Giants flip: Cueto starts Saturday, Samardzija on Sunday

Updated from version posted at the final out. There are must-win games to restore sanity.

Girardi reluctantly used the heavily worked Betances due to the extra-inning game at a critical moment in the season.

Joe Girardi bore the fresh sting of Saturday’s wrenching loss, lamenting the Yankees’ blown chances over 12 long innings.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy was mulling lineup changes prior to the game, and he had six hours to ponder the matter more on the flight home. He got the Yankees a needed 3-1 win and outdueled David Price in the process, allowing just one run and three hits in six innings. Try as they might, the Yankees have not yet proven this roster has staying power to make a run at a postseason berth. “When you’re a rookie, sometimes the game speeds up but he’s able to slow the game down”. He was thrown out at the plate in the second trying to score from first, committed an error in right field on Mark Teixeira’s single, allowing the Yankees to score.

After losing two of three to the Red Sox, they bounced back to take three of four from the first-place Orioles, and then took the series opener against the Giants.

Each start, the flamethrower could not only be pitching for his rotation spot but for his trade stock.

“He put that behind him”.

Finally after a week of questions about what’s wrong with the San Francisco Giants, they have a win. “They’ve been great mentors to me”. “I haven’t seen that since, I want to say probably ’79 or ’80”.

Casilla has heard the rumors the Giants are seeking to trade for a closer with a high-strikeout ratio.

For that to happen, though, the Yankees are going to have to be almost flawless and every inning, every pitch, will carry enormous weight.

Casilla was candid when asked about the Giants’ pursuit of the Yankees’ Aroldis Chapman and others, saying “of course it would bother me” if the club moved him into a setup role.

“I’ve been in this situation before”, the 39-year-old said. “I feel like a lot of these losses that we’ve had are on me”.

The Giants broke their streak and retained their four-game lead in the NL West, but carried over some of the habits that contributed to sweeps in San Diego and Boston. Although they played just their second officially error-free game on the trip, they made a rally-killing mistake on the basepaths in the eighth inning.

Williamson’s hit was the Giants only one in 11 at-bats with runners in scoring position. With catcher Brian McCann signaling for an intentional walk, Betances threw his first pitch to Brandon Crawford to the backstop.

Pagan, who had taken just a one-step lead off third base, got a late break and did not run. But Pagan held at third to Bochy’s dismay. Crawford grounded out and by the time Pagan returned to the dugout, Bochy had walked up the tunnel. “He’s doing all baseball activities”, Bochy said. “He was being careful”. After swapping starters yesterday, Jeff Samardzija will start today versus the Yankees, who will counter with Nathan Eovaldi. Cueto struck out nine, including six of the last eight hitters he faced. “Three middle guys aren’t in the middle of the lineup”, Belt said. “He’s a battler, Johnny”.

The first three innings were a grotesque pencil sketch of their luck in the second half. Brandon Crawford followed with a sinking liner to left that Brett Gardner snared with a diving grab. Gardner made a barehand pickup in the left-center gap, and teamed with Gregorius to make a flawless relay to the plate.

The Yankees later added three insurance runs in the sixth. He has 25 home runs this season.

New York’s Ivan Nova matched Cueto and went an inning further. But flaccid performances by Dellin Betances in the seventh and Andrew Miller in the eighth allowed San Francisco to tie things up. McCann thought it was going to drop in front of Pagan. Mark Melancon pitched the ninth for his 29th save.

Hicks had walked leading off the 10th and advanced on Buster Posey’s passed ball.

“We pitched well, but we didn’t hit”, Carlos Beltran said.

The Yankees got two innings out of Chapman, who reportedly is on the verge of being dealt. Instead, Girardi called on him for 16 more, perhaps knowing there won’t be a reason to save any of his relievers if the Yankees spiral out of contention permanently. “It’s a tough call, but you want to make sure that you have that opportunity”.