Friday\u2019s 9-4 loss against the Chicago White Sox was just the latest in a growing line of duds, of get-it-over-with games \u2014 and it started with an element of promise. They always do: fresh off a day of rest, back home after a nine game road trip, Trevor McDonald on the mound.<\/p>\n
McDonald\u2019s career still qualifies as fledgling\u2014 Friday was just his sixth career start and fourth this year \u2014 but he\u2019s already earned a reputation as a ballast for the rotation and fanbase. McDonald has taken the mound calmly, stoically, against Los Angeles<\/a> (twice), against San Diego<\/a>, and helped everyone in the Giants organization feel a little less insane. San Francisco had won every one of his starts. The young right-hander had pitched into the 6th in every one of his outings while logging four quality starts. Three runs were the most he had allowed in a game going into Friday.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n The reason for McDonald\u2019s early success<\/a> has been his ability to stay out of trouble. He\u2019s attacked the zone aggressively so far and that\u2019s because he trusts the weight of his sinker and movement of his slider. Strikeouts aren\u2019t necessary because batters weren\u2019t hitting the ball hard against him, and more often than not, those balls in play were diving directly into the ground. Contact was McDonald\u2019s friend, so why not force batters to swing?<\/p>\n Friday\u2019s outing started out exactly like that. McDonald\u2019s first three innings were flawless. Nine up, nine down with the help of a trio of strikeouts, and a pair of nice plays by Rafael Devers<\/a> at first. In the 3rd, he retired the first two batters on two pitches before K\u2019ing Derek Hill<\/a> for an efficient six-pitch frame.<\/p>\n View Link<\/a><\/p>\n The only stressor in those early innings was his Chicago counterpart Davis Martin<\/a>. The righty came into town with the third lowest ERA in baseball, thanks in part to a six-pitch mix that kept hitters on their heels. He gave up three singles over those first three frames (including two lead-off hits), but used that deep bag of tricks to elicit five strike-threes, nullifying any threat those knocks posed.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n The 4th inning came around, and we were all settled in for a pitcher\u2019s duel. A two-hour tit-for-tat exchange\u2026 and then McDonald slung a sinker into Sam Antonacci\u2019s calf and that was that. A nickel on the track that sent McDonald\u2019s outing off the rails like we had never seen before.<\/p>\n View Link<\/a><\/p>\n That HBP was followed by another: a slider skipping off the back foot of Munetaka Murakami<\/a>. A one-out swinging bunt by Colson Montgomery<\/a> loaded the bases. A frustrating turn of events, but for a groundball pitcher like McDonald, there\u2019s a clear way out of the bramble unscathed. Welcome contact. Get the ball on the ground. Attack the zone. We had all seen McDonald do this before, we all expected him to do it again because across our short relationship with the pitcher, there was no memory of him not coming through for us.<\/p>\n We all have that memory now. It was destined to happen eventually. We all shall fall, and McDonald fell behind in the count to Chase Meidroth<\/a>, who clearly had no intention of moving the bat from his shoulder until he had to swing out of a two-strike corner. McDonald never forced his hand. He took five pitches and accepted the third gift of 90 feet as well as an RBI. Andrew Benintendi<\/a>, a veteran who smelled blood on the water, ambushed a first pitch, get-it-in slider for a two-run double.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Sensing the game get away from them, the defense started to do too much. On a grounder that took him to his knees, Luis Arraez<\/a> forced a desperate throw home instead of just conceding another run and taking the second out. That fielder\u2019s choice proved costly. The inning could\u2019ve been mercifully over after McDonald struck out the next batter, Tristan Peters<\/a> \u2013 instead the frame wore on with number-9 man Derek Hill punching a sinker to right for an RBI single.<\/p>\n At that point, McDonald\u2019s efficient pitch count had swelled like road kill on a Texas<\/a> interstate. A six pitch 3rd followed by a 34 pitch 4th was too much strain, and Tony Vitello decided to pull McDonald from the mound with just 3.2 innings logged, his shortest outing in his short career. Nine batters faced in the first three innings followed by nine in one frame \u2014 a shocking and sudden turn of events and completely new experience for McDonald.<\/p>\n The wheels came off fast, but the subsequent crash went down in slow-motion. Even with McDonald dragged from the scene, the train kept comically rolling over itself. Ryan Borucki<\/a> came in and decidedly did not bring the ruckus. Rather, he just re-set the whole thing by allowing the lefties he was brought into face reach base all over again.<\/p>\n Sam Antonacci, who (if you can remember way back when) started the whole ordeal by taking a sinker to the calf, got grazed again by Borucki. Murakami then punched an 0-2 bases clearing double to left, swelling McDonald\u2019s earned run total on the day to 7. Murakami then scored from second on an infield single, and an error by Willy Adames<\/a> on another desperate infielder\u2019s throw from the hole.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n