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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 baseball: 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 Clayton Kershaw, 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 Alex Wood that resulted in two runs thanks to an accompanying throwing error. Brandon Belt 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 Cody Bellinger 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. 2 Corey Seager completed the second-inning cycle with a one-out double, and Justin Turner 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 Bruce Bochy 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 Johnny Cueto’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. 3 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 pitcher 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 Barry Bonds, 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 outfielder 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.

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