Barber: Giants let Andrew Suarez down in 7-3 loss to Diamondbacks

SAN FRANCISCO

The Giants aren’t making it easy on their young pitchers. Two days in a row, they trotted out a young starter making his Major League Baseball debut against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Each performed capably, each gave his team a chance to win. Both finished with no-decisions, a term that might also describe their immediate future.

Tuesday, it was Tyler Beede, in a game the Giants ultimately won in the bottom of the ninth inning on Andrew McCutchen’s walk-off hit. Wednesday it was Andrew Suarez’s turn. He exited in the top of the sixth inning to a standing ovation at AT&T Park - before a crowd that included his mom, grandmother and brothers - with the game tied 3-3.

“It was great,” Suarez said of the ovation. “I haven’t had one of those in … ever.” He laughed to hear himself say it.

An hour or so after Suarez tipped his cap, the Diamondbacks were putting the finishing touches on a 7-3 win. And now he joins Beede in The Great Waiting Room of Uncertainty. Take a number and wait for further instructions.

There were legitimate reasons to applaud the young lefthander. Suarez, 25, was perfect his first time through the order, setting down the first 10 D-backs he faced. He struck out seven batters in 5? innings, walked nobody, gave up four hits and threw 62 strikes to just 21 balls.

“I thought he did a nice job pounding the strike zone,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said after the game.

Veteran catcher Nick Hundley, who was behind the plate all afternoon with Buster Posey playing first base, was more effusive.

“I thought he threw the ball really well,” Hundley said. “Very composed, very aggressive. He challenged guys, throwing all three of his off-speed pitches for strikes when he wanted to. It was a very impressive debut. Bodes well for him.”

Beede’s arm is the one that everybody in the Giants organization has been watching and carefully curating. He hasn’t exactly been lights-out in the minor leagues. For example, he was 6-7 with a 4.39 ERA and 1.468 walks/hits per inning pitched at Triple-A Sacramento last year. But Beede was a No. 1 draft choice (No. 14 overall) in 2014. Baseball Prospectus listed him as the Giants’ No. 3 prospect - and No. 1 on the mound - in 2018.

Suarez’s pedigree is a notch below. He was a second-round draft pick (No. 61 overall) out of the University of Miami in 2015. He’s a prospect, for sure, but he didn’t appear to be on the fast track until Giants starting pitchers started to fall like bowling pins. Suarez’s major-league appearance, like Beede’s, was born of necessity.

It went well, though. It really did.

The book on Suarez says he’s a poised young pitcher who wields a solid fastball, slider and changeup, but doesn’t throw any of them with dominance. Great location with his pitches; can be knocked around a little bit. Facing down this division rival wasn’t an ideal first assignment.

“The Diamondbacks are notoriously tough on lefties,” Hundley noted.

Yet the game never felt too big for Suarez. As Hundley put it: “His life wasn’t overpowered by the moment. He looked like he’d been doing it a long time.”

“Yeah, I felt good,” Suarez said. “I think pitching (against the A’s at AT&T) in the Bay Series helped out a lot. It felt like any other game.”

Suarez made a couple of mistakes, though, and he paid dearly for both. Paul Goldschmidt, who had tied Tuesday’s game with a ninth-inning home run, blasted a two-run homer to center field to open the scoring in the fourth inning. And catcher John Ryan Murphy crushed one to left field on the first pitch he saw from Suarez in the fifth. Both home runs came on hanging sliders, Suarez said.

“Sometimes I try to throw it too hard, and I end up opening up instead of staying closed,” Suarez explained.

When Arizona’s Ketel Marte doubled into the left-center gap on a middle-in fastball with one out in the sixth, that was it for Suarez. He left the Giants with a tie game. Reliever Sam Dyson let Suarez down, though. Dyson seemed to resurrect his career after coming to San Francisco in a trade last June, but he has fizzled in 2018. Wednesday, he faced seven batters and gave up four hits, including three doubles. Three of those runners scored. Dyson’s ERA stands at 8.31.

Overall, though, the Giants bullpen has been a team strength this season. The real problem for these young pitchers is an offense that provides almost no early support.

Through Wednesday’s loss, the Giants have scored a total of eight runs in the first four innings of games. That’s eight runs in 44 innings, which would translate to an ERA of 1.27. This team has yet to score in the third inning in 2018.

Pitching in a major-league game for the first time is always a nerve-jangling experience. “The only thing I could compare it to is Omaha, but it’s still not even close,” Suarez said, offering a sentiment that must come as a huge relief to citizens of The City.

And that experience doesn’t get any easier when you’re getting no run support and you feel like anything you give up might stick you with a loss.

It also is no gift to guys like Beede and Suarez that their visit to the big leagues comes with the soundtrack of a ticking clock. They’re here because Madison Bumgarner broke his left pinkie on a ball hit up the middle in spring training, and Jeff Samardzija strained a pectoral muscle at the end of spring, and Johnny Cueto tweaked his ankle last weekend.

Samardzija is expected to pitch for Single-A San Jose on Saturday, and Cueto’s injury isn’t considered serious. Both could be available next week. Bochy said before Wednesday’s game that Beede is likely to get one more start, at San Diego on Sunday. And Suarez?

“He’ll get another chance, I can’t tell you when,” Bochy said. “We’ll wait and see. We’re talking about it now.”

Suarez earned that next chance. With any luck, the Giants’ bats will have found a little life by the time he gets it, and he won’t have to win the game all by himself.

You can reach columnist Phil Barber at 707-521-5263 or phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com. Follow him on Twitter: @Skinny_Post.