Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
On a day Jeff Samardzija was designated for assignment and Hunter Pence retired, underscored was the mission of an organization that has spoken far more about progress than playoffs.
It matters now. The 2020 Giants are about 2020, no nostalgia trips afforded when every game counts and every play matters.
Matched again against a quality opponent, though, the Giants did not look like a club earmarked for the postseason.
Johnny Cueto was imperfect when they needed more. Mauricio Dubon tried to steal third in a three-run game with a power hitter at the plate. Few big hits came for a club that had just a couple rallies but left those few opportunities uncashed.
The Giants lost room for error, lost their edge in the wild-card race and lost a game, 6-2, to the Padres at Oracle Park on Saturday as a weekend that started with such promise, with Friday afternoon’s Game 1 win, has taken a drastic turn in 24 hours.
The Giants (29-30) only got some luck elsewhere, as the Brewers beat the Cardinals (bad) and the Phillies lost to the Rays (good). The Giants’ loss kept Gabe Kapler’s exes in Philly still alive and moves San Francisco into a tie with Milwaukee. The Giants need a victory and a Brewers loss on Sunday to advance cleanly into the postseason. A victory paired with the Brewers beating the Cardinals would make all three teams .500 but the Cardinals lacking two games played, and thus needing to settle matters with a doubleheader against the Tigers.
The complications would not exist if the Giants took care of business, but they didn’t for a second straight game.
They could do nothing off an abbreviated start by Zach Davies (three innings, three hits, no walks), pulled because he’s set up to be San Diego’s Game 1 starter. And only a smidge against a Padres bullpen parade (six innings, two runs, four hits).
The Giants went 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position and left seven on base. They put dents into the lead late but watched those dents be corrected on ninth-inning home runs by Tommy Pham and Mitch Moreland that made a one-run game into a four-run game. Tony Watson had been nearly perfect all year, but his arm has not responded to the extra work the Giants have required of late.
San Francisco had rallied against Tim Hill in the eighth, when Austin Slater walked pinch-hitting for Tyler Heineman before Mike Yastrzemski singled without an out. Darin Ruf walked to load the bases before Donovan Solano struck out against Hill’s heat. Brandon Belt bounced back to Hill, who got one out at second.
Wilmer Flores singled past third base, their only hit with a runner in scoring position, to cut the lead to one, but Evan Longoria’s punch-out ended the threat. The Giants went quietly in the ninth.
The ugliest moment came in the fifth, when Dubon, who had singled, advanced to second on a Tyler Heineman hit by pitch. With Yastrzemski at the plate, Dubon thought he could beat a shifted Manny Machado to third and was painfully wrong, getting thrown out before Yastrzemski could try to slug him in. Yaz struck out, but it was another small thing that a team like the Giants has to do right and didn’t.
Cueto, paired with Heineman and not Joey Bart without Chadwick Tromp healthy, was much better than he’s been but had a brutal fourth inning, which would be enough of a slip to prove fatal. Fernando Tatis Jr. went deep for a second straight day for the game’s first run, another shot to left. The Padres stacked three singles within four batters, and after an Austin Nola sacrifice, it was quickly 3-0 Padres. Wandy Peralta got up but wouldn’t pitch until the seventh.
Those were the only three runs Cueto let up in 6 1/3 innings, in which he struck out four and allowed five hits and one walk. He was OK when great was needed.
Cueto survived a shot from his own catcher, as he thought Heineman would be throwing around the horn after a strikeout and instead went to a pitcher who wasn’t paying attention. Cueto was grazed in the back of the head and briefly went down, though he would be OK.
It was nearly poetic on a day the Giants shot themselves in the foot.