Padres rip Giants for sweep
The first-place Dodgers have former MVP winners Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman anchoring the most feared lineup in the majors.
The second-place Padres, hot on their tails, are riding five-time All-Star and early MVP front-runner Manny Machado to an impressive start.
As for the third-place Giants? Well, their lack of star power and mounting injury concerns were on full display at Oracle Park this weekend as they capped off an embarrassing sweep against the Padres with a 10-1 defeat.
The blowout loss dropped San Francisco 5.5 games behind Los Angeles in the National League West with nearly a quarter of the season now complete. The Giants sat 4.5 games back in the division in April of last season and were still two games back of the Dodgers following a sweep on May 23 of last season, but Buster Posey isn't walking through those clubhouse doors again.
Immediate help isn't on the way either, as two of the team's top left-handed sluggers, Brandon Belt and LaMonte Wade Jr., landed on the injured list over the weekend with knee inflammation. Shortly after manager Gabe Kapler said Sunday that Wade would likely miss a few weeks with a bone bruise, the Giants placed Belt on the 10-day injured list retroactive to
May 19.
A Giants team that lost four in a row just once last season has now done so twice this month.
For the second straight week, a blowout Sunday loss compelled Kapler to use one of the team's most consistent left-handed hitters, rookie Luis González, on the mound as he covered the eighth and ninth innings inning to save a bullpen that had already given up five runs.
Starter Alex Wood, who gained a reputation as a “stopper” for his strong performances following losses a season ago, lasted just three innings against San Diego as the Padres pounded him for eight
hits and five runs. It may not have mattered if Wood turned in his best outing of the year as the Giants' lineup hardly offered support against Padres rookie MacKenzie Gore.
A day after veteran right-hander Joe Musgrove fired seven shutout innings against San Francisco's lineup, the Giants mustered just three hits and a run over six innings against Gore in the longest start of his brief career.
The 2021 Giants defied expectations en route to a record-setting 107-win season and unlikely division title, but the hill to climb might have an even steeper grade this year. Not only are the Dodgers brimming with talent, the Padres team that exited Oracle Park on Sunday with a sweep look the part of a legitimate contender thanks in large part to Machado, who bumped his average up to .374.