If you’ve remained level-headed coming into Saturday’s game; if you still had a head, as in, it hadn’t exploded yet during the San Francisco Giants’ historic run-drought — it’s definitely gone now.
A 1-0 loss to the Miami Marlins will do that to the best of us. Saints and sinners alike across the Giants’ fan base are swearing under their breath, or probably just over it, devolving into childish tantrums. Hey, as long as you’re safe and you keep other people safe, I’m all for those performative expressions of frustration, like sitting in an uncomfortable wooden chair with your arms crossed over your chest; or arbitrarily pushing a magazine off a coffee table; or saying something like “Harumph!”
The Giants have now gone 13 games without scoring more than four runs in a game, a first since 1988 (8/31/88 – 9/13/88). The good news is these Giants milked one more win out of that stretch than Roger Craig’s crew did…so that’s nice. But I lied — it’s not that nice, nor does knowing that do much to lift our spirits considering the offense handed Robbie Ray his first loss of the season in a game in which he logged his seventh quality start, allowing just 1 run on 2 hits, 3 walks and 9 strikeouts over 7 innings pitched.
The Giants out-hit the Marlins 8 to 3. They worked 4 walks to Miami’s 3, with another runner reaching base on an error and hit-by-pitch. They put a runner on base in every inning but the 9th, yet couldn’t find a way to push one of them across the plate.
I suppose the writing was on the wall from the first frame. Heliot Ramos and Jung Hoo Lee both singled off Miami starter Edward Cabrera to start the game. A productive flyout off the bat of Wilmer Flores, a stolen base by Lee and a walk by Matt Chapman loaded the bases with just one out. Cabrera looked flummoxed, flailing on the hook (because Marlins are fish). The Giants seemed destined to do the inconceivable: score a run in the first inning…again!
But that would be ridiculous, of course. No no no said the universe, that’s not how I work. Instead, San Francisco’s momentum came to a screeching halt and then combusted.
Having given up loud contact on his fastball, Cabrera fell back on his freaky mid-90s change-up that is, for most pitchers, just a sinker. He threw three to Willy Adames, each one a tick faster on the radar gun than the previous with the at-bat ending on one shoe-high and 96 MPH that Adames waved helplessly at. It was a terrible at-bat, devoid of any training in the “situational approach”. Cabrera continued to pound the lower part of the zone, eventually K-ing Mike Yastrzemski on a front door sinker.
With that early opportunity squandered, San Francisco said screw-it and played fast and loose. Tyler Fitzgerald was caught stealing second after a lead-off single in the 2nd. Wilmer Flores rolled into an inning-ending double play in the 3rd. Matt Chapman was thrown out trying to stretch a lead-off single into a double in the 4th. They wouldn’t get another at-bat with a runner on second until the 6th inning, eventually stranding 11 on base while going 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.
But what made Saturday’s outcome particularly brutal was that they lost in multiple ways. It wasn’t just that the Giants didn’t score any runs, they squandered opportunities to score runs; nor was it that their bats went completely dead with runners on base, they were victims of tough breaks and incredible defense. They were beating themselves, and they were getting beat by the other team.
In the 4th, after a two-out fielding error by second baseman Jack Winkler, Tyler Fitzgerald skied a 95 MPH fastball to deep left. For a moment, it looked like the script had been flipped, a deficit turned into a lead with one swing, but again, this is not how the world works right now. The fly ball hung up, and left fielder Heiberto Hernandez, twisting and turning below the ball, lept into the wall and snagged it.
