Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports
The Giants were down two runs, and then Darin Ruf swung.
Seconds later, they were up two. Minutes later, they were down two.
Baseball, the saying goes, is a game of inches, and a bunch of those inches turned a brief lead into an exercise in frustration, as Ruf’s long drive to right went just foul and the Giants fell to Yu Darvish and the Padres, 3-2 on Friday at Petco Park.
In their first game as the holders of the NL’s best record since July 19, 2016, the Giants (16-10) could do little off Darvish and lost for just a fourth time in 12 games. With the Dodgers losing, the Giants remained in first in the NL West.
They wanted to pad that stunning lead, though, and thought they had done so in the seventh. For the first time in the game, they began stacking better at-bats against one of the Padres’ aces. Mauricio Dubon blooped a two-out single before Steven Duggar — who also had his first hit of the season, posting a nice game after his call-up — worked a walk. A pinch-hitting Wilmer Flores saw seven pitches from Darvish, and the last — his 107th — was too low, loading the bases. The Padres turned to lefty Tim Hill, and Gabe Kapler turned to Ruf over Tommy La Stella, which looked like a stroke of genius when Ruf drilled an outside sinker to right for a grand slam.
Inches away from being a grand slam ? pic.twitter.com/klsaIz5VwE
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) May 1, 2021
And it was, indeed, ruled a grand slam until it was challenged and reversed. Two pitches later Ruf struck out — one of 15 Giants strikeouts on the night — and it was yet another threat wasted by the Giants.
They went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left eight on base, none they regretted more than their one in the eighth. They loaded the bases without an out thanks to a wild old pal in Drew Pomeranz for Evan Longoria, who has crushed lefties all year. But he lined one to Fernando Tatis Jr. at shortstop, which started a double play that brought in just one run. Dubon bounced out a pitch later to end the inning.
There was not expected to be much offense in a game that pitted the majors’ best ERA in baseball (the Padres’ 2.90) with the second best (the Giants’ 2.93). The Giants opened with some promise as Buster Posey drilled a homer to right in the first, his sixth in the month after a 2019 season in which he had seven, and a 2018 in which he had five.
But from the first through the fifth, Darvish retired 11 straight Giants, the streak ending with some real concern.
The Giants hope a game is all they lost Friday, as Darvish drilled Crawford on the inside of his left calf with a fastball. After a lengthy visit by trainer Dave Groeschner, Crawford remained in, and Duggar followed with a double that only brought Crawford to third. He was left stranded, and an inning later Dubon was inserted at shortstop. There was no immediate update on Crawford.
The Padres did more with their rally an inning later. Logan Webb was dealing, but Eric Hosmer singled before Jake Cronenworth crushed a double to left. With one out, Jurickson Profar lined an 0-2 four-seamer that got way too much of the plate — an issue of Webb’s — into center against a defense playing in, knocking in two and giving the Padres a 3-1 lead.
Webb was better than his numbers — six innings pitched, three runs on seven hits and a walk — indicated. He consistently had to pitch around soft contact that became incidental hits.
The first run he allowed, in the first, could have been called an error on La Stella. With Trent Grisham at second, Eric Hosmer bounced a slow grounder to second, where La Stella was playing back in the shift. He tried to barehand the ball but couldn’t palm it cleanly, then didn’t retrieve it with enough urgency. It all added up to Grisham scoring from second on an infield single.
In the fourth, Hosmer reached on an error by La Stella before Wil Myers bounced one that would have been to La Stella if he weren’t shifted over. Thus, it was a poorly struck single, but Webb bore down and escaped without a run scoring.
The Giants are trying to escape San Diego while announcing they can hang with the NL’s best. They did not send the message right away.