Sedona Red Recap: Chase Anderson chased early as D-backs fall to Giants

PHOENIX — On another September day marked by a series of call-ups, the Arizona Diamondbacks found themselves in a game where the only positives have to do with next year.

The ever-competitive Chip Hale didn’t mean for it to happen that way.

Arizona, perhaps not by choice, went deep into the bullpen, using six relievers on a night that got away from starter Chase Anderson in just the third inning. The starting pitcher allowed five earned runs before getting the plug pulled in the D-backs’ 6-2 loss, their fifth in six games.

A deeper roster thanks to seven more call-ups announced Tuesday — now full enough to force newcomers Peter O’Brien and Socrates Brito to share locker space — gave Hale the easier decision to pull Anderson.

Nevertheless, it’s not ideal for the starting pitcher to pitch two-plus frames and allow five runs in the third inning.

“Kind of happened really fast,” Anderson said. “Left the ball up on some pitches, didn’t hit spots. Need to learn to hit pitches when they start to swing on the fastball early in the count. Just didn’t limit the damage. It was my fault tonight, for sure.”

The Diamondbacks’ bats didn’t help.

Paul Goldschmidt got the D-backs off the ground with a single in the bottom of the fourth, and singles by David Peralta and Jarrod Saltalamacchia loaded the bases with an out. A sacrifice RBI flyout by Jake Lamb allowed Goldschmidt to score, making it 5-1.

But the D-backs missed the chance to tack on another run when Peralta, turning the hot corner during Goldschmidt’s score, misread the Giants’ poor throw that got behind catcher Buster Posey at home. Peralta ran too far off past third before being tagged out as he attempted to return to the base.

“We talk a lot about playing the scoreboard and he didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” Hale said of the overrun. “It’s hard to get on him because he plays at that speed all the time.”

That would be the last true scoring threat for Arizona, which only mustered a single hit — a homer by Saltalamacchia in the seventh inning — during the final five innings.

The good

– Socrates Brito pinch-hit in the third inning and recorded a hit on his first major league at-bat. The outfielder, who was recalled from Double-A Mobile on Tuesday, hit a high infield chopper and beat pitcher Tim Hudson to the first-base bag.

It took just one at-bat for @SocratesBrito to get the keys to the bus: http://t.co/88ugWOVqD2 🚌 pic.twitter.com/jBj1tWV6Jn

— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) September 9, 2015

-Hale said he also liked the performances out of relief pitchers Keith Hessler and Enrique Burgos, who combined for the sixth through eighth innings allowed one hit and no runs.

– Saltalamacchia made the Giants miss Hudson quite quickly. In the Diamondbacks’ second at-bat against the San Francisco bullpen, the catcher sent a solo shot to left field against reliever Josh Osich, cutting the Giants’ lead to 5-2. It was Saltalamacchia’s fifth homer as a D-back.

– Peralta made up for the his fourth-inning overrun of third base with the first out of the next frame, when he sprinted to make a sliding catch on a drive by Posey into far left field.

The bad

– Gregor Blanco cranked a home run to center field to begin the top of the third inning, and three pitches later, the 40-year-old Hudson hit the fourth homer of his 16-year MLB career to give San Francisco a 2-0 lead. The game snowballed on Anderson from there, as the top of the order clubbed him around for another score on a Joe Panik RBI to score Angel Pagan. Matt Duffy scored Panik soon after, leaving D-backs reliever Silvino Bracho to pick up in the third inning with no outs. The Giants tacked on one more run on Bracho before Arizona got out of the inning.

– One scoring inning aside, the Diamondbacks bats didn’t challenge Hudson, who needed 74 pitches (53 strikes) to go six innings and allow one earned run. “He was sinking the ball, which he always does. And throwing the slider,” Hale said.

– Joe Panik went deep on David Hernandez, extending the Giants’ lead to 6-2 in the top of the ninth inning.

Stat of the game

5 – The number of runs Anderson allowed in the third and the number of hits Arizona recorded on the day.

He said it

“Our job is to go deep in games. When you can’t even get through their third inning, it’s pretty sad, actually.” – Chase Anderson on his pitching struggles Tuesday

Noted

– For reasons unknown, an “A-S-U” chant rang out in left field as the Giants’ Brandon Belt was at the plate.

– In the bottom of the sixth, a frustrated Goldschmidt walked to the dugout with his bat hanging behind his shoulder after he had gotten ahead of Hudson 3-0 before taking three straight strikes, all reasonably in the strike zone.

Up next

-Arizona right-hander Zack Godley will make his final start of the season in the series finale against the Giants on Wednesday.

First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 p.m. MST, and the Diamondbacks’ pregame radio show will begin at 6 p.m. on Arizona Sports 98.7.

-Chris Heston (11-9, 3.54 ERA) takes the mound for San Francisco.

-Arizona has openly discussed a cautious approach with Godley, who is still making his transition from reliever to starter and won his first three major league starts for Arizona.

-Godley is 4-1 with a 3.62 ERA through six games, four of which were starts. He also has 99.2 innings of work in the minors, where he’s started 17 of 21 games.

-The health of the other members of Arizona’s pitching staff has to do with it as well.

-Jeremy Hellickson and Jhoulys Chacin will join what will become a six-man rotation after being recalled Tuesday. They join Robbie Ray, Rubby De La Rosa, Patrick Corbin and Chase Anderson.

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