San Diego Padres hitter Jose Iglesias slugs a sacrifice fly that scores teammate Jake Cromwell in the tenth inning for the game’s only run against catcher Patrick Bailey and the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Mon Jun 2, 2025 (AP photo)

Monday, June 2, 2025

Oracle Park

San Francisco, California

San Diego Padres 1 (34-24)

San Francisco Giants 0 (33-27)

Win: Robert Suarez (1-1)

Loss: Ryan Walker (1-3)

Time: 2:51

Attendance: 35,680

By Stephen Ruderman

The Giants left 12 men on base Monday night, and Logan Webb’s eight shutout innings were all for naught, as the combination of wasted opportunities and a little bit of Manfredball led to a 10-inning 1-0 win for the Padres to start the homestand.

After a torrid 24-14 start over the first six weeks of the season, the Giants’ offense has collapsed over the last three and a half weeks. Instead of playing situational baseball and stealing bases like they did over the first six weeks, the Giants have relied on home runs, which is exactly what got them into trouble the last two years.

Thankfully, the Giants have still been able to win some games, and have not fallen below six games over .500. It has been in large part due to their superb pitching staff, and possibly the best bullpen in the game.

After getting swept out of Detroit by the juggernaut Tigers last week, the Giants were able to come out of Miami with two out of three over the subpar Marlins. Monday night, the Giants returned home to begin a four-game set against the San Diego Padres.

Like the Giants, the Padres got off to a hot start, but have sputtered as of late. In fact, this looked to be an evenly-matched series.

The Giants would send their ace, Logan Webb, to the mound in the series opener on a brisk and cool night on the shores of McCovey Cove. Webb started off the night by throwing just nine pitches in a one, two, three top of the first inning.

Stephen Kolek took the ball for the Padres in his sixth start of the season. His first two starts after being called up from Triple-A El Paso were great. He threw five and a third shutout innings against the Pirates at PNC Park on May 4, and then he threw a complete game shutout in Denver against the Rockies six days later.

However, Kolek’s last three starts were another story. In his last three starts, he has given up 15 earned runs over 16 and a third innings. Either Kolek would be the perfect man for the Giants’ offense to pounce on and start to get hot again, or the Giants’ struggling offense to help Kolek settle down a bit.

Unfortunately, it would somewhat be the latter. I say somewhat, because Kolek had a hard time getting his feet on the ground early, as he ran into trouble in the bottom of the first and second.

The Giants put runners at the corners with two outs in the bottom of the first, but Mike Yastrzemski struck out to end the inning. The Giants then loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the second on a rally for absolutely free. However, Tyler Fitzgerald then grounded into a fielder’s choice, and Heliot Ramos grounded into an inning-ending double play.

It was two more wasted opportunities for a struggling Giants’ offense. Kolek was on the ropes twice, but the Giants bailed him out both times.

Fortunately for the Giants, the Padres’ offense couldn’t come through either, as Webb wiggled his way out of trouble in the second and third.

There was a little bit of drama in the early innings. LaMonte Wade was hit in the hand by Kolek in the bottom of the second and had to leave the game. Wade was x-rayed after the game, and he only had a contusion and no broken bones. Webb hit Elias Diaz in the top of the third, and after Kolek hit Wilmer Flores in the hand in the bottom of the third, Wilmer had a few choice words for the Padres’ young right-hander.

It used to be that the home plate umpire could take charge and issue warnings. However, since 2020, Major League Baseball has had its umpires gather as a crew before issuing warnings. The umpires all gathered after Wilmer was hit, but with Home Plate Umpire Ryan Wills’ inability to take charge, that exacerbated the situation.

I couldn’t tell if warnings were issued. I assume they were, because when Wills and First Base Umpire and Crew Chief Lance Barksdale went over to talk to Padres Manager Mike Shildt, there was barking from the Padres’ dugout.

It also unnecessarily delayed the game, as it took the umpies a couple of minutes to sort out. If Wills had been able to take charge and issue warnings himself on the spot, there would not have been a delay, and there probably would not have been any barking from the Padres’ dugout either.

The benches did not clear, and the game would finish without any further incident. However, in a four-game series between two division rivals, things can get heated, so don’t be surprised if something happens later in this series.

After Wilmer was hit, Kolek settled down to throw a pair of one, two, three innings in the fourth and fifth. Meanwhile, Webb settled down to throw a one, two, three inning in the top of the fourth, but he had to work through another jam in the top of the fifth.

Kolek ended up going five and two thirds Monday night, and he gave up just three hits.

Webb ended up going eight, matching his longest outing of the season. Webb gave up six hits over his eight shutout innings. He didn’t walk anybody, and he struck out seven.

The Giants wasted two more golden opportunities in the seventh and eighth, and after going down scoreless in the bottom of the ninth, it was time for some Manfredball!

Ryan Walker was on the mound for the top of the 10th. Tyler Wade—no relation to LaMonte Wade—bunted the Manfred runner, Jake Cronenworth, over to third base. Jose Iglesias then got Cronenworth in with a sacrifice fly to left field for the game’s first run. Walker threw just seven pitches in what was a one, two, three inning, but he was still in line for the loss.

The Padres had a 1-0 lead going to the bottom of the tenth. Robert Suarez, who had pitched the bottom of the ninth, was back out, and Jung Hoo Lee was the ghost runner for the Giants.

Christian Koss bunted Lee over to third. Matt Chapman then hit a sharp one-hopper, but it was right to Iglesias at third, and Chapman was retired for the second out.

The Giants last hope would be Jerar Encarnacion, who was making his season debut. Encarnacion impressed by hitting five home runs in 35 games for the Giants last season, but he fractured his left hand diving for a ball during Spring Training.

In his 2025 debut, Encarnacion was thrown into a big spot with a chance to be the hero. The count quickly went to 0-2. Encarnacion fouled one away, and made perfect contact with a 101-mile-per-hour sinker and hit a bullet to the right side. Unfortunately, it was right into the glove of Padres’ first base-man Luis Arraez, and the game was over. The Padres won 1-0.

The Giants went 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position, and they left 12 men on base. This was also the Giants’ 15th-straight game in which they scored four runs or fewer. The last time that happened was in 1965 with an offense that featured three hall-of-famers. I don’t know about you, but I see that as a good omen.

Robert Suarez got the win, and Ryan Walker got the loss despite his only action being a seven-pitch one, two, three inning. Manfredball strikes again!!!

The Giants fall to 33-27, and they will just have to try and bounce back Tuesday night. Landen Roupp (3-4, 3.54 ERA) will be on the bump for the Giants. Ryan Bergert (1-0, 0.00 ERA), who has appeared in just four games and hasn’t made a single start, will take the ball for San Diego.

First pitch will be at 6:45 p.m.

Giants News and Notes:

To make room for Jerar Encarnacion, Luis Matos was sent down to Triple-A Sacramento after hitting what proved to be the game-winning home run on Sunday in Miami.

That’s the harsh reality of the beautiful game of Baseball. You can hit what proves to be the game-winner one day, but if you’re hitting .167 on the season, you could very well be sent down to the minors the next.