Latest Gaff Has Giants Among Worst Baserunning Teams in Baseball

The San Francisco Giants suffered another low-scoring defeat.

Their lack of offense has been surprising based on how many high-profile players are in the lineup, especially after they acquired Rafael Devers in the shocking blockbuster that was supposed to boost their run production.

But it hasn't exactly worked out that way, and on Saturday, just one solo homer was enough to beat them.

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That shouldn't have been the case, though.

In the top of the sixth inning when the score was knotted at zero, the Giants put together a rally by getting back-to-back hits. Following a balk with no outs and Devers at the plate, it seemed like a formality that San Francisco would record at least one run.

However, their star slugger struck out, and with Brett Wisely ready to sprint home on contact, he was thrown out by the catcher who caught him too far off of third base.

Second and third with no outs suddenly turned into just a runner at second with two outs.

That took the air out of the balloon, and the Giants didn't threaten for the rest of the game.

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It was a great play by Chicago White Sox catcher Edgar Quero to throw out Wisely and completely alter the course of the contest, but it was also the latest example of baserunning issues plaguing San Francisco.

According to Shayna Rubin of The San Francisco Chronicle (subscription required), their 29 outs on the bases is the fifth-most in Major League Baseball, with their base running runs above average sitting value at minus-1.9.

That is not good by any stretch of the imagination.

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But is the lack of offensive production causing this team to be overly aggressive on the basepaths to their detriment?

It sounds like that's the case based on what manager Bob Melvin had to say.

"We're trying to be aggressive and do some things to score runs and in this case it backfired," he said, per Rubin. "We have to keep working to take that kind of pressure off ourselves offensively. We have to be able to score more runs than we've been doing and put more pressure on the starting pitcher ... It comes down to a lack of offense."

If San Francisco is going to continue operating in this manner when they have runners on base, then they need to be more disciplined to not give away free outs.

While putting pressure on an opposing staff can help the cause, giving away free outs won't help the Giants produce runs.

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