As many of you have already noticed, we have made some changes to the way you receive your Giants coverage, but not the coverage itself.

The Bay Area News Group recently launched a new and improved website that functions much better across all platforms (desktop, mobile, tablet) and increases our ability to get the latest news out to you as fast as possible.

With that launch, the Giants Extra blog will no longer be populated. The blog site will still be here in an archived form, but we won’t be adding new content and all our new Giants coverage will be posted at www.mercurynews.com/sports/san-francisco-giants.

The post A new location for all your Giants coverage appeared first on Giants Extra.

This was the first drive-in movie I saw as a kid. I remember being bored.

DENVER – The Giants need to hit more! Here’s the lineup for Tuesday’s game at Coors Field:

3B Núñez, LF Pagan, 1B Posey, RF Pence, SS Crawford, 2B Tomlinson, CF Hernandez, C Brown, RHP Samardzija.

That’s it, really. Not much more to say. But the SEO wizards tell us that Google likes articles that are more than 41 words. So here’s a little more:

The Giants held a hitter’s meeting prior to Tuesday’s game. I wasn’t invited, obviously. So I couldn’t tell you whether it was fiery or involved audio-visual equipment or any chickens lost their lives.

But somebody had to say something. The Giants have produced four or fewer hits in five consecutive games. Not only had that never been done in modern franchise history, but it matched the longest such streak by any major league club in baseball history.

Their .099 average marks just the second time a major league team has hit under .100 in a five-game span. The Minnesota Twins batted .096 from May 1-6, 2012. (Stats courtesy the Elias Sports Bureau.)

I am guessing those factoids weren’t read aloud from a lectern during the hitter’s meeting. Honestly, I’m not sure Tony Robbins or Robin Williams or Ted Williams could say any magic words. They just need to hit more. If it doesn’t turn around soon, this will be the most disappointing even year in Giants history.

We already knew Brandon Belt would be on the bench against Rockies lefty Tyler Anderson, who has been quietly one of the NL’s more effective pitchers in the second half. Bochy also rested two other lefty hitters: Joe Panik yields to Kelby Tomlinson and Denard Span (0 for his last 20) takes a seat for Gorkys Hernandez.

I also thought Bochy might give Angel Pagan a day off and try for some more thump with Mac Williamson (who cleared the left field seats with a couple of BP blasts). But no, Angel is in there.

Hernandez pretty much has to play because there’s nobody else on the roster who could handle center at Coors Field besides Span.

I do think the Giants have been unlucky at times (the Jon Lester game included a ton of hard outs), but Monday’s game made the Bonneville Salt Flats look like varied terrain. That probably has something to do with the malaise of being three outs away from splitting a series at Wrigley (and winning the season series with the Cubs) before Santiago Casilla blew it. There seems to have been a three- to four-day lull following Casilla’s blown saves, including one the series at San Diego to start their second-half free-fall.

But Monday also was the Giants’ fourth day game out of five, and combined with the travel and the fact it takes your body a little time to feel energized here at 4,000 feet, I think it added up to what we saw: four balls hit out of the infield here.

Anyway, that’s about it. To prove I didn’t write this from my hotel, here’s a quote from Bruce Bochy:

“Let me tell you, hitting is one of the toughest things, if not the toughest thing, in all of sports. It can be tough to get back on track. It can be contagious. Self doubt can creep in there. You can do a lot of drills in the cage, the soft toss, the tee … and still, when you’re seeing live pitching, you’ve got to have the confidence to carry it into the game. Still, when things get into game speed, you can get back into those bad habits.”

The Cardinals, a half-game back of the Giants for the top wild card spot, have a 5-2 lead in the fourth inning as of this writing.

Play ball.

The post Giants notes: Amid historic hitting slump, Bochy makes lineup changes appeared first on Giants Extra.

San Francisco Giants' Angel Pagan reacts to a high, inside pitch from Colorado Rockies starting pitcher Chad Bettis during the first inning of a baseball game Monday, Sept. 5, 2016, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Updated from version posted at the final out. -AB

DENVER – At some point, as you watch the Giants lineup roll over 89 mph fastballs and play dead, it strikes you:

They had even years during the Dead Ball Era, too.

Not even a change of scenery to Coors Field could enliven Bruce Bochy’s glacial gang on Monday, and when you add a starting pitcher who issues frivolous walks in this ballpark … well, let’s just hope no Giants fans delayed firing up the Labor Day barbecue because they watched the entirety of a 6-0 loss to the Colorado Rockies.

Matt Moore gave up a grand slam to Carlos Gonzalez in the third inning, which made the game a lead-pipe cinch for the Rockies given the Giants’ offensive ineptitude.

In fact, swinging lead pipes might have generated more profitable results. A Giants offense that just hit .106 in four games at Wrigley Field was held to two hits, the club’s fewest ever in their 184 games played at Coors Field.

They have been held to four hits or fewer in five consecutive games, a run never before experienced in Giants modern franchise history. (And yes, that includes the Dead Ball Era.)

In addition to their two hits, the Giants hit just two more balls out of the infield -- a seemingly impossible feat here.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy already planned to give Brandon Belt (0 for his last 18) the day off and play Buster Posey at first base on Tuesday. Now he’s expected to rest a few more of his struggling hitters against talented Rockies left-hander Tyler Anderson.

Kelby Tomlinson for Joe Panik? Mac Williamson for Denard Span, who’s riding an 0-for-20? Why the heck not?

“I mean, we’re better than this,” Bochy said. “You do your work. You do all you can to help out. This thing is contagious, and it’s been here too long. You look for that magic wand, for what to say.

“It was a heck of a series in Chicago (for Cubs pitchers). Whether this is a letdown today, I don’t know. We definitely were flat today.”

Their postseason ambitions will flatline if this continues. Forget about climbing back into the NL West race for the moment. The Giants are perilously close to falling out of the wild card standings, too, after losing ground to their two closest pursuers. The Cardinals are a half-game back, and tied in the loss column. The Mets are one game behind the Giants.

The Giants have been in position to make the playoffs every day since May 10. Another 48 hours of this misery, and they could be on the outside looking in.

