The Giants are back home. For all of eight innings, it felt like that homecoming would end on a positive note.
That was until Hunter Strickland blew a two-run lead in the ninth. The meltdown led to a 5-4 loss, their fourth to the last-place Marlins in less than two weeks.
The end of a 10-game road trip meant the return of Buster Posey and Joe Panik, who were rested Sunday against the Dodgers. It also brought new life, both figuratively and literally. Brandon Crawford, who will return to the team June 20, welcomed his fourth child into the world, and the Giants welcomed their No. 2 overall pick, catcher Joey Bart to AT&T Park.
The bad taste of the team’s road trip appeared to be dissipating. The Giants had lost five of their last seven games, including three losses to the Marlins, and were poised to enact revenge.
Despite Crawford’s absence, the Giants’ offense had no problem getting on the board early. Posey saw a seemingly innocent fly ball to center field turn into a double with the help of some outward-blowing wind. Two batters later, Panik drove Posey in with a single up the gut.
Then, up stepped Pablo Sandoval. Marlins starting pitcher Caleb Smith left a curveball that hung up for too long, and despite dropping out of the strike zone, Sandoval capitalized, golfing the low curve just over the left field fence for a two-run home run.
The Giants tacked on another run in the third, as left fielder Mac Williamson drove in center fielder Andrew McCutchen, putting the team up 4-0.
For all of eight innings, pitching was king. Starter Andy Suarez struck out seven batters and relinquished just two earned runs in 6 and ⅓ innings. Despite his 4.70 ERA, the 25-year-old southpaw has allowed an average of just 2.2 earned runs over his last five starts.
When Suarez left the game in the top of the 7th, reliever Sam Dyson forced a double play and notched a perfect eighth inning, leaving the Giants with a 4-2 lead heading into the top of the ninth inning.
But then a nightmare of an inning, or rather, ⅓ of an inning, came from Giants reliever Hunter Strickland.
Strickland walked his first batter, Brian Anderson. Then, he allowed a double and a run from J.T. Realmuto. He followed the double with another walk of Justin Bour.
Just as it seemed the game was going to crack open, Strickland forced a fielder’s choice from Cameron Maybin that seemed destined to be a single up the middle. It was a momentary relief.
Strickland tried a new tactic for the next batter, Lewis Brinson. He threw a 95 mile-an-hour fastball high and tight. Brinson nodded his head before driving a single into right field, tying the game at four. Finally, Miguel Rojas hit another single, giving the Marlins the 5-4 lead they needed.
Giants manager Bruce Bochy then pulled Strickland, who walked past Brinson at third base toward the dugout. The two exchanged unpleasantries and Strickland disappeared into the tunnel.
Bochy brought in Tony Watson who stopped the bleeding, but the Giants had nothing left offensively. The Marlins brought in closer Kyle Barraclough, who shut the Giants down three batters in a row, and with it, inched the postseason door ever closer to shut on the Giants.
