San Diego Padres starter Sean Manaea delivers a pitch to the San Francisco Giants line up in the bottom of the first inning at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Fri May 20, 2022 (AP News photo)
San Diego. 8 11. 0
San Francisco 7. 10. 0.
10 innings
Friday May 20, 2022
By Lewis Rubman
SAN FRANCISCO–It was welcome back to the bay night for ex Athletics on the San Diego Padres this evening. Sean Manaea, once the ace of Oakland´s rotation, the southpaw slider specialist from Samoa who no hit the then powerful Red Sox in 2018 started for the Pads, backed up by erstwhile teammate Jurickson Profar, playing left and batting clean up.
Manager Bob Melvin´s return was particularly gratifying since it marked his first game at the helm since his recovery from prostate surgery earlier this month. One time Oakland outfielder Ryan Christenson had been running the team in the skipper´s absence.
Manaea came into the game with a 2-3,3.77 record and had lost his only other start against San Francisco, which came on April 13. He pitched well in that game, allowing both of the Giants’ runs, which were earned, in six innings of work. The Padres had to come back twice from behind to capture the lead and got it for keeps in the top of the 10th inning for a one run 8-7 win at Oracle Park.
Friday night Manaea left without a decision, having surrendered four runs, all earned, in another six inning stint. He threw 96 pitches, 66 of which qualified as strikes, surrendering five hits, two of them home runs. His strikeout total was five, against two walks.
The Giants sent Jakob Juris, another pitcher who seldom throws fast balls from the mound. Juris had been up and down between Sacramento and San Francisco, as had Luis González, who was brought back to the big team when the Giants put LaMonte Wade, Jr., on the 10 day IL with an inflamed left knee.
In a roller coaster of a game, the Padres defeated the Giants in 10 innings.
San Francisco took an early lead in the second on a lead off single by Wilmer Flores, followed by ex-Athletic Tommy LaStella’s foul out to first.
A single by Thairo Estrada and a walk to Brandon Crawford loaded the bases and set the stage for Curt Casali’s sacrifice fly to right. But that was all the scoring the Giants could muster. González fanned to end the inning.
The Padres jumped ahead while it still was daylight. Ha-Seong Kim led off the top of the third with a liner that bounced through Juris’s legs and off Estrada’s glove at second for a single. After Trent Grisham forced Kim at second, Jorge Alfaro bounced a drive down the left field line for a double that brought Grisham home with the tying run.
Jake Cronenworth promptly made the score 3-1 with a 348 foot blast to right for his third round tripper of the season. It came off a slow slider.
San Diego padded its lead before the frame was over. Machado, the Manny you love to hate, singled to right and advanced to third when Eric Hosmer grounded out to short. He then scored on a wild pitch.
Ruff’s second four bagger of the year, with Slater on board in the Giants’ third, took a Manaea sinker 391 feet deep into left and brought the home team closer to the visitors, reducing their advantage to 4-3.
Ruf came through again to tie the game at four with another home run to left. This one went 381 feet and came off a change up.
Thanks to some spiffy fielding by Estrada, Juris got through the sixth frame unscathed and left the game in favor of John Brebbia. All four of the runs the Giants’ starter had allowed were earned. They came on seven hits, one of which went the distance. He didn’t walk anyone but did unleash a costly wild pitch. His pitch count was 76, 52 considered strikes.
Nabil Crismatt relieved Manaea to start the seventh. Curt Casali drove a hanging curve deep to left center field where Profar corralled it at the wall. González proceeded to smack a four seamer to the same field for a two bagger.
Mike Yastrzemski pinch hit for Slater and flew out to right, bringing up Ruf. Could he do it again? San Diego had learned its lesson, and Ruf walked on five pitches. Evan Longoria grounded out to end the threat, leaving the score knotted at four.
It fell to Tyler Rogers to pitch the Padres’ eighth. He almost made it through scoreless, but Will Myers jumped on a 2-2 72 mph slider with runners on second and third for a two run double to right that gave the Friars a 6-4 lead.
Crismatt got two quick outs in the bottom of the eighth but surrendered a double to deep right to Estrada, which ended Crismatt’s tenure on the mound. Lefty Tim Hill came in and retired Crawford on a fly to right.
Zack LIttell started the top of the ninth for the orange and black. He sandwiched a walk to Grisham between strikeouts of Kim and Alfaro and then turned the ball over to José Alvarez to face the top of the Padres order. He only had to face Cronenworth, who sent Yaztremski to the wall to catch his inning-ending fly to center.
Luis García took the mound when the Giants came up for their last turn at bat; it was his first save opportunity of the season. He struck out Joey Bart, who had replaced Casali behind the plate in the top of the inning, and González. Yastrzemski kept the Giants´hopes alive with a single to short, bringing Ruf to the plate once more at a critical juncture.
He took two balls and a strike, then a third ball. Then he swung and missed. He took a fourth ball, putting the potential tying run on base and the potential winning run at the plate. Joc Pederson was announced as a pinch hitter for Longoria. He worked a full count.
He walked, and the bases were loaded for Flores, who blooped a broken single over short tied the score and sent Pederson to second. Now it was up to LaStella. But he went down swinging, the game went into the tenth, and Camilo Doval came in to pitch
Cronenworth was the zombie runner He wasn’t for long; Machado brought him home with a double to center on Doval’s second offering.
He moved onto third when Hosmer grounded out to second and scored when Profar’s liner bounced off Doval’s foot and into right field. Once more, the Giants were down by two.
Robert Suárez came in and attempted to earn the save. Estrada’s ground out to second moved zombie runner LaStella to third.
Crawford, 0 for 3 for the night and hitting .217, singled him home. Bart then struck out for the second time and the second out. Luis González grounded to short and was thrown out on a close play that sealed the Giants´ fate.
García was the winning pitcher. His record now is 2-2,3.77. The loss went to Doval, his second against no wins, raised his ERA to 2.70. Suárez earned the save, his first.
The Giants will try to wreak revenge Saturday afternoon, when they will send Carlos Rodón (4-2,3.49) against Joe Musgrove (4-0,2.20) in the second game of this three game set, scheduled to start at 1:05.
