Giants Blowout Nationals, Lose Vogelsong with Fractured Right Hand

It was a bittersweet day for the San Francisco Giants as they ended their losing streak with a blowout 8 – 0 win against a National League powerhouse team, the Washington Nationals, but lost No. 5 starter, Ryan Vogelsong in the fifth inning with a fractured right hand.

Vogelsong was in the midst of the best start of this early 2013 season.  He had been struggling with only one quality start and an ERA over eight in this young season, but unfortunately will have to miss the next six weeks with this fractured hand. 

The fractured hand happened in the fifth inning as Vogelsong was stepping into the batter's box.  With the Giants already cruising with a six run lead; it was unfortunate to see him go down.  On an inside pitch, Vogelsong took a swing, but the pitch did not made contact with the bat, it made contact with his hand.  The pitch was up and in, and immediately Vogelsong dropped his bat and grabbed his hand.  He was immediately pulled and Nick Noonan came into pinch hit for him. 

The Vogelsong broken hand was a tough pill to swallow because he was putting together the best start of the 2013 season and the best start in the last week and a half as the starting rotation was poor over the past six game road trip. 

He has been an amazing story as his entire baseball career was spent moving around from Latin America, Japan and various minor league ball teams.  He finally found his form as a consistent pitcher and locked down the No. 5 starter role in the 2011 season.  He pitched tremendously in the 2012 playoffs and was one of the most consistent pitchers in the starting rotation.  This will be a blow to the staff because their starting pitching has been an injury free zone.  In the past three years, none of the starting rotation has been placed on the DL. 

The San Francisco Giants had their hitting shoes on tonight as they pounded out 17 hits and got RBIs from six of the starting nine.  Brandon Belt went 4 – 5 with a home run and three singles, while Andres Torres went 4 – 5 with a double and an RBI.  The Giants needed this win against a quality NL team.  This series has playoff potential and expect to see these teams meeting up in October for some playoff baseball. 

Tomorrow's starting matchup is a good one, as Matt Cain takes on Stephen Strasburg.  First pitch: 7:15 pm.