Month: September 2023

San Diego Padres’ Trent Grisham, left, runs toward Fernando Tatis Jr. (23) after scoring against the San Francisco Giants during the 10th inning at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Wed Sep 27, 2023 (AP News photo)

San Diego (79-80). 000 010 100 3. – 5. 10. 0

San Francisco (78-81). 010 100 000 0. – 2. 5. 3. 10 innings

Time: 2:52

Attendance: 32,151

By Lewis Rubman

SAN FRANCISCO—For Sean Manaea, the past may be the future. The veteran of eight years in the show, Manaea once was a mainstay of the A’s starting rotation; he no hit the powerful Red Sox in 20018, arguably his best season with Oakland, when he went 12-9, 3.59.

Traded to the Padres for the ’22 season, he was pretty much of a bust, going 7-8, 4.96. The Giants signed him as a free agent this year, and he was relegated to the bullpen and didn’t return to the rotation until September 12.

Manaea shut the Dodgers out on three over seven innings in his last outing and came to work tonight with an ERA of 2.00 in his three starts, which is in stark contrast to his overall mark of 7-6, 4.51. His fine performance didn’t prevent the Giants from falling apart in the tenth inning and losing, 5-2, to Manaea’s previous employers, the San Diego Padres.

Manaea completed his 1,000th inning as a big leaguer when he got Matthew Batten to pop out to first to end the fourth frame. In all, he hurled 6 + frames tonight, allowing only one run in the six but another in the plus. Both runs were earned, one coming on a home run.

Manaea faced 24 batters and threw them exactly 100 pitches, 67 for strike. He allowed seven hits and didn’t issue any walks. It was a satisfying performance, but Manaea had to settle for a no decision that reduced his ERA to 4.44.

The left handed veteran Manaea was opposed by the right handed rookie Matt Waldron, making his sixth major league start out of eight appearances. He was 1-3, 4.58. His ERA as a starter was 4.91; it’s 3.72 pitching out of the pen. Waldron also produced a credible performance. Over six innings he held the Giants to two runs on five hits and two walks. One of the hits was a four bagger.

Manaea threw 82 pitches, 54 for strikes. He, too, had to settle for a no decision and reduced his earned run average, which now stands at 4.35. Seth Barlow replaced him on the mound after the crowd of 32,151 had finished singing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.”

Thairo Estrada’s solo home run in the home second, his 14th round tripper of the season, put San Francisco ahead, 1-0. The 418 foot blast to left center came on a 73.9 mph knuckle ball that sailed off the Giants’ second baseman’s bat at 102 mph. The knuckler is Waldron’s favorite pitch; he throws it 27.2% of the time.

The Friars tied the score in the top of the fifth with a leadoff double by José Azocar, followed by a nubber in front of the plate that went as a single to Brett Sullivan and sent Azocar to third, from which he came home on Bogaerts’ sac fly to center.

The Giants came charging back in the bottom of the third with Michael Conforto’s leadoff double against the National Car Rental advertisement in left center field. With two outs, they foiled The Cure on Tyler Fitzgerald’s pop single to shallow right, and the orange and black was (were?) back in the lead, 2-1.

But not for long.Garrett Cooper ended Manaea’s night’s work with his 17th home run of the year, a leadoff blast that cleared the same National Car Rental ad against which Conforto had hit his two bagger. Ryan Walker entered the game as Manaea left to warm applause. Walker lived up to his name and allowed a walk and hit a batter, but that was all.

The submariner Tyler Rogers. set his ex teammates down in order in the eighth helped by Flores’s wonderful backhand stop and off balance throw to first on Machado’s bouncing ball down the third base line to end the inning.

Roberto Suárez kept it tied with a scoreless eighth.

The top of the ninth brought Camilo Doval to the mound for the home team. Kim, the first Padre he faced, lifted a foul fly to right on which Yastrzemski made a beautiful tumbling rollover catch for the first out. Cooper lined a double down the third base line.

Jurickson Profar pinch hit for Batten, and Eddie Roario was inserted as a pinch runner for Cooper. Doval fanned Profar, bringing Trent Grisham to the plate as a pinch hitter for Azocar. Doval got him out on a tricky bouncer to Estrada.

Josh Harder, who had earned the save in last night’s battle, walked Marco Luciano on four pitches to start the Giants’ ninth. Bailey, batting right handed — his strong side — for the first time tonight, struck out swinging, also went down swinging. Austin Slater pinch hit for Wade and forced Luciano out at second, 6-5, sending us into extra innings.

John Brebbia, yesterday’s unexpected opener, replaced Doval on the bump for the top of the 20th. He retired Bret Sullivan on a grounder to short, but zombie runner Grisham advanced to the third on the play and scored on Bogaerts’ sac fly to right. Tatís reached first on Luciano’s throwing error, and the Giants conceded a walk to Soto that put Tatís on second.

