SAN FRANCISCO – After Dan Haren retired the side in the fourth inning on Friday night – the only inning in which he allowed a run – he reacted angrily on his way off the field.
It was as if he knew one run was too much.
Then when Haren was pinch-hit for in the top of the seventh, he slammed his batting helmet in the dugout. He might have been upset with manager Bob Melvin’s decision. Or maybe he was frustrated with an offense that barely has supported him.
For the third time in as many starts this season, Haren was the losing pitcher in a game he pitched well enough to win as Jonathan Sanchez and the San Francisco Giants blanked the Arizona Diamondbacks 2-0 at AT&T Park.
Haren gave up just one run in six innings. He has given up four runs in 19 innings in his three starts.
He has his offense to thank. It has provided him with a grand total of one run of support in those three losses.
“I go out and I do my best to stay confident every time out but it’s tough,” he said. “We’re not playing well as a team and I’m 0-3. I’m not happy about it.”
It was another game in which the D’backs’ opportunities to score were magnified because they were so few and far between.
“(Haren’s) a pretty good pitcher and I didn’t think we were going to score a lot of runs and that’s what happened,” Sanchez said.
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Arizona (Davis 0-2) at San Francisco (0-1), 1:05 p.m. Saturday. TV: none. Radio: 1490 AM