San Francisco Giants Grant McCray jogs the bases after hitting a top of the eighth inning home run against the Seattle Mariners at T Mobile Park in Seattle on Sun Aug 25, 2024 (AP News photo)
Sunday, Aug. 25, 2024
T-Mobile Park
Seattle, Washington
San Francisco Giants 3 (66-66)
Seattle Mariners 4 (66-65)
Win: Bryan Woo (6-2)
Loss: Sean Hjelle (3-4)
Save: Andres Munoz (19)
Time: 2:39
Attendance: 35,062
By Stephen Ruderman
SEATTLE–Wasted opportunities once again came back to bite the Giants, as Robbie Ray left with left hamstring tightness after just three innings, and the Mariners edged out the Giants for a 4-3 win to take the series in Seattle.
Sunday was the rubber match of a series between two similarly-built teams in the similar spot of being around .500 and on the fringes of contention. The Mariners came back from down 5-1 to hand the Giants their worst loss of the season on Friday night. Saturday, the Giants bounced back in a real team effort for a much-needed 4-3 win
The weather had finally cleared after a pair of cold and rainy days, as the sun was out, and the roof was open on this beautiful partly-cloudy day for the series finale Sunday afternoon in Seattle. This would be the 2,000th game in the history of T-Mobile Park, which originally opened in July 1999 as Safeco Field.
Bryan Woo made the start for Seattle, and Tyler Fitzgerald stepped in to lead off the ballgame. Fitzgerald reached on a throwing error by third-baseman Josh Rojas. Two batters later, Heliot Ramos hit a two-run home run to left to put the Giants on the board.
It was Ramos’ 20th home run of the season, and he became the youngest Giant to have a 20-home run season since Pablo Sandoval hit 23 in 2011.
Making the start for the Giants would be Robbie Ray, who pitched for the Mariners the last two seasons. Ray walked Dylan Moore to start the bottom of the first inning, and Moore advanced to third base on a wild pitch with one out. Cal Raleigh then lined a base-hit to left, which scored Moore to put the Mariners on the board.
Woo pitched a one, two, three inning in the top of the second, and Ray pitched a scoreless inning in the bottom of the second. As the inning went along, Ray started grunting with each pitch, as he could be heard all the way up here in the press box.
Woo threw another one, two, three inning in the top of the third, and Ray escaped a jam in the bottom of the third. The Mariners had gotten a runner into scoring position in each of the first three innings against Ray.
After Woo pitched a scoreless top of the fourth, Ray came back out for the bottom of the fourth. Justin Turner led off the inning, and the second pitch of the at-bat was fouled back just a bit off to the right, as the ball was dropped by a fan in the suite level, before bouncing off the broadcast booths and eventually landing in the first deck.
That wasn’t the biggest story of that foul ball, however. Bob Melvin, Pitching Coach Bryan Price and the trainer all came out to check on Ray, who was in clear discomfort. After a conversation at the mound, Ray left the game with tightness in his left hamstring.
Sean Hjelle came in and ended up allowing a leadoff base-hit to Turner. Hjelle then ended up pitching a scoreless inning.
Ray ended up pitching three innings, while allowing just a hit in a run. He walked three and struck out four. Hjelle was saddled with Turner’s base-hit.
Woo pitched another scoreless inning in the top of the fifth, and the Mariners rallied against Hjelle in the bottom of the fifth. Josh Rojas led off the inning with a base-hit to right, and Leo Rivas sacrificed him over to second. Dylan Moore then hit a sharp ground ball to short that took a nasty hop and skipped off the glove of shortstop Tyler Fitzgerald, and Moore was aboard.
The Mariners had runners at the corners with one out for Julio Rodriguez. J-Rod hit a ground ball to first that LaMonte Wade threw to second for the second out of the inning, but Rodriguez beat out the backend with Hjelle covering at first. That allowed Rojas to score, which tied the game.
Woo threw a shutdown one, two, three inning in the top of the sixth. Woo was helped by right-fiedler Mitch Haniger, who made a great running catch on a flyball off the bat of Wade to right-center. Haniger’s catch almost certainly took away extra bases from Wade.
