The final rivalry game of the year turned wet, windy and woebegone for the Giants.
On a night interrupted by temperamentally inclement weather, the Giants got burned by two ground-rule doubles, struck out a season-high 17 times, went 2-for-13 with RISP and lost in extra-innings.
Mookie Betts delivered the go-ahead double in the 10th, and LA added another when Thomas Szapucki walked Max Muncy with the bases loaded. The Giants stranded the bases loaded for a third time when they needed to match in the bottom half to fall short, 4-3.
It all added up to the Giants’ 15th loss to the Dodgers in 2022 — the most ever in rivalry history. A year after pushing the Dodgers to the brink, the Giants (69-77) are 32.5 games behind their world-beating nemesis.
Rain and wind affected seemingly every pitch for much of the four-hour, 11-minute game, but first began to pick up heavily in the second inning. The bravest fans threw on ponchos, but most retreated for cover.
The ESPN broadcast showed that wind tunnels made it practically impossible to hit a home run over the right field arcade.
The wind made every ball hit in the air a challenge — including Joc Pederson’s 396-foot flyout in the 10th inning that would’ve been a walk-off homer on a normal night.
On the first pitch of the game, Betts lofted a routine pop up into right field, but rookie Heliot Ramos couldn’t adjust to the unpredictable wind and allowed it to drop in front of him for a single.
Starter Alex Cobb looked on from the mound with his hands on his head in disbelief — a signature image for one of the most unlucky pitchers in MLB this season. One weather expert measured the wind beating Betts’ fly ball back by 58 feet, which would be the greatest wind effect in Oracle Park history.
Ramos again battled the wind in the third inning, but won. He robbed Trea Turner of extra bases with a back-tracking, back-handed stab in Triples Alley to keep the score 0-0. It was one of several spectacular defensive plays made in the outfield by both clubs.
After a 20-minute weather delay, and after Justin Turner drove in Freddie Freeman with a double, a rainbow formed over McCovey Cove — and the Giants nearly struck gold. Had Wilmer Flores’ double stayed in play, Thairo Estrada would have easily scored. But the Giants ended up leaving the bases loaded as both Evan Longoria and Joey Bart struck out to end the fourth.
Bart had struck out in all four of his plate appearances Saturday night. He’d done damage against the Dodgers earlier this season — but tanked this weekend and eventually got lifted for backup Austin Wynns.
The next inning, though, Lewis Brinson led off with a double down the left field line. He flew to third while tagging up on line out to deep center, stumbling in just safely. Then Brinson scored on a throwing error induced by a hustling Estrada.
But it wasn’t clear skies from there. Brinson lost his footing in swampy center field, allowing Trea Turner to coast into second with a double. Freeman promptly drove him in with a single to retake a lead — 2-1.
The one-run edge held, as San Francisco couldn’t stop striking out. Bart, Longoria, Ramos, Luis González, and J.D. Davis each fanned at least twice.
In the eighth, with no one left on the bench to pinch-hit for him against lefty Alex Vesia, Joc Pederson struck out on three pitches in an uncompetitive at-bat that featured two poor bunt attempts and a slash. But Davis followed the ugliness with a game-tying ground-rule double.
Like Flores’ automatic double earlier, the Giants would have scored more had Davis’ rocket stayed in play. But LaMonte Wade Jr. left the bases loaded again with SF’s 15th strikeout of the game. Then Heliot Ramos’ strikeout to send the game to extra innings broke San Francisco’s previous 2022 season-high.
Both teams had the top of their orders due up for the 10th inning.
For the Dodgers, Betts delivered and the threat of their other sluggers led to the bases loaded walk.
The wind knocked Pederson’s shot down before Flores brought SF within one with a single. Then with two outs and the bases loaded, Wade just hooked a walkoff grand slam foul before grounding out.
Two near walk-offs in a historic loss — fitting for a nightmarish season.
