SAN FRANCISCO — The historic National League West race that no one expected has taken yet another dramatic turn.
The Giants had won seven in a row entering Saturday and the Padres had nothing to play for but pride, but San Diego overcame a pair of one-run deficits before securing a 3-2, 10-inning win to prevent San Francisco from clinching the division title.
“Obviously we wanted to win the game and not have to rely on somebody else, but it’s the story of the season,” third baseman Evan Longoria said. “I think overall the group was disappointed after the game today feeling like we had some opportunities to win the game, but ultimately the Dodgers are a good team too.”
With two outs in the top of the 10th, Giants manager Gabe Kapler replaced 22-year-old reliever Kervin Castro with lefty Jarlín García with two outs and a runner on third base. The move gave the Giants the type of matchup advantage they’ve sought constantly throughout the 2021 season, but García surrendered a RBI double to Padres infielder Jake Cronenworth past a dive of first baseman Wilmer Flores that allowed the go-ahead run.
Castro had just struck out Padres star Fernando Tatís Jr. when Kapler elected to walk Manny Machado intentionally so he could bring García in to face Cronenworth. The Giants’ manager said postgame that neither Tyler Rogers nor fellow set-up man Dominic Leone were available Saturday due to their recent heavy workloads.
After failing to score in the 10th inning against Mark Melancon, a Giants team that won 106 of its first 160 games lost for the first time in a week, meaning San Francisco will need to win its season finale on Sunday or have the Brewers beat the Dodgers in one of their final two games to avoid a potential Game 163 at Oracle Park on Monday.
The Dodgers, the juggernaut and eight-time reigning champions of the division, were expected to be here all along. Los Angeles was the team that many anticipated to win 100-plus games, challenge for another World Series title and set the pace for the rest of the majors.
The Padres, after all of their high-profile offseason transactions, were the club expected to be the Dodgers’ greatest challengers. Instead it’s the Giants who are the ones learning just how many wins they’ll have to rack up to outlast the Dodgers, and on Saturday, their late failures cost them a chance at coveted No. 107.
With the Giants ahead 2-1 in the eighth inning, reliever Zack Littell replaced starter Kevin Gausman, who was dealing with hand cramping, and allowed back-to-back base hits to pinch-hitter Tommy Pham and leadoff man Trent Grisham. The Padres had their best hitters, Fernando Tatís Jr. and Manny Machado, at the plate, but Tatís struck out before Machado tied the game for the second time with a sacrifice fly.
“We felt good about Littell,” Kapler explained. “Obviously he’s been excellent for us all year, he’s gotten some big swings and misses at the top of the zone, gotten out of so many jams for us. So while it would have been nice to have Rogers and Leone available, those two guys were not available for us.”
The inning and the game could have unraveled then for San Francisco, but left-hander José Álvarez entered and induced an inning-ending groundout send the Giants to the bottom of the frame with a chance to regain the lead.
When San Diego manager Jayce Tingler, who is widely expected to be fired at the end of the season, brought left-hander Ross Detwiler out of the bullpen to pitch the sixth inning, Kapler countered by sending the right-handed hitting Austin Slater to the plate to pinch-hit for LaMonte Wade Jr.
Wade has been the catalyst behind so many late Giants rallies this season, but Kapler has consistently substituted for him when Slater has been available off the bench this year. The 418-foot solo home run Slater launched off Detwiler sent the Oracle Park crowd into a frenzy and marked the 18th pinch-hit home run hit by a Giants player this season, setting a new single-season major league record.
Right-hander Joe Musgrove was excellent for San Diego in his final start of the season, but the Giants were still able to manufacture a run in the second inning as Brandon Crawford led off the frame with a double before Kris Bryant drilled a single up the middle to give San Francisco a 1-0 lead.
The only other hit Musgrove allowed was a leadoff single to Darin Ruf in the fourth, but with nothing for the Padres left to achieve this season, the veteran starter was lifted after throwing 70 pitches for pinch-hitter Adam Frazier in the sixth inning.
The decision to pinch-hit Frazier worked in the Padres’ favor as he lined a single into left field that ignited a San Diego rally that featured a game-tying single from Machado. After Tatís blooped a two-out single over the head of second baseman Tommy La Stella, Machado ripped a fastball from Gausman into left field to even the score at 1-1.
Gausman was brilliant the rest of the way as he walked off the mound Saturday to a standing ovation at the beginning of the eighth inning. The veteran starter ended the regular season with a 2.81 ERA over a team-high 33 starts and has found the dominant form he showcased throughout the first half of the year in time for the postseason.
“It’s unfortunate we lost today,” Gausman said. “But we’ll win tomorrow.”
