Padres emerge as chief threat in NL West
Padres, not the Dodgers, are the team Giants need to be concerned about
SAN FRANCISCO » The team the Giants should be worried about isn’t the Dodgers. It’s the San Diego Padres, and not just because they beat the Giants 7-4 Thursday at Oracle Park.
The Dodgers at this point are a phantom because the regularseason series with the Giants has concluded. Idle on Thursday, the Dodgers (94-53) are one game back of the Giants (95-52) in the NL West with the two teams on parallel tracks with 15 games remaining.
San Diego, which split the four-game series in San Francisco, still has six games remaining against the Giants. If the Padres (76-70) are to win the second National League wild card spot behind either the Giants or Dodgers, beating the Giants is a big part of the formula.
The more times the Padres beat the Giants, the more likely it is the two teams would meet in a one-game wild card game
when the playoffs begin. The Padres last six games of the season are all on the road — three against the Dodgers and three against the Giants.
Giants starter Kevin Gausman (14-6) was gone after five innings, giving up eight hits and four earned runs with one walk and seven strikeouts before a crowd of 23,379. He gave up a
solo home run to Fernando Tatis Jr., his 39th, in the third inning.
Evan Longoria homered in the eighth inning for the Giants, his 13th of the season.
A two-out, two-run double that Tommy Pham sliced down the right field line gave San Diego a 4-0 lead. The inning opened with a single by Jurickson Profar, followed by a broken-bat
infield single by Tatis. After Manny Machado flied out, Adam Frazier’s come-backer resulted in a fielder’s choice for the second out, putting runners at first and third. Frazier stole second uncontested, which set up Pham’s two-run double.
San Diego opened the scoring in the second on Trent Grisham’s sacrifice fly, with Tatis’ home run leading off the third on a 1-2 count.
Nabil Crasmatt, an off-speed pitcher who replaced opener Pierce Johnson after the first inning, blanked the Giants through the fifth to get the win and improve his record to 3-1.
The Giants didn’t score until Kris Bryant came home on a wild pitch in the sixth inning
against reliever Austin Adams. They brought the tying run to the plate in that inning with Wilmer Flores at the plate and two on, but Daniel Hudson got the third out on a fly to center.
In the seventh, the Giants climbed within 4-2 when LaMonte Wade Jr. hit a ground-rule double to left center, scoring Tommy La Stella. La Stella had a one-out pinch single and moved to second on a wild pitch.
San Diego added three runs in the eighth inning against reliever Tony Watson, one on a pinch-RBI
double by Wil Myers and two more when Machado dumped a two-out single to bring in two more runs with the bases loaded.
The Giants added a run in the ninth when Wade, who opened the inning with a single and went to third on Darin Ruf’s single off the center field fence, scored on a wild pitch by Mark Melancon.
The Giants, who had scored six or more runs in 10 straight games heading in to Thursday, host the NL East-leading Atlanta Braves in a three-game series that starts Friday. Logan Webb (10-3), the Giants best pitcher during the second half of the season, opposes Charlie Morton (13-5) of Atlanta.