Alex Wood struggles mightily in SF Giants 9-4 loss to Pirates
The SF Giants were unable to finish off May with a win, losing to the Pittsburgh Pirates 9-4, dropping the series to the National League foe. Giants veteran lefty Alex Wood struggled mightily in his worst start of the season and put San Francisco in an early hole they were unable to climb out of. Following the loss, the Giants finished the month 17-12 and will head into June with a 28-28 record on the season.
SF Giants left fielder Blake Sabol (center) scores against the Pirates on May 31, 2023.
D. Ross Cameron-USA TODAY Sports
The Giants stranded LaMonte Wade Jr. after the first baseman hit a lead-off single against Pirates starting pitcher Mitch Keller in the top of the first inning. However, the Giants managed to get on the scoreboard in the bottom of the second. Left fielder Blake Sabol (Giants #33 prospect) started the rally with a one-out single. He advanced into scoring position on a walk by third baseman J.D. Davis before coming around to score on an RBI single by catcher Patrick Bailey (Giants #21 prospect).
The Giants 1-0 lead was shortlived. Wood walked Ji-Hwan Bae to lead off the inning, who advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt. Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen lined a ball into left field for a game-tying double. Sabol nearly made an excellent diving catch on the play, but the ball popped out of his glove when he hit the ground.
Wood came one out away from escaping the inning without allowing the Pirates to take the lead. However, he hit first baseman Connor Joe with a pitch to put two runners on base. He left a sinker down the middle of the plate to Rodolfo Castro, who lined an RBI single to left field. Sabol attempted to throw out McCutchen at the plate, but the ball sailed up the third base line. Bailey attempted to field the throw on a short hop, but it bounced away from him and allowed Joe and Castro to advance to second and third.
Facing Ke'Bryan Hayes, Wood hung a changeup to the 26-year-old righty who hit a line drive down the left field line. Already in scoring position, Joe and Castro easily scored. Sabol was a bit slow getting the ball in from left field, which allowed Hayes to turn a surefire double into a triple, but that was primarily because of miscommunication between shortstop Casey Schmitt (Giants #3 prospect) and Davis that left no one serving as a cut-off. While that was all the damage the Pirates would do in the inning, they were leading 4-1.
The Giants cut the deficit by one in the bottom half of the inning. Wade doubled and scored on an RBI single by Davis. But the Pirates scored two more runs against Wood in the fourth. In his worst outing of the season, Wood surrendered six earned runs across 4.1 innings pitched on eight hits and three walks with four strikeouts.
Those six runs would be more than enough for Keller, who has emerged into a bonafide ace for the Pirates over the past year. Entering the day, Keller had recorded a 3.01 ERA across 68.2 innings pitched this season with 85 strikeouts against just 16 walks. While Keller has used six different pitches this season, the righty primarily relies on three iterations of his fastball (sinker, cutter, and four-seamer). Those three offerings alongside the occasional breaking ball kept the Giants from mounting a comeback.
Giants rookie reliever Ryan Walker replaced Wood with one out in the fifth inning, allowing two runs (one earned) on three hits. Walker nearly escaped his outing without allowing a run but fell victim to MLB's peculiar scorekeeping rule that does not allow a scorekeeper to assume a double play. With one out and runners on the corners, Walker induced a ground ball to Davis at third base from Pirates left fielder Bryan Reynolds. Davis fielded the ball cleanly and threw over to second baseman Brett Wisely (Giants #22 prospect) to record the out at second before Wisely spiked his throw to first base.
Mike Yastrzemski tripled and scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the fifth inning, and Schmitt drove in Sabol on a sacrifice fly, although it could have been an extra-base hit if not for a great catch by Pirates left fielder Bryan Reynolds at the wall to cut the Giants deficit to 8-4 against Keller. Keller allowed 10 hits and a walk across his six innings of work, allowing four runs, but he did rack up eight strikeouts.
Righty Luke Jackson made his first big-league appearance since undergoing UCL surgery in April of last season. The Giants' offseason acquisition was activated off the injured list on Tuesday and looked incredibly sharp. His fastball sat in the mid-90s alongside his signature slider and helped him strike out two in a perfect inning of work.
With a day off on Thursday, Giants manager Gabe Kapler opted to give his two best relievers, Tyler Rogers and Camilo Doval an inning of work in the eighth and ninth. Neither righty had pitched since last week. Rogers completed a shutout eighth while Doval allowed a run on a pair of singles.
Injuries have slowly begun to pile up once again for the Giants lineup. While Schmitt and Bailey's hot start to their big-league careers at the plate has masked the absence of the team's best hitters. But over the past couple of days, the Giants have felt the absence of players like Thairo Estrada, Joc Pederson, and Michael Conforto. They have not struggled to get on base, combining for at least a dozen walks & hits on Tuesday and Wednesday, but they were unable to generate the big blasts to convert those opportunities into runs.
The Giants are now six games back of the Dodgers for the top spot in the National League West and will begin a three-game series against the Baltimore Orioles on Friday at Oracle Park. The SF Giants are scheduled to have their ace, Logan Webb, start the first game of the series. He will face off against righty Dean Kramer. First pitch is scheduled for 7:15 PM Pacific.