Rockies right-hander Chad Bettis threw his first career complete game, and the first by a Rockies pitcher this season, and he did it on a tidy 103 pitches – one more than it took the Cubs’ Jon Lester to go the distance against the Giants on Friday.

Bettis, who entered with a 5.17 ERA, had a perfect game until the fifth inning, when Eduardo Núñez got a two-out single to fall in left field. Backup catcher Trevor Brown doubled to start the sixth. There were no other baserunners, nobody to drive in. Nothing left to do but drive home safely.

With some credibility, the Giants could bemoan hard outs and a shortage of luck for some of their lean production while going 16-31 since the All-Star break. Not anymore. Not when the bat is being knocked out of their hands.

“We didn’t make very good contact all day,” Bochy said. “There weren’t many balls barreled up. We need somebody to get hot, two or three of your core guys to get it going. That’s missing right now.”

Giants left-hander Matt Moore appeared to pound the zone in the first two innings but abruptly lost the ability to throw a strike in the second inning, and when that happens here, it’s like losing your brakes while descending on the upper corniche.

Moore walked Cristhian Adames to start the third, then issued a four-pitch walk to Bettis as the pitcher was trying to sacrifice. Raimel Tapia followed with a line drive that shortstop Brandon Crawford tried to snare with a backhand attempt an inch or two off the ground. The ball uncharacteristically deflected off Crawford’s glove and into left field for a single that loaded the bases.

DJ LeMahieu hit a sacrifice fly that also advanced both trail runners, and the Giants made the easy decision to issue an intentional walk to their personal tormentor Nolan Arenado, who already has 21 RBIs against them this season.

It was just Arenado’s eighth intentional walk of the season. And if that seemed low, Gonzalez provided a counterpoint. He connected with a shot into the Rockies bullpen.

Moore said he got spooked when Arenado lined out on a hanging curveball in the first inning, and he began yanking the pitch while trying extra hard to make it break in the thin air. Soon he began yanking everything. The pitch to Gonzalez was a fastball he wanted on the hitter’s hands but missed over the plate.

“There’s no excuse for that third inning,” said Moore, whose only other start at Coors Field came in 2013 with Tampa Bay. “I had plenty of stuff to get the job done. I didn’t execute many pitches back to back. They were in swing mode and I didn’t give them enough pitches to swing at.”

Moore did not survive the third inning as he gave up a home run to Nick Hundley, issued another walk and threw a wild pitch.

At least Matt Cain made his fourth career relief appearance a successful one, tossing 2 1/3 scoreless innings. And Left-hander Ty Blach, who hails from suburban Denver, had a memorable major league debut while holding the Rockies to a hit in three scoreless innings.

It was like finding the prize in a box of Cracker Jacks that you’ve fished out of the canal. But it was something, and it preserved a bullpen that used nine relievers in Sunday’s 13-inning loss at Wrigley Field.

It was more valuable than that for Blach, a left-handed rookie whose assistant coach at Regis Jesuit High School was none other than Rockies manager Walt Weiss.

“I’m just blessed to make my debut in front of my friends and family in the stadium where I grew up watching games,” said Blach, who estimated his cheering section at more than 100. “It’s pretty neat to know I’ve got that kind of support.”

A whoop went up in the crowd each of the three times Blach skipped off the mound. He said the earliest memory of his life was attending the first home game in franchise history at Mile High Stadium in 1993 when he was 2 ½ years old. He attended the first game at Coors Field, too, and went more than 50 times a season while sitting in a family friend’s season seats above the bullpens.

“There’s so many good memories here,” said Blach, who might be the first pitcher to utter those words about Coors Field.

Bochy said he was impressed with Cain, who is determined to contribute as a reliever so he can be considered for a potential postseason roster. Cain wants to be Tim Lincecum circa 2012, not Barry Zito circa 2010.

“I mean, you’re looking for an opportunity,” Cain said. “We’ve got our guys in the rotation, and if you look at the numbers, you only carry four starters. There’s an odd man out. It’s one of those spots where if that can work out, I’d like it to be that way. But we’ve got to get there first.”

Six weeks ago, that was a foregone conclusion.

The post UPDATED: Historically inept Giants manage just two hits, lose 6-0 at Coors Field appeared first on Giants Extra.

Updated with some additional notes from early version. -AB

DENVER – Giants rookie left-hander Ty Blach is exceptional in one respect.

He is a pitcher who is really, really looking forward to taking the mound at Coors Field.

“I mean, I felt like I was there all the time,” said Blach, who grew up in Centennial, a Denver suburb. “We’d go to 50 games a year.”

Not fifteen. Fifty.

A family friend had season tickets, and Blach always managed to grab one of them. The seats were above the visiting bullpen. Now he’ll get the same view of the field, albeit from a bit further down.

“Sometimes they’d toss balls up to us in the stands,” Blach said. “I remember watching Matt Reynolds when he was with the Rockies. Now he’s my teammate. It’s been cool to talk to him about that.”

Blach watched Javier Lopez during the veteran left-hander’s short stint with the Rockies, too. He can’t say he learned everything by watching Lopez, though. Blach doesn’t have a side-winding delivery.

“Andres Galarraga was my favorite, and obviously he was a Giant as well,” Blach said. “The Blake Street Bombers, those were my teams. It was a lot of fun to be a Rockies fan and just watch the ball fly out of the park.”

Did he ever heckle opposing relievers?

“Nah, not really,” he said. “I was always cheering. I’ve always been a positive guy.”

Blach had a season worth cheering at Triple-A Sacramento. The 25-year-old Creighton alumnus went 14-7 with a 3.43 ERA, and led the Pacific Coast League in both wins and innings pitched (162 2/3).

Blach reached a pinnacle on Aug. 10 when he threw a two-hit shutout at Tacoma. It was his third complete game of the season. And it capped a sparkling, eight-start stretch in which he went 7-1 with a 1.40 ERA.

Although Blach isn’t a strikeout pitcher, the 25-year-old even fanned 10 in a start against Albuquerque. Mostly, though, he churned quick, contact outs on the ground – something he learned to do as far back as high school, while pitching in the thin air.

