Tag: NL West

Giants Lose Rubber Match Against Rays 6-1 at Oracle

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Tampa Bay Rays Christian Bethancourt (left) congratulates Luke Raley (right) at home plate after scoring the first pinch hit inside the park home run in Rays history in the top of the sixth inning against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park in San Francisco (AP News photo)

Wednesday, August 16 2023

By Troy Ewers

San Francisco, Ca – In Oracle Park, the San Francisco Giants play the Tampa Bay Rays in the rubber match of this 3 game series. The Giants are 5-8 in rubber games this season and hope to make it six wins at the end of this game.

On the hill for the Giants was Ryan Walker for his 10th start of the game against Aaron Civale for the Rays and they got on the board in the first inning when a single hit by Isaac Paredes scored Brandon Lowe, 1-0 Tampa Bay.

The Giants replaced Walker in the second inning and called in Ross Stripling. The Rays didn’t stop the pressure in the fourth inning when Josh Lowe hit a lead off home run to right center field, giving Tampa Bay a 2-0 lead.

The next inning the Rays weren’t done getting on Stripling. Brandon Lowe hit a 2 run home run to center field and it scored Yandy Diaz, making it a 4-0 lead, but the Rays weren’t done. Randy Arozarena hit a double and then scored off a Paredes single to extend it to 5-0 for Tampa Bay.

After five innings, the Giants only had four hits and no runs and the air deflated out of the park. The scoring avalanche kept rolling in the sixth inning when Luke Raley came in to pinch hit and hit the ball off the triples alley wall and it bounced off the top of the wall in right center, Meckler slipped trying to get the ball, and Raley goes all the way around for an inside the park home run, 6-0 Rays.

As the Giants entered the bottom of the seventh inning, the Rays made a pitching change and called Hector Perez to the hill. Civale put together a scoreless six innings with five hits and five strikeouts.

The Giants take advantage of the pitching change and finally get on the board when Sabol, who got on from a fielder’s choice and Estrada & Camargo hit back to back singles to load the bases. With the bases loaded, Lamonte Wade Jr. pinch hit for Heliot Ramos and got walked, giving San Francisco their first run of the game. 6-1 going into the eighth inning.

The Rays took out Perez after 17 pitches and put in Colin Poche who escaped the inning when Meckler grounded into a double play. The Giants replaced Stripling after six innings and allowed five runs with Scott Alexander and he got the first three up, three down inning since the third for SF.

The eighth inning for the Giants was where fans decided enough was enough, where the Giants grounded into their fourth double play of the game and struck out for the sixth time.

Alex Wood was the pitcher for the Giants in the ninth, but the damage was done, San Francisco had to comeback from five runs in the bottom of the ninth. Pete Fairbanks, the closer for the Rays, retired the side on 12 pitches and the game ended 6-1 Rays and they also took the series.

The winning pitcher for today was Aaron Civale (6-3) and the losing pitcher was Ryan Walker (4-2). The Giants have a needed off day before their next series on Friday, August 18th as they shake off this high scoring series.

The Giants open a three game series Friday night at Truist Park in Cobb County against the Atlanta Braves for a 4:20pm PT first pitch. Starter for San Francisco has not been announced and going for Atlanta Spencer Strider (13-4 ERA 3.75).

Troy Ewers is a beat writer and podcast contributor at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Giants Lose In Extras To Diamondbacks 4-3 On The Skipper’s Birthday

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San Francisco Giants hitter Wilmer Flores rounds third base after connecting for a home run and gets congratulations from third base coach Mark Hallberg against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the bottom of the third inning at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Mon Jul 31, 2023 (AP News photo)

Monday, July 31st, 2023

By Troy Ewers

San Francisco, CA -The San Francisco Giants began a four game series with the Arizona Diamondbacks it didn’t quite end as planned as the Diamondbacks edged San Francisco 4-3 at Oracle Park on Monday night.

