MILWAUKEE -- The Giants hoped Johnny Cueto's addition would be a big boost for the bullpen. In his debut, Cueto ended up helping the lineup.
A day after Cueto went seven quick innings and led the Giants to a two-hour, 29-minute win, manager Bruce Bochy changed his mind and left Buster Posey in the lineup. The No. 3 hitter was supposed to get Wednesday off because the Giants have another day game on Thursday.
"The game (last night) went well," Bochy said. "It was a crisp, quick game. They're good to go. They all wanted to go. This is our third game, and Buster might have been the one guy you might think about giving a break, but he was adamant that he was fresh."
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From the outside, it's easy to look at games played and games started, but the Giants break it down much more than that. Pitchers are judged by how stressful their innings are -- a 34-pitch inning is much tougher on the body than two 17-pitch innings -- and catchers are, too. Posey had a light night Tuesday. Cueto worked quickly and Sergio Romo and Santiago Casilla didn't get into any trouble.
The one guy who is off Wednesday is center fielder Denard Span, who is under the weather. The clubhouse flu lives on.
--- Gregor Blanco replaces Span in center and Pagan in the lineup. Pagan is moving back to his old leadoff spot for the day. Bochy said that for now, Blanco will be the guy in center when Span sits.
"We're better off going that way and making Gregor the rover," Bochy said. "Gregor is comfortable doing it."
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Given the way Pagan has run around the first two games, the staff feels like he would be fine going back to center -- and better than he was last year. But they want him focused on left for the first few months.
"There's still a learning curve for him, although he's not showing it," Bochy said.
--- Here's my game story from last night, which briefly mentions Cueto's mad dash to first. Casilla was laughing about it this morning, and he said he was yelling at Cueto to "take it easy!" Casilla was probably the last Giants pitcher to bust it down the line like that and it left him with a hamstring strain two years ago at Coors Field. While talking about Cueto's speed, Casilla dropped his shoulders and eyelids to impersonate Cueto and said he looks like the most laid-back guy in the world when he walks around, but then, "Boom! He can move!" It's early, but Cueto may be the fastest starter when it comes to covering first on grounders.
--- When I walked in the clubhouse last night, Brandon Belt held his arms up triumphantly and then pretended he was putting a bunt down. Belt has promised to fight back against the shift, and last night he got a bunt single. Before the game he said he would put one down if the Brewers stayed that aggressive with their shifts. He's like the Babe Ruth of bunting against the shift.
--- Didn't take long for Hunter Pence to go full Jordan. It's here on my Facebook page.
--- Jeff Samardzija makes his debut today. He's 0-5 with a 4.85 ERA in nine career starts against Milwaukee and he has a 6.55 ERA at Miller Park.