[新聞] Giants defeated by Brewers' squeeze play
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Giants defeated by Brewers' squeeze play
By Joe DiGiovanni / Special to MLB.com | 5/28/2011 9:04 PM ET
MILWAUKEE -- There was little the Giants could do once Jonathan Lucroy and
Ryan Braun executed a perfect squeeze play to score the winning run in the
bottom of the ninth inning Saturday.
The key pitch for the Giants was the one just before Lucroy's bunt single
scored Braun from third to give Milwaukee a 3-2 victory.
Once Guillermo Mota's first pitch to Lucroy went inside for a ball with the
bases loaded and one out, it took away Giants manager Bruce Bochy's option to
throw a pitchout in defense of the squeeze. Milwaukee manager Ron Roenicke
was aware of that and put the play on, sending the Giants to their fourth
loss in five games.
"There's not much you can do," Bochy said. "When you go ball one, you can't
start pitching out. Then you're looking at a walk. That's a gamble on their
part. They execute [and] it's the toughest play to defend."
Mota (2-2) said the squeeze took him by surprise and said the bunt was so
good there was no way to stop Braun from scoring.
"I was trying to do the best I can and I couldn't even touch it," said Mota,
who has given up a run in each of his last four appearances.
For his part, Lucroy said he went to the plate as a pinch-hitter trying to
hit a sacrifice fly with the Giants' outfield playing shallow. Then he looked
over at third-base coach Ed Sedar.
"I saw him give me the squeeze sign," Lucroy said. "I was kind of thrown off
because I had to get in a whole different mode.
"I'm like, 'OK, get the bunt down, get the bunt down, get the bunt down,'" he
said. "And thank God I got it down. I'm not that good of a bunter. I saw
Brauny started running so I just turned around and tried to put it in play."
He put it in play to the first-base side of the mound with Braun barreling
home, but Mota couldn't get it in his glove, ending the game.
Giants starter Jonathan Sanchez continued to receive little run support, but
gave up only two runs on two hits and four walks with eight strikeouts in
seven innings. In nine of his 10 starts, the Giants have scored four runs or
fewer.
"That's every day; we play like that every day," said Sanchez, who thought he
pitched well. "That's last year, and every time this year, it's close games."
The Giants have scored seven runs in three games since Buster Posey suffered
a likely season-ending injury Wednesday night.
Milwaukee made it 1-0 in the first when Carlos Gomez's liner hugging the
right-field line got under Cody Ross' glove and rolled all the way to the
wall. The play was ruled an inside-the-park home run, but Ross strongly
disagreed with the ruling after the game.
"I missed it, it should be an error, actually," he said. "It should not be an
inside-the-park home run. I blew it, basically. It's not a home run for sure.
It definitely shouldn't go against Sanchey. I went down to go get it and I
whiffed. It got by me. Error. That's it. It shouldn't be a home run."
The Brewers scored their second run in the fourth. Braun walked, stole second
and took third when catcher Eli Whiteside's throw skipped past shortstop
Emmanuel Burriss into center field for an error. Braun then scored on Casey
McGehee's sacrifice fly for a 2-0 lead.
The Giants could muster little against Milwaukee starter Randy Wolf until the
eighth, and they were helped by an error that led to an unearned run.
Trailing, 2-0, pinch-hitter Andres Torres walked with one out and moved to
second on Aaron Rowand's single, chasing Wolf.
Reliever Kameron Loe got Freddy Sanchez to hit a hard grounder to third that
would have been an easy double play if McGehee would have fielded it cleanly.
But the ball took a bad hop and skipped off his glove into left field for an
error. Torres scored on the play to pull the Giants within 2-1.
Pat Burrell then delivered a single to left, scoring Rowand to tie the score
at 2.
In the ninth, Braun greeted Mota with a single to lead off the inning. Braun
then ran on the 3-2 pitch to Prince Fielder, moving shortstop Brandon
Crawford toward second to take a possible throw.
However, Fielder hit the ball right where Crawford was playing for a single,
with the shortstop having to double back just to stop the ball from going
into the outfield.
"It took kind of a funny hop and came back up on me," Crawford said. "It had
pretty good topspin on me. I was happy to get to it and knock it down. I
would have liked to make the play, obviously, but it was a tough play."
McGehee then grounded weakly to third, moving the runners to second and third.
Yuniesky Betancourt was intentionally walked, and Lucroy then squeezed home
the winning run.
John Axford (1-1) pitched the ninth to earn the victory.
Joe DiGiovanni is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the
approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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