New York Mets hitter Francisco Lindor slugs one of his two two run home runs in the top of the third inning against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Wed Apr 24, 2024 (AP News photo)

Wednesday, April 24, 2024

New York (13-11). 021 300 002. 8 10 1

San Francisco (12-14). 000 000 101. 2. 8 1

Time:2:50

Attendance: 30,183

By Lewis Rubman

SAN FRANCISCO–The Giants’ progress towards contention was proceeding at a Snell’s pace when the team announced that the pace setter, signed as a free agent late in spring training and today’s probable starter, had suffered a groin pull in his outing last Friday and been placed on the 15 day injured list, retroactive to the day of his injury. We should have suspected something like this when San Francisco bought the contract of the right handed reliever Mitch White on Saturday. Without adding him to the roster until yesterday.

The immediate result of this unfortunate turn of events was that this afternoon’s game between the heirs of the late New York Giants, which San Francisco lost, 8-2, was a bullpen game in which the home team failed in its bid to reach the .500 mark was thwarted.

Their opener was Ryan Waker, who hurled a 20 pitch scoreless first. He was followed by Sean Hjelle (2-2/3 innings, 3 runs, all earned, on three hits; Landen Loup (1-1/3 IP, three hiits, runs, and earned runs); Erik Miller (one inning, one. strikeout; Luke Jackson (one inning, one hit); Tyler Rogers (one inning, one hit); and new kid on the block, Mitch White (one inning, the ninth, two hits, and two runs, both of which came on Francisco Lindor’s second home run to right of the afternoon). Hjelle was the losing pitcher, and now is 0-1, 5.79.

The Mets entrusted their fortunes to a familiar figure on both sides of the bay, Sean Manaea,who was 1-1, 4.12 for his new team on Jamaica Bay. He held the Giants scoreless for 4-2/3 innings, but left two men on base for his successor, Reed Garrett.

Garrett got the out, and Manaea’s line for the day read no runs on four hits and four walks, with a half a dozen strike outs. He was not economical as shown by his 101 pitches, 58 of which were counted as strikes. He didn’t hurl enough innings to earn the win, but he did bring his ERA down to 3.33. Reed Garrett relieved him in the bottom of the fifth and was credited with the win, improving his season’s record to4-0, 0.71).

New York drew first blood in the top of the third on Brandon Nimmo’s one out walk and Francisco Lindor’s fourth home run of the season, a 382 shot over the right field wall, on an 0-2 knuckle curve by Hjelle. It came on an 0-2 count. The visitors’ stretched their lead in the fourth on Tyrone Taylor’s authoritative 406 foot blast off another of Hjelle’s knuckle curves. A fly out and an infield single later, and Hjelle was toast, replaced by Roupp.

Although Roupp stopped the bleeding in the fourth, the top of the fifth witnessed a hemorrhage of runs, starting with a two out walk to Pete Alonso, and followed by a hit batter, a walk, and a two run double by Tyrone Taylor, and Jeff McNeil’s single, and San Francisco was looking up at a six run New York lead.

The Giants finally managed to get someone to cross the plate when in their half of the seventh. Tyler Fitzgerald parked his first home run of the year, a 381 foot blast into the left center field bleachers off Garrett. who, after fanning Ahmed and Flores, surrendered a double to Conforto, and then was yanked in favor of Adam Ottavino, who caught Jorge Soler looking at a third strike.

After Lindor unloaded his ninth inning blast to make it 8-1, the Mets’ Edwin Díaz relieved Ottavino, who pitched a bizarre bottom of the ninth that featured Wilmer Flores getting thrown out at second trying to stretch a single with his team seven runs behind and Alonso’s overthrowing an soft to Díaz, covering first for what would have been the final out, which allowed LaMonte Wade, Jr., who had entered the game as a pinch hitter in the seventh and had eeked out an infield single in the ninth, to score the Giants’ second and final run.

The Giants have the day off Thursday and will start a three game series against Pittsburgh, here at Oracle Park on Friday the 26th at 7:15 in evening, with Kyle Harrison (2-1, 5.00) facing an as yet unnamed Pirate.