SF Giants Press Clips Wednesday, May 3, 2017

San Francisco Chronicle Giants, Matt Moore crushed after Dodgers spot them 4 runs Henry Schulman

LOS ANGELES - There is an old adage in : It's awfully hard for a team to win when it walks nine, hits a batter with the bases loaded, lets its opponent bat around twice and gets outscored by a dozen runs after it plates the first four of the game.

Well, it should be an old adage.

In a wretched followup to their great win against , the Giants got rolled 13-5 Tuesday night, a complete meltdown by Matt Moore after the Giants gave him a fast 4-0 lead.

Moore allowed a career-high nine earned runs in 3 1/3 innings, the most by a Giants starter in four years. That included a six-run second inning, the first time the Dodgers batted around. Moore and Cory Gearrin conspired to let L.A. bat around again in a four-run fourth.

Moore has been a Giant long enough now to confound the faithful with his feast-or-famine inconsistency. Three of his six starts this year have ended in five, six and nine earned runs. In two other games the teams he faced could not muster more than three hits against him.

He has pitched some of his best career games against the Dodgers as a Giant, including 8 2/3

1 no-hit innings at Dodger Stadium in an August game. But he also has pitched two of his worst career games against L.A., both at Chavez Ravine.

And it bothers him.

"It does get under my skin after awhile," Moore said. "It seems like it's a Jekyll and Hyde case."

Tuesday's loss provided a stark reminder that while a tepid offense has had a leading role in the Giants' 10-18 start, they have not pitched that great either. They have allowed their opponents to bat around eight times, most in the majors.

The Giants' only consolation was knowing they can win the series Wednesday night behind Jeff Samardzija, who still seeks his first win.

Even if they do, they will have gone 28 games with just one set of back-to-back victories, an almost incomprehensible fail for a team with playoffs aspirations.

"We're just doing our best," Moore said. "If we can get out of here with two out of three, that's not a bad start to a three-city trip. We've still got a lot to look forward to here."

The Giants staked Moore to a 4-0 lead with their biggest inning in 16 games. He helped himself with a single off that resulted in two runs thanks to an accompanying throwing error. added a two-out, two-run double.

That second-inning rally began with two infield hits - one soft, one hard - by Christian Arroyo and Eduardo Nuñez.

But Moore lost the lead and then some in a six-run bottom half that required 39 pitches after his six-pitch first.

The Dodgers hit for the cycle in the inning, starting with a Franklin Gutierrez homer in his first at-bat off the disabled list. Rookie hit a three-run triple to tie the game and Wood a single over a drawn-in infield to give the Dodgers a 5-4 lead.

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Corey Seager completed the second-inning cycle with a one-out double, and gave the Dodgers a 6-4 lead with a sacrifice fly.

As usual, a sudden and catastrophic loss of command befell Moore. He walked two batters in the inning on four pitches.

Manager wondered if Moore got ticked at himself for allowing the Gutierrez homer on an 0-2 pitch. Moore said he hopes to look at video, which he rarely does, to see why he failed so badly with his offspeed pitches after the homer.

"Matty is so good, but sometimes he has his moments," Bochy said. "It's what you have to deal with, figuring out why you have these hiccups and these big innings."

Those hiccups have been way too hard to stop for a team that prides itself on its ability to pitch.

San Francisco Chronicle Giants somewhat concern about ’s blister Henry Schulman

LOS ANGELES — Many times, when numbers look askew, there is a good reason besides performance. Take Johnny Cueto , who has a 4.86 ERA after beating the Dodgers on Monday night. Manager Bruce Bochy revealed that Cueto continues to be bothered by a blister on the middle finger of his pitching hand, which developed during a Bay Bridge Series exhibition against Oakland on March 30. Cueto said the blister has made it difficult to throw some pitches. Though he did not elaborate, breaking pitches usually are the worst because of the pressure they put on that finger.

Cueto also said after Monday night’s 4-3 victory against the Dodgers that he does not plan to miss an inning as a result.

“They’re going to have to take me out on a gurney,” Cueto said.

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Bochy said the team has to be a little concerned because the blister will not heal, but not enough to begin discussions with general manager Bobby Evans about a replacement if Cueto cannot take his turn in Cincinnati on Sunday. Cueto blamed himself, not the blister, for allowing single runs in the first and second innings, the second one on an RBI single by Clayton Kershaw with two outs. “I gave myself a pep talk,” said Cueto, who retired 13 in a row after the Kershaw hit. “At first, I was a little timid. I wasn’t throwing strikes. I got a little upset with myself and grinded it out.”

