San Francisco Giants Morning Minute: Another Day, Another Disheartening Loss
On this edition of the San Francisco Giants Morning Minute, we discuss the Giants continuing their trend of disheartening losses.
More from Golden Gate Sports
- Raiders: Rookie stock report following Week 3 performance
- 49ers sign new long snapper amidst a flurry of roster moves
- Oakland Athletics win Game 2 of Wild Card round with late-inning drama
- 49ers: George Kittle and Deebo Samuel cleared to return to practice
- 49ers expected to place DE Dee Ford on injured reserve
Good morning, San Francisco Giants’ fans, and welcome to another edition of the Giants Morning Minute. On Wednesday, the Giants dropped the series finale to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-5, being swept and losing the season series to Pittsburgh. Juan Nicasio (9-6) was the winner out of the bullpen, while Matt Cain (4-8) took the loss. Tony Watson finished it off for his seventh save.
The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Philadelphia Phillies, expanding their lead in the National League West to 1.5 games. The Giants hold the first wildcard seed in the NL, but the St. Louis Cardinals’ win on Wednesday cut that lead to two games.
1 – Another Day, Another Disheartening Loss
Things were going swimmingly for four spectacular innings. The new second-place team came out on fire, jumping out to a 4-0 lead. Buster Posey had two hits, drove in a run, and scored twice. Brandon Crawford drove home three runs with a double and a triple. Angel Pagan extended his hitting streak to 15 games in the first inning, by far the best by a Giant this year, and by the third inning had already crossed home plate twice.
And Matt Cain, he was cruising. Those four innings were a breeze, as he retired 12 of the 13 batters he faced with the lone exception being opposing pitcher Ivan Nova, who singled on a groundball that snuck under a pair of gloves. He was planting his fastball wherever he wanted it, his curveball was sharp, and the other guys didn’t know what was coming. It was prime Cain for those four brief, but glorious inning.
But you know how this story goes. You’ve seen this episode before, this was just another re-run. Prime Cain disappeared, kidnapped by this new Cain. After looking so good for 13 batters, the command went to the store for a gallon of milk and never came back, abandoning Cain like an unwanted child.
He plunked David Freese to open the fifth. He walked the next batter, John Jaso. He walked the next batter, Jordy Mercer. He walked the next batter, Eric Fryer. Four batters, no balls in play, one run for Pittsburgh. Then pinch-hitter Matt Joyce singled in a pair of runs, and Josh Harrison tied the game with a sacrifice fly to right field.
After a flyout to the warning track by Starling Marte, you thought maybe they could get out of this tied. Just go get Cain and let the bullpen take care of this. They can do it.
That’s not how this story goes either. Cain stayed in, and on the first pitch to Andrew McCutchen, the game was tied no more. His two-run home run capped off the six-run inning, further twisting that dagger.
The game wasn’t over though, it was only the fifth inning. And in the ninth inning, the Giants did something they’ve done a lot lately: they teased.
Eduardo Nunez took a walk against Pirates’ closer Tony Watson. Speed on the basepaths, this is good, right? A Pagan single followed, and they were in business. First and second, both fast runners, down by two. This is it. They can do this.
More from San Francisco Giants
- Thank you SF Giants for a fun, wild, surprising 2020 season
- SF Giants lose in heartbreaking fashion and miss 2020 MLB playoffs
- SF Giants: Mike Yastrzemski named 2020 Willie Mac Award recipient
- SF Giants: Chadwick Tromp placed on IL with shoulder strain
- SF Giants: Tuesday’s game against the Seattle Mariners postponed
Brandon Belt somehow singled on the bloopiest of hits, despite taking a pair of terrible swings against Watson. Bases loaded, no one out, for the guys that had driven in all four of the Giants’ runs, Posey and Crawford.
And then things took that familiar downward turn that is always within striking distance lately. Posey grounded into a double play, scoring Nunez to bring the Giants within a run and putting Pagan, the tying run, just 90 feet away. It was up to Crawford.
And Crawford fought. He didn’t give in, he gets credit for that. He fouled off three pitches and took a couple close ones, and on the eighth pitch of the at-bat, he flared one into center field. That familiar ping of hope came back (oh my gosh, that’s going to fall!), but was quickly dashed away when McCutchen made the running catch in center field.
That’s how it goes. That’s how it’s been going for a long time. Things are great for these short bursts, but they just don’t last. Cain’s start was a perfect example of that. The ninth inning was a perfect example of that. No matter how good things start out, that black cloud is making its way over to rain on the party.
There’s 42 games left in the season. That’s a lot of time for things to turn around. It’s also a lot of time for that black cloud to keep raining down.
Next: Giants Morning Minute: The Second-Place Edition
And that will do it for this edition of the Giants Morning Minute. Here’s what’s up next for the Giants and the teams around them:
-Giants (Madison Bumgarner) vs. New York Mets (Jacob deGrom) in game one of a four-game series.
-Dodgers (Ross Stripling) vs. Phillies (Jerad Eickhoff) in series finale.
-St. Louis Cardinals (second wildcard, two games behind Giants) and Pirates (three games behind Giants) are both off Thursday.
-Miami Marlins (Jose Fernandez) vs. Cincinnati Reds (Dan Straily) in series finale.