Last Sunday, Lucius Fox had the worst first inning of anyone in baseball when he vomited behind the Nationals’ pitching mound in Washington.
This Sunday, in Oracle Park, Fox recorded his first career hit in the first inning as part of a five-run blitz that made Giants starter Alex Cobb persona non grata.
Cobb, in his first start back from the injured list for an abductor strain, recorded only two outs. A costly error from third baseman Jason Vosler stung, but Cobb didn’t help himself with three walks, a balk and four hits.
He wasn’t reaching for the Pepto-Bismol, but Cobb’s first stint back made Giants fans’ stomachs churn. The Giants (14-8) went hitless for 4.2 innings and couldn’t climb out of Cobb’s first-inning hole Cobb in a 11-5 loss.
Sunday’s defeat — and series loss — comes as San Francisco’s roster is decimated by injuries and COVID-19 cases. Vosler, who made the costly error in the first inning, is typically third on the depth chart behind Evan Longoria and Wilmer Flores.
Vosler hit a home run in two straight games heading into Sunday’s finale, but still isn’t best suited for an everyday role. He couldn’t do much on the Nationals’ four hits in the first, which either came back up the middle, hugged the foul line or were perfectly placed.
Cobb’s day ended 16 minutes after his first pitch, when Gabe Kapler walked out to the mound with Juan Soto due up. Cobb had walked Cesar Hernández, Washington’s leadoff man, to load the bases. There was no way the Giants were going to let Cobb, who threw just 22 of his 40 pitches for strikes, face the superstar slugger with three men on.
Sam Long relieved Cobb and struck out Soto, leading the 2020 National League batting champion to slam his helmet down. Had Nats starter Josiah Gray (6IP, 1H, 0R) not been so dominant, that out could have given SF a chance to stay competitive.
When Long served Vosler up another double play in the second inning, Vosler spun it right this time, 5-4-3. The combination: Vosler to Thairo Estrada to Mike Ford. A fringe major leaguer, a backup outperforming expectations to lead SF in RBI and a guy who’s been designated for assignment three times since last June and has joked with his family that he’s a “COVID replacement.”
Regardless of big league experience, nobody could touch Gray, the Nationals starter who was part of last year’s Max Scherzer and Trea Turner trade. Jason Krizan, making his third MLB start after 1,132 minor league games, broke up Gray’s no-hitter in the fifth inning with his first career hit.
That inning was the first time a comeback from Cobb’s first-inning implosion felt even remotely possible. After Krizan’s single, Joey Bart and Luis González walked to load the bases. Darin Ruf, the slugger whom the Giants want to see up in a big spot, dug in with two outs.
Ruf went 3-for-5 on Saturday with three exit velocities of at least 105 mph. But that didn’t miraculously fix everything for him, who struck out on a 1-2 Gray slider to strand three.
The Nationals, meanwhile, continued to pile on San Francisco’s relievers. Cobb’s short start turned Sunday into an impromptu bullpen game, a suboptimal situation for a team that has been without Cobb and Anthony DeSclafani for the past week-plus.
All three games of this weekend series have been blowouts, and San Francisco has repeatedly assured it would have no problem with an opponent running up the score. The Giants have committed to ignoring unspoken traditions of easing up with a big lead, and expect teams to do the same when they have SF in the same position.
On Sunday, the Nationals were validated in trying to increase their lead, as their relievers were much more hittable than Gray. Ruf again came up with the bases loaded in the seventh and took a walk that scored a run. But by then, Washington had increased their lead from 5-0 to 8-1.
San Francisco shrunk Washington’s lead to 8-5 and even brought the game-tying run to the plate after Ford — the COVID replacement player — hit a two-run double. But Washington countered with a three-run eighth inning to put the Giants away.
In the three-game series, Washington took two games and outscored San Francisco 28 to 18. The Giants won’t have their full squad in Los Angeles for their two-game series against the rival Dodgers, nor will they have their mojo.