On the mound Jakob Junis for the Giants and Ryne Nelson for the D-Backs. First three batters for starter Jakob Junis went down easily and set the tone for the Giants.

Wilmer Flores then sparked the crowd with a big pop that looked like it was going over the wall for the first run of the game, but Alek Thomas snatched it out of the air. First hit of the game for Arizona comes from Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and is hit straight back at Junis in the leg and shakes him up, but he stays in the game and gets back to back strikeouts to get out the inning.

First hit for the Giants came from Blake Sabol on a chip shot over the head of the third baseman and was followed by a single from Patrick Bailey. Isan Diaz ‘first at bat after being called up from Sacramento results in a walk and bases loaded with Luis Matos coming to the plate.

Matos grounded into a fielder’s choice to stop the rally for San Francisco in its tracks. Flores sparked the crowd again with his second at bat, but this time the homer wasn’t robbed and it’s out of here, 1-0 Giants.

Alex Wood replaced Junis in the fourth inning and continued right where Junis left off. The Giants scored a second run after a rally was started by Sabol who got on from a walk. Bailey moved him over on a double and then a sac fly from Crawford scored Sabol, 2-0 Giants.

In the sixth, Arizona scored two runs to tie the game up. The first came when Corbin Carroll hit a single and scored Ketel Marte, then Gurriel Jr. hit a double and scored Carroll and now it’s tied at two. Camillo Doval came in the ninth, but not for a save this time around.

Doval gets three strikeouts in a row and Giants head into the bottom of the ninth hoping for another walk off. One, two, three inning in the bottom of the ninth for San Francisco and we then headed into extra innings.

Arizona started extras with McCarthy as the ghost runner and Emmanuel Rivera hit a double that would score McCarthy and take a one run lead. 3-2 Diamondbacks. In the bottom of the tenth a wild pitch brings in the ghost runner Brandon Crawford and the Giants tie it up. 3-3.

Lamonte Jr looked like he had a walk-off home run, but it wasn’t hit deep enough and the tenth continued. In the 11th Marte hits a ground rule double that scores the ghost runner Perdomo, 4-3 D-Backs.

Taylor Rogers gets out of the inning, but now it was on the bats to send the fans home happy. The Giants get sat down one, two three and the game ends with Giants losing 4-3. The win is rewarded to Kevin Ginkel, Taylor Rogers gets the loss, and the save goes to Scott McGough.

The next game is Tuesday August 1st with Zac Gallen (11-5 ERA 3.36) pitching for Arizona and Alex Cobb (6-3 ERA 2.97) on the hill for San Francisco first pitch 6:45pm PT.

Giants Get Crushed by Dodgers 15-0 to Cap 2018 Season

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By: Joe Lami

The season finally came to an end for the San Francisco Giants on Sunday. They did so in perfect fashion, to sum up, the 2018 season, losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers 15-0 at AT&T Park.

Fans came to say a final goodbye to Hunter Pence, the emotional leader of two of the franchise’s three titles in recent years. 2018 was a struggle for Pence, as he finished batting .229 with 24 RBI and four homers in the 96 games he played. It wasn’t the sunset ending Pence, who has wished for either, as he finished the day 0-for-4, including three strikeouts from the lead-off spot.

Andrew Suarez was handed the loss, surrendering six runs on six hits in 2.1 IP as the Dodgers delivered a seven-run blow in the third to make it 9-0. They continued to pour it on with three runs in the fourth and two runs in the fifth.

The Dodgers had everything to play for, as the win secured a one-game playoff with the Colorado Rockies to decide who wins the NL West tomorrow at Dodger Stadium. The winner takes the division with the loser having to play in the Wild Card Game on Tuesday.

The Giants could’ve played spoiler for their rival. A Dodgers’ loss would have secured them the Wild Card spot, but instead, LA swept the Giants capped off by the second-worst shutout in rivalry history

Giants fans will wake up tomorrow when September is finally over, looking back at a 5-21 record for the nightmare month. The worst month in franchise history since 1958 pushed them eight games below .500. They finished 73-89, the eighth-worst record in the big leagues.

