Giants' frustrations with umpires lead to pregame ejection for coach before loss

A long day at Oracle Park opened with a bang on Saturday, even if it went unnoticed by most fans: Ron Wotus, a non-traveling member of the San Francisco Giants coaching staff, got himself tossed during the lineup card exchange.

The bench coach for the Giants' three championship teams the previous decade, Wotus clearly didn't care for the ejections leveled the previous night. Alan Porter, who was the home-plate umpire Friday night, had tossed manager Tony Vitello and Porter and Wotus exchanged some heated words Saturday until Wotus earned the early shower.

That was the most significant action in the first game of the day-night doubleheader until Lars Nootbaar's grand slam in the seventh off reliever Ryan Walker made up the bulk of the scoring in the Arizona Diamondbacks' 7-1 win. All three baserunners reached via walks, two by starter Matt Wilkinson in an otherwise excellent six-plus inning home debut, and one by Walker. It was the second slam the Giants' bullpen has allowed this week following Eugenio Suárez's drive off Dylan Smith on Wednesday, the centerpiece of the Reds' historic comeback from a six-run deficit in the ninth.

The loss was San Francisco's 81st of the season, giving the team five consecutive non-winning seasons for the first time in franchise history.

The Giants clearly had some strong feelings remaining from Friday night. Wotus refused to be specific about his conversation with Porter but it's safe to assume he was sticking up for Vitello.

a-homered for Fernandez in the 7th. b-singled for Clarke in the 9th. c-flied out for Cavanaugh in the 9th. d-struck out for Furman in the 9th.

E: Hill (2). LOB: Arizona 4, San Francisco 7. 2B: Devers (32). HR: Nootbaar (6), off Walker. RBIs: Nootbaar 4 (26), Perdomo (47), Lawlar (9), Lee (48). SB: Tawa (8).

Runners left in scoring position: Arizona 3 (Lawlar, Carroll, Arenado); San Francisco 2 (Hill, Cavanaugh). RISP: Arizona 4 for 10; San Francisco 1 for 4.

Runners moved up: Vargas. GIDP: Vargas, Carroll, Cavanaugh.

DP: Arizona 1 (Vargas, Perdomo, Tawa); San Francisco 2 (Furman, Koss, Devers; Koss, Furman, Devers).

ABS Challenge: Fernandez (Strike-Overturned to Ball); Waldschmidt (Strike-Overturned to Ball); Wilkinson (Ball-Confirmed); Clarke (Ball-Confirmed).

Umpires: Home, Jim Wolf; First, Jen Pawol; Second, Alex MacKay; Third, Alan Porter.

"I went up there and I asked Alan a few things about last night's game, and at one point he didn't want to discuss it anymore, and I did," Wotus said. "I'm going to leave it at that."

"He walked by and gave me the lineup and said, 'Sorry, I'm done for the day,'" Vitello said. "It took me a second to process it."

There were concerns after Friday's game that the umpires are singling Vitello out because of his lack of pro baseball experience, or, at the very least, that they are quicker with the hook than they might be with others. Both Vitello and director of pitching Frank Anderson, who came with Vitello from the University of Tennessee, have absorbed disparaging comments from umpire this season because of their college background, and Vitello said things "turned personal real quick" with Porter on Friday.

Dusty Baker, on hand for Jeff Kent's jersey retirement before Game 2, said he's unsure if the treatment Vitello is receiving is just because he's a rookie manager or because he came from the college ranks. "Maybe both," Baker said.

With two games Saturday and the same crew in town, Vitello said he had no plans to soft-pedal things. "Might as well be authentic and who you are," he said.

Retired umpire Ed Montague, now a supervisor, chatted with the crew and with Vitello before Game 1 and, Vitello said, "They're human beings. They've got to make calls one way or the other. If (emotions are involved), it's happening unintentionally. I would assume these guys are held to a pretty high standard. … They're trying to get every call correct."

Vitello and the umpires kept their distance Saturday, at least in Game 1. The lineup-card exchange before Game 2 will be watched closely, and the choice for delivering the card will be interesting. Asked if it might be him again, Wotus joked that bench coach Jayce Tingler "won't give me the card."

Wilkinson, 23, worked limited innings in his previous two stints as more of an opener; two in his big-league debut against Cleveland, his former organization, and 3⅔ innings at Boston on Sunday. With the Giants playing two games Saturday and the bullpen covering four innings the night before, Wilkinson needed to go as deep as possible, and he scattered three hits in his first six innings of work, retiring 12 in a row in the middle innings.

"He was great," Vitello said. "I think the fans really got into it and enjoyed watching him pitch in our park. He was outstanding and no disrespect to the Diamondbacks, they didn't really get to him. He just kind of ran out of gas there."

Wilkinson didn't walk a batter until the seventh, when eight of the nine pitches he threw were balls, the result of getting a little too sped up and not adjusting, Wilkinson said. He got a hearty ovation from the Oracle Park crowd, which Wilkinson called, "Pretty cool. Hopefully more to come."

Walker, back up from Triple-A Sacramento just this week, walked Tim Tawa then gave up Nootbaar's slam on a 2-2 fastball at the top of the zone. Typically, Walker throws the four-seam fastball sparingly, just 4% of the time entering Saturday. Last year, he threw two, total.

The Giants' staff, especially the relievers, are under instructions to throw strikes because they've walked far too many - 48 this month from the bullpen entering Game 1, fifth most in the majors. Avoiding walks is laudable, but too many strikes can backfire occasionally, making pitchers a little more predictable.

Left-hander Seth Lonsway, who was called up earlier in the morning, made his big-league debut and struck out Ildemaro Vargas to open the eighth. Lonsway gave up two hits and the Diamondbacks scored an unearned run off him thanks to Turner Hill's error in left, and Arizona scored two more off him in the ninth.

Jung Hoo Lee, the Game 1 bobblehead honoree, drove in San Francisco's run with a single in the eighth.