Blach said in the spring that he knew he needed to make some adjustments after his first year in the PCL ended with an 11-12 record and 4.46 ERA.

“I think staying away from the big innings is the key, and avoiding walks is a big part of that,” Blach said. “If you’re able to change speeds and keep the ball off the barrel, you can have success no matter where you pitch.”

There is no discounting durability, too. Blach threw 123 pitches (85 for strikes) while finishing off his two-hitter at Tacoma; he didn’t allow his second hit of the game until the ninth inning.

“The biggest thing is consistency,” he said. “Just locate the fastball and changeup. My breaking ball got a lot better, I thought. You just throw strikes, resist trying to nibble too much, and trust your defense.”

Blach can trust the Giants defense. The club has committed just one error in its past 19 games.

Blach’s Triple-A season merited his first big league call-up over Chris Stratton and Clayton Blackburn, two other starters who had been up with the club earlier in the year. (Blackburn is still awaiting his major league debut, though.)

He had his parents and a Chicago-based relative or two in the stands at Wrigley Field over the weekend, and they couldn’t have been too disappointed that he didn’t get into a game. Blach’s cheering section at Coors Field will be significantly larger.

“I’m not sure how many,” he said. “A lot.”

He knows he’ll be able to count a few familiar faces from the bullpen. All he has to do is look up at his old seats.

--

One more fun fact on Blach: His high school coach, Steve Cavnar, has a daughter, Jenny, who is the Rockies' accomplished sideline reporter for ROOT Sports Network. The three of them did an interview together prior to batting practice.

--

This stunner of a stat was in Sunday’s game story, but in case you missed it, the Rockies pitching staff has given up the eighth fewest home runs in the major leagues.

They’ve given up 145. The Dodgers have allowed 139 and the Giants have given up 136.

The raised wall over the bullpens probably has saved a half-dozen or so, at maximum. And the spacious outfield remains as welcoming as ever for extra-base hits. But perhaps the Giants won’t get an instant power reprieve.

They need one. As the Giants’ Liam Connolly noted in the game literature, the club’s top three home run hitters – Brandon Belt (14), Brandon Crawford (12) and Buster Posey (12) – have combined for 237 at-bats without going deep.

--

Matt Moore traveled ahead of the club to Coors Field to get his lungs ready for Coors Field. He has started here once before, in 2013, and allowed four runs in five innings.

We’ll find out what kind of coconuts he has, as Johnny Cueto might say.

--

Not a surprise that Buster Posey is off for this Labor Day early start. He looked gassed while going 1 for 16 in the series at Wrigley Field. (Posey's one hit came off Aroldis Chapman, and glanced off the shortstop's glove.) Plus Posey caught all 13 innings in Sunday’s loss to the Cubs.

“I could see the day games caught up to him,” Bochy said.

Bochy said he is likely to play Posey at first base on Tuesday, presumably resting Brandon Belt against left-hander Tyler Anderson. Bochy is likely to rest Span and bat Eduardo Núñez in the leadoff spot on Tuesday, too.

And what about a save situation? Would Bochy turn again to Santiago Casilla, who blew Sunday’s game and has the most blown saves (7) by a Giants reliever since a clean-shaven Brian Wilson in 2009?

“We’ll see what the score is,” Bochy said.

He later clarified that he wasn’t being serious.

--

Couple more pregame notes: Right-hander Derek Law is playing catch at the complex in Arizona and is expected to be activated when he’s eligible for the homestand opener Sept. 12. Gregor Blanco (shoulder) is hitting off a tee in Arizona.

The Giants also are keeping a couple players, including a catcher (Tony Sanchez, we think) in Arizona to keep sharp in case they’re needed on the roster.

“But last year we called up Trevor Brown off his couch and Mac (Williamson) off a fishing boat, and that turned out well for us,” Bochy said.

Brandon Belt is fine one day after a pitch grazed his helmet. If anything had happened to him, the Giants do have a fellow by the name of Travis Ishikawa at Triple-A. Ishikawa is not among the players going to Arizona, Bochy said.

Finally, congratulations to Tyler Beede, who won the ERA title in a Double-A Eastern League stuffed with pitching prospects. Beede gave up a run in six innings in his final start Sunday to lower his ERA from 2.87 to 2.81. He edged out Hartford’s German Marquez (2.85).

Given the way Beede finished, throwing in the upper 90s, it sure looks like he’ll be a solid rotation option for the Giants in 2017. All the more reason they can spend to upgrade the lineup with some pop (Yoenis Cespedes?) and the back end of the bullpen (Mark Melancon?).

Lineup: CF Span, LF Pagan, SS Crawford, RF Pence, 2B Panik, 3B Núñez, 1B Belt, C Brown, LHP Moore.

The post Updated Giants notes: From the stands to the bullpen, rookie Ty Blach lowers his sights at Coors Field appeared first on Giants Extra.

CHICAGO, IL - SEPTEMBER 4: Jason Heyward #22 of the Chicago Cubs is mobbed by teammates after hitting a walk-off single to beat the San Francisco Giants 3-2 in thirteen innings at Wrigley Field on September 4, 2016 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)

Updated from version posted at the final out. -AB

CHICAGO – Prior to Sunday’s 3-2, 13-inning loss at Wrigley Field, Giants manager Bruce Bochy acknowledged that he didn’t expect an offensive breakout here against the Cubs pitching staff.

“You’ve got to scratch and claw with the type of pitching we see here,” Bochy said.

Or squeeze and throw sand. And hope Santiago Casilla doesn’t fall off the high wire again.

Casilla tumbled in the ninth, and despite a bullpen whose perseverance in extra innings included Joe Nathan’s first appearance as a Giant since 2003, their barren offense could not take advantage of the extra lives.

There were no more reprieves after the 13^th. Left-hander Matt Reynolds, the Giants’ 10^th pitcher, gave up Jason Heyward’s RBI single to center to send the Cubs spilling onto the field and their beer-soaked crowd into group song.

The Giants fell three games back in the NL West, and for another shovelful of hot unease, the Dodgers are planning to have Clayton Kershaw back in their rotation on Friday. The Giants continue to lead the wild card standings, but their advantage has softened. One more bad series could see them knocked below the Cardinals and Mets.