The off-season will begin for San Francisco, including the search for a general manager after Bobby Evans was relieved of his position for the unacceptable season. Once a general manager is placed, it will bring attention around who will stay and who will go for next season.

Dodgers clinch final playoff berth with 10-6 victory over the Giants

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Photo credit: @Dodgers

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO — With the last playoff spot on the line, all the Los Angeles Dodgers needed to do was to defeat their longtime rivals, the San Francisco Giants, on their home field.

Manny Machado, who was acquired by the Dodgers near the trade deadline gave them the hit that they were looking for, as he hit a triple with two outs in the top of the eighth inning and the Dodgers defeated the Giants 10-6 before a sellout crowd of 41,768 at AT&T Park on Saturday.

With the victory, the Dodgers clinched their sixth consecutive playoff appearance. According to STATS, LLC., it is the third longest such in Major League history.

Only the Atlanta Braves, who made it to 14 consecutive postseasons from 1991-2005, and the New York Yankees, who went to 13 straight from 1995-2007, have longer streaks.

Machado tripled off of Mark Melancon to give the Dodgers a 6-5 lead and then Max Muncy hit a two-run double in the top of the ninth inning, as the Dodgers blew the game wide open to take a 10-5 lead into the bottom of the ninth inning.

Bay Area native Joc Pederson got the Dodgers on the board in the top of the first inning, as he hit a leadoff home run off of Giants Starter Derrick Rodriguez.

It was the eighth leadoff home run of the season for Pederson, breaking the record of seven that was set by Davey Lopes back in 1979.

Pederson now has 11 leadoff home runs in his career, tied for the third most in Dodgers history with Johnny Frederick, trailing Rafael Furcal, who hit 14 and Lopes, who hit 28 in his career.

Yaisel Puig extended the Dodgers lead up to 2-0 in the top of the second inning, as he launched a Rodriguez pitch into the left field seats.

Gorkys Hernandez cut the Dodgers lead in half in the bottom of the second inning, as he singled in Brandon Crawford.

Joe Panik gave the Giants the lead in the bottom of the third inning, as he singled to score Gregor Blanco and Hunter Pence.

Enrique Hernandez doubled to center field to score Puig in the top of the fourth inning to tie up the game.

Clayton Kershaw helped out his own cause in that fourth inning, as he singled to right field to score Yasmani Grandal and Hernandez to give the Dodgers a 5-3 lead.

Hunter Pence got the Giants within one in the bottom of the fifth inning, as he doubled off of Kershaw to score Abital Avelino, who singled.

Panik tied up the game in that fifth inning, as he hit a sacrifice fly to score Pence from third base.

Rodriguez lasted just three innings, allowing five runs on six hits, walking and striking out one in his final start of the season.

It was also a rough day for Kershaw, who went just five innings, allowing five runs on eight hits, not walking a batter and striking out four.

Alex Wood pitched 1.1 innings in relief, as he won for the ninth time this season and Melancon took the loss, as his record fell to 1-4 on the season.

UP NEXT: The Giants and Dodgers will wrap up their regular seasons with a Sunday matinee finale at 12:05 pm PT.

Andrew Suarez will close out the season for the Giants, as he goes for his eighth win of the season, while Walker Buehler goes for the Dodgers.

Turner’s home run wins it for the Dodgers 3-1

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Photo credit: @DodgerBlue1958

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO — Justin Turner may have missed the first 40 games for the Los Angeles Dodgers due to a broken left wrist, and then 10 more games in July with a right groin injury; however, he came through when he was needed the most.

Turner hit a two-run home run in the top of the fifth inning, helping the Dodgers to a 3-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants before a sellout crowd of 41,167 at AT&T Park.

On the season, Turner is hitting .357 (10-for-28) against the Giants and has hits in all seven games he has played against the Giants this season.

