Giants Crush Pirates' Hopes and Dreams, Win 15-4 in Blowout

Justice delos Santos
Jun 22, 2016
5 min read

Yesterday wasn't a fun day of baseball for anyone rocking a San Francisco Giants inning.

Angel Pagan missed the possible catch of the year, no one in the orange and black could get a hit when it counted, the Pittsburgh Pirates handed Madison Bumgarner and co. a tough luck 1-0 loss and the Giants placed Matt Duffy on the disabled list.

Needless to say, there wasn't a lot that was cheer-worthy.

So, after a night like that, who better to throw out on the mound than Johnny Cueto, the man who treats every ballgame likes it's a friendly game of wiffleball in the backyard?

And boy oh boy, did Cueto have a blast on the mound.

With the help of a seven-run fourth inning, Cueto delivered yet another masterpiece, striking out six over 6.2 innings while looking like Bartolo-lite by having the time of his life, leading the Giants to a blow out 15-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The seven runs in the fourth inning were the most the Giants have scored in a single inning all season to date, and the 15 runs were the most the Giants have ever scored at PNC Park.

The Giants' 22 hits are also the most of any team has totaled in a single game.

There was no shortness of Cueto's antics while he was on the mound.

Whether it be him catching Pittsburgh batters off guard with a quick pitch or him bringing his leg up, shimmying, holding his stance with enough time for him to adjust his cap and fix his dreads, then delivering a 94 MPH heater, it made for entertaining pitching.

The Dominican's at-bats were certainly an adventure as Cueto took some healthy rips with his one-handed follow through.

Cueto's hijinks could be summarized when in the fourth inning, Cueto overturned second base, dove back to the base with a headfirst slide, then shared a laugh with Pirates second baseman Josh Harrison.

After Jacob Stallings had doubled over the head of Jarrett Parker to drive in Sean Rodriguez for his first big league hit, Bruce Bochy relieved his starter of his duties.

Cueto walked off the mound, cap in hand and his signature Giants do-rag exposed to the world, to the sound of applause from the San Francisco faithful, knowing he helped erase the bad feelings from yesterday.

While Cueto was living life, the rest of the Giants initially didn't look like they were going to share the same feelings as their teammate.

Cueto lowered his ERA to 2.06 on the season, and improved his lifetime record against the Pirates to 19-4.

The San Francisco offense looked like it was in for another long day at the plate, failing to score in their first three innings and carrying a 13 consecutive scoreless innings streak into the fourth.

There was a golden opportunity to score in the third inning when Gregor Blanco kicked off the inning with an opposite field double which one-hopped the wall, but the Giants were unable to capitalize as the next three batters went down 1-2-3.

The fourth inning outburst started off innocently enough, as Joe Panik opened up the inning with a single. Little did Panik know that the next time he'd come to the plate, it would be in the fourth with, yet again, no outs.

Talk about déjà vu.

Brandon Belt kept the line moving by lining a double over the head of Andrew McCutchen, and Buster Posey drew a walk to load the bases for one Brandon Crawford.

You know, the same Brandon Crawford who is a walking nightmare for Pirates since he killed their October dreams with a grand slam in the 2014 Wild Card game, which eventually lead to a Giants win and the franchise winning their third World Series.

The shortstop hurt the Pirates, but with an eleven pitch walk, which included seven foul balls, to bring Panik home and give the Giants their first run since Sunday.

Following Crawford was Angel Pagan, who was more than likely still irritated after having missed the catch.

Yesterday he missed the opportunity to save a home run, but today he made up for it in grand fashion, clearing the bases by driving the first pitch he saw out the hand of Wilfredo Boscan into the right-center field bleachers to give the Giants a four-run lead.

The grand slam was Pagan's first since 2009 when he was still a member of the New York Mets.

Needless to say, the veteran was pretty happy.

Even with five runs already on the board, the Giants still weren't done bringing down the hammer on the Pirates.

Following another Blanco double, Gillaspie made sure to cash in after failing to drive in the White Shark in his first at-bat by launching an absolute bomb to the top of the right field bleachers, barely missing the Allegheny River, bringing home the seventh and final run of the inning.

The Giants piled on the runs by scoring in the fifth, sixth, and seventh, then pouring in five runs in the eighth, and somewhere in the San Francisco dugout, Maidson Bumgarner was probably yelling towards the sky, saying "you've got to be kidding me."

At the end of the day, the Giants as a collective unit had one of the finest offensive performances of the season.

Blanco reached base safely five times, totaling three hits and a pair of walks, while Gillaspie, in his first day as Duffy's replacement, totaled four hits and four RBIs. Ramiro Peña, another possible short-term replacement for Duffy, had a triple as well.

Overshadowed by the spectacular days of Blanco and Gillaspie, as Belt and Posey had a trio of two-hit days with an RBI each, and Denard Span had a three-hit game with three RBIs. Jarrett Parker and Trevor Brown had an RBI apiece as well.

With the score 15 to 3 and the game's decision already decided by a long shot, Erik Kratz, the day after breaking San Francisco's heart, took the mound in the ninth to conserve what was left of the Pittsburgh relievers' arms.

Brandon Belt, who stated at the beginning of the season that he wanted to pitch at some point during the season, struck out on a 3-2 79 MPH changeup, or at least what looked like a changeup.

The strikeout gave Belt three on the day, and the dugout more than likely never will never let him hear the end of it.

If there was anyone who wanted to face Kratz more than anyone, it was Madison Bumgarner, who gave up the game-deciding home run on Monday which barely escaped the glove of Angel Pagan.

Unfortunately, the baseball world wouldn't have the privilege of witnessing a duel which could have broken the internet.

Don't think for one second that the thought didn't cross Bruce Bochy's mind, as he told reporters that he would have allowed Bumgarner to pinch-hit if the line moved down the pitcher's spot.

