MILWAUKEE — The local broadcast crew here has a camera that points directly into the visiting dugout, and on Friday night, the director used it often. Every few minutes, the feed switched to a shot of Bruce Bochy looking out at home plate. Almost every time, Bochy had a scowl on this face. Behind the plate, Nick Hundley did, too.
The frustration built and built until Hundley struck out with one down in the ninth inning. He immediately turned to home plate umpire Adam Hamari and voiced his displeasure, and then shifted some dirt around to show Hamari just how wrong he was. Bochy came out and was ejected, along with his catcher.
“That’s probably the most inconsistent strike zone I’ve seen all year,” Hundley said. “That built up.”
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Hundley pointed out that both teams were frustrated, but only one team boils over in situations like this one. The team that’s losing. The Giants fell 4-2, giving up all their runs on two of Milwaukee’s three hits. They have lost six straight, so it’s understandable that they’re more heated than usual at the moment.
“It was mounting up. It was a rough night there on some of the calls for us,” Bochy said. “Losing the ballgame, that adds to it. These guys care.”
Hundley has shown that for two years. There’s a reason he won the Willie Mac Award last season, and there’s a reason Bochy will run him out there 80 percent of the time even though rookie Aramis Garcia has shown promise. Hundley is beloved in the clubhouse, and starting pitcher Derek Holland called him one of the best teammates he’s had. Holland noted that Hundley has come to the ballpark every day this season and prepared as if he’s the starter.
“He’s fighting for us,” Holland said. “What happened at the end, that’s passion and competitiveness.”
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The Giants have not given up the fight, but too often they’re simply overmatched. This night showed just how far they have to go to catch up to a lineup like Milwaukee’s.
In the first inning, Ryan Braun hit a two-run shot, his 15th. That would tie him for the team lead in San Francisco. In Milwaukee, he ranks fifth. Braun and the rest of the Brewers certainly have benefited from a cozy home park, but it’s not like this current Giants lineup is doing much damage in places like Coors Field or Miller Park, anyway.
In the seventh, Hunter Strickland walked two ahead of Lorenzo Cain and Christian Yelich, a pair of MVP candidates. Strickland got Cain to fly out and Tony Watson struck out Yelich. But the Brewers are deep, far deeper than the Giants, and that left Watson facing Jesus Aguilar, who has 31 homers. He drove in his 96th and 97th runs with a double into the gap.
On the other side, the Giants went hitless in six at-bats with a runner in scoring position.
“That’s the difference between winning and losing,” Bochy said. “We had a couple of chances there. We just didn’t get the hit to keep things going.”
Hundley felt they were robbed of that opportunity. He was particularly steamed about a 3-0 strike call in the fourth that he said was “eight inches outside.” The bases would have been loaded. Instead, Hundley popped up and the Giants went down without a run.
“It’s a completely different game,” Hundley said. “Nobody out with the bases loaded — it’s a completely different game, a completely different game. But that’s what we got today.”