The Giants had an 8-3 lead after six innings Tuesday night. Three innings later they had a 9-8 loss.
In hindsight, the San Francisco Giants really could have used Camilo Doval and Tyler Rogers for the final two months of the season. Though trading them made all kinds of sense at the deadline, and was the kind of forward-looking move that previous Giants administrations declined to make in late July, Tuesday night was another of a series of bullpen meltdowns that doomed the team’s quixotic push for a wild-card berth. The 9-8 loss sent the Oracle Park crowd home disappointed and eliminated the Giants from playoff contention.
Alec Burleson delivered the game-winning RBI single off Ryan Walker (5-7) with one out in the 9th inning as the St. Louis Cardinals scored the final six runs of the game in a 9-8 comeback victory. Two batters after Brendan Donovan, who has two first names, hit his 4th double of the game to tie things up, Burleson got a 2-2 sinker that didn’t sink and slapped into right field for the game-winner.
For the record, four doubles in a game is a major league record, albeit one that Donovan shares with 47 other players.
The bullpen’s meltdown, which included Cardinals home runs off Joey Lucchesi and Spencer Bivens in the 7th inning, wasted another quality start from Logan Webb and a strong offensive performance up and down the lineup. They even wasted a rare fielding gaffe by Platinum Glover Nolan Arenado, aided by the fleet feet of Patrick “Patty Rolling Barrels” Bailey.
Webb was not fooling the Cardinals one bit in the first inning, when St. Louis got five of their eight hits off Webb and all three of their runs. Only a timely 3-6-3 double play off the bat of Arenado, initiated by expert first baseman Rafael Devers, limited the damage.
But after that nightmare first inning, Webb settled down and gave up only three hits for the next five innings — two of which were doubles by Donovan, of course. His only real dangerous moment came when the Cardinals got two on with no one out in the 5th, but Webb got a strikeout and another Arenado double play to escape. Final line: 6 IP, 3R, 2BB, 5K, and his third straight season with over 200 innings pitched — he threw only 192.1 innings in 2022.
The Giants took the lead in the 3rd inning off Cardinals starter Andre Pallante. Bailey singled, Christian Koss walked, and Dan Gilbert singled the bases loaded before Arenado’s two-run error. Willy Adames singled in a run, stole second before a Matt Chapman sacrifice fly, then scored when Jung Hoo Lee’s liner eluded a diving Victor Scott.
After stranding two runners in the 4th, the Giants delivered in the 5th. After Chapman doubled, Bailey hit a double to left field that Lars Nootbaar somehow wasn’t charged with an error on.
Koss singled in Bailey for a four-run lead, then stole second, perhaps for the express purpose of making sure the Giants managed to strand another runner in scoring position, which they did when Dan Gilbert struck out.
Heliot Ramos hit his 20th home run of the season for an insurance run in the 6th, but the thing about insurance is that it only compensates you if you’re the victim of a disaster. It doesn’t actually prevent said disaster.
Ramos also received the Bill Rigney Good Guy award from the local chapter of the BBWAA for his solid relations with local media this season, which is impressive because he often had reasons to want to avoid the press. Congratulations to Ramos! It’s also important to note that Giants fans do not take consecutive 20-homer seasons for granted these days.
The Giants had to feel pretty good about their chances of winning the game and staving off elimination after that, but the Cardinals and Lucchesi had different ideas. Lucchesi did become the only Giants pitcher to retire Donovan with a 7th-inning strikeout, but three of the first four Cardinals he faced went double, walk, momentum-shifting 400-foot home run.
Bob Melvin can’t be faulted for pulling Lucchesi with two outs, before he faced the right-handed Arenado. But Bivens can be faulted for throwing a 95 MPH pitch straight down the middle of the plate to Arenado, who deposited it over the left field wall for his 351st career dinger.
The Giants still led 8-7, but there was a feeling of impending doom in the ballpark. 10 straight Giants made outs after the Ramos home run, including Bryce Eldridge, who is now 1-for-20 in his big league career, with four walks. In the 9th, Adames doubled with one out and with two outs, Eldridge was due up against lefty Jojo Romero with a chance to be the hero and keep his team’s faint playoff hopes alive.
He never got that chance. Melvin pinch-hit Wilmer Flores. Cardinals manager Oli Marmol countered by bringing in right-hander Riley O’Brien, who struck out Flores to end the game and strand one final runner in scoring position.
Look, we all know that left-handed pitchers have an advantage over left-handed hitters. But Eldridge has only had two plate appearances against left-handers in his brief career. Presumably, the Giants plan to have him face a lot of left-handed pitching in the future. Why not give him a chance to be a hero against a home crowd that hasn’t had a lot to cheer about in the second half of the season? Especially since the obvious counter move for the Cardinals was to bring in their right-handed closer, who got his 6th save.
LET THE BOY SWING THE BAT! SWEET MOTHER OF GOD WHAT IS THE HOLD UP?
Matt Svanson was the winning pitcher for throwing a perfect, 12-pitch 8th inning to run his record to 4-0. Walker’s night earned him his 7th blown save of the season, though it feels like more, and his 12th decision, which is a lot for a closer. It’s just been that kind of year. And for the fans, as well as the pitching staff, there’s just no relief.
Category: General Sports