Melancon reaction: Closer Mark Melancon was available to pitch Tuesday after he was off limits for the second time in three nights Monday because he had pitched in four of the previous five games. Melancon and Bochy shared their views in a conversation before Monday’s game.

“I want to be transparent both ways, so it’s good,” Melancon said. “I understand it’s a long season. We’ve got to be smart.”

Steven Okert got five outs in the eighth and ninth before Derek Law got a one-batter save. On Tuesday, the Giants recalled Josh Osich from Triple-A Sacramento to put a second lefty in the bullpen and “help out” Okert. Long man Chris Stratton was optioned. Henry Schulman is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.

On deck Wednesday at Dodgers

7:10 p.m. NBCSBA Samardzija (0-4) vs. Urias (0-0)

Thursday Off

Friday

4 at Reds

3:40 p.m. NBCSBA Cain (2-0) vs.

Arroyo (2-2)

Leading off Getting Kershaw: Giants rookie Christian Arroyo is one of nine players who have three hits in six or fewer at-bats against the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw. Among the others is Giants pitcher Ty Blach.

San Francisco Chronicle Racist actions merit harsh punishment John Shea

Boston, the city that took a pass on Willie Mays and turned off , is in the news again for all the wrong reasons after Baltimore center fielder Adam Jones was targeted with racist taunts and verbal abuse.

I looked at the morning newspaper to confirm what year it is, and it’s indeed 2017, 70 years after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, 70 years that haven’t made a damned bit of difference for clueless and hateful people.

After Monday’s Orioles-Red Sox game, Jones told the Boston Globe and USA Today that he was “called the N-word a handful of times” and that a bag of peanuts was thrown at him.

The Red Sox and other teams say they have zero tolerance for these ignorant fans, but more needs to be done than simply ejecting them from a ballpark.

For instance, Tanisha Sullivan, president of the Boston chapter of the NAACP, told the Globe that the culprits should be charged with hate crimes and banned from MLB parks for life. Jones

5 said fines of tens of thousands of dollars should be levied.

That’s a start. Fans can do more by refusing to allow it to happen, making an immediate fuss and pointing out these bozos to security, which should turn them over to law enforcement.

Boston was the last baseball city to integrate in 1959, more than a decade after both the Red Sox and Boston Braves went against their scouts’ advice and chose not to sign a teen-aged Mays. In 2004, Bonds said he’d never play in Boston: “too racist for me.”

On Tuesday, Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia said racist behavior isn’t uncommon in Boston. He told reporters, “We know. There are 62 of us” African Americans in the majors. “We know. When you go to Boston, expect it.”

Boston isn’t alone. In last year’s playoffs, Jones and his teammate, Korean Hyun Soo Kim, were taunted with racial slurs, and a beer can was thrown in Kim’s direction in Toronto. In our own backyard, at AT&T Park, a fan threw a banana at Jones in 2013.

Stating the obvious, Jones shouldn’t have to deal with this nonsense. Nor should anyone else.

San Francisco Chronicle Giants pitcher Cueto refuses to bow to blister Henry Schulman

LOS ANGELES — Many times when numbers look askew there is a good reason besides performance. Take Johnny Cueto, who has a 4.86 ERA after beating the Dodgers on Monday night.

Manager Bruce Bochy revealed that Cueto continues to be bothered by a blister on the middle finger of his pitching hand, which developed during a Bay Bridge Series exhibition against Oakland on March 30.

Cueto said the blister has made it difficult to throw some pitches. While he did not elaborate,

6 breaking usually are the worst because of the pressure they put on that finger.

Cueto also said he does not plan to miss an inning as a result.

“They’re going to have to take me out on a gurney,” Cueto said, through translator Erwin Higueros.

Cueto blamed himself, not the blister, for allowing single runs in the first and second innings, one on an RBI single by Kershaw with two on and two outs in the second inning.

“I gave myself a pep talk,” said Cueto, who retired 13 in a row after the Kershaw hit. “At first I was a little timid. I wasn’t throwing strikes. I got a little upset with myself and grinded it out.”

Those runs were the first all season that Cueto allowed before the fourth inning.

Speaking of grinding it out: In recent years the Giants have become one of the better teams at forcing opposing starters to work hard. They got away from that in April as the team struggled to score and the hitters pressed. They seemed to flip a switch Monday night, making Kershaw throw 104 pitches in six innings and knocking him out of the game.

Hunter Pence and homered on the third and fourth pitches of their at-bats, respectively, jumping on hanging offspeed stuff. Christian Arroyo made Kershaw throw 20 of those 104 pitches in three at-bats, which included a nine-pitch and a single on the seventh pitch of his next at-bat.

