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Miscues loom large in Giants' series-opening loss to Phillies

Evan Webeck, Bay Area News Group on

Published in Baseball

PHILADELPHIA — Facing the stiffest test of his short career as a starting pitcher, the biggest impact Jordan Hicks made Friday night against the Phillies wasn’t anything he did on the mound. It was his delay getting off of it.

With the speedy Trea Turner standing on second base with one steal already under his belt, Hicks remained stationary when his full-count splitter to Bryce Harper popped out of Tom Murphy’s glove. Turner advanced to third, saw home plate vacant and made a dash for it.

Hicks realized, but it was already too late.

Replay review confirmed Turner’s right foot slid across the plate just ahead of an acrobatic attempt at a tag from the pitcher, and that might as well have put the game out of reach for the Giants. It was the Phillies’ fourth run, a total San Francisco failed to reach for the eighth consecutive game in a 4-3 loss.

It was another story of missed opportunities offensively, with the same main character.

Stepping to the plate with the bases loaded twice, Jorge Soler popped out to end the second inning and and grounded into a double play in seventh after the first three Giants had reached base. The double play, turned unassisted by shortstop Edmundo Sosa, drove in the Giants’ third run of the game but didn’t go into the stat column as an RBI, leaving the $42 million designated hitter’s total at eight, tied for eighth on the team, only three of which were not himself on home runs.

 

Soler has come to the plate 26 times with runners in scoring position and delivered hits only three times, a .115 batting average. As a team Friday, the Giants stranded eight men on base and went 2 for 11 in opportunities with runners in scoring position.

The Phillies’ powerful lineup, meanwhile, provided a different look for Hicks, who took a 1.59 ERA into Friday’s start, sixth-best in MLB. That number had come in six starts against the Padres, Nationals, Marlins, Diamondbacks and Pirates, a group that includes only two teams performing at the league average or better, as measured by wRC+.

Entering the series, the Phillies owned a wRC+ of 111, with 100 as the league average, the seventh-best mark in the majors, so it should come as no surprise that they caused Hicks more trouble than he faced in any of his previous starts.

For the first time this season, the converted reliever failed to complete five innings, running his pitch count up to 88 — only 47 strikes — by the time he recorded the final out of the fourth inning. He issued four walks, the third time in his past four starts he has walked at least three batters after issuing that many free passes through his first three starts of the season, combined.

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