The Arizona Diamondbacks Corbin Carroll (right) who stole third comes home on a throwing error slides under San Francisco Giants catcher Patrick Bailey’s glove (left) to score in the bottom of the second inning at Chase Field in Phoenix on Tue Sep 19, 2023 (AP News photo)

Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2023

Chase Field

Phoenix, Arizona

San Francisco Giants X (76-75)

Arizona Diamondbacks X (80-72)

Win: Zac Gallen (16-8)

Loss: Alex Cobb (7-7)

Time: 2:39

Attendance: 26,093

By Stephen Ruderman

PHOENIX–The Diamondbacks dealt the Giants another tough loss to start a crucial two-game set for the two teams at Chase Field in Phoenix, as Arizona won it by a final of 8-4 Tuesday night.

This was the start of the biggest series of the year for the Giants, who came into the game two games back of the Cubs for the third wild card, and two and a half games back of the Diamondbacks for the second wild card. After nearly blowing a 9-0 lead and barely holding on to salvage a game in the four-game series in Denver against the Rockies on Sunday, the Giants were hoping to create some momentum from Sunday’s win.

Alex Cobb, who was pitching for the first time in eight days, made the start for the Giants, as Manager Gabe Kapler lined Cobb and Logan Webb, his two best starters, to start the games in Arizona. Cobb has had a solid season, which included a trip to the All-Star Game in Seattle, and he continued his success when he came within an out of no-hitting the Cincinnati Reds on Aug. 29 in San Francisco.

“[I] love it,” said Kapler prior to the game. “Both [Cobb and Webb] are ultra competitive. [They] have been our two most trusted starters now for quite some time, and all [of] that is based on their performance.”

However, Cobb has been dealing with a hip injury, and he has struggled on the road this season. He came into tonight with a road ERA of 5.26, and he had particularly struggled in his previous five road starts coming into tonight, in which he had gone 0-3 with a 7.71 ERA. That was in contrast with Diamondbacks’ starter, Zac Gallen, who came into tonight 11-2 at home with a 2.18 ERA

It was a matchup of All-Stars in Cobb and Gallen, as a decent-sized crowd filled up Chase Field for this Tuesday Night Pennant Race game. Diamondbacks fans showed up, but there was a contingent of Giants fans as well, who showed up, and made noise with chants of “Let’s Go Giants,” just as LaMonte Wade was stepping in to start the game.

The Giants got things going off Gallen early. Wade led off, and hit a line drive to right, where Diamondbacks’ right-fielder, Corbin Carrol, had to made a decision whether to try and catch it or let it fall, but as he decided to field it on a hop, it went by him to the wall, and that allowed Wade to go slide into third with a triple just ahead of the relay throw from second-baseman, Katel Marte.

Mike Yastrzemski then hit a sacrifice fly to left to knock in Wade, as the Giants struck first. Wilmer Flores popped out to the catcher, Gabriel Moreno in foul territory, and then Joc Pederson hit a home run to straight away center that just hit the top of the yellow line above the 407 footmarker.

The Diamondbacks immediately responded off Cobb in the bottom of the first. Corbin Carroll singled the other way to left, and Katel Marte singled Carroll over to third. The Diamondbacks had runners at the corners with nobody out for Tommy Pham, who chopped into a 4-6 fielder’s choice to put Arizona on the board. Cobb then got both Christian Walker and Alek Thomas to ground out to third, as Cobb escaped the inning without any further damage.

Gallen struck out the side in a 1-2-3 top of the second, and then things unraveled for Cobb with two outs in the bottom of the second. With Gabriel Moreno, who had been hit by a pitch, at first, Geraldo Perdomo hit a doink double along the left-field line to advance Moreno to third. That set things up for Corbin Carroll, who laced a double off the end of the bat down the left-field line to knock in both runners and give the Diamondbacks their first lead of the night.

