April 4th, 2006
Matt Morris was ineffective in his Giants debut, allowing six runs on nine hits and three walks.
Morris, Giants Roughed Up in Game Two
San Francisco 4,
San Diego 8
Matt Morris was amped up to make his Giants debut, and he's the first to admit that may have cost him. "I was overthrowing all night," he told reporters in a post-game interview. "You don't get any sink on your pitches when you overthrow, and my stuff was flat in the zone. They were just sitting on the fastball."
Sit on it they did, as the Padres abused Morris for nine hits in only four and two thirds innings, chasing him in the fifth after he was unable to collect the third out allowing four consecutive batters to reach base. Down 6-1 halfway through the game, the Giants seemed to give up briefly, going down easily in the sixth and seventh before mounting a brief comeback in the final two innings. First baseman Lance Niekro belted a towering solo home run in the eighth and Randy Winn added a two-run triple in the ninth but it was too little too late as the Giants fell to their division rivals a second time. Chris Young, making his debut as a Padre after coming over from Texas in the off-season was solid, holding the Giants to just one run over seven innings of work.
Mike Kinkade collected three RBI for the second straight game, adding two bases on balls as well, and Josh Barfield collected his first major-league home run off of Morris in the fourth. The Giants will attempt to avoid being swept tomorrow as they sent rookie phenom Matt Cain to the hill against young righthander Tim Stauffer.