Bochy’s struggling offense might as well have spent the weekend trying to hit Kershaw after a three-martini lunch. They batted .106 in four games at the Friendly Confines, yet somehow were three outs away from achieving a split – and a season series victory -- against baseball’s winningest team. An error and two ground outs produced one run. A suicide squeeze produced another.

But once again, Casilla could not nail down a one-run save. Addison Russell, who stung the ball all afternoon, led off the ninth with a double into the left field corner. A wild pitch moved him to third. Heyward’s single tied it.

Casilla’s seventh blown save is the most among NL relievers and the most by a Giant since a clean-shaven Brian Wilson in 2009.

Asked if he would stand behind Casilla as his closer, Bochy spoke in support of the veteran right-hander. But “yes” was nowhere to be found in his reply.

“He’s been throwing the ball well,” Bochy said. “This was a tough one no getting around it. But it’s tough to get down on somebody. He’s been doing a good job. Sure, he’s had his hiccups. But the other closers are right there with saves that have gotten away.”

The Giants suddenly have an alternative to replace him, and he is a 41-year-old six-time All-Star who ranks eighth all-time with 377 career saves. Nathan retired the side in the 12^th including a strikeout of presumptive NL MVP Kris Bryant while flashing a 92 mph fastball.

“A little more adrenaline, for sure, said Nathan, acknowledging he was pumped both to pitch in a Giants uniform again and to face the team that released him a month ago. “The pitches felt good. I just really tried to calm myself down and take what I did (at Double-A) Richmond and bring it here.”

And getting Bryant to swing through a slider and chase a fastball out of the zone?

“Any time you can get a big league guy to swing out of the zone, it’s a good sign – especially a guy who’s having the year he’s having,” Nathan said.

Bochy was right about one thing: the closer role might be an issue, but it’s not the club’s only failure. If Casilla had converted his three blown saves out of 12 since the All-Star break, the Giants would be 19-27 instead of 16-30 – in either case, hardly a team taking command of a playoff spot.

The Giants tallied just four hits. They mustered just 14 over the four-game series. It was the first time they were held to four hits or fewer in four consecutive games since June 13-16, 1963. (Willie Mays had five of the club's 14 hits over those four games, by the way.)

Buster Posey, who has one home run since the break, went 1 for 16 in the series and his only hit was an infield single in the 11^th inning.

Yet their pitching was poised to use all parts of the buffalo to split the series. Johnny Cueto gave up one run on five hits in seven innings, and was in line for one of his grittier victories before Casilla blew it.

“I had pinpoint control. I was putting the pitches where I wanted to,” Cueto said through interpreter Erwin Higueros. “We played against a good team. We lost three out of four. Unfortunately, our closer was not able to save the game.”

The Giants scored their first run without benefit of a hit. Hunter Pence reached on a two-base error to start the second inning when Heyward, a Gold Glove right fielder, clanked a line drive. A pair of productive outs moved Pence along, with Núñez’s ground ball to short bringing him home.

The Cubs tied it in the fourth. Anthony Rizzo led off with a single, Ben Zobrist drew a walk and Cueto gave himself daylight when he induced a double-play grounder from Russell. But Heyward looped a two-out single to center to score Rizzo – the first of his three RBI hits on the day.

The Giants used one hit, and some expertly crafted small ball, to take the lead in the fifth. Núñez lashed a double to right-center and lost his helmet as he raced around first base. Then he stole third base, and the Cubs brought their infielders tight. With a 3-1 count to Ehire Adrianza, there was little else Cubs manager Joe Maddon could do. With no threat of a pitchout, Núñez dashed away from third base as Adrianza put down a successful suicide squeeze.

Núñez got such a good jump that he scored standing up.

“I have to use my speed to create something,” said Núñez, who also stole a base after walking in the 12^th. “Maybe they’ll throw the ball away. For sure, we have to step up and get more guys on base and we have to keep pushing. I’ll be more aggressive on the bases because we don’t want to just wait for somebody to hit a home run. We have to run.”

Even though the Giants’ next stop is Coors Field, the mile-high ballpark is not an automatic hitter’s haven. Consider this: The Rockies pitching staff has given up 144 home runs -- the eighth fewest in the major leagues, and just eight more than Giants pitchers have allowed.

Forget a home run. A couple of timely bloopers would suffice.

It was barely a sanctioned bout when Aroldis Chapman breezed through them in the 10^th or 11^th. The Giants were no more productive against Justin Grimm or Trevor Cahill, though.

They were 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position. In perhaps their most promising chance, when Bochy used Brandon Crawford to pinch hit in the 12^th, the clutch-hitting shortstop couldn’t check his swing with two strikes.

Nathan was able to get them to the 13^th. Even if he does not become the closer on this team, there are few pitchers more equipped to provide counsel to one.

“To me, he’s at that perfect time in his career where he has electric stuff and he’s been in big situations,” Nathan said of Casilla. “I’ll get a sit-down and talk with him. I’m sure we’ll have some conversations.

“For me, the biggest thing I can tell a guy like that, and hopefully he knows it, is the most you can learn is from the tough days. So if you have a tough year, get the most out of that year, and come back and put it together.”

The Giants do not want to sit back in October and reflect on a tough year. If they miss the playoffs, they could look back at this series when they sustained three one-run losses when even a faint pulse from their hitters could’ve resulted in a triumphant, four-game sweep.

Cueto, for one, is hoping to pitch at the Friendly Confines again in October.

“I hope to God that we do,” he said, grasping a portion of his anatomy. “That’s where we find out who really has the coconuts.”

--

One postgame note: Brandon Belt went through the concussion protocol after getting grazed by a pitch on his helmet in the seventh inning. He passed and said he felt no symptoms.

"I’ve been through it enough. I knew I was fine,” Belt said.

The post UPDATED: Giants hit .106 in series vs. Cubs, lose 3-2 in 13th inning appeared first on Giants Extra.

