San Francisco Giants’ starter Johnny Cueto had one of his best performances in a while in the team’s home opener Friday, a 3-1 win over the Colorado Rockies. Cueto retired the first 13 batters he faced, then gave up a fifth-inning walk and single, but then got an inning-ending double play. He then pitched three more shutout innings before giving up one run in the ninth on a leadoff triple and then a sacrifice fly. And he got two ninth-inning outs before San Francisco Giants’ manager Gabe Kapler turned to closer Jake McGee for the final out (following a Trevor Story single), finishing the day with seven strikeouts and only four hits allowed. His most impressive pitch of the day may have been the hesitation pitch/triple-shimmy move he used on the seventh-inning strikeout of C.J. Crom:
That’s quite the pitch. And it was quite the overall day for Cueto. Here’s what he told reporters, including Kerry Crowley of The Mercury News, following the game:
“I feed off the crowd and I like to pitch in front of the crowd,” Cueto said through Spanish language interpreter Erwin Higueros.
…“I was just able to be on top of the hitters and be aggressive in the strike zone.”
Well, that certainly worked out well for him here. We’ll see how Cueto does this season.
[The Mercury News; photo from D. Ross Cameron/USA Today Sports]
About Andrew Bucholtz
Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.