For the first time since May 14, the Giants have lost a series.
San Francisco (28-28) fell 9-4 to the Pirates (28-27) at Oracle Park on Wednesday, giving Pittsburgh a 2-1 edge in the series, and knocking SF’s final May record to 17-12.
Give credit to the Pirates, who beat the Giants twice in a row after being cold-cocked on Memorial Day to the tune of 14 runs.
Alex Wood’s rough start to the season continued, and the left-hander fluctuated between hittable pitches in the zone and free passes while allowing eight hits and six runs in 4.1 innings. The performance was a real shame in light of the Giants’ offensive output, as they tagged Mitch Keller, one of the best right-handers in baseball, for four runs and 10 hits in six innings.
With the recent success of the opener, Wood continues to be the weak link in the rotation.
Though Keller, now 7-1, wasn’t at his best, the rest of the pitching staff was. The bullpen which anchors the Pirates continued to be impressive in the series. Rob Zastryzny, Dauri Moreta, Robert Stephenson and Yohan Ramirez shut the door in three innings of work, thwarting any chance of a Giants comeback.
San Francisco struck first, when Patrick Bailey opened scoring in the second inning. The rookie continued his hot streak, smacking an impressive opposite field single that scored Blake Sabol from second.
Unfortunately, it wouldn’t last long.
After looking dialed for the first two frames, Wood got knocked around in the top of the third, giving up four runs on three hits. Andrew McCutchen (3-for-4) clobbered a middle-middle changeup to left, one that was almost caught by a diving Sabol. Sabol could not keep the ball in his glove as he hit the ground, and Ji-hwan Bae scored from second.
Rodolfo Castro and Ke’Bryan Hayes each hit balls that just got past infielders to give the Pirates three more runs, and Sabol aided them with a throwing error on Castro’s single. On one had, Wood was hard done by three hits that were inches away from finding gloves. On the other, all three balls were hit hard and mistakes in the middle of the zone.
The Giants, nor Wood, would recover from the big inning. From then on, anytime SF added a run, the Pirates would respond with a few of their own.
Wilmer Flores’ RBI single in the third was answered by former Giants prospect Bryan Reynolds’ two-run single in the fourth. Wood would last one more inning, facing three batters in the fifth. In addition to his six runs, Wood struck out four while walking three, and allowed a base runner in each inning. His ERA is now at 4.80 through six starts.
Wood wasn’t the only issue. After Mike Yastrzemski scored on a wild pitch to cut the lead to 6-3, the Pirates added two more in the sixth, knocking around youngster Ryan Walker.
With two-men on, Casey Schmitt was about a foot away from closing the gap, when he put a charge into a sinker inside, forcing a leaping catch by Reynolds at the wall that may have saved two runs. Sabol would score from third on the sacrifice, cutting the lead to 8-4.
In his first inning since the 2021 World Series with the Braves, Luke Jackson made his Giants debut out of the bullpen, and struck out two with a nasty slider-hard fastball combination. SF signed Jackson this offseason to a two-year deal worth $11.5 million, banking on his track record as he recovered from Tommy John surgery.
Hopefully it was just an appetizer for what’s to come.
After Thursday’s off day the Giants will welcome the excellent Baltimore Orioles (35-21), in what should be a series of spirited contests.