Category: San Francisco Giants

San Francisco Giants starter Logan Webb rubs up the baseball in the top of the fifth inning against the Miami Marlins at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Wed Jun 25, 2025 (AP News photo)

San Francisco Giants podcast Stephen Ruderman:

#1 Stephen, tough finish for the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday night bowing to the Miami Marlins in extra innings 8-5. It was San Francisco’s fourth loss in extra innings this season.

#2 The Giants have been involved in a number of one run games this season. In this one the 49 runs in the ninth inning or later is tied for fifth most in MLB.

#3 The Giants are getting assists from the outfield the were able to cut down the Miami run game it was San Francisco’s 17th assist from the outfield which ranks them third in the Majors. It’s the first time since May 11, 2024 against Cincinnati that the Giants had three outfield assists.

#4 The flood gates were opened up when closer Camilo Doval came in for relief in the top of the tenth inning allowing four runs and the Marlins surpassed the Giants 4-4 score for a 8-5 three run win. Doval took the loss and the blown save and is now 3-2, pitching 3.2 innings, allowing two hits, four runs, two walks, and no strikeouts.

#5 The Giants who have lost the first two games of the series will try to get at least a win before the Marlins leave town. The Marlins on Thursday afternoon will start RHP Janson Junk (2-0 ERA 2.60) he’ll be opposed by the Giants RHP Hayden Birdsong (3-1 ERA 3.25) first pitch 12:45pm PDT.

Stephen Ruderman is filling in for Morris Phillips for the Giants podcasts Thursdays at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

San Francisco Giants manager Bob Melvin (left in black jacket) relieves closer Camilo Doval (right) in the top of the tenth against the Miami Marlins at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Wed Jun 25, 2025 (photo by Jay Choi-SF Bay News)

Wednesday, June 25, 2025

Oracle Park

San Francisco, California

Miami Marlins 8 (33-45)

San Francisco Giants 5 (44-36)

Win: Calvin Faucher (3-2)

Loss: Camilo Doval (3-2)

Time: 2:57

Attendance: 31,712

By Stephen Ruderman

SAN FRANCISCO–Despite a spirited comeback by the Giants in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game, the Marlins scored four runs off Camilo Doval in the top of the tenth to win it by a final of 8-5 on Wednesday night at Oracle Park.

The Giants were riding high coming off a big 9-5 win on Sunday when their offense finally woke up and played good fundamental baseball. They would then get a treat on the schedule, as they would host the Miami Marlins for three. However, after a day off on Monday, the Giants’ offense went cold again last night, and the Marlins grinded their way to a 4-2 win in the series opener.

That meant that Logan Webb once again had to be the stopper, and he and the Giants would get off to a good start Wednesday night. Webb got his night started with a one, two, three, top of the first inning. Mike Yastrzemski then led off the bottom of the first against Marlins’ starter Edward Cabrera, and tucked a home run just fair down the right field line.

Webb worked his way out of a jam in the top of the second, and then settled back down for a one, two, three, top of the third. However, Webb would find himself in trouble again in the top of the fourth.

Agustin Ramirez led off the top of the fourth with a base-hit to center-field. With one out, Kyle Stowers worked out a great at-bat and lined a double to right to put runners at second and third. Up came Otto Lopez, who doubled in both runs to give the Marlins a 2-1 lead.

Cabrera pitched through the second, third and fourth, but the Giants would mount a rally in the bottom of the fifth. Jung Hoo Lee walked to lead off the inning, and Willy Adames singled him over to second. Bob Melvin put on the bunt for Patrick Bailey, who sacrificed the runners over to second and third. Christian Koss came up, and he tied the game with a sacrifice fly to center.

Webb survived a two-out jam in the top of the sixth, and that ended his night. Webb went six innings, and gave up two runs and six hits. He walked three, and struck out six. However, as has been the case throughout Webb’s career, he’s a Matt Cain clone with a sinker, so that meant that he got very little run support.

Cabrera went five and a third innings for the Marlins. Like Webb, Cabrera walked three, and struck out six.

