San Francisco Giants Harrison Bader (right) gets around on the baseball for a bottom of the fifth inning grand slam home run in front of Chicago White Sox catcher Drew Romo (left) at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Sat May 23, 2026 (AP News photo)

Saturday, May 23, 2026

Oracle Park

San Francisco, California

Chicago White Sox 3 (26-25)

San Francisco Giants 10 (21-31)

Win: Matt Gage (4-1)

Loss: Erick Fedde (0-5)

Time: 2:47

Attendance: 40,172

By Stephen Ruderman

SAN FRANCISCO–The Giants showed serious resilience Saturday, after losing a 3-0 lead, by responding with a six-run bottom of the fifth inning to blow the game open, and they snapped their four-game snide with a much-needed 10-3 win over the White Sox.

In seasons like this, it’s hard to mark one particular moment as the low point. Katel Marte’s walk-off home run off Matt Gage on Tuesday was brutal. The White Sox’ nine-run top of the fourth inning last night was ugly. Plain and simply, it has been a bad season for the Giants thus far. They came into Saturday’s game 11 games under .500 at 20-31, and in desperate need of a win.

Adrian Houser, who really came through when the Giants needed him to with a strong six-inning start in Sacramento on Sunday, took the ball Saturday. Houser was coming off three solid starts, to be exact.

Saturday, Houser retired the first seven men he faced to get through the first three innings pretty quickly. He then escaped a jam in the top of the fourth. The fact that the Giants got through the top of the fourth Saturday without a massive crooked number was a good omen.

Will Venable, whose old man and former Giant, Max, was here Saturday, decided to have a bullpen game for the White Sox. Left-hander Bryan Hudson was the first to go, and he threw a 1-2-3 bottom of the first inning. Hudson and Erick Fedde then combined for a 1-2-3 bottom of the second.

Bryce Eldridge was in the lineup for the fourth game in a row, which shows that pressure sometimes just may work. Eldridge led off the bottom of the third with a feisty 11-pitch at-bat that culminated with a line-drive base-hit to right field. Unfortunately, Harrison Bader immediately followed up Eldridge’s great at-bat by grounding into a double play.

One of the reasons I want the Giants to get back into it is that I don’t want them to trade Luis Arraez. He’s just too fun to watch. After Houser survived his jam in the top of the fourth Arraez led off the bottom of the fourth with a triple to triple’s alley in right-center. Casey Schmitt then hit a sacrifice fly to right to put the Giants on the board.

A sacrifice fly is a good way for an offense that can’t score runs to get on the board, but it still felt cheap. Good thing Rafael Devers followed that up with a base-hit to right. Matt Chapman also singled to right, and when Jarred Kelenic tried to get Rafi at third, Chapman aggressively took second. Up came Daniel Susac, and he lined a base-hit to left to knock in a pair and make it 3-0. The Giants had a chance to blow it open after Eldridge got his second hit of the game, but Bader and Drew Gilbert were unable to come through.

Houser escaped a jam in the fourth, but go figure: after the Giants finally had a big inning to put a crooked number on the board, the White Sox came right back with three runs to tie the game in the top of the fifth. That knocked Houser out of the game, and Matt Gage was the man who had to get out of it with the game still tied.

As bad as this season has been for the Giants, the fans have packed into Oracle Park all year, and have shown tremendous passion for this team, from the boos for their failures, to the massive euphoric cheers of their big hits and wins. The Giants themselves have shown tremendous resilience despite their poor season thus far. We saw it when they came back from three separate two-run deficits to beat the Pirates on Mother’s Day. Even during Tuesday night’s game in Arizona, the players on the bench showed tremendous enthusiasm after the double plays that got them out of the seventh and eighth innings.

The Giants showed that same resilience Saturday in the bottom of the fifth. Okay, Willy Adames flew out to start the inning, but Adames got a base-hit, and Casey Schmitt hit a big home run to left to put the Giants back ahead. It was Schmitt’s tenth home run of what is starting to turn into a breakout season for him.

Saturday was a gorgeous day at Oracle Park, but as can happen with gorgeous days, the sun can be a real problem. Chapman came up with two outs, and hit a popup along the line in very-shallow left that neither third-baseman Miguel Vargas nor shortstop Colson Montgomery could come with.

The ball fell in, and Chapman legged out a double. Susac and Eldridge walked to load the bases, and Venable brought in Jordan Leasure to face Bader. Bader hit a high popup along the third base line, but that was also lost in the sun, and it fell foul. Bader then hit a grand slam just to the right of straightaway center to send this sold-out crowd of 40,172 into oblivion, and blow the game open 9-3.

It was Bader’s second grand slam just this week. Of course, he hit the grand slam on Sunday in Sacramento. Still, that hardly pales in comparison to Casey Schmitt’s grand slams on back-to-back nights at Dodger Stadium last June.

Willy Adames hit a home run in the bottom of the eighth to make it 10-3. The Giants’ bullpen handled the fort the rest of the way. Gage went an inning and a third, and Sam Hentges threw a scoreless top of the eighth. Joel Peguero gave up back-to-back base-hits to start the top of the ninth, but he induced a double play, and ended up throwing a scoreless inning.

Let’s be honest, Saturday was an exorcism for the Giants. They played the kind of baseball that we have all known they are very much capable of playing. The fact that the Giants are so capable is what has made this start so frustrating. Too many players on this team have tried to be the hero, and have refused to shorten their swings in crucial RBI situations.

That is the biggest reason things have gone the way they have this season. Call me crazy, but if the Giants can start playing consistent station-to-station baseball like this going forward, I honestly believe they will get back into contention this season. I mean, they clearly still want to do something special this season. That is obvious by the way they play. The only question is whether they can keep it up, going forward.

Now, for the formalities. Matt Gage got the win in what was his first appearance since giving up the walk-off on Tuesday. He needed this. Erick Fedde took the loss.

The Giants improve to 21-31.

As for Sunday, the Giants have a chance to take the series. Robbie Ray (3-6 ERA 4.28) will get a chance to move on from his disastrous start in Arizona on Monday, and will take the ball. Noah Schultz (2-3 ERA 4.93) will go for the South-Siders.

First pitch will be at 1:05 p.m.