The San Francisco Giants' Brandon Belt (9) reacts to a called third strike against the Oakland Athletics in the first inning of their MLB game played at the O.co Coliseum in Oakland, Calif., on Tuesday, July 8, 2014. (Dan Honda/Bay Area News Group)

CHICAGO – Remember that otherwise inconsequential pop-up that first baseman Brandon Belt dropped for an error as he straddled the mound on Saturday?

Turns out that was a pretty big deal, after all. It snapped the Giants’ errorless streak that had quietly built to 17 games, which ranked as the longest in franchise history. If the Giants had made it through Saturday’s win at Wrigley Field without an error, they would have matched the 2009 Yankees for the longest errorless streak by a major league club since at least 1913.

“Oh, Belt,” said Giants manager Bruce Bochy, informed of those facts.

Belt’s error was the Giants’ first since the ninth inning Aug. 14 at AT&T Park against the Orioles, when left fielder Angel Pagan let Manny Machado’s sharp single skid under his glove to allow an extra base.

Not only was it the longest errorless streak in franchise history, but it crushed the former mark of 13 games, last set in 2013.

Perhaps the reason the errorless streak went barely recognized was because the Giants were 6-11 over their stretch of otherwise clean games.

“That’s one of the reasons it’s hard (to figure),” Bochy said. “We’ve played very well. Sure, we haven’t swung the bats as well. But when you’re playing that kind of defense, it means they’re keeping their focus. I’m good with that. They’re not taking their at-bats out to the field.”

The Giants could do with a little more offense here Sunday as they try to split this four-game series and clinch what would be an ultra-rare season series victory against baseball’s warm and fuzzy juggernaut.

The Giants are hitting .111 over the first three games here while collecting three, three and four hits.

San Francisco, or more specifically, Hunter Pence, has out-homered the Cubs 2-0 in this series. The winds are a bit different today, though, blowing in from right field and slightly out towards left field.

It’ll be up to Johnny Cueto to deliver. The Giants have lost six of his last nine starts after winning 16 of his first 18.

Brandon Crawford and Pagan are getting the day off, which isn’t easy for Bochy to do in September. But this is a 10-game road trip, and Monday’s day game at Coors Field involves a quick turn after a flight. (Left-hander Matt Moore was scheduled to take an earlier flight ahead of the team, the better to get his lungs accustomed to the altitude.)

One more note: Bochy said he didn’t anticipate any more minor league call-ups following the season finale Monday for Triple-A Sacramento. That’s a tough break for Clayton Blackburn, who was called up once earlier in the year but continues to await his major league debut. Blackburn was 7-10 with a 4.36 ERA for the River Cats but tossed eight shutout innings Thursday against Reno.

With the 40-man roster full, it appears Travis Ishikawa won’t get another chance to play hero down the stretch, either.

But things have a way of changing as events warrant. Remember, Trevor Brown spent nine days on his couch in Southern California last year before the Giants needed a backup catcher due to concussions last September. Brown made such an impression that he entered camp as the incumbent and beat out Andrew Susac for the big league job backing up Buster Posey.

I would imagine that the Giants plan to keep catcher Tony Sanchez ready at their facility in Arizona in case they need a third catcher at any point this month.

One more thing: Yes, Joe Nathan would be eligible for a postseason roster even though he joined the Giants after Sept. 1. The rule is that you only need to be in the organization by that date. The Giants signed Nathan to a minor league contract Aug. 19.

Lineups:

CF Span, 2B Panik, C Posey, RF Pence, 1B Belt, LF Parker, 3B Núñez, SS Adrianza, RHP Cueto.

CF Fowler, 3B Bryant, 1B Rizzo, 2B Zobrist, SS Russell, RF Heyward, C Contreras, LF Coghlan, RHP Lackey.

The post Giants notes: Brandon Belt's error ended club's historic clean streak appeared first on Giants Extra.

CHICAGO, IL - SEPTEMBER 03: Joe Panik #12 of the San Francisco Giants is congratulated by Madison Bumgarner #40 (R) after scoring on an RBI single by Eduardo Nunez #10 (not pictured) during the fourth inning at Wrigley Field on September 3, 2016 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Jon Durr/Getty Images) ( Jon Durr )

Updated from the version posted at the final out. -AB

CHICAGO – The Giants have spent the past seven weeks looking like the antithesis of a playoff team.

But hand the ball to Madison Bumgarner in the September sunshine, then play with some opportunistic aggression behind him, and you begin to see the possibilities take shape.

Bumgarner shined in what could be a Game 1 matchup a month from now.

He struck out 10 in six innings to outduel defending NL Cy Young Award winner Jake Arrieta, the Giants hustled to support him, their savvy infielders put their heads together to record a huge out in the ninth and their bullpen made the pitches under duress to protect a 3-2 victory over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on Saturday.

Feel a bit like October baseball in September, Madison?

“It did, just because you’re going up against the team … I mean, I guess they didn’t clinch yet, but they’ll be there,” Bumgarner said. “And we play on being there. So it’s a playoff-type matchup.

“Your mindset really doesn’t change, though. You’re just trying to compete and make pitches.”

The Giants are 73-62. Through 135 games in 2014, when they last rode in a World Series parade, they were 73-62.

“As bad as it seems, we’re still in a better spot than we were in 2014,” Bumgarner said. “We’ve still got our division in our sights, but it’s about getting in. If you get in, it’s a whole different deal.”

The Giants would prefer to reclaim the lead in the NL West and enter as division winners, and not just because the Cubs are a near lock to face the wild card entrant in an NL Division Series.

But Bruce Bochy’s team served a reminder that it can will its way to victories against anyone, especially with Bumgarner on the mound. They snapped a six-game losing streak at Wrigley Field that included a season-crippling four-game sweep here last season and one-run losses in the first two games of this series.

“Really, the first two games were good games,” Bochy said. “We just lined out. I’ve said that they could use a little luck. It’s about that sometimes.”

The Giants collected just three hits in each of their two losses. In Saturday’s victory, they claimed four. Their three runs off Arrieta were more a product of hustle, awareness and opportunity.