Randy Rodriguez threw a scoreless top of the seventh, and then Melvin turned to his reliable setup man, Tyler Rogers, in the top of the eighth. Unfortunately, this would be a rare off-night for Rogers.

Ramirez led off the top of the eighth with a base-hit, and Liam Hicks doubled him over to third. Rogers gained a bit of momentum when he struck Stowers out on three pitches and got Lopez to pop out.

Rogers was an out away from getting out of it unscathed with the game still tied. Up came Heriberto Hernandez, and he lined a base-hit to left-center field, which scored a pair to put the Marlins back ahead 4-2.

After going down one, two, three, in the bottom of the eighth, the Giants were up against Marlins’ closer Calvin Faucher in the bottom of the ninth. Dominic Smith led off the inning for the Giants, and he immediately fell behind 0-2. However, after taking a curveball in the dirt, he was hit on the foot by another curve.

Casey Schmitt was also hit, but he took a fastball to his left hand. Schmitt slammed his bat to the ground with his right hand, and was in obvious pain. Schmitt was the third Giant hit by a pitch tonight, but he truly took one for the team.

The Giants had runners at first and second with nobody out, and despite the pain Schmitt felt in his left hand, the Giants had the momentum. Lee then walked, and the bases were loaded for Adames.

Adames hit a high drive deep to left field that he thought was going to go out for a walk-off grand slam. Adames was watching his shot and preparing to celebrate, but he ended up flying out to the wall. Not the end of the world, though. Smith scored to make it 4-3, and the back runners moved up to second and third.

Up came Patrick Bailey, and he lined a base-hit off the end of the bat to left. Schmitt scored to tie the game, but despite the fact that the Marlins were playing their outfield in, Giants Third Base Coach Matt Williams sent Lee home. The throw from left-fielder Kyle Stowers was off-line, but catcher Nick Fortes had plenty of time to regroup and apply the tag to get Lee at the plate.

It was the second night in a row that Matt Williams made a questionable send, but this one made absolutely no sense. The game was tied, and Bailey was able to get into scoring position at second. However, Koss hit a bullet right into the glove of third-baseman Connor Norby, and we were headed for some Manfredball (ghost runners).

Camilo Doval came in for the tenth, and Fortes was the Manfred runner at second. Liam Hicks led off the inning and fell behind 0-2, but he turned the 0-2 count into a walk, and from there, things fell apart for the Giants.

Stowers flew out, which moved Fortes over to third, and Lopez lined a base-hit to center, which gave the Marlins a 5-4 lead. Miami wasn’t done. Hernandez doubled to left-center to knock in a pair, and advanced to third when the Giants tried to cut down Lopez at the plate. Norby got Hernandez in with a sacrifice fly, just like that, the Marlins had put up a big fat four-spot.

Tyler Phillips came in for the bottom of the 10th. Koss was the Giants’ ghost runner, and Heliot Ramos got him in on a base-hit to right with two outs. However, that would be it, and the Marlins won it 8-5.

Despite giving up two runs and blowing the save in the bottom of the ninth, Calvin Faucher got the win. Camilo Doval was tagged with the loss.

The Giants fall to 44-36, and they have now lost the first two games of a series to a team they should have beaten. Thursday afternoon, the Giants risk the embarrassment of being swept by a team that was swept by the Rockies just three weeks ago.

The Giants will turn to Hayden Birdsong (3-1, 3.25 ERA) as they look to avoid the sweep tomorrow afternoon. Janson Junk (2-0, 2.60 ERA) will go for Miami.

First pitch will be at 12:45 p.m.

Giants News and Notes:

After getting hit, Casey Schmitt kept nursing his left hand while he was standing at third base in the top of the tenth, and while he was in the dugout in the bottom of the tenth.

Schmitt’s condition is not yet known, but I imagine the Giants will have his hand x-rayed.

SAN FRANCISCO – Justin Verlander was hopeful for his first win as a Giant, just coming off the paternity list on Tuesday night, but the San Francisco Giants offense couldn’t support his early-game struggles.

