SF Giants Press Clips Saturday, June 3, 2017 San Francisco Chronicle Younger Giants rout Phillies behind Blach, Span Henry Schulman PHILADELPHIA — In the midst of his first five-hit game as a Giant, Denard Span stood in center field, looked to his right and saw Orlando Calixte in his fourth big-league game. To his left was Austin Slater in his major-league debut. In the dugout was Christian Arroyo. On the mound, 26-year-old rookie Ty Blach was humming toward his first big-league shutout and complete game. When Plan A goes awry in baseball, Plan B is usually youth. In the midst of a terrible season, the Giants are moving in that direction. “I know these guys are definitely bringing a little energy,” Span said after a highly irregular 10-0 Giants rout of the even more forlorn Phillies. “Sometimes it can give the team a little freshness.” Under Plan A, which included Madison Bumgarner healthy, Blach still might be in the bullpen instead of the rotation, where he is doing a phenomenal MadBum impersonation. 1 Blach allowed seven singles but only one runner reached second base in his 112-pitch victory. He has won his past four starts and finished at least seven innings in six of the eight starts he has made as Bumgarner’s place-holder. Also, facing a brutal pitching staff on a team that went 6-22 in May, Blach became the second pitcher in the past 33 years and the first Giant since Ray Sadecki in 1969 to draw three walks. Umpire Phil Cuzzi called him out on a borderline 3-2 pitch in his bid for a fourth walk. No pitcher has had four walks since 1950. Blach also struck out three times and said, “I don’t know if I’m the first guy ever to get the double hat trick.” In fact, Blach was the third player and only pitcher in at least 104 years to walk and strike out three times in a nine-inning game. Jack Clark and Rob Deer were the others. It was a night full of historic stats. The Giants stranded 17 runners, their most in a nine-inning game since 1943. There was nothing weird or unusual about Blach, who is buzzing through lineups with a sinker- changeup-curveball combo that has hitters making consistently weak contact. Before a game in which Slater would single home a run for his first hit and RBI, he said his entry into the majors was more comfortable with several other former Sacramento River Cats in the clubhouse. That includes Blach, who earned his promotion to the bigs in 2016 by throwing this kind of game often in the Pacific Coast League. “That’s the guy I remember seeing all last year,” Slater said. “He’s got it. He’s got great control and commands his pitches. He's tough.” Span, Friday night’s literal and figurative gray beard, combined with No. 2 hitter Eduardo Nuñez for eight of the Giants’ 15 hits. Nuñez is the Giants’ hottest hitter. Span was cold until he tore into Phillies righty Jerad Eickhoff for two singles and a double in the first three innings. 2 Nuñez had two doubles. The only other Giant with more than one hit was Joe Panik. Brandon Crawford hit two sacrifice flies. Brandon Belt’s two RBIs included one on a bases-loaded walk. Span, Crawford and Buster Posey were the only Giants on the field in their 30s. At 23-33, the team has nothing to lose by going with some youth. “We’re going to look at these young guys and see what we have with them,” Bochy said. “Slater is here hopefully to help this offense.” Slater grounded out twice and walked before he sent a two-strike pitch from Joely Rodriguez through the middle to get that first hit and his nerves out of the way. “After that, I felt great,” he said. “It’s the same game.” San Francisco Chronicle Giants stall possible Christian Arroyo demotion Henry Schulman PHILADELPHIA — Washington outfielder Bryce Harper ’s suspension for charging the mound Monday at AT&T Park was reduced from four games to three, and he will be eligible to return Sunday in Oakland. Meanwhile, Giants reliever Hunter Strickland is appealing his six-game suspension for hitting Harper, and his hearing will not happen until June 13. Major League Baseball officials seem to be treating Harper and Strickland differently because they consider Strickland’s offense more egregious. Harper’s suspension was reduced in a sort of plea bargain, which the league seems disinclined to offer Strickland. MLB officials apparently want to send a message that drilling someone over a 3-year-old beef will not be tolerated. So Strickland can continue to pitch until June 13, unless he decides to drop his appeal and serve his time. Meanwhile, other Giants players are affected. 