The Mariners loaded the bases with nobody out off Hjelle, who was back out for his third inning of work in the bottom of the sixth. Hjelle hit two guys and allowed a base-hit to Turner.
Following his great catch in the top of the inning, Haniger grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, but Arozarena scored to give the Mariners their first lead of the day. Bob Melvin pulled Hjelle for left-hander Taylor Rogers, and Rojas singled on a ground ball to right-center to knock in Turner and make it 4-2.
Woo came back out for the seventh, and he threw his sixth-straight scoreless inning to cap off a great afternoon for him. Mariners’ fans serenaded him with a long chant of “WOOOOOOOOOOO” as he headed back to the dugout.
Woo gave up just two runs and four hits over seven strong innings. He didn’t walk anybody, and he struck out seven.
Taylor Rogers came back out to throw a one, two, three bottom of the seventh, and that gave the Giants a little bit of a boost going into the eighth.
Mariners’ Interim Manager Dan Wilson brought in Friday night’s winning pitcher, Collin Snider, in for the top of the eighth. Grant McCray stepped in to lead off the inning, and he hooked a home run that hit off the facing of the second deck in right to make it a 4-3 game.
Mark Canha then pinch-hit and walked, and the Giants had the tying run aboard at first with nobody out for the top of the order. Wade walked with one out to put runners at first and second, but Ramos struck out swinging, and Michael Conforto grounded out to first, so the Giants of course wasted it.
Tyler Rogers came in for the bottom of the eighth. It was his first appearance since his disastrous eighth inning on Friday night, and he ran into trouble, as the Mariners put runners at the corners with two outs. However, Rogers struck Rojas out on a foul tip to complete a scoreless inning.
Mariners’ Closer Andres Munoz came in for the top of the ninth much to the excitement of this raucous crowd in Seattle. Matt Chapman walked to lead off the inning, but Mike Yastrzemski struck out for the first out. Thairo Estrada grounded out in front of the plate for the second out, but that did get the tying run in Chapman into scoring position.
It was now up to McCray, who homered his last time up to lead off the eighth. McCray worked the count full to 3-2, as Chapman advanced to third on defensive indifference. McCray walked to keep the game going for Canha, but Canha struck out to end it, and the Mariners held on to win it 4-3.
Bryan Woo got the win; Sean Hjelle took the loss; and Andrews Munoz got the save. The Giants fall to 66-66, but they remain five games back of the Braves, who lost Sunday, for the third wild card.
The Giants will now head to Milwaukee, where after a day off Monday, they will begin a three-game series against the powerful Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday. Logan Webb (11-8, 3.13 ERA) will be on the mound for the Giants, and he will be opposed by Tobias Myers (6-5, 2.87 ERA).
First pitch will be at 7:10 p.m. in Milwaukee, 5:10 p.m. back home in San Francisco.
National League Wild Card Standings:
- Diamondbacks 75-56 +4.5
- Padres 74-58 +3.0
- Braves 70-60 —
Mets 68-63 2.5
GIANTS 66-66 5.0
Cardinals 65-65 5.0
Cubs 65-66 5.5
Giants News and Notes:
The Giants have received infielder Nate Furman from the Cleveland Guardians as the player to be named later for Alex Cobb.
Major League Baseball News and Notes:
With the Chicago White Sox’s 9-4 loss to the Detroit Tigers, they have become the second-fastest team to lose 100 games in the Modern Era of National League and American League Baseball.
The fastest team to lose 100 games was the 1916 Philadelphia A’s. While the 1962 New York Mets finished with the most losses in a single season in the Modern Era at 40-120 in the first season the National League had a 162-game schedule, the 1936’s finished with the worst record in Modern History at 36-117 with a .2352 winning percentage.
To finish with the worst record in Modern NL/AL History, the White Sox would have to finish at 38-124, which would amount to a .2345 winning percentage. Even though the White Sox’ current winning percentage is .2366, they are currently on pace to lose 124 games, and have the worst season in Modern NL/AL History.
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