Arizona Diamondbacks catcher Aramis Garcia (middle right) holds up the baseball after tagging out San Francisco Giants baserunner Willy Adames (2) in the bottom of the eighth inning at Oracle Park in San Francisco (AP News photo)

Oracle Park

San Francisco, California

Arizona Diamondbacks 3 (26-26)

San Francisco Giants 2 (22-34)

Win: Michael Soroka (7-2)

Loss: Trevor McDonald (2-2)

Save: Paul Sewald (14)

Time: 2:21

Attendance: 33,258

By Stephen Ruderman

SAN FRANCISCO–The Giants have once again hit a new rock bottom this season, as they blew a 2-0 lead, and single-handedly took themselves out of a rally in the bottom of the eighth with two bone-headed base-running blunders. The Giants lost 3-2, and have suffered another sweep at the hands of the Diamondbacks on Wednesday afternoon..

There has been a real resurgence of small ball and bunting throughout Baseball this season. Teams like the Diamondbacks, Rays, Guardians and Brewers have consistently put the ball in play, and have not struck out much. As a result, they have been very fun to watch, and have been winning games.

The Rays dead-last in barrel percentage and other useless analytical stats that mean absolutely nothing. They are hitting the ball on the ground, and legging out infield hits. They’re stealing bases. They’re coming through with the big RBI base-hits. As a result, they are 11th in runs scored with 244; third in batting average at .260; and third in on-base percentage at .333. The Rays also lead the American League East with the best record in the American League, and the second-best record in Baseball at 36-20.

The Giants have been in a great position all season to be amongst those teams. Wednesday, on what was probably the most beautiful day for a baseball game at Oracle Park all season with puffy cumulous clouds from thunderstorms in the hills in Central Valley, the Giants showed that they can get in on this beautiful trend.

Luis Arraez lined a base-hit, and stole second in the bottom of the first. Unfortunately, Casey Schmitt and Rafael Devers both popped out.

Drew Gilbert led off the bottom of the third with a base-hit to right. Willy Adames then lined a double down the left field line, two batters later, to put runners at second and third for the Giants with one out. Arraez came up, and he hit a little roller up the middle that trickled its way into center field for a base-hit. Gilbert and Adames both scored, and the Giants had a 2-0 lead. Schmitt stole second—after he was originally called out, and the call was over-turned—but Rafael Devers once again looked at strike three, just as he did with the bases loaded last night.

Nevertheless, it was a beautiful rally. It was the kind of rally this Giants’ team was built to execute. It was the kind of rally that if the Giants can start having more of, they can truly turn things around this season.

The day was off to a great start. Trevor McDonald looked to bounce back after getting bombed for seven runs by the White Sox on Friday night. Like his start Friday, McDonald cruised through the first time through the order, but also like his start last Friday, he was allowing solid contact. However, McDonald kept it going the second time through the Diamondbacks’ lineup.

Michael Soroka, who made the start for the Diamondbacks today, settled down, and threw a pair of 1-2-3 innings in the fourth and fifth. The Diamondbacks then got to McDonald for a pair of runs to tie the game in the top of the sixth. In the top of the seventh, Arizona manufactured a run, and took the lead on a sacrifice fly to left by Geraldo Perdomo.

The Giants had blown the lead, and trailed 3-2, as they stared down the barrel of another sweep by the Diamondbacks. Bryce Eldridge drew a walk off Ryan Thompson with one out in the bottom of the seventh. Sadly, the Giants couldn’t do anything, as Brandyn Garcia came in, and struck out pinch-hitter Harrison Bader to end the inning.

Caleb Kilian threw a 1-2-3 top of the eighth, and then came the bottom of the eighth. By this point, the pretty much every-single Giants’ hitter was trying to hit one out to tie the game. Willy Adames has really only been able to hit home runs in meaningless situations this year, and he predictably hit a high fly ball to left off Kevin Ginkel with one out in the bottom of the eighth.

However, Adames got away with it with it when left-fielder Ryan Waldschmidt. The tying run was in scoring position for Arraez, who shot a base-hit to left-center. However, it wasn’t quite clear whether Waldschmidt was going to catch it or not, so Adames had absolutely no chance to score. That didn’t stop Third Base Coach Hector Borg from waving Adames in, and getting him thrown out by a mile at the plate. It was a devastating play, but hey, at least Arraez went to second on the throw. Unfortunately, he was then picked off at second to end the inning.

Schmitt, Devers and Chapman were due up against Diamondbacks’ closer Paul Sewald in the bottom of the ninth. Predictably, all three of them tried to tie the game on one swing, and popped out, struck out and flied out respectively.

Sure, there have been plenty of rock-bottoms for the Giants this season, but Wednesday was definitely a new one. In the grand scheme of things, we probably have a lot more rock-bottoms beneath us to come.

The Giants are now 12 games under .500 at 32-24. The Giants either need to make massive changes—and by that, I mean firing Hector Bord, and designating Harrison Bader and Tyler Mahle for assignment—or they need to just kick the tires on this season. I highly doubt they are going to do the latter. After all, it is only May 27, but if Buster Posey and the powers that be in the front office don’t stage a real intervention soon, we may hit rock-bottom for the Giants’ 69 years in San Francisco at some point later this season.

The Giants will hit the road for their third and final three-city roadtrip of the season. It will take them to Colorado for three; Milwaukee for four; and Chicago for three against the Cubs at Wrigley Field.

The Giants will have a day off Thursday in Denver to think about Wednesday’s new rock-bottom for the season. However, Logan Webb (2-4 ERA 5.06) will make his return from the Injured List for the series opener on Friday. Jung-Hoo Lee will also be eligible to come off the Injured List. Hey, now’s the perfect time to designate Bader and Mahle for assignment.

The longtime veteran, Michael Lorenzen (2-7 ERA 7.21), will go for the Rockies on Friday night.

First pitch will be at 6:40 p.m CDT. at Coors Field, 5:40 p.m PDT.