Giants unable to solve Morton in 4-0 loss to Pirates

The Giants added two more runs in the second inning on a long home run from Madison Bumgarner.

Phillies 7, Marlins 1 • Jerad Eickhoff pitched six scoreless innings and drove in two runs in his major league debut to help Philadelphia win at Miami.

San Francisco starting pitcher Jake Peavey throws against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the first inning of a baseball game, Thursday, August 20, 2015, in Pittsburgh. On a 1-2 count, Byrd demonstrated the power that the Giants got their paws on with a home run off a low and inside curveball.

The All-Star surrendered one run on three hits in seven innings, walking three and striking out eight.

Santiago Casilla completed the job within the ninth regardless of strolling Neil Walker to steer off the inning. McCutchen ran down a drive to deep right-center to end the second. But Locke took two called strikes, then feebly bunted through the next pitch to whiff. “He hit two home runs, he was the real hero today”.

Marlon Byrd knows that you only have one chance to make a good first impression.

An additional Pirates run was scored in the third. He has allowed only 142 hits in 155.1 innings pitched this season. These three players have risen to exceptional levels during the regular season, and it is because of their athleticism that the Giants are contenders for the postseason this year. Blanco led off the inning with an infield single, but quick outs from Bumgarner and Aoki made it seem the pressure would subside.

With Cole out of the game Joakim Soria entered and immediately allowed a walk to Matt Duffy and a single to Brandon Belt. Alongside Posey and Bumgarner, Brandon Crawford is having his best season to date, with a batting average of.270, 75 RBIs and 19 home runs. That happened three days after he was hit on the head with a pitch.

With the bases now loaded, Starling Marte hit a high chopper which became a force at second – but also a run. Blanco walked again, went to second on a wild pitch and was sacrificed to third by Adrianza.

“I’m going to do my best to take it to another level”, Kang said.

Jeff Locke was replaced by Joe Blanton to begin the sixth on the mound.

Speaking of strong, Bumgarner got into the act with the bat, too. Trouble arose in the seventh for the Giant’s ace. However, the 24-year-old right-hander is 3-0 with a 2.11 ERA in three career starts against the Giants. Peavy (3-6) gave up four runs and seven hits in six innings. I like it. It works.

Before the game I posted the lineup on Facebook, like I usually do, and while I was lurking around Facebook reading other Giants fans comments about our new outfielder, I stumbled across a post by a reader, Oliver J. Messier, who proposed the nick name “Birdman from Alcatraz” for Byrd. They are 5-1 in their last 6 games as a favorite of -151 to -200 and 21-7 in their last 28 vs. a team with a winning record.

Bumgarner chose a good time for his surge.

Those are the performances that prove helpful come October.