San Francisco Giants relief pitcher Jose Butto pauses after giving up an RBI single to St. Louis Cardinals’ Ivan Herrera during the fifth inning of a baseball game Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

By Barbara Mason

After game one of their series with the St. Louis Cardinals (72-72) it looked so promising for the San Francisco Giants (72-71). It all seemed to fall apart in games two and three losing both games and the series.

The score in Sunday’s game three was 4-3 in favor of the Cardinals. With this loss the Giants fell even further back in their chase for a wild card. The Giants only had five hits in the game and for a second game in a row there was not a home run to be found.

Game recap: It was a quiet start for both teams in game three. The Giants went scoreless through the first five innings and the only action the Giants had was a walk in the fourth inning. There was nothing productive going on at the plate for San Francisco.

The Cardinals had the first runs of the game in the bottom of the fifth scoring four runs putting the Giants behind the eight-ball. St. Louis’ Lars Nootbaar singled Jordan Walker, who had walked, home from third base for their first run taking the early 1-0 lead.

They continued to extend their lead throughout the fifth inning. Ivan Herrera hit another St. Louis single driving Nathan Church home from third base. They had the bases loaded throughout the inning.

It was a tough inning for Teng who walked three St. Louis runners. He was relieved by Jose Butto mid-way through the inning who eventually got the Giants out of the inning but not before he walked another St. Louis runner Nolan Gorman sending Jose Fermin across home plate for another run taking a 3-0 lead.

The Cardinals scored their final run of the inning when Masyn Winn grounded into a double play with two outs and Nootbaar scored their fourth run of the game now leading 4-0.

Going into the sixth inning the Giants had a lot of work to do trailing 0-4. They began to chip away at the Cardinals lead. St. Louis pitcher Sonny Gray walked the first two at bats Drew Gilbert and Andrew Knizner.

Rafael Devers hit a single that drove in Gilbert and the Giants were up on the scoreboard 1-4. Gray walked Willy Adames his third walk in the inning. Dominic Smith singled Knizner home for a second run leaving the bases loaded.

Matt Chapman singled driving Devers home for their third run in the inning now only trailing by a single run 3-4. The Giants had a great opportunity but Jung Hoo Lee struck out for the second out and Casey Schmitt lined out and that was the inning. With three innings left in the game, San Francisco had a great opportunity to tie or even take the lead.

The Giants went three and out in the seventh inning . In the eighth inning, San Francisco had two runners on base; Wilmer Flores had doubled and Matt Chapman was intentionally walked. Jung Hoo Lee struck out swinging for the third out and the Giants had one inning left to make a run at a win in this game.

Schmitt singled in the ninth inning but Drew Gilbert flied out and Patrick Bailey grounded into a double play and that was the ball game with the Cardinals winning the game 4-3 and taking the series.

What made this game all the more disappointing was the production at the plate. For the past dozen or so games, San Francisco had won a slew of games in numerous way. They were really hitting the ball well, they were hitting a lot of home runs and they were coming from behind at times.

They were taking control of just about every situation in every game they played. This just didn’t happen in this series after game one. They came close but did not get their offense going early enough in this game. They left six runners on base and had fallen back into a bit of a slump.

It gets even worse. With the two losses the Giants have taken a dive in the standings. With the New York Mets hanging onto the third wild card, it’s now the Reds and the Arizona Diamondbacks that are making a late run.

Game notes: After suffering a disappointing loss Saturday in game two of their series with the Cardinals and the Giants were looking to break the series tie and win the series but came up short again losing by a run Sunday 4-3.

They are in a race against time right now with the regular season time running out. In Saturday’s loss the Giants bats were strangely quiet especially the absence of the long ball. The Giants just couldn’t get enough run production to win Sunday’s game.

The Giants led in Saturday’s game going into the bottom of the ninth inning where the Cardinals turned the game around winning in a walk-off. They really needed a win Sunday especially with the New York Mets losing Saturday.

They missed an additional chance Sunday with the Mets losing morning to the Reds. The bottom line is that the Giants could have made up two games on the Mets with a win Saturday and a win Sunday.

Giants starter Kai-Wei Teng took the mound pitching four innings, three hits, four earned runs, five walks and eight strikeouts. Cardinals starter Sonny Gray 5.1 innings, two hits, three earned runs, four walks and six strikeouts.

The Giants now head home for a three game series with the Diamondbacks for another important series at Oracle Park Monday night. Logan Webb will take the mound for San Francisco in game one. He has a 13-9 win/loss record and a 3.17 ERA. The Diamondbacks will start Nabil Crismatt who comes into the game with a 2.14 ERA. First pitch for this game is scheduled for 6:45 PM.