Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
It happened again.
You have Gott to be kidding.
Trevor Gott unraveled in a ninth inning he surely no longer owns, surrendering four runs a night after he allowed five in a 7-6 loss to the A’s on Saturday at Oracle Park that is just south of a gut-punch.
The Giants entered the ninth with a 6-3 lead and their ostensible closer on the mound, Gabe Kapler trying to show confidence in Gott, who immediately allowed a home run to Sean Murphy.
Two batters later Tony Kemp lined a ball to right field, but Hunter Pence played the part of Wilmer Flores a day later, taking a bad route and letting it fall. Matt Olson walked, and Mark Canha stepped up with two outs. The Giants had Sam Selman ready to go, but Kapler stuck with Gott — who watched it fly over the left-center-field fence, a turn of events that would have been more shocking if it hadn’t happened Friday.
The Giants (8-14) dropped their 10th in 13 games and only further rolled around in Friday’s stench, unable to rebound from a loss so horrid it had not been matched since 1929.
Wasted was Darin Ruf’s first MLB homer in 1,415 days. If only the 10,205 cutouts could have stormed out.
Ruf’s three-run bomb in the seventh, off (briefly) former Giant Burch Smith, came in his 38th plate appearance since returning to major league ball after three years playing in South Korea. He could have returned to the KBO during the pandemic, but he stayed and once again can add to a States-side career that began in 2012 with Philadelphia.
The 34-year-old unknotted a 3-3 game that would have some twists to go.
Kevin Gausman was electric, if not efficient or quite excellent, and the Giants’ bullpen was shutdown until it melted down. Wandy Peralta, Tyler Rogers and Tony Watson were solid and handed a three-run lead to Gott.
The Giants’ best offense, as it has been all year, involved Austin Slater, Donovan Solano and Mike Yastrzemski. And when the opposing defense helps, the Giants will take that, too.
Oakland starter Sean Manaea had faced the minimum through three, but Slater walked to begin the fourth and Solano singled — extending a 17-game hitting streak and now batting .433 — bringing up Yastrzemski. The Giants’ best player lined a slider into deep right that Stephen Piscotty fumbled and then threw in to third, skipping past Yastrzemski as he slid in.
The ball wound up in the Giants’ dugout, and Yastrzemski wound up with a Little League home run (and big-league two-run triple) that accounted for the Giants’ only action until Ruf’s seventh.
*Boo from Monsters, Inc. voice* MIKE YASTRZEMSKI! pic.twitter.com/klXcYuC1Kq
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) August 16, 2020
Just over two weeks until the trade deadline, Gausman made two mistakes, overpowering the A’s and saving his splitter for when he needed it, which was nearly untouchable.
Gausman, who went 5 2/3 innings with three runs and a career-best 11 strikeouts, missed twice. His third-inning fastball to Marcus Semien was right over the plate, and the Oakland shortstop sent it just past the glove of Yastrzemski in center for a two-run homer.
A solo shot to Olson in the fifth tied the game at 3-3 and turned a solid line into a so-so line. And it was also the only hit against his splitter, which hung, but otherwise was filthy.
Gausman threw his best pitch 45 times and got 21 swings off it — of that, 14 were swings-and-misses. His 19 whiffs induced in all were his best since April 17 of last year, when he matched that total.
His effectiveness kept him going, Gabe Kapler surprisingly squeezing every out he could out of Gausman. His final pitch — pitch 106, after having maxed out at 83 this year — was a 96.5 mph fastball that struck out Piscotty, Friday night’s A’s hero.
The A’s would have a new one a day later.