Was it a home run robbery? Would it make us feel better if it was, or wasn’t? On Baseball Savant, Fitzgerald’s flyball would’ve been out in 24 of 30 ballparks. Miami’s loanDepot Park was not one of them. Does that mean it actually wasn’t a home run robbery? Or because it did not in fact become a homer in loanDepot, it could not be categorized as a “home run”? A lot of home run robberies — even legitimate ones — get too much defensive credit in my opinion. Though the xBA was high on Fitzgerald’s drive, the catch itself wasn’t anything too special, and far from “amazing” as the clip’s thumbnail proclaims. A not-quite routine fly out that the left fielder would’ve tracked down with ease if not for the small issue of the wall being there. Hernandez squares up under it, a dead giveaway. You can see him plant and leap about a shoe’s length from the base of the fence. After the ball lands in his glove, the arm swings back and collides with the padded railing feeding the illusion. I’m not convinced it would’ve left the park, nor am I convinced it’s making me feel better to be this nit-picky.
Hernandez celebrated as if he rescued the baseball from the depths, getting a tip of the cap from Cabrera, and whether it was desrved or not, that had its intended psychological effect. The long fly-out took the wind out of Fitzgerald’s sails. He was shucked, a shell, drained of fight. In subsequent at-bats with the tying run in scoring position in the 6th and 8th, Fitz struck out feebly both times to end the innings.
The catch Dane Myers made to close out the 7th inning however was incredible and absolutely deserving of the adjective “sensational”. That small issue of the wall became larger and larger as Myers tracked Jung Hoo Lee’s scorched liner to deep center. The baseball wasn’t going to leave the yard, but it seemed destined to be extra bases, and with a two-out jump, the knock would’ve easily scored Heliot Ramos from first and tied the game. But Myers got in the way, leaving earth, throwing his body into the last “N” of the Norwegian Cruise Line ad on the centerfield wall in order to reel in the baseball.
Everyone who witnesses a play like that has to tip their cap. Therein lies the cruelty for the Giants right now — not only are well-struck line drives few-and-far-between, but they’re being robbed by plays that you have to begrudgingly acknowledge.
Fitzgerald “robbed”, Lee robbed, and obviously Ray was robbed too, just not by the party he expected. Instead of celebrating a victorious end to an incredible month of individual performance, Ray had to return to the clubhouse bogged down by a tough-L, struggling to celebrate the overwhelming positives because the few mistakes he made played such an outsized role in the game’s results.
The back-to-back 2-out walks in the 2nd that set-up Miami’s only run will certainly frustrate Ray. That 2-2 change-up to Nick Fortes seemed to scrape the bottom of the strike zone, the fact that it was called a ball will nag for sure. But missed calls and walks, especially for Ray, come with the territory. What might keep him up at night is the curve he threw to Javier Sanoja in 1-2 count. With Ray’s quality of stuff, going with his fourth pitch with count advantage against the number 8 hitter, is just trying to be too cute. From the tight-pants wearing, hard-throwing and hard-grunting southpaw — there’s no room for cuteness in Ray’s game.
What should’ve been a minor footnote with the support of a properly functioning offense, became a bruise that swelled as the innings progressed and outs dwindled. Ray gave up a lead-off walk in the 3rd then retired the final 15 Marlins hitters he faced in order — less of a march of triumph and a tour of regret. Every pitch he threw in that sequence, every batter-faced, every change-up spun a desperate attempt to change the past, to un-do what couldn’t be undone.
Yeah, he absolutely should’ve gone back to the off-speed against Sanoja. He had already got him to swing over one down-and-in for the second strike in the AB. His fourth pitch, a 95 MPH fastball on the outside corner, set-up another. Connor Norby struck out earlier in the frame, flailing over another offspeed. From the start of this outing, it was clear Ray’s Skubal change-up was finally skuballing. He ended up throwing 32 of them in the outing (33%) — his previous game-high was 18 (17%). Before today, Ray had just three strikeouts with the change all year, but the pitch proved to be a finisher like never before, generating 12 whiffs on 20 swings (60%) while delivering five of his nine K’s.
So far this Marlins series is playing out exactly like the one against the Nationals: A trade of two shutouts to set up the finale. Unfortunately things won’t get easier for the Giants with a tough match-up against lefty Ryan Weathers.