The last time the Giants faced Marlins starter Cal Quantrill (3-7, 5.56), they went 8-for-22, mashing two doubles, a triple, and a homerun off him at LoanDepot Park on May 30. In the series opener against Miami, the Giants offense only managed to score two runs, after exploding for nine runs on Sunday against the Boston Red Sox.

The orange and black came into Tuesday with a 44-34 record, 3.5 games behind the Dodgers in the National League West. Riding high off a series win over the Red Sox, the Giants dropped another game in the standings.

Verlander just returned from the paternity list on Tuesday after welcoming a baby boy to the world, Bellamy Brooks Verlander. In just his second start in the last month, it was the same old story–hard contact against the future Hall-of-Famer.

Although pitching well enough to keep the Giants in the game, Verlander has fallen to an 0-5 start through his first 12 starts, joining Ross Stripling (2023) and Slick Castleman (1936) as the only Giants pitchers to not win any of his first 11 or more starts of a season. 

It was a quick start for Verlander and the Giants defense in the top of the first inning as the Marlins went down in order. Giants second baseman Christian Koss made quite the play to end the inning, sliding into shallow center field with his back to the infield to rob Otto Lopez of the game’s first hit. 

After a quick first out in the top of the second inning, the marlins rallied for two runs. Kyle Stowers started the surge with a line-drive base hit to right field and eventually came around to score the game’s first run on an Eric Wagaman RBI-double. Two batters later, Connor Norby’s single to left brought home Wagaman to make it 2-0 Miami. The frame finally came to an end as Verlander struck out Dane Myers for his third K of the inning. 

The Giants looked to answer in the home fourth. Heliot Ramos became a lead-off base runner by getting plunked in the left bicep by a 92 mph Cal Quantrill heater. On the next pitch, Wilmer Flores grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to erase the progress.

A few pitches later, Jung Hoo Lee sent a hard groundball off the left ankle of Quantrill, who remained in the game, and reached base safely. He later advanced to second base after a failed pickoff attempt got by first baseman Eric Wagaman, however, the Giants bats with RISP continued to struggle. Willy Adames flew out to center field to put an end to the threat. 

Verlander set the Marlins down efficiently in the top of the fifth which allowed the offense to get right back up to the plate. Casey Schmitt got the fun started with a leadoff single to left. After a Patrick Bailey lineout, Christian Koss homered to left to bring the Giants to within one, 3-2. 

Koss got the start at second base following the demotion of Tyler Fitzgerald who had hit .128 in his last 15 games and struggled overall offensively the last month. Manager Bob Melvin mentioned pregame that the Giants were by no means giving up on Fitzgerald but wanted him to regain some confidence by taking some at bats with AAA Sacramento. There is currently no time table on his return to the big league club. 

The energy continued to build in the Oracle Park crowd as Mike Yastrzemski walked after the homerun. The next batter, Rafael Devers grounded to Miami second baseman Xavier Edwards but beat out the throw to first base to prevent the double play.

That was enough to send Marlins starter Cal Quantrill to the showers earlier than he would’ve liked, as he left the field visibly frustrated he couldn’t finish the inning. The Marlins new pitcher Anthony Bender was welcomed to the game with a Heliot Ramos double but the relay from left field was in time to nail Devers at the plate, keeping the Miami lead intact. 

Sean Hjelle replaced Verlander in the next inning as relief pitchers for both teams traded off scoreless halves in the sixth. Verlander finished with 5.0 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, and 5 K. He’ll have to wait at least another five days for his next start in Chicago to try and earn his first win as a Giant. 

The Marlins added one more to their total to extend their lead to two runs in the seventh and that would be all they needed to secure the win in game one. The Miami offense exploded for 11 hits while the Giants could only get five in the hit column, getting outhit by an opponent for the 45th time this season, going 0-for-4 with RISP. They are 6-for-50 (.120) with RISP thus far on the homestand. 

The Giants look to turn the page with ace Logan Webb taking the mound sporting a (7-5, 2.49 ERA) and two straight wins Wednesday night against the Marlins Edward Cabrera (2-2 ERA 3.81). 

First pitch for game two at 6:45 Wednesday night at Oracle Park.