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SF Giants suffer 'gut punch' loss in Miami

Logan Webb came one pitch away from his first win of the season, but that pitch - and the Giants' hopes - landed 413 feet away
Sean Keane|
SF Giants suffer 'gut punch' loss in Miami
SF Giants suffer 'gut punch' loss in Miami

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San Francisco GiantsMiami Marlins

It looked like a rainout had given the San Francisco Giants new life. A storm mercifully ended their weekend series in Detroit early, and with their ace on the mound, the men in orange and black took a 3-0 lead - against a left-handed pitcher!

But the rain couldn't wash the early stink off this putrid Giants season. Jorge Soler hit a two-out, two-run home run off Webb's final pitch in the seventh inning, and the Miami Marlins defeated the Giants, 4-3.

Once again, the Giants' bats went cold late, and once again, the team let a winnable game slip away against an opponent that's just not that good. Of course, the ragtag lineup of Marlins outhit the ragtag group of Giants, who got just two hits after the third inning.

Logan Webb dropped to 0-4 on the season after a brutal loss. Webb got unlucky in the seventh inning, when Jean Segura reached on a slow roller on the infield grass. He went to third when Jesus Sanchez hit a jam shot down the third base line. Webb induced a double play to erase Sanchez and get an out away from escaping. Then, he was called for a balk.

Segura trotted home, then the umpires converged and waved off the call, sending him back to third. Webb's relief only lasted one pitch, however, because pinch-hitter Jorge Soler blasted a hanging slider 413 feet to deep center for a go-ahead home run.

Dave Flemming called it a "gut punch" and he wasn't wrong. Perhaps the weirdness of the balk call distracted Webb, perhaps Kapler left Webb in too long and perhaps there's a curse on the Giants for losing Cheese Steak Shop spokesman Alex Dickerson. Regardless, another late lead disappeared.

In the ninth, Joey Bart beat out an infield hit, and LaMonte Wade Jr. bunted him to second. But Marlins closer A.J. Puk got Brandon Crawford to ground out, and Thairo Estrada to fly out to end it, and give the Giants' their fourth straight loss.

Reliever Matt Barnes got the win for pitching a scoreless-but-eventful seventh inning, where he struck out pinch-hitter Matt Beaty with runners on second and third after a walk and a hit batter.

The best relief performance may have come from Andrew Nardi, who came in for Luzardo with two runners on in the fifth, and got J.D. Davis to hit into a double play.

Nardi got five outs with just 11 pitches, and even survived a broken bat hitting him in the leg.

It was an especially painful loss because the Giants finally hit a left-handed pitcher. The Giants came into the game with a .541 OPS against lefties, with only Wilmer Flores and Estrada hitting above average against southpaws. But they worked long counts with Jesus Luzardo all night, running his pitch count up to 100 in 4.1 innings of work, and touching him up for six hits and three runs.

The scoring started in the second inning thanks to some big hits from young players. Joey Bart hit a ground rule double on a 3-2 pitchs, and Heliot Ramos drove him in with a double of his own.

In the third, Flores hit his second straight single, and after a four-pitch walk to Darin Ruf, David Villar hit a two-out, two-run double in front of his South Florida cheering section.

In the sixth inning, the Marlins got a run back using the legs of Jazz Chisholm Jr. The Marlins center fielder singled to center, then ran on the first pitch and took second on a would-be double play ball. Then, Chisholm had third base stolen if Luis Arraez hadn't fouled Webb's second pitch off. It didn't matter, because once Chisholm got back to second, Arraez drove him in with a single, on a Webb changeup that was well out of the strike zone.

The Giants fall to 3-6 on the road and 5-10 overall. They're now 0-3 in one-run games. And there's no relief in sight - it's not going to rain in Miami until Thursday.

Published
Sean Keane
SEAN KEANE

Sean Keane (he/him) is a writer, stand-up, and co-host of the Roundball Rock NBA podcast. He wrote for Comedy Central’s “Another Period,” his work has appeared in McSweeney's, Audible.com, and Yardbarker, and he's performed at countless festivals, including SF Sketchfest, the Bridgetown Comedy Festival, RIOT LA, and NoisePop. In 2014, the San Francisco Bay Guardian named Sean an “Outstanding Local Discovery,” and promptly went out of business.

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