Cueto, Giants grind past Cardinals
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[June 04, 2016]
ST. LOUIS -- There was reason to
anticipate that Johnny Cueto's great start might hit a roadblock
Friday.
After all, the San Francisco Giants' ace right-hander entered the
game with a 5.71 career earned run average at Busch Stadium, along
with a 1-5 record in his last 10 starts against the St. Louis
Cardinals.
But despite uncharacteristic control trouble and a season-low one
strikeout, Cueto still gave San Francisco another win, grinding his
way through six innings of a 5-1 verdict.
In upping his record to 9-1, Cueto gave up only four hits and an
unearned run, thanks to a throwing error by first baseman Brandon
Belt that led to Stephen Piscotty's two-out RBI single in the third.
"It's a young team with young players," Cueto said through an
interpreter when asked the difference between this and other starts
against St. Louis. "I've had some good starts against them and some
really bad ones, but this is 2016 and this is a new year."
And a new team behind him, one that's 35-22 and cruising through the
NL West with a sizeable lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Giants were mostly stifled by Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright
during his seven innings, but took advantage of their best
opportunity in the fourth, stringing together four singles for the
two runs that snapped Wainwright's five-game winning streak.
Most pleasing to manager Bruce Bochy was that the last three hits,
including ones by Brandon Belt and Brandon Crawford that produced
the runs, occurred after Wainwright had obtained two strikes.
"Wainwright was good tonight," Bochy said. "We didn't have much
going until that time. Our approach was good that inning."
Cueto entered the game with the second-highest percentage of
first-pitch strikes among qualified starters at 71.2 percent, but
managed 14 of 27 in this one and threw only 60 of 105 pitches for
strikes.
His five walks were three more than he'd allowed in any of his first
11 starts, but Cueto didn't permit any of them to score. He stranded
seven St. Louis runners in the first four innings, inducing a soft
tapper back to the mound from Randal Grichuk to leave the bases
loaded in the third.
"It just wasn't my day today," said Cueto, who repeatedly said that
back problems which hampered his Sunday start in Colorado didn't
affect him in this one. "I was just throwing too many balls."
That problem also afflicted Cardinals closer Trevor Rosenthal, who
came on in the ninth for his first appearance since Monday and
walked the only three men he faced before manager Mike Matheny
hooked him for rookie Dean Kiekhefer.
Denard Span greeted Kiefhefer with a two-run single through a
drawn-in infield for a 4-1 lead, and Matt Duffy finished the scoring
with a squeeze bunt on the first pitch from Jonathan Broxton.
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Giants starting pitcher
Johnny Cueto (47) pitches to a St. Louis Cardinals batter during the
second inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA
TODAY Sports
Wainwright (5-4) worked seven innings, giving up five hits and two
runs with a walk and six strikeouts.
"It was a shame that he gave up a couple of runs on groundball
hits," Matheny said. "Adam was good, but we just couldn't put hits
together. We had a couple of opportunities against Cueto, but not
much."
Playing the first of only 10 home games in June, St. Louis (28-27)
fell to 13-16 when wearing the white uniforms and saw its streak of
homering in eight straight games snapped.
Meanwhile, San Francisco is 5-3 on its 10-game road trip and has won
18 of its last 22 games.
"I think every team would say this, but the pitching sets the tone,
especially the starters," Bochy said. "If they get deep into the
game, you can make the moves you want. Cueto did his job and the
bullpen did a great job."
NOTES: St. Louis signed RHP Jerome Williams to a minor league
contract and will send him to Triple-A Memphis. The 34-year old
Williams last pitched last year with Philadelphia, going 4-12 with a
5.80 ERA in 33 games, 21 of which were starts. ... San Francisco RF
Hunter Pence (hamstring) is scheduled to undergo surgery Thursday
and will be out at least eight weeks. Pence was injured Wednesday
night in Atlanta. ... Cardinals C Brayan Pena (left knee) will start
a rehab assignment Tuesday night at Double-A Springfield. Pena was
injured late in spring training and hasn't played yet this season.
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