**CARLOS TOSCA
On the 4-run Giants fifth inning, after 6-run fourth Friday
“If we can get a ground ball there, we can get ourselves out of the inning. But I think you’ve got to give the Giants credit. They don’t miss a mistake in the strike zone, and there were a few more balls put in play a little firmer than yesterday. It kind of got a little ugly there toward the end.”
On Upton’s play on triple
“It’s a big outfield out there, and you’ve got the wind to play with, and we’re flipping and flopping him back and forth from left to right. You’ve got to give an all-out effort for that ball, and he did. And didn’t quite get to it. And the same way with Evan out in left field. Just a couple of inches away from making a play.”
On Bumgarner’s performance
“He’s (effectively) wild in the strike zone and out of the strike zone, those pitches that go from strikes to balls. You’re geared up to be aggressive in the strike zone, but at the same time in the back of your head is, he throws a lot of pitches that are borderline strikes. So you’ve got to pick one or the other.”
On Blanco’s three-run double off Gearrin
“When you bring Cory in the game you’re looking for a groundball. That’s his job, to get a ground ball. He elevated that ball to Blanco and he (Blanco) didn’t miss it. But that’s his job, to bring him in in those situations to bring him in and get a groundball double-play and you’re out of the inning.”
On Posey coming up in crucial situations
“Yeah, that guy’s a pretty good player. You’d like to see him come up with two outs and nobody on, but that hasn’t been the case here the last couple of days.”
On Maholm
“Pauly usually goes through the lineup rather quickly, and with a limited amount of pitches. His pitch count was up a little bit for that amount of innings. I mean, he competes; he always competes. But he wasn’t the Maholm that we’re used to knowing.”
On Chris Johnson’s knee
“The ball hit the patella tendon and it kind of shot down his leg, and he’s a little bit numb. But he should be OK to go.”
**CHRIS JOHNSON
Ball hit you directly on the patella?
“Yeah, on the very tip, right here.”
Think you’ll be OK?
“They said it’s just swelling. Hopefully just a day. They didn’t even rule out tomorrow, so hopefully I can come back in. I asked him a couple of times already…. I’ll try to stretch it out. Just a matter of getting the swelling out of there.”
On Bumgarner
“He’s nasty. For me, he’s one of the best lefties in the game. He throws his cutter in to righties, makes righties feel uneasy. He throws his two-seam away, throws a slider, his change-up is good. You get a guy like that, you can’t really do too much with him, at this level.”
**JUSTIN UPTON
Is this outfield tougher than most, with the shadows and wind and all?
“It’s definitely a difficult outfield. You definitely have to make a decision pre-pitch on how aggressive you want to be. And hopefully you’re right.”
When did you decide to come in on that sinking liner? (missed it, turned into triple)
“From the jump I should have played that ball (conservatively) to keep the double-play intact. It was an error on my behalf. I was too aggressive on that ball. I still thought I had a chance to catch it. It just got under my glove when I reached for it. It’s a tough situation.”
On the Posey double over his head at warning track
“With Posey in a 2-0 count, I have to make sure that I give him a little bit of room. I was just too shallow. That ball carried and carried on me. Like I said, pre-pitch adjustments you’ve got to make.”
Tough day all-around against Bumgarner?
“Yeah, it’s bright out there. You’re grinding every at-bat trying to see the ball. He’s a tough at-bat. You had to lock in, and we weren’t able to get to him.”
**PAUL MAHOLM
Things snowballed in that four-run inning, like they did night before?
“Obviously I didn’t make a few pitches, we didn’t make a few plays. We weren’t able to get anything on the board. They played better today.”
“In a big park, it’s like last night with Huddy they were hitting them just out of reach, today they hit a few that were just out of reach. I don’t know what the first-pitch strike (ratio) was, but it seemed to melike I was battling a little bit to get ahead, to make them hit my pitch. I made some pitches; things just didn’t work out.”
On Giants not missing many mistakes when hitters got ahead in counts
“The 3-2 curveball to Pablo in the first, I missed middle-in rather than away. If you sit 3-2 curveball and you hit a home run, hat’s off to you. Obviously he’s a free-swinger and he’s a good hitter. It happens. The RBI to Crawford was a fastball away. It was a little up and he just swung late and kept it right inside the line. And then the last inning (fourth), the pop-up to right they ended up with a triple, and the fly ball to right that Buster hit ended up for a double. The other two were an intentional walk and a hit-by-pitch, so….
“I look at it as, if I didn’t put up zeroes all around we still lost. When we get back home I’ve got to face the Dodgers, and I’m going to work on a few things between now and then and get my curveball back to what it had been. It’s been a little loopy, or I’ve been missing first pitch. That’s one of my keys is, I need that to be a strike and I need to have that as a swing-and-miss pitch. So it’s something I need to work on.”
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