“Really, throughout the lineup, we hit the ball hard,” Bochy said. “We drove it better, had better at-bats, swung with authority. We did a good job against a guy who’s tough to get hits off of.”

Posey homer: I got a little grief Sunday for writing that Posey had an “extremely soft” .357 average because he had no extra-base hits in the two weeks since his return from the beaning, three overall and just three RBIs.

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I wondered if something was wrong, maybe residual effects of the beaning, a hand injury (he’s had them before) or was feeling the effects of the World Baseball Classic.

Bochy said none of that was true.

“He’s feeling good,” Bochy said. “He’s got his legs and everything. You saw the balls he hit in the WBC and tonight. He smoked that ball.”

Posey really did have trouble driving the ball in April, but he helped the best way he could, by getting on base with singles. Posey has been around long enough to know that power can come and go, and a hitter cannot let bad thoughts creep in when things are awry.

“You just have to have the mindset that you’ve got to come out and believe in the work you’re putting in. … What’s done is done, and you try to get better each day.”

Errata: I called Andrew Toles “Anthony” in some versions of my gamer today. My apologies. I also apologize in advance for the 800 times that I will call Cody Bellinger “Clay.” Tuesday night: The Giants have another chance to win consecutive games for the second time this year. Matt Moore hops onto a mound where he pitched 8 2/3 no-hit innings last Aug. 25 then four weeks later got KO’d in the second inning in the worst start of his career.

He had a nice one against the Dodgers at home last week, allowing one run in seven innings in the game the bullpen lost in the 10th.

Roster moves: The Giants swapped some relievers before the game, optioning Chris Stratton to Triple-A Sacramento and promoting Josh Osich. The move makes sense because Steven Okert pitched to five hitters last night and Bochy could use another lefty against the Dodgers. The Dodgers activated an outfielder, Franklin Guttierez, who will probably start against Moore. Bellinger, survived this cut. Veteran outifelder and Scott Van Slyke was optioned instead, although Dodger-watchers believe Bellinger will go down when comes off the DL. I’ll believe that when I see it.

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Here are your lineups:

GIANTS (vs. LHP Alex Wood) Hernandez CF

Belt LF

Pence RF

Posey 1B

Arroyo 3B

Nunez SS

Panik 2B

Hundley C

Moore P

DODGERS (vs. LHP Matt Moore) Hernandez CF

Seager SS

Turner 3B

Gutierrez LF

Taylor 2B

Puig RF

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Barnes C

Bellinger 1B

Wood P

San Jose Mercury News Mott Moore implodes, Giants crushed 13-5 at dodger Stadium Andrew Baggarly

LOS ANGELES – Maybe Matt Moore is allergic to May flowers.

Whatever is causing the left-hander to pitch terribly away from home this season, the Giants need to address this road rash sooner rather than later. Moore gave up a career-high nine earned runs Tuesday night, matching the most allowed by any Giants pitcher in Bruce Bochy’s 11 seasons as manager, and their 13-5 loss at Dodger Stadium zapped the good vibes from defeating Clayton Kershaw a night earlier.

Cory Gearrin and Bryan Morris weren’t an improvement as the NL-worst Giants made for some rough viewing while issuing nine walks and falling to 10-18 this season. They have fashioned a 40-60 record since the All-Star break last year.

They have won consecutive games just once this season.

Moore’s nine runs Tuesday matched the most allowed by a Giants starter since in 2013. Zito and each had a pair of starts in which they allowed nine earned runs. The last Giants pitcher to be charged with 10 earned runs in a start was Russ Ortiz in 2000.

“The immediate feeling after the game was that I just had so much more than this,” said Moore, who gave back a 4-0 lead in a six-run second inning. “It’s just getting back to picking up the glove and making pitches. That’s the game: did you make pitches when you needed to?”

The most confounding part: Moore held this same Dodgers club to a run on two hits in seven innings in his start Thursday at AT&T Park.

“It does get under my skin,” Moore said. “It seems to be a Jekyll and Hyde thing. I feel big and bad coming into every single one of them.”

He was half-right this time.

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Momentum does not slosh in the canteen when you are in last place. Moore spilled it out, while also wasting an even more precious resource.

The Giants entered the night having scored no more than four runs in any of their last 10 games. So it was a happy wellspring when they met that output in the second inning.

Christian Arroyo and Eduardo Nuñez legged out infield singles against Alex Wood, Nick Hundley drew a walk and two runs scored when Moore’s blooper fell in shallow left field.

