SAN DIEGO - It's a problem that's been gnawing at Bruce Bochy all year. He wants his guys to pitch, not just throw, and on Sunday, it boiled over.
Jeff Samardzija gave up two three-run homers in a 7-1 loss to the Padres, the second on a 96 mph fastball right across the heart of the plate on an 0-2 pitch. The Giants have given up 27 homers on two-strike pitches this year, including five in 0-2 counts. Many others - like Hector Sanchez's walk-off Saturday - have come on pitches that caught far too much of the plate with a base open.
"It seems like the more we make an issue out of it, the more mistakes we make," Bochy said. "We've talked about it, we've done fines. I don't know if they're putting added pressure on or what. It's got to stop. I don't know if I need to pitch out 0-2 or what. You have to learn to throw your put away pitches or chase pitches."
Samardzija paid for two of them. Sanchez crushed a three-run homer on a first-inning pitch at the knees. The one to Spangenberg was put on a tee, and he lined it out for a 7-1 lead that held up. Samardzija said he was trying to elevate to Spangenberg and get a strikeout.
"You get it up another six inches and it's an out," he said. "It stayed in the hitting zone and he put a good swing on it."
Samardzija called the Sanchez homer the difference, and it was. The lineup once again came out flat, scoring just a second-inning run off a Padres team that now has a six-game lead in the race for fourth place. The Giants thought they had grabbed momentum on Friday night. Then they got walked off and blown out.
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"Enough is enough," Bochy said, echoing a common theme of the first half.