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Chris Volstad dominates Giants, Sadowski... Vote for Pablo Dance
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Chris Volstad pitched his first career shutout Wednesday. George Nikitin, AP
San Francisco, CA -- Ryan Sadowski took the mound for the third time in his unforeseen big league career and extended his scoreless inning streak to 16.2 innings; besting Hall of Famers’ Juan Marichal’s personal mark of 15.
But, it was Chris Volstad (6-8) who was this game's hero. Volstad pitched his best game of the season, a complete game, five hit shutout, helping the Marlins defeat the Giants 7-0. The victory allowed Florida to avoid the three game sweep at AT&T Park, and it came after Tuesday when the Giants, who lead all of baseball in shutouts, threw their twelfth. Wednesday was the fourth time the Giants offense has blanked in 2009. It was also the sixth shutout in the Giants last 11 games, though the first time they were on the futile end.
Thanks to Volstad, some defensive miscues, and his own lack of sharpness, Sadowski would not match Juan Marichal by becoming the first Giants rookie to win his first three major league starts.
“The Dude’s” scoreless streak came to an untimely end with two outs in the top of the fourth inning, when the Marlins had runners on second and third for catcher John Baker, an Alameda native. Baker grounded a hit through the left side to score the first run of the game, and the first run off of Sadowski as a big leaguer. That would be all the offense Volstad would need, though he’d get even more.
Were it not for Randy Winn’s throw home to nail Jorge Cantu, who was trying to score from second on Baker’s single, the Giants would have trailed 2-0, and the inning would have continued. Instead the Marlins tacked on single runs in the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and three in the ninth. Only three runs were tallied to Sadowski’s record, and his ERA is still a dynamite 1.00.
Bruce Bochy continues to be impressed by Sadowski; “He keeps his focus out there, he doesn’t get rattled. You like the way he pitches in traffic. I thought he did a pretty good job.”
The assist by Winn was the third by a Giants outfielder in the series. Andres Torres and Nate Schierholtz each threw out Marlin runners on Monday night. Schierholtz leads the team with four assists.
Aaron Rowan made an Aaron Rowand like catch in the fifth, tracking down a Wes Helms drive to very deep left center. Rowand, as he’s been known to do, ran into the wall at near full speed just a half step after making the catch. He then ricocheted into a backwards somersault, managing to hold on to the baseball. It proved to be a big play as the next two Marlins reached.
Sadowski walked Marlins starter Chris Volstad, then Chris Coghlan singled sharply off the glove of Travis Ishikawa. Short stop Emilio Bonafacio then hit a sac fly to right, scoring Volstad. But Sadowski was able to minimize the damage, keeping the game close.
However, the bullpen which has been so good this season could not keep the game close. Justin Miller, a former Marlin, pitched the sixth and seventh inning allowing one run. But after a scoreless eighth by Bob Howry, Merkin Valdez was tagged for three runs on three hits, with the big shot coming on Dan Uggla’s 16th homerun of the season.
The Giants best chance came in the fourth when Pablo Sandoval singled in front of Edgar Renteria's line drive base hit to right. But Volstad would induce a double play off of Travis Ishikawa to end the threat. Ishikawa did extend his hit streak to seven games, the best of his career.
Valdez has been somewhat of a lost member of the bullpen this season, appearing primarily in mop up innings like today, calling into question how much confidence Bochy has in him. After a very fine May, 1-0, .0.93 ERA, it seemed the long awaited arrival of Valdez had finally come, and he was climbing the ladder in the pen. But since June he’s pitched in just 10.2 innings, allowing 10 runs, and has an ERA of 8.82. Part of Valdez's lack of opportunities is thanks to the great starting pitching the Giants have received. Additionally, Valdez was not helped out today when the inning opened on an infield single by Volstad on a play where Renteria couldn’t get the ball in his glove in time to throw out the pitcher.
The run support the big Sadowski had been accustomed to was not there Wednesday afternoon. After watching his teammates score a total of 20 runs in his first two starts, the offense was muted by one of the Marlins’ many promising young arms. Somewhere, with a wink, Matt Cain is telling Sadowski to keep his head up.
Sandoval, who did single, seems to be in a bit of a rut at the plate, at least from the left side, pulling off balls and allowing opposing pitchers to have success by pitching him away. You can still vote for Pablo in MLB’s “Final Vote.” The Giants have mounted an international campaign that the Chronicle’s Henry Schulman outlined. The Giants also produced a fun music video, parlaying the popularity of the indy cult hit “Napoleon Dynamite.” Check it out below: it could have used a touch more Pablo, and a dash less dancing. Voting ends Thursday at 1:00pm.
Thursday the Padres come into town for a four game series that will round out the traditional first half of the season, culminating in the all-star break. Tim Lincecum will start tomorrow and will have a chance to make one more case to start the Mid-summer classic for the National League.
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