On two separate plays, J.D. Davis got to his feet grimacing.
First, in the fifth inning, Davis tracked back into shallow left field and slid to make a basket catch. Then in the seventh, Davis picked a one-hopper that nearly bowled him over — the line drive had an exit velocity of 102.5 mph before reaching the hot corner — and threw from his knee to second for a run-saving force out.
He looked like he was in pain after both plays. But not in enough pain to leave the game, nor to tie it with a three-run home run in the eighth inning.
Davis’ game-tying home run, a three-hit effort from Thairo Estrada and a go-ahead hit from LaMonte Wade Jr. weren’t enough to complete a comeback, though. The Giants struck first in their first extra innings action of the season, but Nick Maton slammed a walkoff home run off Camilo Doval in the 11th to beat San Francisco.
Two of the Giants’ flaws so far this season — striking out and a lack of damage against left-handed pitching — surfaced in a 7-5 loss in 11 innings. The Giants (5-8) couldn’t get to southpaw starter Joey Went and fanned 13 times overall. San Francisco’s defeat tips off a six-game road trip.
The Giants have struggled so far this year against left-handed pitching, hitting .200 before Friday in matchups with southpaws. So San Francisco, as it typically does, tried to fit as many right-handed bats into the starting lineup as possible.
Down Austin Slater, Mitch Haniger, Michael Conforto and Bryce Johnson, the Giants moved middle infielder Thairo Estrada to the outfield. Other options would have put LaMonte Wade Jr. or Blake Sabol in against Wentz, the left-handed starter. San Francisco also avoided putting a glove in the hands of Darin Ruf and Joc Pederson, two defensive liabilities.
Second base, shortstop, left field — wherever the Giants put Estrada this year, he has hit.
To start the game, Estrada battled for eight pitches before socking his first career leadoff home run. The solo home run left his bat at 110.5 mph and landed 441 from home plate.
Detroit tagged Sean Manaea in his second start for two runs, chasing him out of the game in the fourth inning. Manaea’s velocity again was up, as his fastball topped out at 96.6 mph, but the Tigers worked him into deep counts.
The nail against Manaea came in the third inning when rookie Riley Greene smoked a two-out triple in a left-on-left matchup off the center field wall.
Jakob Junis piggybacked off Manaea, providing three innings. Two Tigers doubles and a walk in the fifth gave the Tigers a 4-1 lead.
Aside from Estrada’s three hits, the Giants struggled from the plate. Through six innings, non-Estrada Giants recorded only three hits.
It wasn’t like San Francisco was digging in against prime Randy Johnson, either. Detroit starter Joey Wentz had allowed eight runs through his first seven innings of 2023 and was making his 10th career MLB start.
Sean Hjelle, with the help of the second of two web gems by Davis, prevented Detroit from extending its lead in the seventh after relieving Junis.
Finally, in the eighth inning, Detroit went to a right-handed reliever. That’s when the Giants struck.
Estrada drew a walk — his fourth time on base — and Mike Yastrzemski lined a single up the middle to bring up Davis with runners on the corners.
Davis, who last year ranked among the league’s best in barrel rate, shot an outside fastball the other way for a homer. His third of 2023 completed a comeback that had been idle for six scoreless innings.
The Giants failed to capitalize on a Little League-level gaffe from left fielder Eric Haase in the ninth, then couldn’t advance the automatic runner in the 10th. Strikeouts from Mike Yastrzemski and Darin Ruf pushed SF’s total to 12 in SF’s first extra innings chance of 2023.
Camilo Doval extended the game with a clean 10th inning, and then Wade added to his clutch portfolio.
Doval, back out for the 11th, had to deal with two free runners — the automatically placed one and another due to a misread by David Villar. Instead of getting the easy force out on a chopper, Villar went to third.
Doval struck out two straight batters to get one out away from a heroic two-inning save. But Maton had other plans.
Maton’s three-run game-winner came on a 97-mph sinker from Doval. He would’ve gotten a Gatorade bath even with a single, but his home run stamped the Giants’ loss.
That’s one way to start a road trip.