Houston Allen Nick Allen (20) is tagged out in a rundown by San Francisco Giants shortstop Osleivis Basabe (39) in the bottom of the sixth inning at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Wed Aug 12, 2026 (AP News photo)

Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026

Oracle Park

San Francisco, California

Houston Astros 2 (62-60)

San Francisco Giants 1 (50-71)

Win: Steven Okert (6-1)

Loss: Keaton Winn (2-3)

Save: Josh Hader (16)

Time: 2:27

Attendance: 28,101

By Stephen Ruderman

SAN FRANCISCO–Adrian Houser gave up just two hits over six shutout innings in his first start in two months, but he only got one run in offensive support. The Giants’ bullpen and defense then faltered, as the Astros scored runs in the seventh and eighth to beat the Giants 2-1, and take the series Wednesday.

Adrian Houser took the ball for his first start since the rains limited him to just an inning during the suspended game in Cobb County on June 16. The Giants turned to him, as they looked to play spoilers, and take this series over the American League West-leading Astros, who came into Wednesday’s game a half game up on the Texas Rangers.

Houser opened up the day with a one, two, theee, inning in the top of the first. Now, it was up to the Giants’ offense to give him some support.

Joe Espada went with an opener on this getaway day, and that would be the lefty, Bryan King. After a pair of walks, Espada went to Enyel De Los Santos with two outs in the bottom of the first. Victor Bericoto was at the plate, and flipped a base-hit to left field. Willy Adames came in to score, and the Giants struck first.

Houser ended up retiring the first nine men he faced Wednesday. The Giants wasted an opportunity against Tasuya Imai in the bottom of the second, and Imai threw a one, two, three, inning in the bottom of the third.

The second time through the order started off a little bit different for Houser, as he survived a jam in the top of the fourth. He then settled back down for a one, two, three, top of the fifth.

Nick Allen singled to lead off the top of the sixth, and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Christian Vazquez. Jeremy Pena then hit a ground ball to short, and Allen was caught in a rundown before being tagged out. Pena thought he would try and sneak into second base, but he was thrown out by a mile. For those of you interested, it was a 6-5-4-5 double play, with third-baseman Christian Koss tagging Pena out at second base.

That was an interesting and nice way to end Houser’s afternoon. Houser was good today, as he gave up just two hits, and walked just one over six shutout innings. He struck out five.

Unfortunately, the Giants’ offense couldn’t really do anything against a whole assortment of Astros’ relievers. That meant this 1-0 lead was in the hands of the Giants’ bullpen, which already blew a ninth inning lead on Monday night.

Sam Hentges was the man for the seventh inning, and Yordan Alvarez led off the top of the seventh with a base-hit. It was easy to guess that the Giants’ bullpen was going to blow it, but that wouldn’t be entirely accurate.

Paredes hit a ground ball right to short that was literally tailor made. Unfortunately, Adames just lobbed a throw over to second to get the lead runner, Alvarez, which allowed Paredes to beat out the back end at first.

Daulton Varsho then hit a fly ball to left, but Victor Bericoto lost it in the sun, and dropped it, which got Paredes over to third. Tony Vitello then brought in Keaton Winn to face Nelson Velazquez, who tied the game with a sacrifice fly to center.

Amazingly, only one run scored through that debacle of an inning. All I can say is that things like this happen when a team is having a bad season. That inning was just another clip for the 2026 San Francisco Giants lowlight reel.

After our old friend, Steven Okert, who pitched for the Giants from 2016 to 2018, set down the Giants one, two, three in the bottom of the seventh, Winn was back out for the eighth. However, Willy Adames was not after his lob to second base in the top of the seventh. According to Vitello, Adames was pulled due to a back issue.

Anyway, the Astros predictably took the lead, and it only took them four pitches to do so. Taylor Trammel led off the inning with a triple, and Nick Allen immediately got him in with a sacrifice fly.

Bryan Abreu threw for a one, two, three inning, in bottom of the eighth, and the Giants were up against Josh Hader in the ninth. With one out, Christian Koss gave one a ride to left with one out, but Yordan Alvarez had it right at the wall. Jung Hoo Lee then grounded out to second to end the game. Yes, it was a one, two, three, inning, but I guess that Koss’ long fly ball could count as a whimper.

Steven Okert got the win; Keaton Winn took the loss; and Josh Hader picked up the save.

The Giants are now 50-71, and they are just two games ahead of where they were through 121 games in their 98-loss season of 2017. The Giants were 48-73 after 121 games after 2017. I’ll say it again: it has been a bad season for the Giants.

The Colorado Rockies will come in for the third and final leg of the lone three-team homestand for the Giants this season. The Giants will get to enjoy a day off Thursday, and then they will get underway against the Rockies on Friday night.

Starting pitchers for Colorado LHP Kyle Freeland (3-10 ERA 6.63) for San Francisco Landen Roupp (7-11 ERA 4.22)

First pitch will be at 7:15 p.m.

Baseball America ranks Giants’ farm system as fourth-best:

As rough as this season has been, it has come with its positives. One of those being that the draft and the trade deadline have bolted the Giants’ farm system to the fourth-best in the eyes of Baseball America.