Cueto (13-3) pitched 7.2 innings, allowing four runs on seven hits and one walk while striking out 10 Phillies in a no-decision Wednesday.
Cueto's 12th career double-digit strikeout game was nothing to celebrate as things went terribly wrong late in the game. The first-year Giant scattered three hits while holding the Phillies scoreless through the first six frames. He gave up back-to-back homers in the seventh, but trotted back out for the eighth. It was on his 112th pitch of the night that Cueto gave up a two-run single that tied the game 4-4, thus ending his night. Whether or not this failure falls on Cueto remains to be seen. Manager Bruce Bochy has taken some heat for leaving his starters out there too long in recent weeks. Cueto was obviously tiring, but the NL's leader in complete games (4) has worked through such circumstances a number of times this season, so maybe the manager thought he'd do it again. The veteran has the third-most innings pitched in the NL (fourth-most in MLB), and maybe Bochy will decide to ease off the gas pedal with his right-hander a bit moving forward.