Tony Vitello, Trevor McDonald react to Giants' frustrating loss vs. White Sox

Tony Vitello and Trevor McDonald speak to reporters after the San Francisco Giants' 9-4 loss against the Chicago White Sox on Friday at Oracle Park.

Tony Vitello, Trevor McDonald react to Giants' frustrating loss vs. White Sox originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

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Tony, Trevor McDonald had been so good for you in his, other outings, and he looked like he was on a nice little roll there f- through three.

What did you see happening?

Yeah, he was good today, too.

I mean, it started I mean, nothing's gonna change any time we play these guys or the next two days.

Antonacci's gonna try and get hit by pitch.

kudos to him for being willing to do that, but gets close to him, I, I don't think he stuck his knee out to, to interfere with a pitch that was over the plate or anything like that.

And then, you know, the next one, Murakami, you know, you're gonna move the ball around the zone with a guy that's that dangerous, and I, I don't know if you wanna call it an unlucky bounce or whatever you wanna call it, but those were the two things that started it.

And then inevitably, when you give up some free bases, that, that's when maybe things can spiral.

The other team, you know, appears to get lucky.

I think the next play was a dribbler.

so the one thing they did in that inning was, you know, Benintendi, kind of had the big hit that, that turned it into a big inning.

so it unraveled f- unraveled for him pretty quick.

Would've been nice if we would've co- been able to somehow finish that inning and get back out there, but I think his pitch count, you know, prior to that inning was really low, and then that inning, you get past about that 30 threshold.

We didn't help him.

you know, as Baruchy came in in that inning, and then, you know, you'd love to somehow have a magic wand and be able to remove the one inning, but that's often what it's about in this game, is the big inning.

And we were close.

We were knocking on the door doing it a couple times.

We just, you know, we, we haven't found that little deal that, that helps us do that yet.

I think the second hit batter there, you, you challenged and it looked like some guys in the dugout were pretty adamant about it.

Did you get a chance to look at that or?

I, I think from our view, it, you know, from our third base camera view, it didn't look at all like it hit him.

But if you're watching from the camera view and the replay, and I think we felt from, from our end, you know, on the phone, it was worth challenging, but it, first of all, it's got to be clear evidence to overturn it.

but even there, it looked like it, it grazed his pant or whatever it might have been.

So, I think our dugout was, was pretty adamant for a reason.

From our view, it didn't look like it hit him at all.

But believe it did.

Tony, this has been another little slide here, and then obviously a, you know, a tough inning there.

How, how would you describe the, sort of the, the state of the team mentally?

you know, I think, you know, depends on who you ask, what the word is you want to put on it.

But, no one feels like, what we're doing is good enough.

that, that's kind of an obvious statement.

early in the year, maybe with a, a couple of the losses that, that came either with us not, you know, just making foolish mistakes and then a, a couple heartbreaking ones, you know, maybe it, it lends itself t- a little bit towards fragile.

But, I don't, I don't see that now.

I mean, the guys kept, the guys kept playing.

Again, we're, we're kind of a big You know, it's not just a little thing.

A, a, a big knock, a, a double or a homer in a big situation is, is not that easy to come by.

But, that's kind of where we were at in this game.

And I don't know, e- eventually, you keep building up scar tissue from, you know, being down after a game or being upset after a close loss or it not going the way you want.

so I, I think unfortunately we've, we've had enough repetitions of, of feeling down and, and being frustrated.

So, hopefully some scar tissue building up is, is something that can benefit us down the road.

that, little collision in between Bader and Gilbert, was Gilbert okay?

or were you just checking on him?

Yeah.

Yeah, they're both, I mean, you know, joking in the dugout and 100% fine physically.

They, they were trying to figure out what happened, and you saw on the scoreboard Drew, is verbalizing.

But they both think they called it at the exact same time, and, you know, you got people with their shirts off yelling like crazy, and the ball's hit high.

you know, even if, even if they would've called it at a different time, who knows if they actually hear it.

That's, that's kind of been the one I mean, it's completely irrelevant to what's going on, but I've been astonished at how difficult it is to communicate in these stadiums.

You, you see it about every other game.

I know this j- this game just ended, but did you get a report on how Logan's rehab start went?

Yeah.

I, I don't have a I, I got a quick, so I, I haven't seen a stat sheet.

