Baltimore Orioles Jackson Holliday (7) heads to first base after hitting a two run RBI single in the bottom of the fourth inning against the San Francisco Giants at Camden Yards on Thu Sep 19, 2024 (AP News photo)

Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024

Oriole Park at Camden Yards

Baltimore, Maryland

San Francisco Giants 3 (74-79)

Baltimore Orioles 5 (85-68)

Win: Gregory Soto (3-5)

Loss: Ryan Walker (9-4)

Time: 2:48

Attendance: 23,181

By Stephen Ruderman

The Giants were officially eliminated Thursday after failing to secure the sweep in Baltimore, as Anthony Santander hit a two-run walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to carry the Orioles to a much-needed 5-3 win.

The Giants’ offense clicked to win the first two games of this three-game series against the struggling Orioles. Thursday, the Giants had a chance to do two things that they have yet to do all season: sweep a series on the road, and sweep a team other than the Colorado Rockies.

After two wet and misty nights, the stage was set up perfectly for the Giants to complete the sweep on a beautiful partly cloudy early fall day in Baltimore. They had an offense playing situational baseball, and their ace, Logan Webb, making a rare start after a win.

Zach Eflin made the start for Baltimore, and he stymied the Giants’ offense with three scoreless innings out of the gate. Webb, meanwhile, pitched three no-hit innings to start his day.

Things then changed in the fourth inning. Jerar Encarnacion reached on an infield hit to lead off the inning, and then Michael Conforto hit a home run to right-center field, his second of the series, to give the Giants a 2-0 lead.

There seemed to be a balance early on in this game. Both pitchers pitched three scoreless innings to start the day, but both of them had a rough go of things in the fourth.

Webb, too, ran into trouble in the bottom of the fourth after he walked Anthony Santander to start the inning. Two batters later, Adley Rutschman engaged Webb in an eight-pitch at-bat and worked the count full. On the eighth pitch, Rutschman golfed out a low changeup and lined a double down the right field line that scored Santander to put the Orioles on the board.

Webb was on the ropes. The Orioles had a run in, and runners at second and third with still nobody out. However, with the Orioles’ recent offensive struggles, that gave Webb some room, as he retired the next two hitters he faced.

Webb was now an out away from limiting the damage to just a run and keeping the Giants’ lead. Unfortunately, that would not come to be for Webb, as Jackson Holliday shot a base-hit up the middle into center field, and both runners scored to give Baltimore the lead.

The Orioles had a 3-2 lead going to the fifth, and that delicate balance continued, as neither team scored from the fifth to the eighth.

Webb ended up going five innings after the long bottom of the fourth ballooned his pitch count, which got up to 96. In total, Webb gave up three runs on four hits, and he walked just two and struck out eight. Other than the bottom of the fourth, Webb only allowed one base-runner in four no-hit innings.

The Giants had runners at first and second with two outs against Eflin in the top of the sixth. Patrick Bailey came up and hit a low-hanging fly ball deep to right, but Orioles’ right-fielder Heston Kjerstad went back and two his right to make a nice running catch at the wall to end the inning. That would end the day for Eflin, who went six innings for the O’s, and allowed two runs on six hits.

Taylor Rogers pitched a scoreless bottom of the sixth for the Giants. Spencer survived a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the seventh, and then he threw a scoreless bottom of the eighth.

Back to that delicate balance, the ninth inning would be full of action. The Orioles brought in Seranthony Dominguez for the ninth, and he couldn’t find the zone. Dominguez walked Bailey to start the inning, and then he walked Heliot Ramos on four pitches.

The Giants had runners at first and second with nobody out for Casey Schmitt. Schmitt hit a fly ball to right-center that kept carrying. Center-fielder Cedric Mullins and right-fielder Austin Slater—the latter just into the game—both came for it, but they collided, and the ball went to the wall. Bailey scored to tie the game, but after what transpired, Ramos only went to second, and that limited Schmitt to the longest and weirdest single of the year.

It’s understandable to be a bit confused after the craziness that transpired on that fly ball, but the ball laid on the ground next to the wall for a few seconds, and Ramos had all the time in the world to get to third. He even could have scored on that play.

Ramos has been a great story for the Giants this season, and he will be a big part of their future. However, he made the kind of fundamental blunder that we have seen far too much from players throughout Baseball in recent years, especially this season.

It was a costly base-running mistake by Ramos, and it came back to bite the Giants. Donovan Walton tried to lay down a bunt to move the runners over to second and third, but he bunted it in the air to catcher Adley Rutschman. Brandon Hyde then brought in the lefty, Gregory Soto, who induced a 4-3 double play off the bat of Mark Canha to end the inning.

Bob Melvin brought in his closer, the reliable Ryan Walker, for the bottom of the ninth. Walker caught Emmanuel Rivera looking at a sinker at the knees to start the inning, but Gunner Henderson singled to right. Walker then struck Cedric Mullins out swinging, and he quickly got Anthony Santander to an 0-2 count.

Walker was a strike away from sending the game to the tenth. However, Santander battled with two strikes. He took a sinker inside for ball one, and he fouled off four-straight pitches. Then on the eighth pitch, Walker hung a slider just above the knees, and Santander hit a fly ball deep to right-center that kept carrying and went out just over the wall. The Orioles won it 5-3.

Gregory Soto got the win, and Ryan Walker had to take the loss.

Going back to that delicate balance. Neither team scored in the first three innings, and from the fifth through the eighth. However, both teams scored in the fourth and the ninth, and that accounted for all of the runs scored Thursday.

The Giants fall to 74-79, and they have officially been eliminated from any possible postseason contention. With the Giants being eliminated in their 153rd game, this is the earliest they have been eliminated since 2018, when they were eliminated right before their 151st game.

With nine games left and their fate sealed, the Giants can still end the season on a high note. Despite not being able to complete the sweep Thursday, the Giants still played well, and they showed the resilience they’ve had all year when they tied the game in the ninth.

The Giants can now carry that momentum into Kansas City, where they will begin a three-game series and 2014 World Series rematch with the Royals starting Thursday night. The Giants will really have a chance to play spoiler against a Royals’ team that holds the second wild card spot in the American League, and is only two games up on a playoff spot.

Mason Black (0-4, 7.07 ERA) will make the start for the Giants, and he will be opposed by the longtime veteran and old friend, Michael Wacha (13-7, 3.29 ERA). First pitch at Kauffman Stadium will be at 7:10 p.m., and 5:10 p.m. back home in San Francisco.