Giants’ sloppy defense returns with a vengeance
MINNEAPOLIS >> The Giants’ disastrous defense from last season had so far been a non-issue through their first 48 games of 2023. It returned with a vengeance Wednesday afternoon, as San Francisco committed a trio of errors and could have been credited with more while failing to complete a sweep of the Twins.
It was sloppy effort all around from the Giants (24-25), who lost 7-1, and fell back under .500. They have not owned a winning record since Aug. 17 of last season.
But rather than wallow, the Giants took solace in the stark contrast the error-filled loss provided to their much-improved play this season. The loss was only their second in their past nine games, and it was their first three-error game of the season, after committing at least that many four times in 2022, when they ranked near the very bottom of the league in most defensive metrics.
“Not our best defensive game,” manager Gabe Kapler said, “but a good reminder that we have been playing good defense for the majority of the season. That obviously wasn’t good enough. A really good opportunity to flush it immediately and not dwell on it at all.”
“For sure a frustrating day,” added starter Anthony Desclafani, who allowed seven runs but only four earned. “But more importantly we’ve been playing really good baseball. So we’ve just got to throw this one out and get ready for Milwaukee.”
Desclafani allowed a pair of home runs, hit a batter, issued a pair of walks and threw two pitches past catcher Blake Sabol, one wild pitch and one passed ball, that each also led to runs. Without a good feel for his slider and while experimenting with a new curveball grip, the seven runs allowed by Desclafani were a season-high, but the four credited to him matched only his secondhighest total of the season, raising his ERA to a stillsolid 3.43.
Normally sure-handed shortstop Brandon Crawford committed one of the Giants’ three errors in a two-run third inning, and right fielder Michael Conforto misplayed a line drive in right that started a two-run rally in the second. Second baseman Brett Wisely was responsible for the other two errors, which led to both of the second-inning runs.
“Obviously you try not to let it snowball like that,” said Crawford, 36, whose minus-7 Defensive Runs Saved ranks second-to-last among MLB shortstops and picked up his fifth error of the season. “But sometimes it happens.”
Desclafani had already recorded a pair of strikeouts for the first two outs of the third when Crawford was eaten up by a 100-mph grounder off the bat of Kyle Farmer. Desclafani plunked the next batter, Willi Castro, and Brett Wisely muffed an even easier grounder from Matt Walner, which snuck into right field and allowed Farmer to score and Castro to advance to third.
Wisely intercepted Sabol’s throw on a double-steal attempt by Castro and Walner — a designed play — and his throw back to the plate would have been in time to nab Castro, but it sailed wide and Sabol was unable to corral it.
“I rewatched the film. If it was on line, I think we got him,” Sabol said. “We got the guy to break home. The throw was just a little bit up the line.”
Desclafani allowed two of the three hardest-hit balls of the game to consecutive batters to lead off the second inning. The first, a 109.6 mph rocket from Castro, fooled Conforto into charging too hard, and the ball sailed over his head and to the wall. Walner immediately drove him in with a 112.9 mph double into the right-field corner and scored the second run of the inning on a sac fly, after advancing to third when Sabol allowed a third-strike knuckle curve to Michael A. Taylor sneak away.
Crawford admitted he should have been assessed a second error, too, when he let a throw from Sabol slip out of his glove on a stolen base by Byron Buxton in the first inning.
“Obviously the stolen base is a play I don’t get an error on but it’s a play that should be made,” Crawford said. “But for the most part (I feel) fine, especially when healthy and moving around fine.”*