I haven't seen any video.

but it sounds like he got out there and got three-plus innings in, and not as many strikes as he wanted.

not a lot of damage either.

So, I know for a guy like him, it's kind of split into half a little bit.

He's got high standards, but also, you know, he's in a little bit different set of circumstances than some of the other guys that, will pitch, you know, for that team or, or in High A that are working their way to make to the big leagues.

He's trying to get his work in.

So, it'll be interesting to hear his report, and a couple of the others that were there watching.

We can watch the video, of course, too, but if anything, it's good to have him back in action, especially if it's multiple innings.

Tony, even late in that game, you had fans really, you know, fired up and, and getting into this game, even when you guys were down, and that was before everyone started taking their shirts off and waving them around.

Just what does it mean to you to still, you know- on a night like this to see so much fan enthusiasm?

Yeah, it's, it's, I don't, I don't think double-edged sword applies, but it's two different emotions.

I've said this when we go on the road.

I've said this when I run into guys I've coached in college.

there were several that came to the Arizona games.

We have the best fans.

I mean, I, I attended games, to go see some guys last summer.

We've now been to a good amount of, parks on the road.

there are some really cool environments.

You know, Wrigley's got the, the vintage feel there.

we haven't been there this year.

I've been there as a f- But we have the best, most active fans.

I mean, the, the biggest number of fans and the most active, so that's awesome.

And then you get to the point of you don't want to disappoint.

It's a little bit of salt in the wounds.

So, yeah, it was-You know, you gotta, you wanna kind of pay attention to the game, but it was kind of hard to not pay attention to what was going on, or at least see what was going on in the stands.

I think they took a little trend that started maybe last night somewhere and made it better, or made it louder or more rowdy.

So we have that there.

So when things maybe click for us or we can fight our way in a game like this into a situation where we're knocking on the door, it might be the difference in the game where they can put us over the edge a little bit.

But again, it's, it's one thing how awesome it is, and it's another thing, to feel a little bit of extra frustration to not pay back, if you will.

Yep.

One more.

Hi, Tony.

it was pretty last call for put, put Jung on the IL.

What was your What was the process like over there?

Yeah.

And you said it was last minute?

Yeah, it wa- yeah, because they, it was very announced, very last call, like, very late, so.

Yeah, that- What was the process like then?

That- How does it, how does it- Proper for me to not or say, which I probably need to start listening to people and shorten some answers, but, that shows you how much he was wanting to play and doing everything he, he could possibly do to play, and also how much wiggle room we were given the situation that, you know, right up to the last minute, to the point where we had to relay to those guys, you know, we gotta change our lineup, and then, you know, notified some guys that, you know, took it in stride that we, we shifted things around last minute.

So, I, I think everybody feels good about it.

as far as it being the best decision, nobody feels good about it, about Jung Hu not being on the field.

But he, he literally tried to do everything he could to fight it, but it, it I think it was a wise decision from the training staff.

Joey, you were kind of cruising along there through the, the first three and then the two hit batters.

Did you The second one, did you think you'd gotten him?

Yeah, I'd nicked him after it bounced on the ground.

me and Chappy were sitting there watching on the scoreboard, and they replayed it, and I thought it was pretty obvious it hit him, so.

How would you describe that inning?

What, what, what happened?

I mean, I pride myself, and I've always said it in the past few interviews, about finding the zone and, you know, getting ahead of hitters, and that's something I didn't do.

the two, two hit batters and the walk in that inning, just kind of led to things snowballing.

so I've gotta be better in that aspect of things and, you know, continue to be in the zone and not put us in those kind of situations that, you know, can hurt the outcome of the game.

What was working well for you those first, three innings there?

sinker, slider, changeup.

Just trying to mix it up some and, you know, get ahead.

Yep.

Yep.

Sweet.

Did you feel like, like bad luck in that inning at all?

Say again?

Did you feel like it was, like, bad luck going your way?

I mean, I don't think so.

That's baseball.

sometimes it does go your way, sometimes it doesn't.

I don't really believe in the whole good luck, bad luck thing.

if I don't put three free base runners on, then, those two balls on the infield are probably outs instead of the infield being shifted, trying to make plays at home, you know?

So I put blame on myself, not good or bad luck.

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