Arroyo, waiting to see if the ball would be caught, probably didn’t stray far enough down the third base line. Mistake or not, it ended up working to the Giants’ benefit. Center fielder Kiké Hernandez tried to force Arroyo at the plate, and instead his high throw sailed over the head of catcher for an error that allowed Nuñez to score.

Brandon Belt followed with a two-run double that he threaded through the shift to cap the Giants’ biggest rally in 139 innings, dating back 16 games to a four-run seventh inning April 14 against the Colorado Rockies.

And the lead didn’t last long enough to choke down a Dodger Dog.

Moore served up a to Franklin Gutierrez to begin the second inning, getting toasted for throwing an 0-2 fastball down the middle. Giants manager Bruce Bochy wondered if the home run might have snapped Moore’s focus, yet made the counterpoint that the 0-2 home run hit off him at AT&T Park had no such effect.

Either way, the Dodgers loaded the bases on two walks and a single before top rookie Cody Bellinger emptied them with a triple that he lined down the left field line.

Bellinger is likely to be optioned back to the minors in a few days as the Giants activate some healthy players, but he showed in the first two games of this series why the Dodgers highly prize him. He tore around the bases, slid into third and scored when Wood followed with a single.

Seager doubled to set up a sacrifice fly that capped the six-run inning in which the Dodgers brought 10 batters to the plate.

“The walks came back to haunt him – the whole staff, really,” Bochy said. “Sure, we’d like to fix that, and he would. I know he has his moments. For the most part, he does a good job bouncing back and making pitches. You’re trying to stay with him because he’s one of our guys and we didn’t want to tear up the bullpen.”

Moore has a 3.05 ERA in three starts at home, but he has a 12.79 ERA in three road starts – all

11 against NL West rivals, in ballparks where he figures to appear multiple times later this season. He has allowed 23 hits in 12 2/2 innings at Chase Field, Coors Field and Dodger Stadium while walking eight and striking out 10.

“I felt I had a very dominant attitude coming into the game,” he said. “I think I made seven pitches in the first inning. I had every reason in the world to feel good about it.”

The Giants chipped back to make it 6-5 in the third when Buster Posey singled, moved up on a pair of productive outs and scored on ’s hit up the middle. Moore used a double-play ball to hold his ground in the third.

But the rope slipped again in the fourth. Bellinger put Moore in the stretch with a leadoff single, and a pair of one-out walks prompted Bochy to collect the baseball.

Cory Gearrin could not rescue Moore’s ERA from the microwave oven. His first pitch plunked Turner to force in a run, and the Dodgers scored another when Gutierrez hit a rocket that Posey snagged with a diving effort but couldn’t hold in his first baseman’s mitt. Posey had to settle for a forceout at second base instead of a lineout-double play. The inning continued, Taylor walked, Puig hit a two-run single and the Dodgers batted around for a second time.

The Giants pitching staff has allowed an opponent to bat around eight times this season, one more than the Colorado Rockies for the most in the major leagues.

Recent call-up Bryan Morris wasn’t any better. The Dodgers scored three runs against him in the sixth inning, with Puig lining another two-run single to complete a four-RBI night.

And one day after the Giants spotted a ray of sunshine, they were back to getting doused.

San Jose Mercury News Giants make roster move in bullpen; Cueto guts through blister issue Andrew Baggarly

LOS ANGELES – The Giants made one roster adjustment prior to Tuesday night’s game at Dodger Stadium, optioning right-hander Chris Stratton and recalling left-hander Josh Osich from Triple-A Sacramento.

Osich gives the Giants a second left-hander in the bullpen, which is especially handy against the left-leaning Dodgers. Also, left-hander Steven Okert recorded critical five outs over two innings in Monday night’s victory and probably will have limited availability.

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Osich didn’t exactly force his way back to the big leagues. He had a 7.71 ERA and two saves in nine games for Sacramento. Lefties were hitting .333 and right-handers had a .295 average. On the plus side, he hadn’t given up a home run.

I suspect that the Giants didn’t make the Osich move prior to Monday’s game because they wanted to keep Stratton as a long reliever in case Johnny Cueto’s blister forced him out in the early innings.

Cueto did say that his blister flared up in the third inning, but oddly, that also coincided with the start of his best stretch in which he retired 13 consecutive batters. Cueto was able to gut through seven innings as the Giants beat Clayton Kershaw 4-3.

Cueto’s blister might help to explain his 5.10 ERA in April. He said he has been dealing with it since the final exhibition start against the A’s.

“I still have it,” Cueto said through interpreter Erwin Higueros. “I’ve been dealing with it for more than a month. It’s been nagging me. The third inning today, it swelled up. It’s, `What the heck is going on?’”

