San Francisco Giants second baseman Thairo Estrada throws to first but is unable to get the out on Detroit Tigers’ Riley Greene during the fourth inning at Comerica Park in Detroit on Sat Apr 15, 2023 (AP News photo)

Giants Drop Yet Another Game in the 11th Inning to Tigers 7-6

By Barbara Mason

Saturday afternoon the San Francisco Giants (5-9) played game two in their series with the Detroit Tigers (5-9) and dropped their second straight 11th inning game in a row to Detroit 7-6 at Comerica Park in Detroit. Friday night the Giants went 11 innings only to lose 7-5.

The Giants tied the game in the top of the 11th inning leading for the first time in the game but allowed a Tiger home run with two runners on base and that was the ball game. San Francisco did have opportunities in the game but did not cash in. Saturday was a fresh start for the Giants who wanted to even this series in the quick turn-around but once again lost in a game of inches.

Game recap: The Giants had a great start scoring two runs in each of the first three innings. Blake Sabol hit a home run in the second with a runner on base and J.D. Davis homered in the third with Mike Yastrzemski on base and the Giants had a 6-1 lead through three innings

The Tigers did get up on the board in the second inning when Kerry Carpenter hit a solo home run for the 6-1 tally.

The game turned in Detroit’s favor in the fourth inning when the Giants defense came apart. After a great start on the mound by Anthony DeSclafani, the Giants bullpen just couldn’t produce defensively so big problems as the Giants let Detroit back into this game. What is concerning is that San Francisco is fourth in the list of the worst ERA’s in the league with 6.02.

Detroit would add more runs in the fifth inning. Zach McKinstry doubled bringing one run home and Matt Vierling grounded into a fielder’s choice. McKinstry scored and the Tigers trailed 6-3.

Detroit would tie up this game in the eighth inning. Javier Baez doubled and Spencer Torkelson singled bringing three runs home and this game was knotted at six. It was deja vu for San Francisco. Last night the game went into extra innings in a losing effort.

This game came to an end on a horrible note, albeit a familiar one. It was another 11th inning win for the Tigers. Miguel Cabrera singled and Spencer Torkelson scored and that was the walk off win for Detroit after trailing by five runs.

Desclafani had a good start going 6.2 innings. He allowed six hits and three runs but it was the bullpen that continues to struggle. Another sore spots in this game were the uncharacteristic back to back errors we saw from Brandon Crawford in the fifth inning.

The bottom line was the horrible defense we saw in this game. It is still very early in the season but it was a real gut punch for San Francisco to lose in the 11th inning of not one but two games in this series.

Sunday the Giants will start Logan Webb (0-3 ERA 4.76) and will try to avoid being swept by the Tigers whose opposing with Matthew Boyd (0-1 ERA 4.00) in game three. First pitch at Comerica is scheduled for 10:10 AM.