The Cubs handed Bumgarner a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Angel Pagan hit a one-out double off Arrieta (16-6) and third baseman Tommy La Stella overthrew first base after fielding Hunter Pence’s ground ball.

They manufactured a run in the fourth inning when Joe Panik reached on a two-out single, advanced on a passed ball, took third on a wild pitch and scored on Eduardo Núñez’s single.

Brandon Crawford created another run all by himself after hitting a one-out single in the sixth. With a full count to Panik, Bochy put his runner in motion. Panik struck out and Crawford stole second base despite hitting the dirt with all the grace of a pencil eraser rubbing against a sheet of loose leaf.

Crawford’s theft came as such a surprise that neither Cubs infielders were covering the bag as catcher Willson Contreras came up firing. It took an athletic play from Cubs shortstop Addison Russell to keep the throw from going into center field.

Crawford stayed alert, and with the Cubs infield shifted over to defend Brandon Belt, he virtually walked to third base as Arrieta held the ball. The awareness led to a run, since Arrieta proceeded to throw a wild pitch.

Crawford said he knew Arrieta liked to bounce his curveball, and with two outs, that was why he wanted to risk advancing to third. Plus, he said third baseman Javier Baez was shifted as far off the bag as he’d ever seen.

“Baez was a little flat footed on the pitch before that, I noticed,” Crawford said. “I thought if I could get a walking lead, I could beat him flat footed. When Arrieta looked for the sign, I thought that was my best chance.”

What about that slide into second base, though?

“Compared to Buster’s or compared to the rest of the slides in my career?” said Crawford, swallowing a grin as he recalled Posey’s face-first effort in Miami when he used third base as a brake pad. “Compared to Buster’s, it was a B. Compared to the rest of mine, it was an F. It was one of the worst slides of my career.

And the next one?

“The steal of third?” he said. “Because that slide was an A.”

Said Panik of his double-play partner: "A modern day Rickey Henderson, right?"

Bumgarner needed the insurance run, even on a masterful afternoon when he struck out 10 and didn’t walk a batter in six innings.

The Cubs used their own hustle to scratch a run off Bumgarner in the fifth inning. Baez singled, stole second base and then took an aggressive turn around third when Núñez dropped a barehanded attempt to field Arrieta’s slow roller. Crawford gathered the ball but Baez was too fast to cut down at the plate.

Bumgarner (14-8) escaped the fifth without further damage, but he snapped at first base umpire Phil Cuzzi, who always seems to be at the center of something when the Giants are involved. Cuzzi had called a balk on Bumgarner’s pickoff throw, allowing Arrieta to take second base. After Bumgarner struck out Dexter Fowler to end the inning, he continued to bark in Cuzzi’s direction.

After the game, Giants reliever George Kontos joined the media scrum and, holding a water bottle like a microphone, asked Bumgarner a question: “Did you invent a new pickoff move today?”

The Cubs worked Bumgarner for another run in the sixth after loading the bases on two singles and a hit batter. Pence caught Baez’s foul fly in right field for a sacrifice fly. Bumgarner pumped a fist after winning a 10-pitch battle with Matt Szczur, striking him out on a slider to strand two runners in scoring position and preserve a 3-2 lead.

The Giants bullpen preserved it from there, but it wasn’t easy.

Javier Lopez, allowed to face pinch hitter David Ross in the seventh, gave up a single that dropped in front of Pence who was inexplicably playing a step from the warning track. Hunter Strickland entered and escaped the inning, but not before Kris Bryant hit a line single up the middle on a 99.6 mph fastball and Ben Zobrist drew a walk to load the bases. Strickland escaped when he got Russell to line out to Pence.

“He got him to hit it at somebody,” Bochy said. “It’s good to see these guys get a break.”

Sergio Romo and his balky knees beat Baez to the bag on a force play in the eighth, though it took a replay review to reverse Cuzzi’s safe call.

Left-hander Will Smith finished the eighth and began the ninth by issuing a walk to Anthony Rizzo, who had entered as the No.9 batter on a double switch.

Closer Santiago Casilla entered, and he benefited from the Giants’ defensive awareness.

Fowler put down a sacrifice bunt toward third and Panik, covering first base, noticed that something was up. He saw Posey, who had noticed Rizzo making an aggressive turn around second base, sprinting to cover third.

“And then I saw Rizzo take a couple hard steps,” Panik said. “So I ran toward him, and once he stopped, I threw (to second base). It was heads up for Crawford to be there.”

Crawford said the play doesn’t develop unless Posey first has the sense to cover third.

“Yeah, that’s what we’re used to doing,” Crawford said. “I don’t know if it’s showing lately. But that’s the way we try to play.”

The Giants entered the game with a 15-29 since the All-Star break, the worst in the major leagues. They had one of those stretches in 2014, too, even if the end points weren’t so neat and tidy. They went 15-29 from June 9 to July 29.

Casilla still had to get through Bryant, the presumptive NL MVP. He did, inducing a broken-bat pop-up that Crawford gloved. This was the game they needed. And while they have remained positioned to be a playoff team since May, it might have been the game that made them feel like one again.

“We haven’t been playing bad baseball,” Bumgarner said. “We’ve just been coming up a little short. It doesn’t take much to get back on the right track, and hopefully after this we’re getting there.”

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FILE - In this Sept. 25, 2014, file photo, Detroit Tigers relief pitcher Joe Nathan throws against the Minnesota Twins in the the ninth inning of a baseball game in Detroit. The Chicago Cubs have agreed to a one-year contract with Joe Nathan, a six-time All-Star reliever recovering from Tommy John surgery. The deal was announced Tuesday, May 17, 2016. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File) (Paul Sancya/AP)

CHICAGO – The sun soaked into Joe Nathan’s black Giants batting practice jersey, and he stroked a familiar goatee now flecked with gray.

“They all still look the same to me,” Nathan said. “We’ve all changed. I’m sure I have. But they still look the same.”

Nathan returned to the Giants on Saturday, nearly 13 years after he departed in one of the worst traded in franchise history. He returned to the same pitching coach, Dave Righetti, and the same bullpen coach, Mark Gardner. Some teams enjoy continuity. For Nathan, rejoining his original team was like opening a time capsule.