#recap

Yesterday wasn't a fun day of baseball for anyone rocking a San Francisco Giants inning.

Angel Pagan missed the possible catch of the year, no one in the orange and black could get a hit when it counted, the Pittsburgh Pirates handed Madison Bumgarner and co. a tough luck 1-0 loss and the Giants placed Matt Duffy on the disabled list.

Needless to say, there wasn't a lot that was cheer-worthy.

So, after a night like that, who better to throw out on the mound than Johnny Cueto, the man who treats every ballgame likes it's a friendly game of wiffleball in the backyard?

And boy oh boy, did Cueto have a blast on the mound.

With the help of a seven-run fourth inning, Cueto delivered yet another masterpiece, striking out six over 6.2 innings while looking like Bartolo-lite by having the time of his life, leading the Giants to a blow out 15-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The seven runs in the fourth inning were the most the Giants have scored in a single inning all season to date, and the 15 runs were the most the Giants have ever scored at PNC Park.

The Giants' 22 hits are also the most of any team has totaled in a single game.

There was no shortness of Cueto's antics while he was on the mound.

Whether it be him catching Pittsburgh batters off guard with a quick pitch or him bringing his leg up, shimmying, holding his stance with enough time for him to adjust his cap and fix his dreads, then delivering a 94 MPH heater, it made for entertaining pitching.

The Dominican's at-bats were certainly an adventure as Cueto took some healthy rips with his one-handed follow through.

Cueto's hijinks could be summarized when in the fourth inning, Cueto overturned second base, dove back to the base with a headfirst slide, then shared a laugh with Pirates second baseman Josh Harrison.

After Jacob Stallings had doubled over the head of Jarrett Parker to drive in Sean Rodriguez for his first big league hit, Bruce Bochy relieved his starter of his duties.

Cueto walked off the mound, cap in hand and his signature Giants do-rag exposed to the world, to the sound of applause from the San Francisco faithful, knowing he helped erase the bad feelings from yesterday.

While Cueto was living life, the rest of the Giants initially didn't look like they were going to share the same feelings as their teammate.

Cueto lowered his ERA to 2.06 on the season, and improved his lifetime record against the Pirates to 19-4.

The San Francisco offense looked like it was in for another long day at the plate, failing to score in their first three innings and carrying a 13 consecutive scoreless innings streak into the fourth.

There was a golden opportunity to score in the third inning when Gregor Blanco kicked off the inning with an opposite field double which one-hopped the wall, but the Giants were unable to capitalize as the next three batters went down 1-2-3.

The fourth inning outburst started off innocently enough, as Joe Panik opened up the inning with a single. Little did Panik know that the next time he'd come to the plate, it would be in the fourth with, yet again, no outs.

Talk about déjà vu.

Brandon Belt kept the line moving by lining a double over the head of Andrew McCutchen, and Buster Posey drew a walk to load the bases for one Brandon Crawford.

You know, the same Brandon Crawford who is a walking nightmare for Pirates since he killed their October dreams with a grand slam in the 2014 Wild Card game, which eventually lead to a Giants win and the franchise winning their third World Series.

The shortstop hurt the Pirates, but with an eleven pitch walk, which included seven foul balls, to bring Panik home and give the Giants their first run since Sunday.

Following Crawford was Angel Pagan, who was more than likely still irritated after having missed the catch.

Yesterday he missed the opportunity to save a home run, but today he made up for it in grand fashion, clearing the bases by driving the first pitch he saw out the hand of Wilfredo Boscan into the right-center field bleachers to give the Giants a four-run lead.

The grand slam was Pagan's first since 2009 when he was still a member of the New York Mets.

Needless to say, the veteran was pretty happy.

Even with five runs already on the board, the Giants still weren't done bringing down the hammer on the Pirates.

Following another Blanco double, Gillaspie made sure to cash in after failing to drive in the White Shark in his first at-bat by launching an absolute bomb to the top of the right field bleachers, barely missing the Allegheny River, bringing home the seventh and final run of the inning.

The Giants piled on the runs by scoring in the fifth, sixth, and seventh, then pouring in five runs in the eighth, and somewhere in the San Francisco dugout, Maidson Bumgarner was probably yelling towards the sky, saying "you've got to be kidding me."

At the end of the day, the Giants as a collective unit had one of the finest offensive performances of the season.

Blanco reached base safely five times, totaling three hits and a pair of walks, while Gillaspie, in his first day as Duffy's replacement, totaled four hits and four RBIs. Ramiro Peña, another possible short-term replacement for Duffy, had a triple as well.

Overshadowed by the spectacular days of Blanco and Gillaspie, as Belt and Posey had a trio of two-hit days with an RBI each, and Denard Span had a three-hit game with three RBIs. Jarrett Parker and Trevor Brown had an RBI apiece as well.

With the score 15 to 3 and the game's decision already decided by a long shot, Erik Kratz, the day after breaking San Francisco's heart, took the mound in the ninth to conserve what was left of the Pittsburgh relievers' arms.

Brandon Belt, who stated at the beginning of the season that he wanted to pitch at some point during the season, struck out on a 3-2 79 MPH changeup, or at least what looked like a changeup.

The strikeout gave Belt three on the day, and the dugout more than likely never will never let him hear the end of it.

If there was anyone who wanted to face Kratz more than anyone, it was Madison Bumgarner, who gave up the game-deciding home run on Monday which barely escaped the glove of Angel Pagan.

Unfortunately, the baseball world wouldn't have the privilege of witnessing a duel which could have broken the internet.

Don't think for one second that the thought didn't cross Bruce Bochy's mind, as he told reporters that he would have allowed Bumgarner to pinch-hit if the line moved down the pitcher's spot.

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