CINCINNATI — Think about the pitchers Buster Posey has caught in San Francisco, through parts or all of eight seasons and three championships, then contemplate this statement on Jeff Samardzija after Tuesday night’s 3-1 victory against the Reds:
“He has some of the most explosive stuff I’ve caught from start to finish,” Posey said. “I can’t think of any guy from the first inning through the last with the kind of (velocity) and action he had tonight.”
Posey must have been thinking about the 98-mph fastball Samardzija threw to Brandon Phillips in the fourth, or 96 to Tyler Holt on his 105th pitch, or the variety of fastballs, sliders, cutters and splits that allowed Samardzija to last eight innings and win three consecutive starts for the first time in his career.