Cueto said he decided to “strap up my pants and start pitching. … I told myself in the third, yeah, I’ve got to man up to it and pitch. I cannot make up any excuses.

“They will have to take me out on one of those gurneys.”

That is the same attitude that Chad Gaudin used to take to the mound.

Cueto should get an extra day before his next start, which would come in Sunday’s series finale at Cincinnati. It would be his second start as a visitor in his former home stadium. According to the great Rob Butcher, Cueto (48-22, 2.98 ERA in 99 starts) owns the best ERA of any starting pitcher in the lively ballpark’s 15-year history.

The fact Cueto pitched for so long in a bandbox only makes it more unbelievable that he had never given up a before the Rockies’ Trevor Story hit one in April at Coors Field.

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Brandon Belt returns to the lineup in left field with Buster Posey going to first base as the Giants face a non-Kershaw left-hander, Alex Wood, who took a no-hitter into the sixth when he faced the Giants at AT&T Park last week.

The Dodgers are giving Adrian Gonzalez a rest against Matt Moore.

This might be an important one for Moore, who was outstanding against the Dodgers last year apart from one huge outlier start: his last outing at Dodger Stadium, when he gave up six runs and recorded just three outs.

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Moore said in the spring that he wistfully thought back to that start when he ended the season just five outs short of throwing 200 innings for the first time.

MLB.com Giants’ early lead demolished by Dodgers Ken Gurnick and Chris Haft

LOS ANGELES -- drove in four runs and rookie Cody Bellinger tripled in three as the Dodgers pounded out a 13-5 win over the Giants on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium. Giants starter Matt Moore (1-4) held the Dodgers to one run in seven innings last week in San Francisco, but after the Giants gave him a 4-0 lead in the top of the second inning, he coughed it up in a six-run Dodgers second built around Franklin Gutierrez 's home run and Bellinger's triple.

"He just had a hard time commanding the fastball. It came back over the plate," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said of Moore. "Matty's so good but occasionally he does have these moments."

The Dodgers chased Moore in a fourth inning that included the first of Puig's pair of two-run singles. • Cast your Esurance All-Star ballot for Puig and other #ASGWorthy players "The way the offense responded after that was pretty impressive, for sure," Dodgers starter Alex Wood said. • Bellinger making case to stick with Dodgers Wood struck out eight in five innings and is 2-0. The nine earned runs charged to Moore in 3 1/3 innings were a career high, and the 13 runs San Francisco yielded was a season high. Giants pitchers issued nine walks (five by Moore) and hit a batter. of the Dodgers walked four times. MOMENTS THAT MATTERED Welcome back, Franklin: In his first at-bat off the disabled list, Gutierrez homered off an 0-2 pitch from Moore and it triggered the six-run second inning, reversing the momentum of San Francisco's four-run top of the second. Statcast™ measured the home run at 448 feet with an exit velocity of 110 mph.

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"I wasn't surprised he hit a homer, because he hit one on his rehab and I hit one last year on rehab and then hit one my first at-bat back," said Puig. "I thought maybe he would." Right the ship: After allowing Joe Panik 's two-out RBI single in the third inning that cut the Dodgers lead to 6-5, Wood retired the next seven batters, five by strikeout, to restore order and turned it over to the bullpen.

"This was the most consistent my stuff's been," Wood said. "They hit some balls in the right spots in the second inning, a couple of tough knocks. But after that, it was fun to watch." SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS According to STATS LLC, the run-scoring outburst in the second inning was the first time in the teams' history that both the Dodgers and Giants each plated at least four runs in the same frame while playing at Dodger Stadium. UPON FURTHER REVIEW The Giants challenged a sixth-inning decision in which Los Angeles' Austin Barnes was ruled safe at third base. A replay review demonstrated that Giants third baseman Christian Arroyo tagged Barnes on the left hand as he reached for the bag after oversliding it. Thus, the initial call was overturned. WHAT'S NEXT Giants: Right-hander Jeff Samardzija will start for the Giants in Wednesday's 7:10 p.m. PT series finale at Chavez Ravine in an attempt to lead them to a win that would give them a 2-1 series victory. Samardzija owns an 0-2 record with a 5.40 ERA in three career Dodger Stadium appearances. Dodgers: Julio Urias starts Wednesday night's series finale at 7:10 p.m. PT, coming off last week's start in San Francisco, when he walked four in 5 2/3 innings. According to Statcast™, he threw just 38.3 percent of his pitches within the strike zone. That was his lowest rate in any game since his Major League debut last May 27 against the Mets (34.5 percent).

