The final day of one of the worst road trips imaginable was like most of the other ones. Quiet, punchless, and another loss.
The Giants fell 5-2 at Yankee Stadium on Sunday. They lost seven of eight games on a three-city trip through San Diego, Boston and New York, and showed a surprising number of holes. The problem Sunday, as it was early on the trip, was starting pitching.
Jeff Samardzija came into the game with 17 home runs allowed and the Yankees hit two solo shots early. Carlos Beltran’s shot to right would have been a shallow fly ball at AT&T Park, but it crept into the seats 314 feet away. Mark Teixeira didn’t need any luck, hitting a long dinger to right-center.
Samardzija settled down after the ugly start, pitching four straight scoreless innings. But the wheels came off in the sixth. He walked the leadoff batter and gave up four singles and a double, with three more runs coming across.
With Aroldis Chapman, Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller unavailable, the Giants would have been well-served getting Nate Eovaldi out of the game early. But Eovaldi took a shutout into the seventh before giving way to the bullpen. The Giants scored twice on Buster Posey’s emergency-hack single, but the rally was cut short.
Mac Williamson reached with one out in the eighth, leading to one of the stranger double plays of the season. Ramiro Pena hit a roller to second and Starlin Castro made a diving catch and threw to first for a bang-bang out. Williamson had tried to take third, and pitcher Chad Green spun and fired a strike to the bag for the third out of the inning.
Bruce Bochy angrily stepped down from the top step of the dugout. It’s possible he just kept walking until he reached the airport.
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Starting pitching report: Samardzija has given up 19 earned runs in 21 innings over his last four road starts.
Bullpen report: George Kontos, who was a fifth-round pick of the Yankees in 2006, stranded two in the sixth and breezed through the seventh and eighth. The Yankees also selected Ian Kennedy, Joba Chamberlain, Dellin Betances, Mark Melancon and David Robertson that year. Good draft.
At the plate: Maybe home will be better?
In the field: The Giants did not make an error. They still finished with 11 on the trip.
Attendance: The Yankees announced a crowd of 34,143 human beings, including my brother Andrej and his friend Justin.
Up next: Maybe home will be better?
