Giants 6, Diamondbacks 5: Slayed by Slater

Record: 23-62, Pace 44-118, One run record: 2-20

The Diamondbacks lost another heartbreaker tonight. With Jake Faria getting the start they fell behind early 4-0, thanks to a four run Giants 3rd. But the D-backs battled back with runs in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th innings to take a 5-4 lead. Another short outing by a starter, (Faria went just 4 innings), meant they needed 5 innings from the bullpen. 4 of those innings were scoreless, but the Giants got a monster 482 foot two run homer from Austin Slater off Ryan Buchter in the 8th for the go ahead game winning home run. The offense went silent over the final 4 innings, managing just a base hit and a walk.

T-1: Faria loaded the bases in the first giving up a couple of singles and a walk, but worked off the hook to leave them stranded, using 21 pitches (13 strikes) to get out of the inning.

B-1: The D-backs had two runners on with one out, but strikeouts by Christian Walker and Pavin Smith left them stranded.

T-2: Faria retired the Giants 7,8, & 9 hitters on three groundouts, needing just 10 pitches

B-2: Long returned the favor, retiring the Dbacks in order in the bottom of the 2^nd. #8 hitter Daulton Varsho flew out for the final out, failing to turn over the lineup.

T-3: The Giants exploded for 4 runs against Faria the 2^nd time through the order. They sent 9 men to the plate, had 5 hits, including a homerun by Mike Yastzemski, and a triple by Brandon Crawford that exposed once again Pavin Smith should not be in CF.

B-3: The D-backs got 2 back in the bottom half of the inning. Faria doubled to left for his first major league hit. Ahmed walked, and Asdrubal Cabrera and Christian Walker followed with base hits to bring them home for the first two D-backs runs. Pavin Smith and Peralta both struck out to end the threat with the score 4-2

T-4: Faria retired the top of the order 1-2-3 in the 4^th, closing out the inning by getting Yaz to strike out on a curve ball.

B-4 Andrew Young, pinch hitting for Faria, hit a two out smash to the wall in front of the pool. It got stuck in the pads for a ground rule double. Ahmed got a 3-1 fastball down and away and drove it over the wall in right for a game tying two run homer !

4-4 through 4.

T-5: Joe Mantiply relieved Faria. He gave up one out singles to Crawford and Solano and the Giants were right back in business. He managed to strike out Duggar before being relieved by Humberto Castellano. He got Curt Casali to hit a check swing tapper back to the mound for the final out of the inning.

B-5: Cabrera lead off with a single against reliever Zack Little and one out later Smith hit a groundball off the glove of Wade at first for a two base error. Lefty Jose Alvarez relieved to face Peralta. With the infield draw in he blooped the ball just over the Solano’s head to drive in Cabrera, giving the D-backs a 5-4 lead. As Brenly said, it was “a Gonzo”. Reddick struck out, leaving it up to Varsho to try to break through against a lefty and make it a crooked number. But broken bat groundout to short was the result.

T-6: Catellanos walked Ruff to start the inning, then got a deep line out to right before walling Thairo Estrada. That brought up Yaz, and a rematch with Castellanos that ended badly for the D-backs last time they met when Yaz hit a grand slam into McCovey cove. This time it went the D-backs way when David Peralta made a diving sprawling catch of a blooper to shallow left center to save a run. A 6-4 force ended the inning with the D-backs lead still intact.

B-6: Josh Rojas reached with two outs on a catcher’s interference and promptly stole 2b to get in scoring position, but Cabrera couldn’t come through this time, flying out to left.

T-7: Noe Ramirez came on to pitch the 7^th and immediately got into trouble, giving up a single to Crawford and hitting Solano. Wilmer Flores came in to pinch hit and struck out. Casali hit a ground ball to short and Ahmed got the force at 2^nd, but Rojas’ throw pulled Walker off the bag and they couldn’t turn the double play. Ramirez picked him up however, by striking out Darin Ruff.

B-7: Pavin Smith drew a one out walk. David Peralta flew out to the track in left. For some reason Brandon Crawford threw over to first with the relay with Smith already back and standing on the bag, The ball got by Flores who was now playing first base, and into the Giants dugout. Smith was awarded third base on the play. Reddick struck out though, making it moot.

T-8: Ryan Buchter came in to pitch the 8th. He got a fly out and walked Estrada, but picked him off. He then issued a two out walk to Yaz, and this time the bullpen got burned. Austin Slater hit a center cut fastball over the concourse beyond the Left CF porch, 482 feet giving the Giants a 6-5 lead. Buchter then issues his 3rd walk of the inning to Crawford. He finally got Flores to strike out to end the inning. In all he threw 33 pitches, just 15 for strikes and lead blown.

NOTE: The D-BACKS 70 8th inning runs allowed this year are the most in MLB, by 11. They also have allowed 60 7th inning runs, also the most by 11.

B-8: Varsho lined out to right to start the 8th. Eduardo Escobar pinch hit and lined a base hit to left, Jaylin Davis made a great diving catch in left to rob Ahmed of a base hit and Rojas struck out to end the inning.

T-9: Brett deGues threw a scoreless 9th

B-9: The D-backs went down 1-2-3 in the 9th

Fangraphs Box

WPA Leaders:

Nick Ahmed. +.206, good night for Nick at top of order, 2-4, HR, Walk, 2 RBI

Humberto Castellanos: +.138. Ugly but effective

WPA Laggards

Ryan Buchter -.442, well what did you expect.

Jake Faria -.202, only one bad inning, but he threw 4 of them and left too many outs for the pen

Roll Call

14 brave and hearty souls banged out 279 comments tonight:

COTG goes to NikT, funny as hell, but ironic because it wasn’t Soria that blew the game this time:

Happy and safe 4th of July to everyone tomorrow.