“They know what I’m about, they know my work ethic,” Nathan said. “It’s nice to jump into a situation where I can go out and pitch and get myself ready.”

Giants manager Bruce Bochy said he would use Nathan in the sixth or seventh innings, possibly the eighth, and although he reaffirmed Santiago Casilla as his closer, he wouldn’t even rule out using Nathan in a save situation as workloads warranted.

“Casilla is our closer but if he gets used a lot, we’ve got another guy with experience,” Bochy said. “He’s not intimidated to pitch late in ballgames, with his experience.”

Nathan’s experience includes six All-Star selections and 377 saves, which ranks eighth in baseball history. There’s almost $90 million in career earnings, too.

So no, Nathan hasn’t spent much time thinking about what would have happened if the Giants hadn’t traded him to Minnesota along with Francisco Liriano and Boof Bonser for combustible catcher A.J. Pierzynski in 2003.

“I’ve never really tried the what-ifs,” Nathan said. “I’ve just been very fortunate with everything that’s happened. I got a huge opportunity with the Twins, and the success there kind of paved the way for me. So I never really asked myself what would’ve happened if I had stayed here.”

It didn’t work out well for the Giants. Pierzynski beat them in arbitration, then proved to be a difficult presence in the clubhouse, and was non-tendered after one season. He won a World Series championship with the Chicago White Sox the following season.

“That trade ended up working out for the Twins and the White Sox,” Nathan said. “But the Giants have done a pretty good job putting together championship teams.”

Nathan’s next appearance will be his first as a Giant since the 2003 NL Division Series against the Florida Marlins. Although he is the 13^th reliever on an expanded roster that has just two catchers, Bochy said Nathan fills a need because of concerns over their right-handed relief depth with Derek Law on the disabled list.

The Giants expect Law, who has right elbow inflammation, to be ready in two weeks. But they believe Nathan can reduce the strain on George Kontos and Hunter Strickland.

Nathan, who signed a minor league contract with the Giants on Aug. 19, appeared in six games with Double-A Richmond and threw six scoreless innings with seven strikeouts.

“He’s throwing well. He’s throwing strikes, like he always did,” Righetti said. “He always had command of his secondary pitches. That’s why he’s lasted this long. That’s why he’s still pitching now.”

That, and an inner fire that won’t go out.

Nathan has made just four major league appearances over the past two seasons. He had a second Tommy John surgery that included a flexor tendon repair after just one game for the Detroit Tigers in 2015; the Cubs signed him and he appeared in three games for them this season – striking out four in two scoreless innings – before giving him his release.

Nathan said he chose to sign a minor league contract with the Giants over other teams because valued the chance to pitch in meaningful games. He said Giants GM Bobby Evans made him no promises, which he appreciated.

“My answer to that is I expected no promises,” Nathan said. “I just wanted at the least to finish the year pitching. You’ve got scouts (in Double-A). I wanted to pitch so they’d know that I ended the year healthy, and coming into spring next year, it’s not as much a mystery.”

Why does Nathan want to pitch as a 42-year-old next season?

“I want to prove to myself I can still do it,” he said. “A lot of times it becomes about how hard it is to prepare. It hasn’t gotten to that point with me. I still enjoy the work.

“I want ro win a ring, and also to prove people wrong. It wasn’t five minutes after we announced the surgery that people were saying, `Oh, you’ll retire, right?’ Even friends of mine were telling me it’s too hard, and that’s it. I’ll take anything, any fuel, to prove myself.”

Righetti recalled seeing Nathan for the first time in instructional league as he began his transition from a shortstop to the mound. He also recalled then-GM Brian Sabean calling Nathan “an important guy” at the winter meetings one year.

Now Righetti hopes Nathan can circle back around with the same success that Ryan Vogelsong did.

“Kind of the same scenario as Vogey, right?” Righetti said. “They left in a big trade, tough ones for us to make, and they came back.”

Nathan, who caught an early flight, said he’ll make sure he’s well caffeinated in case the Giants need him to pitch in relief at Wrigley Field on Saturday. Some of his new teammates had something else in mind.

He was drafted as a shortstop, right?

“They told me Crawford might need a day,” Nathan said. “I said, `Arrieta? Let’s do it.’”

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FILE - In this Sept. 25, 2014, file photo, Detroit Tigers relief pitcher Joe Nathan throws against the Minnesota Twins in the the ninth inning of a baseball game in Detroit. The Chicago Cubs have agreed to a one-year contract with Joe Nathan, a six-time All-Star reliever recovering from Tommy John surgery. The deal was announced Tuesday, May 17, 2016. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File) (Paul Sancya/AP)

CHICAGO – More than a dozen years after leaving in one of the most doomed trades in Giants history, Joe Nathan is wearing orange and black again.

The Giants purchased the contract of the veteran right-hander, who signed a minor league contract with the club on Aug. 19.

The 41-year-old’s next appearance will be his first as a Giant since the 2003 NL Division Series against the Florida Marlins. Nathan’s struggles in that series was among the reasons the Giants deemed him expendable in the trade along with future All-Star Francisco Liriano and Boof Bonser for combustible catcher A.J. Pierzynski.

Oddly enough, the Giants could use Pierzynski more than Nathan right now. Instead, they will carry a 13^th reliever and stay with just two catchers on the expanded roster – and one of them, Trevor Brown, had to play with a severe respiratory infection on Friday.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy pushed hard for Nathan, valuing his experience, but the club wouldn’t have made the move if officials didn’t believe he was capable of being a difference maker in the bullpen. Nathan appeared in six games with Double-A Richmond and threw six scoreless innings with seven strikeouts.

Nathan, a six-time All-Star who ranks eighth all time with 377 career saves, has made just four major league appearances over the past two seasons. He had a second Tommy John surgery to reconstruct the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow after just one game for the Detroit Tigers in 2015; the Cubs signed him and he appeared in three games for them this season – striking out four in two scoreless innings – before giving him his release.

The Giants originally took Nathan in the sixth round of the 1995 draft as a shortstop before he converted to the mound.