With Machado at bat, Bailey tried to pick Tatís off and threw the ball into center field, allowing both runners to advance a base. Both of them scored when the Manny you love to hate dumped a Texas League single into center.

Tom Cosgrove was chosen to protect the friars’ 5-2 lead in the bottom of the frame. Luis Matos pinch hit for Yaz and grounded out to short. Slater had to hold on at second, where he again had to remain when Flores bounced out to third. Héliot Ramos pinch hit for Pederson and grounded out to short to end the misery.

Brebbia, now 3-4, 3.55, was charged with the loss, even though a less porous defence might have resulted in him getting the win. Hader, the pitcher of record when the Padres forged ahead, got the win, making him 2-3, 1.16. Cosgrove got the save, his first.

The Giants will have a day off tomorrow to lick their wounds. They’ll play host to the Dodgers on Friday. No pitchers have been announced.

San Diego Padres pitcher Seth Lugo pitches the top of the first against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Tue Sep 26, 2023 (AP News photo)

San Diego (78-80). 101 000 200. – 4. 7. 1

San Francisco (78-80). 000 000 000. – 0. 3. 1

Time: 2:19

Attendance: 28,183

Tuesday, September 26, 2023

By Lewis Rubman

SAN FRANCISCO—The San Francisco Giants were outplayed from beginning to end in Tuesday night’s 4-0 loss to the San Diego Padres.

San Francisco fans thought they would be given another chance to see the highly touted rookie Kyle Harrison acclimate himself to the rigors of major league baseball. The 22 year old righty from San José had been on the line up card that Gabe Kapler originally submitted and was featured prominently on the tenth page game Information notes that the Giants distributed to the press as well as in the pregame public address announcements.

Unfortunately, an illness, the nature of which was not disclosed, caused him to miss his start. It’s not known, or at least hasn’t been announced, if he’ll pitch again this season The lineup card that Sean Manaea delivered to home plate umpire Tripp Gibson listed opener John Brebbia as San Francisco’s starting pitcher.

The unforesen change did not work to the Giants’ benefit. Juan Soto smacked his 34th home run of the year, a two out solo shot to center that travelled 396 feet into the plaza area that divides the two halves of the bleachers.

Brebbia fanned Fernando Tatís, Jr. to retire the side and retired Garrett Cooper, the first batter he faced in the second, before giving way to Alex Wood, who stayed in the game and threw 82 pitches over 4-2/3 innings and allowed only one run, which was unearned, on four hits and three walks.

San Francisco almost got back the run that Brebbia had allowed when, in the bottom of the first, JD Davis lined a double off the brick wall in right field, where Tatís let it get away from him. Davis beat shortstop Xander Bogoaerts’ relay to third but overslid the bag and was tagged out to end the inning.

Poor defence cost San Francisco another run in the third. After Brettt Sullivan’s clean one out single to left, Bogaerts got a checked swing infield hit to second. Tairo Estrada’s throw not only failed to nab Sullivan, but it sailed past Wade and enabled Sullivan to move onto third. He scored on Ha-Seong Kim’s 6-3 ground out, short to first when Marco Luciano had a play in front of him at second, although it’s not clear that the Giants could have pulled off a double play.

Ryan Walker replaced Wood for the visitors’ seventh, and Soto did what he’d done to Brebbia, smack a four bagger. This one came with two outs and a runner on first. The 398 foot shot to left center came off a 95mph slider and left Soto’s bat at 108.4 mph. It brought his home run total to 35 and his RBI to 108.

Sean Hjelle, who has struggled mightily this year, hurled two scoreless innings to keep the Giants behind by only a 4-0 margin when they took their last licks. He even managed to be the sole Giant pitcher to retire Soto. managed to get through a scoreless top of the eighth.

The Padres got an outstanding performance from their starting pitcher, Seth Lugo. The right hander shut the orange and black out for 8-2/3 innings, limiting them to three hits and three walks. He threw 123 pitches 80 for strikes and struck out seven Giants. He was the winning pitcher, which improved his record to 8-7, 3.57. Josh Harder, who struck out a pinch hitting Wilmer Flores, earned his 32nd save.

Brebbia was charged with the loss. His balance sheet now reads, 3-3, 3.65.

Contrary to what I reported last night, the Padres have not yet been eliminated from the wild card race. Both the Giants and the Pads have a tragic number of one, and San Diego has a insurmountable advantage in the tie-breaking run differential figures.

The two rivals will play the rubber game match of this series, Wednesday, at 6:45pm PT. Matt Waldron (1-3,4.58) is scheduled to start for San Diego. Sean Manaea (7-6, 4.51) will return to his role as starter.