A Bondsian homer into the cove. Single. Walk. Walk. Grand slam. Bunt single, error. Bunt Single. Stolen base. Sac fly. Single.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is one sweet surge of offense and one epic meltdown on defense. Take a guess which side of the ball our Giants were on…
I wrote after Saturday’s walk-off loss in which the Giants held a 2-0 lead into the 9th, that the collapse felt inevitable. This wasn’t overly dramatic pessimism, but learned, and earned, negativity. We’d seen it before. We’ve screamed
into our couch pillows as this merry-go-round of relievers take the hill only to throw themselves off it. Manageable deficits flushed down the drain. Fragile leads dropped and shattered.
Diligent fans, unfairly subjected to these crimes, keep score of these wrongs. Bryan Murphy on Bluesky: “The San Francisco Giants spent more on the manager’s position this offseason ($10.5 million) than on the bullpen.” After last Saturday’s 3-2 loss, a Reddit user logged all 10 of San Francisco’s 9th inning leads, and 8 separate instances of leads lost in the 7th or later.
But this…I wasn’t expecting this. Why would I? San Francisco’s win probability when Nate Furman struck out to end their 3-run 8th was 100%. From my basic understanding of numbers and percentages, that’s a guarantee. As good as done. In their nearly century-and-a-half history a New York/San Francisco Giants team had never blown a 6-run lead in the 9th.
And yet, this bullpen is so burnt, this season so cursed, that it defies the objectivity of numbers. In a year of collapses, this one takes the turd.
It happened so fast, too, and with such intentionality. Spencer Bivens, trotted out again after logging the 8th, didn’t record an out. Eugenio Suarez’s grand slam off Dylan Smith, who had no expectation of pitching in the game ten-minutes prior, came on the reliever’s second pitch. No rest to be had either with the inning reset to bases empty, no outs. Next up, third baseman Buddy Kennedy (no relation) heaved a desperate throw over to first that turned a bunt single into another scoring threat.
Once losing a game they had “already won” became a possibility, the outcome was inevitable. Sisyphus’s rock with seams. For 8 innings, the Giants pushed the baseball up the hill. Logan Webb labored but put together a quality start. A bounce back for the team after Carson Whisenhunt and Adrian Houser both had outings cut short by injury; and a personal cleanse for the right-hander after what happened in Boston. The offense, boasting just 2 of 9 bats on the Opening Day roster, smacked 7 extra basehits, went 4-for-8 with runners in scoring position and scored 9 runs. Jonah Cox erased Cincinnati’s Nick Lodolo’s 2nd inning lead with a 2-run homer.
With the game tied in the 5th, Rafael Devers socked another in the bay, his third in three games and fourth in six. He’s now just one shy of 30.
Newcomer Shay Whitcomb, who had his first hit as Giant before Cox’s homer, launched a 3-runner in the 6th. And then with 2-outs in the 8th, pinch hitter Drew Gilbert ripped a double to the deepest part of the yard with the bases-loaded.
Pushing? No. The Giants were charging the boulder up the hill, so convincingly in fact that the players and coaches, some fans, forgot that they had incurred Zeus’s wrath, that this game was in fact a punishment. Some rested. Some assumed. Finally, a day off. Finally, a sweep… and the rock flattened them as it rolled back down.