3 On Thursday, when the Giants were unsure whether Strickland’s appeal would be heard, infielder Christian Arroyo did not take the team charter to Philadelphia. The Giants were prepared to promote Chris Stratton , in case they lost Strickland, to maintain a seven-man bullpen. Arroyo was the position player who would have returned to Triple-A Sacramento to clear the roster spot. Only after the Giants were in the air did they know for sure that Strickland would be eligible to play in Philly, so they had Arroyo board a commercial flight. Arroyo likely will be optioned when right fielder Hunter Pence returns from the disabled list, possibly this weekend. Arroyo knows the score. “I’ve had conversations with Christian about going back and getting some at-bats,” said manager Bruce Bochy , who will be hard-pressed to start Arroyo with Eduardo Nuñez returning to third base as the Giants look at outfielder Austin Slater and await Pence’s return. Pence was supposed to rest Friday and play his third rehab game for Class A San Jose on Saturday, but he talked his way into Friday’s lineup. He went 1-for-4 and scored twice. Briefly: The Phillies will promote right-hander starter Ben Lively to make his big-league debut against the Giants on Saturday. … To clear 25- and 40-man roster spots for Slater, the Giants designated outfielder Justin Ruggiano for assignment. ... The Phillies’ Mark Leiter Jr. threw 21/3 innings of shutout relief. He is the son of the former Giants right-hander. San Francisco Chronicle Giants, A’s at opposite ends of homers spectrum John Shea This home run craze is not going away despite the Giants’ best efforts to keep baseballs in the park. The Giants remain last in the majors in homers (42 through Friday), missing the fastest way to score and a trend that obviously can be a great asset. The Astros, Yankees and Nationals all are first-place teams and all are near the top of the home run leaderboard. 4 With May in the books, here’s the month’s home run total: 1,060. The only month in history with more was May 2000 when 1,069 homers were hit. And that’s after a homer-happy April: 863, the most in any April except for, again, 2000 when 931 were hit. The 2000 season, the height of the steroid era, produced a record 5,693 homers, and hitters are on pace this season to surpass that. The spikes have been dramatic — from 4,186 in 2014 to 4,909 in 2015 to 5,610 last year. We know a main reason for all the homers in 2000. Check the Mitchell Report. But now? The theories are wide-ranging, including the diminishing value of the two-strike approach, which is being re-emphasized by the A’s after embarrassingly high strikeout numbers of late. “There’s more emphasis on power, maybe not as much of an emplasis on putting the ball in play with two strikes,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “It’s not like it used to be. We used to see guys choke up considerably, widen their stances a little bit, go the other way.” Nationals manager Dusty Baker said he’s noticing an awful lot of counts favorable to hitters. “It’s cool to hit 20, 25 home runs and then hit .215, .220. That’s not helping your team as much,” said Baker, who expressed the importance of advancing runners, creating first-and-third situations etc. “Like in basketball if you live and die by the 3-point shots. When you’re hot, you’re hot. When you’re cold, you miss the layup.” Other possible reasons for the homer surge: Harder baseballs. Increased pitch velocity. The lack of shame over strikeouts, which increase annually. The emphasis on upper-cut swings, launch angles and exit velocities. The closer fences, at least in a few parks. 5 And maybe in some cases, more undetectable drugs, a possibility we’ve learned not to disregard. Unlike the Giants, the A’s dig the long ball. Through Friday, they were tied for fifth in the majors in homers with 78, and Khris Davis and Yonder Alonso ranked among the American League’s top five HR hitters, Davis with 16 and Alonso with 15. Brandon Belt had 10 for the Giants, the only club in the majors last season without a 20-homer hitter. Must be the hands: When Willie Mays hung out with Washington players Wednesday in the visiting clubhouse at AT&T Park, he greeted them with firm handshakes and joked with Ryan Zimmerman to get a manicure.