Giants’ Duffy bruised by pitch as Samardzija is bruised by Braves
If a starting pitcher wants to fly with his teammates and get in late rather than fly commercially earlier in the day, nobody is going to make him. Samardzija allowed five runs (four earned) in five innings, his shortest start as a Giant, all the runs coming in a span of 12 batters in the second and third innings. After allowing six runs over his first five starts in May, Samardzija surrendered half that many on one swing by rookie left fielder Mallex Smith, who shot a bases-loaded triple through the left-center gap. The Giants sweated through some nervous moments before learning that X-rays on Matt Duffy's left arm, just above his wrist, were negative. Braves starter Mike Foltynewicz, who otherwise spotted a wicked fastball and an array of breaking pitches with GPS accuracy, drilled Duffy in the sixth inning. After the Giants scored 16 runs over the final two games in Denver, Foltynewicz held them to three hits in six-plus innings, including a Brandon Belt home run, which was not nearly enough to counter a rare bad game by one of the Big Three. The manager admitted he was getting "frustrated" with umpire John Tumpane's calls on borderline pitches and thought Samardzija was out of sync on one pitch, the three-run Smith triple. The Braves treated 23,147 fans to a rare home win, their fifth in 26 games.