San Francisco Giants Casey Schmitt who hit a third inning home run against the Arizona Diamondbacks is greeted in the dugout by teammates at Chase Field in Phoenix on Mon Sep 15, 2025 (AP News photo)

By Barbara Mason

Every game going forward is critical for the San Francisco Giants (75-74). They have to break out of their current funk after dropping two games to the Los Angeles Dodgers over the weekend. Going into Monday night’s series with the Arizona Diamondbacks (75-75) the Giants have to at the very least win the series.

It did not go as planned and San Francisco got walloped by Arizona 8-1. You could see the pain and disappointment etched on the faces of the players in the dugout. This not how they wanted to start this series.

Casey Schmitt hit a solo home run to get San Francisco on the board but that would be it for the Giants. They only had two hits in the entire game. With Monday night’s loss, Tuesday’s game takes on even more importance.

Game notes: Arizona took an early lead in this game 1-0. A pickoff error from Giants pitcher Kai-Wei Teng allowed Arizona’s Geraldo Perdomo to score for the one-run lead. The Giants answered back in the third inning to tie up the game at one apiece.

Casey Schmitt homered to center for the tie. With the game tied this was anybody’s game and San Francisco had a nice opportunity to take the lead going into the fourth inning. It didn’t even come close to happening.

Unfortunately the rest of the game was all Arizona. The Diamondbacks did not score agains until the sixth inning but they broke this game wide open in the sixth scoring 6 runs taking a 7-1 lead.

Ildemaro Vargas singled driving two runners, Corbin Carroll and Gabriel Moreno home for a 3-1 lead and they never looked back. The Diamondbacks followed that up with a Jordan Lawlar double that drove Blaze Alexander home and extended their lead to 4-1.

A James McCann 2-run home run upped their score to 6-1. Arizona was hot and showed no signs of letting up. Perdomo tripled Jake McCarthy home for a 7-1 lead.

The Diamondbacks finished San Francisco off in the eighth inning. Again it was Geraldo Perdomo at the plate doing more damage doubling. Jake McCarthy scored on that double for the 8-1 lead that turned out to be the final.

It was an awful game for the Giants managing only two hits. With the 8-1 loss Monday, Tuesday’s game takes on even more importance putting pressure on the mound and at the plate. They have to get the bats working because they were positively stagnant at the plate.

The Giants started a three-game series with the Diamondbacks only to lose a critical game at Chase Field and drop back two games in the NL Wild Card race.

Game notes: Every game going forward is crucial because of this traffic jam in the National League race for the third wild card spot. The Mets and the Reds were both off Monday night. Right now the Reds are tied with the Giants for second place in the NL Wild Card.

The Giants lost Monday’s game against the Diamondbacks. They are coming off a horrendous loss to the Dodgers 10-2 Sunday. They have to start stringing hits together if they want to have any chance to string wins together.

They do have the time, although limited, to do just that but losing now is not an option. They have to get the bats working and of course there have been some rough starts on the mound for the team. For Giants starter Kei Wei Teng pitched four innings, two hits, didn’t allow a run, one walk and five strike outs. but relievers Joey Lucchesi and Keaton Winn gave up runs in the ninth inning as the Diamondbacks piled it on.

First pitch in Tuesday’s game two is scheduled for 6:40 PM. Right now the Giants are undecided as to who will take the mound. The Diamondbacks will start Eduardo Rodriguez. He has a 8-8 win/loss record and a 4.98 ERA.