It did not stop there. After Katel Marte walked, he and Carroll attempted a double steal, and the throw from Patrick Bailey to third was dropped by third-basemen Wilmer Flores, who then threw the ball away as he tried to nail Carroll at the plate. Not only did Carroll score, but Marte came in to score all the way from first as well, as a four-run second gave the Diamondbacks a 5-2 lead.

The Giants wasted a leadoff single by Thairo Estrada in the top of the third, and then Alex Cobb re-aggravated his hip after throwing two balls to Alek Thomas to start the bottom of the third, which caused him to have to leave the game. Cobb was succeeded by Alex Wood, who ended up pitching a 1-2-3 inning.

“[Cobb] gave us everything he had,” said Kapler in his postgame press conference. “He was unable to get through the outing today, and we had to get him out of there.

“I thought it was something I could pitch through,” said Cobb. “The pain is definitely something you can tolerate, but it starts affecting everything else.”

The Giants wasted a leadoff single by Wilmer Flores in the top of the fourth, and the Diamondbacks made them pay in the bottom of the fourth. With Wood back out on the mound, Jace Pederson led off the inning with a double, followed by Geraldo Perdomo, who reached on an infield hit.

Carroll was hit by a pitch, and that loaded the bases for Marte, who knocked in a pair on a ground ball base-hit to left-center, though he was thrown out at second trying to stretch it into a double.

Mitch Haniger led off the top of the fifth with a base-hit, but the Giants would not waste this one. Patrick Bailey struck out looking, but Brandon Crawford snuck a ground ball just to the left of second-baseman Katel Marte, and into right for a base-hit, which moved Haniger over to third.

Thairo Estrada walked to load the bases, and that brought up Wade, who hit a deep fly ball to right that was caught, but knocked in Haniger to cut the deficit to 7-3. Yastrzemski fell down 0-2, but he worked a walk to load the bases.

Wilmer Flores then walked to make it a 7-4 game. That brought up the potential go-ahead run in Joc Pederson, who was called out on strikes by Home Plate Umpire Adam Beck to end the inning, as he stuck around to argue, but was spared being thrown out of the game.

Alek Thomas tripled to left-center, just out of the reach of Yastrzemski, to start the bottom of the fifth, and he scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Moreno, as the Diamondbacks got one of their runs back to make it 8-4.

Gallen was relieved by Miguel Castro, who pitched a 1-2-3 top of the sixth. The Diamondbacks strung a pair of two-out hits off Wood in the bottom of the sixth, but they were unable to add to their lead. The Diamondbacks brought in the lefty, Andrew Sealfrank, for the seventh, and he pitched a scoreless inning, as did Wood, who pitched through a one-out hit and a wild pitch in the bottom of the seventh.

Kevin Ginkel then came in for Arizona in the eighth. Ginkel set down the first two men he faced, but after Joc Pederson drew a two-out walk, Michael Conforto came up and hit a towing fly ball to center field, but Alek Thomas made an incredible catch just in front of the wall to snatch any remaining hopes the Giants may have had tonight right out of thin air. Scott Alexander came in for San Francisco to replace wood in the bottom of the eighth, and pitched a scoreless inning.

Diamondbacks Manager Torey Lovullo brought in his closer, Paul Sewald, in for a non-save situation in the ninth, and Sewald pitched a 1-2-3 inning to close the Giants out.

The Giants fall to 76-75, and also fall to three games back of the Cubs for the third wild card with 11 games left to play.

“You look around the league, and see other teams took care of business,” said Cobb.

Logan Webb (10-12 ERA 3.31) will make the start in what is a must-win game Wednesday afternoon, as the Giants can not afford to keep falling, especially with a four-game series in Los Angeles against the Dodgers starting on Thursday. Arizona will start Merrill Kelly (11-7 ERA 3.45). First pitch 12:40pm PT.

NOTES:

Kapler said after the game that Cobb will continue to be evaluated before a decision is made regarding his next start.