The Giants had to get creative to create a 40-man roster space for Nathan. They recalled right-hander Ray Black and placed him on the 60-day disabled list with a right elbow bone spur. Because Black will make major league money in September, perhaps he can buy Nathan a nice steak dinner sometime.

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San Francisco Giants' Eduardo Nunez kicks his helmet after lining out sharply to Chicago Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant during the seventh inning of a baseball game Friday, Sept. 2, 2016, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh) ( Nam Y. Huh )

Updated from version posted at the final out. -AB

CHICAGO – Brandon Crawford led off from second base as he watched Eduardo Núñez make hard contact in three acts.

First came the lineout into the glove of Chicago Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant. Then came Núñez’s bat, which whacked the ground with such force it’s a wonder he didn’t strike oil. Finally, off came the helmet, for a test of its own shock resistance.

Could Crawford relate, after lining out twice in the Giants’ 2-1 loss at Wrigley Field?

“Yeah,” the Giants’ stoic shortstop said. “I just tried to hide it a little better today. I mean, may have had to get a new helmet. May have.”

As Crawford softly spoke at his locker, a nearby trash can contained the remnants of one of his bats with a No.35 decal on the handle. The concrete corridors at Wrigley Field afford greater privacy. Despite being 103 years old, they are as sturdy as ever.

The Giants’ psyche is less solid. For the second consecutive day, they registered three hits in a one-run loss to baseball’s best team.

It took Hunter Pence’s home run to break up Jon Lester’s no-hit bid with two outs in the seventh inning. What’s more, Pence’s shot snapped the Giants’ unconscionable 0-for-40 run at the plate that began following Pence’s single in the third inning of Thursday night’s loss.

Over the two games, they failed to register a hit in 12 consecutive innings – something that hadn’t happened to them since June 26-27, 1980, when the Dodgers’ Jerry Reuss no-hit them at Candlestick Park.

The Giants had a hard time squaring up those results when they … well, squared so many up. They made a litany of leather-seeking lineouts against Lester, and all that hard contact was as productive as taking maple to concrete.

“You need a little luck in this game,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “You don’t look for it, but it’s nice to get. Some balls we did hit well were right at them. The most important thing is having good at-bats.”

Bochy alluded to Lester’s renowned yips on pickoff throws, saying, “If we get someone on, you can do some things to put on a little pressure. But we couldn’t get a ball to fall.”

The Giants fell to a major league-worst 15-29 since the All-Star break, and this

is how far they have fallen: they made a victory out of not getting embarrassed.

Lester was cruising with his no-hitter in the truest sense. He had thrown just 66 pitches through six innings, and for the Cubs, the game held all the markers for a historic afternoon.

For the Giants (72-62), they simply felt marked by the beast. Crawford used the whole field, scorching a lineout to first base in the second inning and then drilling a liner that third baseman Kris Bryant left his spikes to snag in the fifth.

In Núñez’s first at-bat, he lined a comebacker that Lester, who wouldn’t win a Gold Glove if it were a participation trophy, somehow smothered.

When center fielder Dexter Fowler made a diving catch of pinch hitter Kelby Tomlinson’s sinking line drive in the sixth inning, the sellout crowd stood and cheered.

But Lester left a 1-2 fastball over the plate to Pence, who hit his second home run in as many days.

Before Pence’s home run, the Cubs had retired 40 of the last 41 Giants batters they faced. Buster Posey’s walk in the first inning against Lester was the Giants’ only baserunner; the Cubs had retired the final 20 batters in Thursday’s game.

Suddenly, the Giants’ ambitions went from avoiding embarrassment to knocking off the league’s best team.

Then, because it always seems to happen this way, Crawford was rewarded for much softer contact. He slipped a ground ball under the glove of second baseman Ben Zobrist and hustled for a double when he saw the Cubs outfielders, perhaps stiff from inactivity, were slow to react.

“I thought the momentum had changed,” Crawford said in a deadpan. “Then we went back to hitting line drives.”

With the tying run in scoring position, the Giants’ accursed luck returned soon enough. Núñez hit his hard lineout to third base, then spiked his bat and helmet in a show of anger.

“For some guys, it evens out,” Crawford said. “I feel like it doesn’t for me. But just a few feet to the left or right (for Núñez) and that’s a base hit and an RBI.

“It doesn’t matter, I’ll take three bloopers. I want to get hits. After spring training, I don’t think about hitting the ball hard. I think about getting hits. I want results. Of course you’d prefer to hit the ball hard. But you want to get on base and drive in runs any way you can. “

The Giants chose Albert Suarez over Matt Cain to be their No.5 starter down the stretch, even though the former came to spring camp as a minor league free agent and the latter is owed more than $30 million.

Suarez did a creditable job with flu-ridden backup catcher Trevor Brown, working four tidy innings out of five and minimizing the damage the one time the Cubs made a mess of things.

The Cubs set up their two-run rally in the third inning when Javier Baez picked an outside pitch out of the dirt and guided an opposite-way double down the first base line. David Ross followed with a double into the left field corner, advanced on Lester’s sacrifice and scored on Dexter Fowler’s floating single to center.

Suarez’s biggest mistake might have been when he fielded Lester’s bunt and didn’t hear his teammates yelling to throw to third base.

“It’s a tough lineup they have, and our (pitchers) did a good job,” Bochy said. “Two runs, you take your chances there.”

The Giants could not score three.

Brown, whose throat was so swollen that doctors thought he had mononucleosis before tests ruled it out, heaved for air after he doubled in the eighth inning. The Giants stranded him there.

Pence drew a two-out walk in the ninth before plate umpire Tom Hallion delivered his roundhouse strike call – familiar to Giants fans from the clinching pitch of the 2010 NLCS in Philadelphia -- to ring up Crawford and end the game.

Bochy has run out of things to say after losses like these. But he doesn’t envision lineup changes, aside from putting Brandon Belt back at first base and Posey behind the plate to face reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Jake Arrieta on Saturday.

“Well, they’re our guys,” Bochy said. “We’re going with our guys. The way Lester was throwing, he’s a tough pitcher for anyone. And tomorrow, we know it doesn’t get any easier. But you’ve got to find a way.”

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