With the victory, the Dodgers stayed one game behind the Colorado Rockies in the fight for the National League Western Division Championship.

Hyun-Jin Ryu pitched six strong innings, as he gave up just one run on four hits, walking two and striking out three and finished the 2018 season with a 7-3 record.

Ryu’s first and only mistake came in the bottom of the second inning, as he gave up a solo home run to Nick Hundley that gave the Giants an early 1-0 lead.

It was the 10th home run of the season for Hundley, and his sixth at home this season. It was his first home run since July 28 versus the Milwaukee Brewers.

Unfortunately, Madison Bumgarner was unable to hold onto the lead, as Manny Machado singled to left field to score Enrique Hernandez from second base to tie up the game in the top of the third inning.

The Hernandez single in the third inning, was the second of three straight hits for him, he then went to second on a David Freese walk and then Machado tied up the game with his single off of Bumgarner.

Hernandez ended up going three-for-four on the evening, but he did go three-for-three against Bumgarner and is now 19-for-39 (.487) in his career against him. That is the second highest batting average among active players in the majors against Bumgarner (minimum 15 at-bats).

Once again, the Achilles heel was the double play ball, as they grounded into five in the second, fourth, sixth, eighth and ninth innings that put a stop to five huge rallies.

Austin Slater grounded into a double play with runners on first and second, and nobody out and then Gorkys Hernandez flew out to Chris Taylor to end the inning.

With the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the fourth inning, it was Slater again put the end to a Giants rally, as he grounded into his second double play in three innings.

Evan Longoria grounded into the third one of the night in the bottom of the sixth inning after Joe Panik led off the inning with a single, but was then erased on the double play ball hit by Longoria.

Once again, in the bottom of the eighth inning, Longoria grounded into a double play to end the inning. Panik singled with one out, but was then retired for the second out of the inning.

Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen got Hundley to fly out for the first out of the inning, but Jansen hit Crawford; however, he was able to get Aramis Garcia to ground into the fifth double play of the night for the Giants to end the game.

Bumgarner, who started the season on the disabled list with a broken left finger suffered in his last start of spring training on March 23, went six innings, allowing three runs on seven hits, walking one and striking out six and he finished the 2018 season with a record of 6-7.

Slater was forced to leave the game with elbow soreness in his throwing arm, and will undergo an MRI on Saturday.

NOTES: This was the 250th career start of Bumgarner’s career, and only five pitchers who have reached that plateau since divisional play began in 1969, this according to STATS,LLC.

Giants closer Will Smith was named the 2018 Willie Mac Award winner. The award is given to the player who best exemplifies the inspiration, character and leadership that Willie McCovey demonstrated during his playing days for the Giants from 1959-1974, and then 1977-1980.

Smith, who missed all of the 2017 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery, was one of the Giants top relievers this season. He posted a record of 2-3 with 1.90 ERA, while saving 14 games in 18 opportunities.

Joining Smith on the field at the ceremony were past winners, Mike Krukow, who was the Master of Ceremonies, Jack Clark , Darrell Evans, Chris Speier, Dave Dravecky, Mike Felder, Shawon Dunston, Ellis Burks, Mark Gardner, Buster Posey, Hunter Pence, Bumgarner, Crawford and Hundley.

Once again, the Giants topped the three million mark in attendance, as this was the 17th time in the 19 years since AT&T Park opened that they have eclipsed that mark and it is the ninth consecutive year that they accomplished the feat.

The five double plays hit by the Giants are a season high, and it was the first time since July 30, 2017, also against the Dodgers that the Giants hit into at least five double plays in a game.

UP NEXT: The Giants and Dodgers face each other again on Saturday afternoon at 1:05 pm PT.

Dereck Rodriguez makes his final start of the 2018 season on Saturday, as he looks to the finish the season on a high note and the Dodgers will send Clayton Kershaw to the mound.

Giants can knock Dodgers out of the playoffs

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Photo credit: @NBCSGiants

By Jeremy Harness

We’ve seen this a few times before in the long history of these two teams.

