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Giants blow another early lead, lose fifth straight game

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© Rich Storry | 2023 Apr 18

The frustration for the Giants continues.

San Francisco (5-11) remained winless on it’s road trip with Tuesday’s 4-2 loss to the Miami Marlins (10-8), and have now dropped five games in a row. In all five games, the Giants have blown early leads.

It only took three batters for the Giants to open the scoring on Tuesday, and the 23 pitches they saw in the first inning from Marlins starter Edward Cabrera made it seem like it might finally be SF’s day. But Cabrera eventually settled in as things went haywire for the Giants on the mound, all leading to a situation where SF again had to play from behind, and again couldn’t get it done.

Mike Yastrzemski opened scoring with his third home run of the season, a two-run shot on a 2-0 middle-in fastball. Yaz’s start to the season hasn’t been great, but he’s flashing the type of power we saw in 2021, when he launched 25 jacks. Despite playing seven more games than in 2021 he only had 17 home runs last year, and didn’t hit his third until May 16.

Alex Wood got the start for the Giants but lasted just 2.1 innings after straining his left hamstring while fielding a sacrifice bunt. Wood ran towards the ball down the third base line and made a nice play to throw out the speedy Jean Segura, but did so at a cost. Wood was checked out by trainer Dave Groeschner after the play as he held the back of his leg before leaving the field.

Wood had been pitching well, striking out three and giving up one hit, and has only given up one run through 10 innings this year.

If Wood is out for an extended period of time, Sean Manaea would be the most likely replacement considering he’s the team’s sixth starter and their only other left-hander in the rotation.

Jakob Junis replaced Wood but the appearance didn’t go well. After minimizing the man on third, one out situation that Wood left by allowing just a sacrifice fly, Junis gave up three runs in the fourth inning, when Jazz Chisholm blasted a hanging changeup over the right-field wall. That 4-2 advantage would hold for the remainder of the game.

Cabrera, meanwhile, showed excellent stuff in his six innings of work, striking out eight with an impressive changeup-curveball combination. Cabrera had the Giants swinging out of the zone consistently, completely fooled by the late movement of his breaking pitches.

Notes:

Brett Wisely made his first major league start and had his dad and brothers in attendance. Wisely was recalled pregame while UTIL Matt Beaty was sent back down to Sacramento. Wisely went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.