The San Francisco Giants' offense was as ugly as it has been all season in a 3-1 extra-innings loss to the Detroit Tigers on Sunday.
The San Francisco Giants fell short in an extra-innings battle against the Detroit Tigers on Sunday, 3-1 at Oracle Park in San Francisco.
Sunday's defeat marks another series loss for the Giants, their third in a row, and they have also lost four of their last five games.
A dog fight
Through the first five innings, neither team could break through.
Right-hander Logan Webb got the starting nod for the Giants, and he pitched well enough to let his defense make plays through the middle innings. However, in the top of the sixth inning, the Tigers finally broke through against him when he allowed back-to-back singles to Zach McKinstry and Kevin McGonigle before getting Gleyber Torres to ground into a double play.
The sacrifice of the double play was that McKinstry scored, and for a game that had been scoreless up to that point, coming from behind, even by only one run, likely felt like a larger task.
Webb ended up providing eight innings of work for the Giants, and he only allowed four hits, one walk and one earned run during his time on the mound. Webb did what he could, but it did not matter.
Ugly offense
The Giants certainly had their chances to take the lead first. In the bottom of the second inning, Drew Gilbert hit a two-out triple, but a subsequent groundout by Daniel Susac failed to score him.
In the bottom of the fourth, Willy Adames and Rafael Devers notched back-to-back singles to open the frame, but when Osleivis Basabe struck out, and Drew Gilbert hit a fly ball that resulted in a double play, their chances were squashed again.
To make matters worse, the Giants struck out 14 times, and six of them came in the ninth and 10th innings. In the top of the 10th is when the Tigers delivered their crushing blow by scoring two runs.
At 49-69, San Francisco is now 20 games below .500 while possessing the fifth-worst record in baseball. It has been a disaster of a season for first-year manager Tony Vitello, and it does not seem like it will be getting better any time soon.
The Giants’ homestand will continue against the Houston Astros and the Colorado Rockies, and we will see if they can string together some wins, but they have not inspired confidence. The performance today is indicative of a team that is flirting with rock bottom if they have not gotten there already, and it is hard to envision anything getting better for this group.
