Rare Belt Defensive Blunder Sparks Diamondback Rally, Sinks Giants

In the past two seasons, the San Francisco Giants have seldom worried about their shortcomings with the glove, or rather lack thereof, and have developed a reputation as one of baseball’s premier defensive units.

The four homegrown members of the infield unit, three of whom have received the illustrious Gold Glove, are largely responsible for ensuring defense has become a non-issue, accounting for 43 of San Francisco’s 50 Defensive Runs Saved last season while playing pristine defense which led to 30 games without an error.

Of those 43 Defensive Runs Saved, Brandon Belt accounted for nine, which ranked second among all first basemen in the league. The Giants expect him and the rest of the infield crew to once again find themselves atop the defensive rankings, but on Monday night, a rare defensive gaff by Belt set the stage for a Diamondback rally.

Belt’s error when attempting to backhand a potentially inning-ending Jake Lamb grounder in the bottom of the fifth not only gifted Arizona the two runs they needed to claw its way back into the ballgame, but the life it needed to rattle off five more runs and best the Giants by a final score of 8-6. Arizona tacked on two runs apiece in the sixth and seventh, enough to hold off an eight inning San Francisco rally.

Neither Belt nor starter Matt Moore were quickly to delegate blame. Belt understandably stated that his error was a game-changer in Arizona’s favor, but Moore partly placed some responsibility on himself.

Moore recorded two outs in the bottom of the fifth before allowing a double to Chris Owings, which extended the inning. The lefty then issued a walk to Paul Goldschmidt after striking him out on six pitches in their first two encounters. Moore worked a 3-2 count after falling behind 2-0, but missed on a payoff cutter, giving the Diamondbacks a free base to set the stage for Lamb.

What became a bitter loss at first looked more reminiscent to another episode of the Eduardo Núñez show. In the top of the second, Núñez singled, swiped second, then scored from second on a Joe Panik single which didn’t leave the infield, running right past a Phil Nevin stop sign and losing his helmet in the process. San Francisco’s third baseman ended the night with two hits, his third consecutive multi-hit game to begin the new campaign.

Núñez’s Willie Mays impersonation has nearly shadowed San Francisco’s lack of production from its left fielders, namely Jarrett Parker, who is currently 0-7 with five strikeouts. Chris Marrero’s hot bat from spring training has yet to carry over, hitless in five at-bats with three strikeouts.

Parker and Marrero’s combined offensive inefficiency can be attributed to both attempting to get their feet wet - Marrero’s last at-bat against major league pitching came in June of 2013 - but ending the week without reaching base is justifiable cause for concern.

#recap