MLB.com ‘Out of whack’ Moore searching for answers Chris Haft

LOS ANGELES -- The Giants' optimism evaporated quickly Tuesday, leaving Matt Moore to ponder what happened to such a promising evening. This game barely resembled this season's previous five Giants-Dodgers encounters, four of which were decided by one run. This was a lopsided mess that ended with the Dodgers claiming a 13-5 triumph .

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Briefly, everything appeared headed in the opposite direction. Moore initially felt pretty good about himself and his Giants teammates. He needed just six pitches to record a 1-2-3 first inning. San Francisco then raked Dodgers starter Alex Wood for four second-inning runs.

"I felt like I had a very dominant attitude," Moore said. "I had every reason in the world to feel good about it." Franklin Gutierrez 's homer on an 0-2 pitch led off Los Angeles' second inning and shattered the Giants' sense of security. By the time the inning ended, Los Angeles amassed six runs, marking the first time since Dodger Stadium opened in 1962 that each team in a Giants-Dodgers clash scored at least four runs in the same inning. Moore (1-4) lasted 3 1/3 innings and matched a dubious career high by allowing nine runs. Having yielded five runs or more in four of his six starts while surrendering one run in each of the other two, Moore realized that adjustments are necessary if he is to meet his obligations as the Giants' No. 3 starter -- No. 2 while is sidelined.

"There had to be something out of whack," Moore said, calling his offspeed pitches "not competitive."

"It's what you have to deal with as an athlete, trying to figure out why he had these hiccups," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said.

Moore won six of his final eight regular-season starts last year, raising expectations. He indicated that he, too, believes he's capable of greater achievement.

"It does get under my skin after a while, especially this season," he said. "After six starts it seems like it's a Jekyll-and-Hyde case where I felt big and bad coming into every single one of them." Moore denied that Gutierrez's homer started his downward spiral. The left-hander pointed out that in his previous start, he surrendered a homer to Corey Seager , the game's second batter, before blanking the Dodgers for the next 6 2/3 innings. Instead, Moore cited the walk drawn by Chris Taylor , the batter following Gutierrez, as an ominous sign.

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"I think that was the mistake that compounded it into a big inning," Moore said. "I think the hole got deeper after that."

That was the first of nine walks issued by Giants pitchers, the club's most for a nine-inning game since Aug. 5, 2012, at Colorado. Moore was responsible for five of those walks, adding to his frustration.

"I just felt like I had so much more," he said.

MLB.com Samardzija aims to build off solid start Chris Haft

Everybody knows that 20-year-old left-hander Julio Urias possesses a seemingly limitles supply of great stuff. But Urias, who starts Wednesday's series finale for the against the , can't always harness his impressive array of deliveries.

Case in point: Urias' start at San Francisco last Thursday in his season debut. He issued four walks while throwing 38.3 percent of his pitches within the strike zone.

Giants right-hander Jeff Samardzija, who will oppose Urias, is another hurler who almost routinely takes impressive stuff to the mound. But Samardzija has gained a semblance of control, averaging 2.9 walks per inning during his career. Things to know about this game

• Samardzija's penchant for allowing home runs has continued. He has yielded at least one in four of his five starts.

• Samardzija is coming off his best start of the season. He allowed three runs (two earned) while walking one and striking out five in seven innings as the Giants outlasted San Diego, 4-3, last Friday.

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• The early-season binge of Giants-Dodgers games will resume May 15 when the rivals open a three-game series at AT&T Park. After that, they won't face each other until late July.

MLB.com Giants bring up lefty Osich, option Stratton Chris Haft

LOS ANGELES -- Sheer need prompted the Giants to exchange one type of pitcher for a wholly different one. They announced Tuesday that right-hander Chris Stratton was optioned to Triple-A Sacramento, while left-hander Josh Osich was recalled from the same club. Functioning as San Francisco's long reliever was Stratton's primary role. With a scheduled day off coming up Thursday, manager Bruce Bochy reasoned that the club had limited use for Stratton. By contrast, Bochy added, the Giants wanted a second left-hander in the bullpen to complement rookie Steven Okert . Settling on Osich was an easy choice, given his Major League experience and the convenience of already having him on the 40-man roster.

Osich opened with a decent chance of making the roster, though he endured a strained forearm and left knee surgery. He was among the final players cut when the Giants optioned him to Triple-A to start the season. In nine games at Sacramento, Osich owned a 7.71 ERA and converted two of four save chances. Left-handed batters hit .333 off him, compared to .296 for right-handed hitters.

