SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco Giants left-hander Andrew Suarez will seek to reverse a trend of pitching in bad luck when the faces the San Diego Padres on
Saturday afternoon on the third day of a four-game series.
Suarez (2-4
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five starts, is coming off back-to-back outings that were mirror images of one
another.
Facing the Miami Marlins on both occasions, Suarez was pulled in the sixth and seventh innings of his last two starts, both times having held the opponent
to two runs and both times exiting with a lead.
But the Marlins rallied against the Giants’ bullpen each time, pulling out a 5-4 win in both games.
The rookie has allowed three earned runs or fewer six times this season, yet has only two wins to show for it.
One of those six games occurred the only time he faced the Padres.
Lo and behold, he pitched seven innings in that May 1 game, allowing two runs, and left a 2-2 tie. The Giants went on to lose 3-2.
He’s 0-0 with a 2.57 ERA against the Padres.
Suarez can expect to see a bit of a different look from San Diego on Saturday, as Padres manager Andy Green indicated Friday that he’s strongly
considering moving Manuel Margot back to the leadoff spot against the
left-hander.
Green put Wil Myers atop his lineup card Thursday night against another lefty
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Myers went hitless and the Padres got shut out 3-0.
Batting seventh against a right-hander on Friday night, Margot had two hits and two RBIs in San Diego’s 6-2 win.
He has raised his average to .245 after having spent much of the first two months below .200. He batted leadoff 15 times in that early stretch.
“He’s settled in so comfortably in that seven spot, I haven’t wanted to make an adjustment with him,” said Green, noting he came close to penciling him back
into the leadoff spot Thursday. “It’s been such a push for us to get him going
that once he’s gotten going, it has seemed prudent to leave him alone down there
in the seven hole.
“I do think sometime in the near future you’re going to see him back toward the top, against left-handed pitching especially.”
Margot, the club’s leadoff hitter on Opening Day, hit just .156 atop the lineup before getting demoted in May. He has hit .333 while batting seventh.
Another decision Green will have to make Saturday is what to do with third baseman Cory Spangenberg, who contributed two hits and two runs to Friday’s
win.
Spangenberg has hit safely in a personal-best 11 straight starts but hasn’t been starting lately against left-handed
pitchers
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The Padres will send right-hander Jordan Lyles (2-4, 4.46) to the mound hoping he can snap a three-game skid, during which he has allowed 13 runs in 17
1/3 innings.
Lyles pitched three times out of the bullpen in earlier meetings with the Giants, limiting them to one hit and no runs in 4 2/3 innings.
That was quite a contrast to the last time he started against San Francisco, which was in an 8-0 loss in September. He gave up seven runs and 10 hits in 3
2/3 innings.
Lyles has faced the Giants 17 times in his career, seven times as a starter, going 3-3 with a 6.11 ERA.
After a rough debut, Cleveland Indians rookie Shane Bieber has found his routine.
Edwin Encarnacion and Lonnie Chisenhall hit back-to-back homers, Bieber pitched six strong innings and the Indians beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-1 on
Wednesday night.
Bieber (3-0) struck out seven to become the seventh pitcher in baseball’s modern era to strike out six or more batters in each of his first four major
league starts. After giving up four runs in 5 2/3 innings in his first outing,
Bieber has given up just two runs in his last three starts and lowered his ERA
to 2.22.
”It’s just being able to fall into a routine and just get a little more comfortable within that routine and within the clubhouse here and with the guys
and all that,” Bieber said. ”That goes a long way to being able to establish
what you want to do.”
The Indians avoided a series sweep and have won eight of 10. Cleveland starters improved to 17-2 with a 2.26 ERA across 26 starts in series
finales
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”For a young kid when runners are on and things start to happen, he seems to pitch more maturely than his age would indicate,” Indians manager Terry Francona
said. ”He starts throwing his breaking ball, gets some chase, doesn’t panic,
game doesn’t speed up. That’s a real nice trait for anybody, let alone a kid
that’s got four major league starts.”
Bieber jumped on a first-pitch fastball from Jack Flaherty in the fourth for a double, his first major league hit.
Jose Martinez snapped Bieber’s scoreless innings streak at 14 innings with a one-out RBI single in the third.
”I thought he had a good breaking ball,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said of Bieber. ”It must have been a little different from than what guys have seen
lately, you could tell some of the swings even in counts where they might have
been looking for it might have been off a bit.”
Encarnacion and Chisenhall gave the Indians a 2-0 lead in the second, marking Cleveland’s fifth back-to-back home runs this season.
Francisco Lindor walked and Michael Brantley doubled to spark a two-run third that extended the Indians’ lead to 4-0. Tyler Naquin doubled home another run in
the sixth.
Francona credited a loose atmosphere after the Indians dropped the first two in the series.
”It’s not necessarily about being silly but it’s about you don’t want to just be
tight
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and it’s nice to come back and play a good one with a day off tomorrow and a
long flight.”
Flaherty (3-3) went four innings, his shortest outing this season as the Cardinals had their four-game winning streak snapped. It followed perhaps his
most dominant start, in which he carried a no-hitter for 6 1/3 innings against
Milwaukee on Friday.
”Those two home runs were missed spots and I just wasn’t able to execute,” Flaherty said. ”They hit some balls that fell.”
Matt Carpenter walked, doubled and scored a night after scoring five runs and getting five hits.
TRAINING ROOM
Indians: RHP Carlos Carrasco (right elbow contusion) threw a bullpen session and will throw about 65 pitches on a rehab assignment Saturday at Double-A
Akron.
Cardinals: SS Paul DeJong (left hand fracture) is scheduled to meet with doctors Thursday with the hopes of being cleared to head out for a rehab
assignment.
UP NEXT
Indians: RHP Trevor Bauer (7-5, 2.44 ERA) will kick off a three-game series against Oakland and RHP Paul Blackburn (1-2, 8.83 ERA) on Friday. Bauer is 1-2
with a 4.44 ERA in five career starts against the A’s.
Cardinals: RHP Miles Mikolas (8-2, 2.69 ERA) will get the start as St. Louis hosts Atlanta and RHP Julio Teheran (5-5, 4.52 ERA) in the first of a three-game
set Friday. Mikolas threw 2 1/3 scoreless relief innings in his only career
appearance against the Braves on Aug. 15, 2012.
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