Giants Lose Heartbreaker to Rockies, Lose Ground in Wild Card Race
DENVER — There are no consolation prizes. Not this time of year.
So when the Giants lost a walk-off heartbreaker to the Rockies, 3-2, on Friday night at Coors Field, starter Logan Webb didn’t hesitate with his answer when asked whether he takes solace in another sterling performance on the mound.
“To be honest,” he said, “no.”
The loss was sudden and stunning. It also cost San Francisco ground in a tight National League Wild Card race. With the D-backs, Marlins, and Reds each winning, all leapfrogged the Giants in the standings as they fell out of the third Wild Card spot.
In one of the strangest games the Giants have ever played at Coors Field — a venue in which “strange” is often an operative word — they did not have a hit through seven innings against Colorado starter Chase Anderson, yet they led, 1-0.
San Francisco remained hitless against relievers Justin Lawrence and Nick Mears before J.D. Davis broke up the no-hit bid with a double to lead off the ninth inning of a 1-1 game.
Davis eventually scored on pinch-hitter Wilmer Flores’ bases-loaded walk to give the Giants a 2-1 lead.
But in the bottom of the ninth, closer Camilo Doval was unable to foreclose any chances for a wild ending to a bizarre contest. Charlie Blackmon led off with a double to left-center, and one out later, Doval walked Nolan Jones.
Elehuris Montero then singled to left, and Mike Yastrzemski’s throw never reached catcher Patrick Bailey’s glove because it hit Blackmon in the backside as he slid into the plate. The ball kicked away from Bailey and to the backstop, enabling Jones to score the winning run.
“A challenging loss, obviously,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “But I guess the most important thing here is that we’ve got a quick turnaround with an early game tomorrow, and we’ve got two of them.”
The current series against the last-place Rockies is of particular importance for the Giants, who play the D-backs, Dodgers, and Padres after departing Denver, making theirs one of the tougher schedules to close out the regular season among the NL Wild Card contenders. The set comes with its unique challenges, however — due to a rainout on Thursday night, the clubs play a split doubleheader Saturday.
With 15 hours between the end of Friday’s game and the scheduled first pitch for Game 1 on Saturday, mentally wiping this game from the forefront of the Giants’ minds could be tough.
“I’m glad it’s a 12:10 [p.m. MT] game, not a 3:00 game,” he said. “So we can get on the field and get back to playing our game.”
The Giants’ game has been disjointed for much of the season. But with Michael Conforto back in the lineup Friday, the regular batting order was finally back to full strength on the heels of a homestand during which San Francisco’s bats came alive following a cold stretch.
Defensively, the Giants have been among the worst teams in the Majors, entering Friday with an MLB-high 101 errors. That number ticked up to 102 with a tough-luck E-7 on Yastrzemski for what was a good throw gone bad.
But as the bats went silent at the most hitter-friendly ballpark in the Majors, the defense was uncharacteristically strong. In the sixth inning, shortstop Brandon Crawford made a tremendous full-extension dive to snare a Brenton Doyle ground ball headed for center field.
On the very next play, first baseman LaMonte Wade Jr. made a dive of his own to start an inning-ending 3-1 putout with Webb covering the bag.
Those sparkling plays helped Webb on a night when he could’ve used a little assistance from the lineup, too, though he’s familiar with not getting it — prior to a 9-1 victory over the Rockies last week at Oracle Park, Webb had the lowest run support average (3.03 runs per nine innings) among qualified starters in 2023.
Nevertheless, the right-hander tossed eight brilliant innings Friday, yielding one run on four hits while walking none and striking out six.
With his performance, Webb reached the 200-inning milestone for the first time in his career. His 201 innings this season lead the Majors, and if he continues to pitch the way he has over his past four starts (2.03 ERA), he could become a dark horse NL Cy Young Award candidate.
While such an honor would be nice, there are no consolation prizes if you aren’t playing in October. Webb and the Giants were reminded of that Friday.
“The goal is to win the game,” he said. “And we didn’t do that.”