Game Wrap 5/12/2016: Giants 4 D'Backs 2

Johnny Cueto outpitched Zack Greinke and the Giants bullpen hung on over the last 2 innings for a much needed W agains the D'Backs in Arizona.  Key Lines:

Denard Span- 2 for 5.  BA= .252.  Span was brought in to upgrade both CF and the leadoff spot in the batting order.  Mission accomplished!  Span's OBP is .354 overall and .374 over his last 30 games.

Joe Panik- 1 for 4, HR(4).  BA= .246.  Panik has struggled at the plate.  Hopefully this dinger will get him going.

Buster Posey- 2 for 4, 2B.  BA= .277. Buster has been a big part of the Giants offensive slump.  Hopefully this 2-hit game with an XBH marks the start of a hot streak.

Johnny Cueto- 7 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 9 K's.  ERA= 2.97.  Cueto outpitched the guy the Giants missed out on signing, and for a higher price than Cueto cost them.  Much thanks to Dave Stewart for his impulsive signing of Zack Greinke.  Yeah, I know it early for both contracts, but right now, Cueto is looking like a steal.

Cory Gearrin- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 3.24.  Josh Osich walked LH batter Jake Lamb to lead off the 8'th inning.  Gearrin came in and dispatched Castillo, Tomas and Owings in short order.  1, 2, 3, inning over!

Santiago Casilla- 0.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 1.93.  OK, here we go.  Yes, Casilla's stuff looked good.  Yes, he got BABIP'd just a bit.  Yes, it is defensible to not let Paul Goldschmidt beat you(I actually thought Casilla was under orders to not throw Goldy a strike).  But……!!!  Jake Lamb murders RH pitching, has ownage on Casilla and struggles to hit LHP's.  The game was on the line and Lopez is a much better matchup against Lamb.  Bruce Bochy made the right move.  It was disappointing to see Casilla react like that and even more disappointing to see him not calm down after the game, especially after Lopez did his job and the Giants won.  Winning the game has to be the top priority for every player.  That priority is the hallmark of the Giants winning formula for 3 championships.

Javier Lopez- 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, Save(1).  ERA= 4.91.  Lopez struggled early in the season, but has been his usual kryptonite against LH batters of late.  I can't say I was all that confident, but Lopez got the job done, blowing up Jake Lamb's bat for a roll-over grounder to 2B for the easy final out of the game with the bases loaded.

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The Win kept the Giants tied with the Dodgers, who blanked the Mets behind Clayton Kershaw 5-0, atop the NL West.  The idle 3'rd place Rockies dropped to 1.5 games behind the leaders.  The D'Backs dropped to 2 games off the pace.  The Last Place Padres are just 2.5 games back after blanking the Brewers 3-0.

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Jeff Samardzija faces the other impulsive Dave Stewart acquisition, Shelby Miller, tonight in Game 2 of the series.

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Clayton Blackburn got the promo to give the Giants an extra arm in the bullpen.  Jarrett Parker was sent down when it was determined that Angel Pagan was available to play.  Blackburn's stay is likely to be just for the Arizona series as Kontos should be ready next week.