SF Giants embarrassed by A’s on all-around shoddy Fourth of July night
WEST SACRAMENTO — The Giants flew out of Phoenix with much-needed good vibes. Camilo Doval redeemed himself on Wednesday, and Robbie Ray shined on Thursday. They salvaged a split of their four-game series with the Arizona Diamondbacks, arriving at Sutter Health Park with a chance to win three in a row for the first time in weeks.
They instead played their most embarrassing game of the season.
Justin Verlander, two decades after making his major-league debut, allowed a season-high six runs over three innings in his worst start of the year. The defense made three errors. The offense was silenced. The Athletics’ Denzel Clarke and Nick Kurtz hit a pair of majestic homers.
The result for San Francisco was an 11-2 loss to the Athletics on the Fourth of July. It was a night that ended with fireworks in the sky and Verlander still searching for his first win as a Giant.
“It was bad,” said manager Bob Melvin. “We’ve had a couple of these games in the last week that are uncharacteristic of how we play. So, that’s the part that bothered me the most about this game. The defense, and it just looked like there was a lack of focus on the defensive end. That’s a concern.”
Verlander, who is now 0-6 with a 4.84 ERA over 14 starts, will have one more chance to get his first win of the season before the All-Star Break. That start will likely be at Oracle Park against the Los Angeles Dodgers, who also suffered their own humiliating defeat: an 18-1 blowout at the hands of the Houston Astros on Friday.
“I feel like I was pretty easy to hit tonight,” Verlander said. “Frankly embarrassing. I need to be better than that. I thought I found something in between starts that was going to help me and send me in the right direction. Yeah, no, it didn’t. So, back to the drawing board.”
As poorly as Verlander’s start went, the 42-year-old did not provide brief or rushed answers when fielding questions from reporters postgame. Rather, Verlander extensively expounded upon his struggles.
“You test something. You go out there and try it and see if it works or not when you’re searching for something mechanically. If it’s not working, you find something else. I’m already on to the next thing. I threw some balls against the wall and felt some different mechanics that I’ve been thinking about. I’m optimistic that that’s going to be the next thing that works.
“I’ve had two or three instances in my career where I’ve had to reinvent the wheel and everything that I’ve know to try to fix something that doesn’t work,” Verlander said. “I feel like I’m kind of there where it’s like, ‘All right, time to just throw [expletive] against the wall and see what works.’ Hopefully, I can rely on a lot of my past understand biomechanics and my mechanics and figure it out quickly.”
Verlander believes that his stuff, itself, is okay. Despite the poor results, Verlander still generated 10 whiffs on 60 pitches. Still, Verlander assessed that he’s not deceptive enough, that hitters are too easily able to execute their game plans.
Verlander pointed to Brent Rooker’s RBI double in the bottom of the second inning — a frame where the A’s scored four runs — of an example of his lack of deception. Verlander felt he beat Rooker to spot, but Rooker was able to throw the bat head at the ball and drive in a run.
“You hear hitters talk about kind of being in the middle. I feel like that’s where I’m at right now,” Verlander said. “I can make good pitches, and when I do make good pitches, these guys are so good … when I do make a good pitch, they either foul it off or put it in play when otherwise it probably should be a swing-and-miss or foul ball.”
Added Verlander: “Looking at it objectively, I do think my stuff can be great. I think my stuff can be consistently great enough to be a great pitcher in this game given the current landscape. But I need to make some adjustments. I’m exhausting all options. I’m trying everything I know how to do.”
Verlander was far from the only Giant on Friday who has had better nights. The defense, as a whole, was subpar.
As far as errors, Heliot Ramos, Sergio Alcántara and Brett Wisely each committed one apiece. Along with the error, Ramos mishandled another transfer in the bottom of the second on Tyler Soderstrom’s base hit. Ramos may have had a chance to throw out Soderstrom at second if he fielded the ball cleanly, but Soderstrom slid in safely at second with a double due to Ramos’ fumble.
“I got to the balls pretty good,” Ramos said. “I just bobbled it.”
Along with the errors, there was also center fielder Jung Hoo Lee turned around on a deep drive by Denzel Clarke, resulting in a fly out becoming a triple. Catcher Patrick Bailey was unable to catch a popup in foul territory as well, though it was a tough play since he didn’t immediately know where the ball went.
By the bottom of the seventh, with the Giants’ defeat already sealed, Melvin began emptying his bench. Wisely entered the game for Willy Adames and later hit a solo homer. In the top of the eighth, backup catcher Andrew Knizner pinch-hit for Rafael Devers.
For as bad as the night went, the Giants stand to receive a much-needed boost on Saturday night.
Third baseman Matt Chapman should be activated from the injured list after playing in a rehab game with Triple-A Sacramento in Reno, going 0-for-3 with a walk and fielding two grounders.