There was 1982, when Joe Morgan’s homer knocked the Dodgers out of the playoffs on the final day of the regular season. However, the Giants also suffered heartbreak at the hands of the Dodgers in 1993, as the Dodgers blasted them 15-1 on the final day to keep them out of the postseason.

Compelling, potentially season-altering moments like these are exactly why the Giants and Dodgers engage in a three-game series to end the regular season year in and year out.

The Giants have been out of the playoff picture for quite some time, but the Dodgers are right in the middle of it. In fact, the three-game weekend series – the final three games of the regular season for both teams – is a make-or-break one for LA in every sense of the word.

The Dodgers are currently sit one game behind the Colorado Rockies for the National League West.

However, they are only one game ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals for the NL’s final playoff spot. In other words, the defending National League champs are hanging on by a thread.

Meanwhile, the Cardinals end the season with a three-game series with the Chicago Cubs, a team that has already clinched the top spot in the National League and will most likely look to rest its key players in order to get ready for the league’s Division Series next week.

To start the three-games series at AT&T Park, the Dodgers will send Hyun-jin Ryu (6-3, 2.00 ERA) to the mound against Giants lefty Madison Bumgarner (6-6, 3.20 ERA).

Ryu enters this matchup in fine form, as he did not give up a single run in each of his last two outings, giving up a total of eight hits over 13 innings in wins over the Rockies and San Diego Padres. Bumgarner has not been too bad himself, as he shut out the Rockies on Sept. 15 but gave up three runs over six innings in a no-decision against the Cardinals last Saturday.

Dereck Rodriguez (6-4, 2.50 ERA) will take the ball for the Giants on Saturday against Dodgers lefty Clayton Kershaw (9-5, 2.53 ERA). Rodriguez has lost each of his last two decisions, while Kershaw has won each of his last five.

To end the season, there will be a pair of rookies who take the mound, and this could very well decide the Dodgers’ season. Walker Buehler (7-5, 2.76 ERA) will go for the Dodgers against Giants lefty Andrew Suarez (7-12, 4.22 ERA).

Giants starting to play out the string in upcoming series against the Brewers

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Harness

It’s quite evident that the Giants are not going to make the playoffs – Buster Posey having season-ending surgery and the team trading Andrew McCutchen after a little more than half a season more than showed they have waved the right flag – so they might as well mess things up for teams that are still contending.

They can start with this weekend’s three-game series in Milwaukee against the Brewers, which starts Friday night at Miller Park. The Giants just got finished getting their heads handed to them by the Rockies in Colorado (what else is new?) in getting swept in a three-game series at Coors Field.

So if they are going to play spoiler–or if they think they actually have a chance in grabbing a wild-card spot in the National League–they will need to get things back on track very quickly.

The Giants’ Derek Holland (7-8, 3.56 ERA) will take the ball Friday night against the Brewers’ Chase Anderson (9-7, 3.96 ERA).

Anderson has won each of his last three decisions, and in his last outing, he went five innings and gave up only a run on four hits in a loss to Washington, although he got a no-decision. Holland, meanwhile, has won each of his last two decisions, while he has spent some time in the bullpen this season.

The left-hander went six innings in a loss to the Mets at home–he got a no-decision–and he also gave up only a run and surrendered only four hits in the process.

Chris Stratton (9-8, 4.90 ERA), who has spent some time in Triple-A Sacramento this year, will go Saturday afternoon, and he will face Milwaukee lefty–and former Nationals and A’s standout–Gio Gonzalez.

Stratton has been stellar in his past two starts, although he lost his last outing in a 4-1 loss to the Mets four days ago, when he gave up only a pair of runs on three hits over six innings. The outing before, he shut out the Diamondbacks over eight innings, giving up only five hits and striking out six in a 2-0 win.

On Sunday, Madison Bumgarner (5-5, 3.07 ERA) will take the hill for the Giants and opposite the Brewers’ Zach Davies (2-5, 4.88 ERA).

