Dee Gordon to reach base. That’s a perfect example of no matter where the pitch is, as a catcher, you got to stay down.”

Gordon reached first base swinging at a strike that turned into a wild pitch with only one out in the fifth. Peavy walked Yasiel Puig putting two on. Another wild pitch by Peavy got past Posey allowed Gordon to score. Hanley Ramirez singled home Puig and Carl Crawford’s RBI triple extended the Dodger lead 4-2.

“It’s going to take some time for me and Buster to get to know watch other,” said Peavy. “He’s tremendous behind the plate. We all know how good he is. The more we’re out there together, I’m sure we’ll get better.”

Thanks to an error by Ramirez in the third, San Francisco got on board first. Hunter Pence’s infield single scored in Uggla who lead off the frame with a walk. Juan Uribe tied the game 1-1 in the fourth with a RBI single. Bu the Giants found their at-bats and got three hits off Hyun-Jin Ryu bottom of the inning.

After Ryu struck out Pablo Sandoval, Michael Morse and Adam Duvall hit back-to-back singles before Brandon Crawford knocked in a run to give San Francisco back the lead 2-1. Posey went deep in the fifth, marking his first career home run off a 3-0 pitch.

The Dodgers left no room for error when closer Kenley Jansen struck out the side to end the game. They now lead the division a 1 1/2 game lead over the Giants after coming in a 1 1/2 game behind them before the series began. There’s still a lot of baseball to be played and the both teams will focus on their next opponent.

“We come out of here with a 1 1/2-game lead after coming in with a 1 1/2-game deficit,” Adrian Gonzalez said. “It’s the best case scenario.”

“It’s going to be important that we put this behind us,” said manager Bruce Bochy. “We have a tough team [Pittsburgh] coming in here. We have to regroup. You have no choice in this game.”