Giants miss playoffs in 1-run loss to Padres
San Francisco entered the ninth inning with a chance to walk-off San Diego and waltz into the postseason.
SANFRANCISCO » The San Francisco Giants spent the final week of the regular seasonmissing opportunities, blowing late leads and crushing their once-promising playoff hopes.
On the last day of the 60-game schedule, the 2020 Giants wasted one last chance.
Needing a win over the Padres and a loss by the Milwaukee Brewers to secure the secondNational League wild card berth, the Giants made scoreboard watching a useless endeavor by losing 5- 4 to San Diego.
The St. Louis Cardinals officially dealt the Brewers their 31st loss of the season while the Giants were batting in the top of the
eighth inning, butWilmer Flores’ solo home run in that frame wasn’t enough for manager Gabe Kapler’s team to pull even with San Diego.
The Giants entered the ninth inning with a chance to walk- off the Padres and waltz their way into the postseason, but San Diego closer Trevor Rosenthal retired Brandon Crawford, Joey Bart and Austin Slater in order to end the Giants’ season.
The Giants’ fourth loss in their finalfive games dropped the team to 29-31 as they wrapped up their fourth consecutive losing season with another disappointing allaround performance. After losing late leads against the Rockies on Thursday in a 5- 4, 11-inning defeat and again on Friday in Game 2 of a doubleheader defeat against the Padres, the Giants fell behind early on Sunday and dug themselves a bigger hole in a three-run seventh inning for San Diego.
Kapler was visibly upset with his team’s performance in a 6-2 loss on Saturday during a postgame video conference, calling it “frustrating” the Giants were unable to take advantage of all they chances they had to gain separation from other clubs in the NL wild card standings.
The frustration may have been mild compared to howKapler and his teamfelt while watching Sunday’s game slip away.
To make matters more upsetting for the Giants, Padres didn’t start center fielder Trent Grisham, who hit a three-run walk- off homer to beat San Francisco on Friday, and substituted for MVP candidatesMannyMachado and Fernando Tatis, Jr. before either could make an impact.
After catcher Jason Castro took a foul tip off his mask in the bottom of the sixth, the Padres were left with no choice but to bring designated hitter Austin Nola into the game behind the plate and send relief pitchers up to bat in Castro’s spot in the lineup.
The Giants twice brought the go-ahead run to the plate in the late innings on Sunday, but veteransWilmer Flores, Brandon Belt failed to deliver a hit with a pair of runners on base in the sixth inning while pinch-hitter Donovan Solano struck out to end a threat in the seventh.
A two-run home run hit byBrandonCrawford in the bottomof the seventh could have had a huge impact on the outcome, but the Giants had given up three unearned runs in the top of the inning after third basemanEvanLongoriamade a rare fielding error when he couldn’t corral a grounder hit by Padres outfielder Jurickson Profar.
Smyly turned inastrong, competitive start in his final outing of the season as he tossed five innings of two-run ball against a San Diego lineup that struck out 10 times against him on Sunday. Smyly’s fastballcurveball combination was mostly effective, but he grooved a curveball to Padres slugger Wil Myers that endedupinthe left center field bleachers in the second inning and then left a fastball up to first baseman Mitch Moreland, who drilled a RBI double high off the left field wall with two outs in the fourth.
The Giants had an immediate answer forMyers’ home run in the second when center fielder MauricioDubónhit a game-tying solo shot off the right field foul pole in the bottom of the second, but they struggled to rally until the late innings against a slew of Padres relievers.
The Giants’ chances weren’t helped by home plate umpire Rob Drake, who botched several strike three calls behind the plate including two during the seventh inning when he took at-bats away fromcenter fielder Mauricio Dubón and Austin Slater.
Drake’s afternoon turned into a live advertisement for robot umpires and should cost him an opportunity to work in the postseason, but the Giants cost themselves far too many chances to play into October this year with a series of crushing, narrow losses.