The Giants were six outs away from clinching their ninth-ever NL West title. Then manager Gabe Kapler removed ace Kevin Gausman, handing a one-run game to the bullpen.
A single, double and sacrifice fly later, and the game was tied. Camilo Doval extended his scoreless appearance streak to 15, but the Padres capitalized an soon after.
In the top of the 10th inning, the ghost runner Victor Caratini advanced from second to third on a Trent Grisham ground out. Kervin Castro struck out Fernando Tatís Jr. on three pitches, but then Jake Cronenworth lined a go-ahead single off lefty Jarlin García.
Steven Duggar, pinch-hitter Buster Posey and Wilmer Flores went down in order with a chance to extend the game or win it in the bottom of the tenth. Instead, the Giants will spend Saturday night watching the Dodgers game, thinking about the missed opportunities in their 3-2 loss.
San Francisco (106-55) could still clinch the division tonight if the Dodgers lose to the Brewers. But with the Dodgers surging and the Brewers already having secured the NL Central, the division race will now likely come down to the last day of the regular season.
The Dodgers and Giants have the two most wins in baseball, as of this publication two of three clubs above 100 victories. They’ve been neck-and-neck all season. The Dodgers have played the best second half in franchise history, but have gained zero games on the Giants before Saturday.
Now they’re one game back with one to play. If the Giants lose again Sunday and the Dodgers win, San Francisco will host a Game 163 tiebreaker to determine the NL West winner.
The situation’s coming down to the final game because of the pesky Padres.
The Padres snapped out of a 17-inning scoreless spell against the Giants in the sixth inning, when Adam Frazier, Tatís Jr., and Manny Machado strung together singles. Up until that point, SF starter Kevin Gausman had pitched five nearly flawless innings, needing just 49 pitches to retire 15 SD batters.
But the three singles tied the game at 1-1. Gausman ended the inning by forcing a fielder’s choice, but the hiccup was enough to enact action in the Giants bullpen.
Austin Slater’s record-setting pinch home run gave the Giants a 2-1 just minutes later, though. His solo shot gave the Giants their 18th pinch-hit home run of the season, breaking the 2016 Cardinals’ benchmark.
Then Gausman retook the mound in the top of the eighth. He was at just 84 pitches, but the Giants likely had no plans to keep him in the game. They only sent him out so the Padres would declare a pinch-hitter — Tommy Pham.
José Álvarez replaced Gausman, who walked off to a standing ovation after seven brilliant innings. Pham singled off Álvarez on the seventh pitch of his at-bat. Trent Grisham doubled down the first base line to send Pham to third with no outs, before Machado scored Pham with a sacrifice fly.
Tommy La Stella reached with a 1-out single in the bottom half, but Alex Dickerson and Darin Ruf struck out to strand him. Doval and Castro continued their magnificence, but García couldn’t finish the job in the 10th and SF’s bats didn’t rise to the high-leverage occasion for seemingly the first time in weeks.
The Giants’ destiny is still in their hands. But instead of wrapping up the division Saturday, they let it slip through their fingers until the regular season finale Sunday.