SF Giants fall behind on defensive blunders, lose to Twins 7-1

Poor defense riddled the Giants infield on their final game in Minnesota, putting them in a scoring hole they were unable to climb out of.

The SF Giants were unable to take the sweep in their final game against the Minnesota Twins Wednesday afternoon 1-7. Their many defensive blunders on the field combined with an inability to score runners left in scoring position were the story of the game.

In the bottom of the first, the Twins took an early lead over the Giants via a home run off the bat of Edouard Julian, putting the score at 1-0. But the Giants responded quickly in the next inning when Mike Yastrzemski doubled to center field, and Casey Schmitt singled to bring him home. Though they added two more baserunners that inning, they failed to score anyone, and the game remained tied at 1-1.

The bottom of the second is when things began to fall apart for the Giants. Though they didn't formally record any errors, Michael Conforto misread a ball in the outfield to allow for a double from Willi Castro. Anthony DeSclafani then allowed a double and a walk to put the score at 2-1. Then, Blake Sabol allowed a passed ball, but recovered quickly to make a perfect throw to Crawford in attempt to throw Ryan Jeffers out trying to take second. But Crawford missed the throw entirely. Julien would hit a sac fly to bring the score to 3-1 before the inning finally ended.

The third inning was only more disastrous. DeSclafani recorded two strikeouts and looked like he'd get out of the inning unscathed before Crawford again missed a ball, this time a grounder right to him from Kyle Farmer. DeSclafani hit the next batter, and then on the very next play, Brett Wisely missed a routine grounder, allowing Farmer to score and putting the Twins up 4-1. Jeffers would line out to end the inning but not before the Twins went up 5-1 off a Wisely throw home that was too late to catch the runner.

In the fourth, DeScalafani threw a wild pitch that allowed Julien to record yet another run, putting the score at 6-1. The game was relatively quiet after that, though the Twins managed to commit two errors of their own, which the Giants were just unable to capitalize off of. DeSclafani was taken out of the game in the bottom of the sixth after allowing a home run to Jeffers. The game would remain at 7-1, as the Giants failed to score any more of their 15 men left on base. They would go 2-16 with runners in scoring position. 

Though the series ended on a sour note, the Giants will look to turn the page in Milwaukee tomorrow at 4:40 PM Pacific.