Stratton had mixed success in his two appearances with the Giants. On April 22, he pitched three hitless innings at Colorado. Last Saturday, he yielded four hits and five runs in one-third of an inning against San Diego. Few worries for now: Bochy indicated he's monitoring right-hander Johnny Cueto 's blister on the middle finger of his throwing hand. Cueto earned the decision in the Giants' 4-3 series- opening win here Monday despite experiencing trouble with the blister from the third inning on. He also noted it has bothered him for much of the season.

"I think you have to be a little concerned," Bochy said, adding that he's not "overly" concerned. Bochy said he has not discussed contingency plans with general manager Bobby Evans if Cueto is not fit enough to make his next scheduled start Sunday at Cincinnati.

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The Giants already have lost four-time All-Star Madison Bumgarner until at least the All-Star break. They have no desire to learn what life is like with their top two pitchers sidelined at once.

CSNBayarea.com Moore blasted by Dodgers as Giants again fail to build on previous game Alex Pavlovic

LOS ANGELES — Tuesday night’s game was the 100th since the 2016 All-Star break, when everything seemed to change for this organization. The Giants are 40-60 during that span, the worst record in baseball, so the night’s result certainly felt familiar.

Matt Moore’s night felt familiar, too.

The left-hander had another maddeningly inconsistent outing and there was no recovering. The Giants lost 13-5 and nine of the runs went on Moore’s line, tying a career-high. In his last start, Moore held the same Dodgers to one run over seven innings, and this all fits a pattern. Two of his starts have been brilliant, but in the other four he’s been charged with 23 runs in 17 1/3 innings.

“It does get under my skin after a while,” he said. “In six starts, it’s been Jekyll and Hyde.”

Moore’s night matched his season in a way. He needed just six pitches to get through the first, but the second was a 39-pitch disaster. The Giants led 4-0 at the time, but Moore was taken deep on an 0-2 pitch to Franklin Gutierrez. Chris Taylor walked on four pitches. Yasiel Puig singled. Austin Barnes walked on four pitches to load the bases.

“Matty is so good, but occasionally he does have these moments,” manager Bruce Bochy said of his left-hander’s propensity for four-pitch passes.

The moment would only get worse. Moore was on his way to another free pass to Cody Bellinger, but the young rookie had other ideas. With the pitcher due up next, Bellinger loaded up on a 2-0 fastball and pulled it so far foul that it landed in the upper deck. He straightened it out on the next pitch, driving a bases-clearing triple into left. Alex Wood, the opposing left- hander, singled Bellinger home. A double and sacrifice fly made it 6-4 as the bullpen got hot.

“Not going right after Taylor there, that was probably the mistake that wound up compounding it with the big inning,” Moore said. “Today it was about attacking, but before I knew it there were runners on first and second with no outs. Regardless of the Gutierrez at-bat, you’ve got to be able to make pitches. My off-speed stuff was up in the zone. Barnes hit a hard. The breaking stuff was in and out of the zone. It was an immediate feeling right after the game of feeling I had so much more than that.”

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Bochy wrung another four outs out of Moore before turning it over to a bullpen without a long man. The Dodgers kept pulling away, giving the Giants plenty of time to contemplate the night and the missed opportunity. Wood was not particularly good on the other side, but it didn’t matter. A night after beating Clayton Kershaw, any hopes of momentum died a quick death.

The Giants have played 28 games and won 10 of them. Only once have they taken back-to-back games, and the numbers say it’s not really a fluke. They have been outscored by 40 runs, the worst differential in the Majors.

CSNbayarea.com Instant Replay Alex Pavlovic

LOS ANGELES — With Matt Moore and Jeff Samardzija on deck and a travel day Thursday, the Giants felt comfortable sending long reliever Chris Stratton back to Triple-A before the second game of a series with the Dodgers. By the second inning Tuesday, they probably wanted to reconsider.

Moore was in trouble early and often, and he ultimately walked away with one of the worst pitching lines of his career. The Giants were once again left wondering where momentum went. A night after beating Clayton Kershaw, they got hammered 13-5. Through 28 games, the Giants have won back-to-back games just once.

In his short time with the Giants, Moore has shown an odd ability to lose any connection to the strike zone, seemingly out of thin air. A loss of command, coupled with a bunch of hard-hit balls, led to a nightmare inning in the bottom of the second.

The Giants had scored four runs in the top of the frame, with Brandon Belt’s shift-busting double doing the heavy damage. Moore gave that all back and then some. The Dodgers opened their half with six straight players reaching base and tied the game when Cory Bellinger knocked a bases-loaded triple to left. Opposing pitcher Alex Wood singled to bring Bellinger in as the bullpen got hot. Moore got out of the inning on his 39th pitch.