Story blasts Giants 5-3 with 3 HR’s

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Photo credit: @SportingGreenSF

By Jeremy Harness

Trevor Story blasted three home runs on Wednesday, and that proved to be the difference as the Colorado Rockies beat the Giants, 5-3, inside Coors Field.

One of those, which was in the bottom of the fourth inning, traveled 505 feet and was the longest ball ever to be hit in the history of the Rockies’ home field.

With the loss, the Giants fell to five games under .500 and are now 10 games behind the National League West lead. That, to go along with the fact that the Giants just cannot beat the Rockies in Coors Field, particularly when it matters.

The first bomb by Story gave the Rockies a 2-1 lead, but the Giants came right back in the third when Austin Slater’s run-scoring single tied the game at 2-2, and they took the lead when Aramis Garcia slammed a home run of his own in the fourth.

However, Colorado took over the game from that point on, and this time, the Giants could not recover.

In the bottom of the fourth, Story struck again and re-tied the game at 3-3 with his record-breaking home run the cleared the bleachers in left field. He left the ballpark one last time in the bottom of the sixth to give the Rockies a 4-3 lead.

D.J LeMahieu added some insurance in the seventh when he singled to score Carlos Gonzalez, and the Colorado bullpen slammed the door on the Giants the rest of the way, as they keep their hopes alive for the postseason.

Meanwhile, the Giants’ playoff hopes are long gone at this point. That was hammered home when catcher Buster Posey elected to have hip surgery a month ago, and then the team traded away right fielder Andrew McCutchen.

Moronta blows lead in Giants’ 6-2 loss to Rockies

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Photo credit: mlb.com

By Jeremy Kahn

It seems that Dereck Rodriguez can never get a break after he pitches yet another great game in his rookie season.

Ryan McMahon hit a pinch-hit home run and Carlos Gonzalez hit a bases clearing triple, as the Colorado Rockies scored five runs in the bottom of the seventh inning on their way to a 6-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants at Coors Field on Monday night.

The Giants are 1-7 at Coors Field this season, and an abysmal 2-16 since the 2017 season, where the Giants went 64-98 and ended up 40 games behind the eventual National League Champion Los Angeles Dodgers.

Gorkys Hernandez hit a solo home run in the top of the seventh inning that gave the Giants a short-lived 2-1 lead, as he hit his second home run of the series and it looked like Rodriguez was going to get the win, but that did not happen.

Reyes Moronta came on to replace Rodriguez got the first out, but McMahon hit a 0-1 pitch over the center field wall to tie up the game. It was the second home run of the season for McMahon.

Then things got even worse, as Charlie Blackmon reached on an infield single, for his third hit of the game, and Moronta walked D.J. LeMahieu and Nolan Arenado to load the bases and then Gonzalez hit a triple to give the Rockies 5-2 lead. Gerardo Parra drove in the final run of the inning, as he walked with the bases loaded to give the Rockies the final margin of victory.

Rodriguez went six innings, allowing one run on six hits, walking one and striking out six, as he did not fare in the decision, despite the quality start.

The Giants took the lead in the top of the first inning, as Joe Panik singled to left field to score Gregor Blanco to give the Giants a short-lived 1-0 lead; however, David Dahl tied up the game in the bottom of the second inning with his ninth home run of the season.

German Marquez shut the Giants down after that, as he went 6.2 innings, as he struck out 11 and was in line for the loss after the Hernandez home run; however, McMahon changed all that with his solo home run. Chris Rusin retired the final batter of the seventh inning to get his second win of the season.

NOTES: Rookie Steven Duggar underwent season-ending shoulder surgery on Tuesday to repair a torn labrum in his left labrum that he suffered on August 28 against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Jeff Samardzija was transferred to the 60-day disabled list with inflammation in his right shoulder, and rookie Abiatal Avelino got his contract purchased from Sacramento. Avelino was acquired from the New York Yankees in the Andrew McCutchen trade on Thursday.

