SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — On Wednesday, a Gold Glove winner’s misplay made the difference.
When a routine fly ball dropped right next to Starling Marte, it broke a tie in the Pirates’ 2-1 loss to the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park. The play rendered moot a solid outing by Trevor Williams, who settled down after control issues in the first, and meant the Pirates (50-52) went 1-5 against the last-place Giants this season.
Against the Giants and last-place Cincinnati Reds this year, the Pirates are 2-11. They are off Thursday before beginning a series against the San Diego Padres, who are in fourth place with a 43-57 record and one of the worst offenses in the game, at Petco Park Friday. The Pirates are 2-4 on the road trip and have lost four of their past five.
Miguel Gomez doubled against Tony Watson in the seventh. Denard Span bunted him to third. After Joe Panik’s groundout, Brandon Belt sent a high fly ball to left field, to Marte’s right and toward the foul line.
“I heard the sound of the crack of the bat and I knew the ball came off pretty hard and strong,” Marte said in Spanish, with interpreter Mike Gonzalez translating. “I tried to get the best judgment on the ball and as I was reading it, the wind started taking it away and unfortunately what happened, happened.”
Marte started back, then to his right and in, but never got a read on the ball before it dropped right next to him.
“Very unfortunate way for them to be able to score that second run,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “… Ball’s up in the air, you’d like for it to find leather and be an out, move on and play.”
Williams allowed one run in six innings. He threw 15 balls and 12 strikes in the first inning, when the Giants scored their only other run. He needed 72 pitches, around 14 per inning, the rest of the way.
“I think it was attacking the bottom of the zone,” Williams said. “Our game plan going in was to own the fastball to the lower third, sliders and changeups down in the lower third as well. We did a good job of doing that.”
Panik doubled in the first. Williams walked Belt, threw a wild pitch that put two runners in scoring position with one out and walked Buster Posey. He got Brandon Crawford to hit into a run-scoring groundout and retired Hunter Pence to limit the damage.
The Pirates answered in the second. After John Jaso walked, he ran on the pitch to Francisco Cervelli, which pulled Crawford toward the bag. When Cervelli hit a grounder to short, Crawford couldn’t get it. Adam Frazier’s double tied the score.
Jeff Samardzija intentionally walked Jordy Mercer to load the bases for Williams, who chopped a grounder down the third-base line. Samardzija made an athletic, bare-hand grab before pivoting as his momentum took him away from the plate and throwing Cervelli out at home.
“At one time, he was the best wide receiver in Chicago,” said Hurdle, referring to Samardzija’s football days at Notre Dame. “Might have included the pro team.”
Then Samardzija shut it down. After Josh Harrison’s leadoff single in the third, he retired 13 batters in a row. In seven innings he struck out eight and allowed one run and four hits.