The deficit ballooned in the fourth. The Dodgers tacked on four more on three walks, two singles and a hit-by-pitch. The inning was the eighth during which a Giants opponent has batted around, the most in the Majors.

Starting pitching report: Moore was charged with a career-high nine earned runs. He has a 6.75 ERA and 1.56 WHIP in six starts. Opposing hitters are batting .279 off him. None of that is good.

Bullpen report: Bryan Morris made his Giants debut in the sixth. He gave up three runs on four hits and a walk.

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At the plate: No relief pitchers got an at-bat.

In the field: Arroyo ended the third with a diving catch of an Austin Barnes liner. It was probably his best play in the Majors so far.

Attendance: A fan ran on the field in the eighth inning and was promptly tackled by a group that included 14 security officers. That's probably a better plan than "Maybe the will take him down."

Up next: Save them, Jeff. The Shark will face young Julio Urias.

SI.com Fenway racist messed with the wrong person in Orioles’ Adam Jones Ken Rosenthal

This article originally appeared on FoxSports.com.

The racists picked on the wrong guy.

Orioles centerfielder Adam Jones is one of the few major leaguers, African-American or otherwise, who is not afraid to call people out, not afraid to speak his mind.

He did it last season, explaining the reluctance of baseball players to take stands on controversial issues by telling USA Today, “Baseball is a white man’s sport. We already have two strikes against us already, so you might as well not kick yourself out of the game.”

And he did it again Monday night, revealing to reporters from USA Today and the Boston Globe that he was subjected to racist taunts and a bag of peanuts being thrown at him in the dugout at Fenway Park.

Jones will tell you what happened. He will tell you his opinion of what happened. And he will do it so eloquently, so rationally, that he completely disarms any critics who are waiting to pounce on him, seeking any opening to puncture his argument.

Sorry. You lose. Not happening.

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This is a player who has proudly represented his country, done extensive community work in his adopted Baltimore and native San Diego and generally acted as a model for how a 21st-Century athlete should conduct himself.

When Jones said that something went down at Fenway, something went down at Fenway.

And when he spoke, he spoke for others who previously had been reluctant to reveal the horror confirmed Tuesday — not just by visiting players, but also by Red Sox players in a meeting with owner John Henry and team president Sam Kennedy.

Fenway, billed by the Red Sox as “America’s Most Beloved Ballpark,” is often the most uncomfortable major-league stadium for African-American players, the one out of 30, some say, where they are called the “N” word.

The Red Sox will take action, and they damn well should take action; Kennedy told reporters that while the team had not yet determined its final strategy, racial taunts will result in ejection from the park, plus the revocation of tickets for a year, perhaps for life.

I’m guessing that Henry and Kennedy wish they had spoken with their own players sooner, but how were they to know it was even an issue?

It was Jones who brought the matter out in the open, Jones who initiated further discussion, Jones who deserves a “thank you” from the Red Sox in addition to the apology that the team already has given him.

The racists evidently did not understand they were attacking not only one of the game’s leading spokesmen, but also someone who was willing to confront them head on.

Jones, 31, will speak about any issue that disturbs him. He never comes off as angry, takes pains not to, mindful of the stereotype that some wish to perpetuate.

Equally important, he backs up his words with substance.

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Jones was the emotional center of the U.S. team that won the World Baseball Classic, playing in honor of family members who had served in the military.

He has appeared in Boston on behalf of former Red Sox great David Ortiz’s charity, even mentored some young Red Sox players, according to Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe.

We are talking about a three-time nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award, baseball’s top humanitarian honor—and the 2015 winner of the Marvin Miller Man of the Year, awarded by the players to the one major leaguer who best combines on-field performance and community dedication.

Jones’ distinguished resume makes what happened at Fenway on Monday night all the more disgraceful, but no player should hear racist taunts, not anywhere, not ever. And, in the wake of the Jones incident, Yankees left-hander CC Sabathia told reporters, “I’ve never been called the ‘N’ word anywhere but in Boston.”

The Red Sox will do what they must, instituting harsher penalties for anyone who engages in racist conduct. Other clubs should follow suit, even if they believe that they are somehow insulated from such behavior. They are not—the Rangers’ Delino DeShields told reporters Tuesday night that he experienced a racial incident at Yankee Stadium in 2015.

The forcefulness of the Red Sox’s response was heartening. So were the remarks from the mayor of Boston and governor of Massachusetts. But frankly, change needs to begin in the stands. Fans need to self-police all abusive behavior, joining together to show the best versions of their cities and themselves.

Once again, Adam Jones has exposed an ugly truth, eloquently, rationally, conclusively.

Sorry, racists, you don’t get a do-over.

You blew it. You picked on the wrong guy.

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