UP NEXT: The Giants and Rockies conclude their series on Wednesday night at 5:40 pm PDT.

The Giants’ Andrew Suarez will be looking for his seventh win of the season, as he takes the mound on Wednesday. Suarez is also going for his third straight win, as he is coming off an outstanding game where he pitched seven innings of two-hit ball in a 7-0 victory over the New York Mets on Friday night.

The Rockies will send Antonio Senzatela to the mound, as he attempts to even his record at 5-5 on the season.

Giants bullpen gives up sure win in late innings

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by Michael Martinez

SAN FRANCISCO – Johnny Cueto (13-3) appeared to have his first win since the All Star break in the bag after he threw a solid six and two thirds innings, allowing just three runs on eight hits with four strikeouts. Cueto also had a nice day at the plate putting together two hits and driving in a run. However, the Giants bullpen fell apart in the late innings and allowed the Orioles to make things competitive.

Hunter Strickland came in to relieve Cueto and got out of a seventh inning jam but gave up two runs in the seventh to let the Orioles back into the ball game, which included a solo shot by Mark Trumbo. The blast was Trumbo’s was number 34 of the season he still leads the AL in that category.

Derek Law replaced Strickland in the eighth and was able to limit the damage as the Giants still held a 7-5 lead heading into the top half of the ninth.

Then Santiago Casilla came into the game and not only let two runners get on base, but threw a hanging curveball right over the heart of the plate to Baltimore second baseman, Johnathan Schoop. Schoop made Casilla pay as he crushed the hanging breaking ball into the left field bleachers to give the Orioles the lead, eight to seven. The homer marked Casilla’s fifth blown save of the year.

“I have confidence in all my pitches,” Casilla said through interpreter Erwin Higueros. “I threw the curveball, and I just made a mistake. The ball didn’t break.”

The Giants then tried to make something happen off Orioles closer Zach Britton in the bottom of the ninth, but unfortunately could not get a run across the plate to push the game into extra innings. Britton added to his league leading save total, 37, as Baltimore sits just a half game behind the Toronto Blue Jays for first place in the AL East.

For San Francisco, its their 18th loss since the Mid Summer Classic and a real bad one after they held a six run lead heading into the top of the seventh.

The orange and black hit their stride at the plate, tallying 14 hits for seven runs and forced Orioles skipper, Buck Showalter,  to remove starter Wade Miley in the fifth inning.

Giants back up catcher Trevor Brown got the scoring started with an RBI single in the second inning. Brown got the start behind the dish after Buster Posey was a last minute scratch due to back tightness. The injury could have been sustained from the flight back and has gradually worsened, according to Posey.

Before Sunday’s ball game, Brown had been hitless in his last seven at bats, with just three hits in his last 19. But Brown made the most out of his start and was a huge spark for SF’s offense. He finished the game three for five with three RBIs.

“He’s been great,” Posey said about Brown’s performance this year. “He gave us a chance to win the game.”

Outfielder Hunter Pence also had a good game and it appears his swing could be coming into form. Pence hit a bomb to center field, 436 feet to be exact, and added a single during the Giants big fifth inning. Pence’s dinger was his first since returning from the disabled list. Prior to today’s game, Pence had not put one into the seats dating all the way back to May 18.

Fortunately, the Dodgers (65-52) lost to Pittsburgh on Sunday, 11-3, keeping the Giants a game ahead in the NL West.

After blowing a huge lead and taking a loss in what looked to be the Giants first back-to-back wins since July 30 and 31 as well as their second consecutive series victory, San Francisco will take on the Pittsburgh Pirates at home tomorrow night at 7:15 p.m. PT as Matt Moore takes the mound.

“I think everyone knows what’s at stake. I don’t think there’s really any motivation needed,” Posey said. “This time of the year, this is when it’s fun. Each game as we get further and further along will have a little more importance on it. I think the group of guys in here generally thrive in these situations.”