SAN FRANCISCO — With a looming three-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, a clean sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks would’ve been a boon for the Giants as they chase down the New York Mets for the final NL wild-card spot.

They’ll have to settle for two of three.

Starter Carson Seymour recorded four outs and surrendered four runs while Arizona’s Eduardo Rodriguez allowed two hits over 6 1/3 scoreless innings as the Giants fell 5-3 to the Diamondbacks on Wednesday afternoon. They’re currently 2.5 games behind the Mets, who play the Philadelphia Phillies later tonight.

“I feel like as a starter you have to set the tone, and I didn’t do that to the best of my ability,” Seymour said. “It’s definitely a bummer, but move on from it and try to figure it out.”

Seymour’s outing against the Diamondbacks was a reversal from his last outing, one where he recorded his first career win by tossing five innings of one-run ball against the St. Louis Cardinals. Given the state of the rotation, Seymour is in line to continue pitching meaningful innings for the Giants down the stretch.

“I was joking with my pitching coach in Triple-A, every time I go out, I want to throw a perfect game,” Seymour said. “That’s the goal. Every time in catch play, it’s Game 7 of the World Series. So, just focusing on that in practice and then taking that out to the game and hopefully finding a way to win.”

Seymour’s early departure left manager Bob Melvin with 23 outs to cover, but San Francisco’s bullpen provided equanimity and kept the team in the game.

Right-hander Spencer Bivens assumed the bulk role, turning in his longest outing of the season by pitching 3 2/3 innings of scoreless relief. Bivens, Keaton Winn, JT Brubaker and José Buttó combined to allow just one run over 7 2/3 innings, keeping San Francisco in the ballgame.

“It looked like a game that could get out of hand early,” Melvin said. “The bullpen came in and did a good job. They just put some pressure on (Seymour) early and he didn’t have anything to really answer with.”

Two of San Francisco’s three runs were the product of a 418-foot two-run double by Rafael Devers that bounced off the concrete lip of the right-center field brick wall. Per Baseball Savant, Devers’ two-bagger would’ve been a home run at any other ballpark.

“When he hit it, I thought it was going into the bay,” Melvin said. “That’s a pretty tough spot to hit it out, even during the daytime.”

The Giants immediately found themselves trailing 1-0 when Seymour allowed a leadoff homer to Geraldo Perdomo. Seymour finished the first having allowed no further damage, but a barrage of singles led to an early exit for the rookie right-hander.

Arizona began the top of the second with three straight singles from Blaze Alexander, Alek Thomas and ex-Stanford star Tim Tawa, the last of which scored a run and increased San Francisco’s deficit to 2-0. Following a sacrifice bunt, Perdomo drove in his second run of the afternoon with a single to right, knocking Seymour out of the game in the process.

“They just got on him early,” Melvin said. “Whether it was hard-hit balls or a couple weak-hit balls, just too many hits early on. We had to do something a little different earlier in the game than we wanted to.”

Trailing by three runs going into the bottom of the ninth, the Giants brought the tying run to the plate when Matt Chapman drew a leadoff walk, then Casey Schmitt hit a one-out double that ricocheted off third base and into left field. Jung Hoo Lee cut San Francisco’s deficit to two on a groundout that scored Chapman, but San Francisco’s comeback efforts would fall short.

Originally Published: September 10, 2025 at 3:36 PM PDT