The San Francisco Giants won 107 games in the regular season and two more in the postseason, only to see their campaign end on a controversial call by the umpires. That’s rough.
The Giants lost 2-1 to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the deciding Game 5 of their NLDS on Thursday night at Oracle Park in San Francisco. They fell behind 1-0 on an RBI double by Corey Seager in the sixth. The Giants matched them with a Darin Ruf home run in the bottom of the inning.
Then the Dodgers reclaimed the lead in the top of the ninth on an RBI single by Cody Bellinger. Next, the Dodgers went deep and brought in three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer to pitch the ninth inning.
He got a line out, then Kris Bryant reached on an error and then Scherzer struck out LaMonte Wade Jr. for the second out. The Giants had a runner on first for Wilmer Flores, who fell behind 0-2.
Flores offered at a pitch from Scherzer but appeared to pull back. It didn’t matter, as he was called out by first base umpire Gabe Morales.
Here’s a freeze frame that shows how far around Flores went:
And here’s a side angle of the play:
Not only did the Giants have the best record in the regular season only to lose in the first round of the playoffs — on that call no less — but they were defeated by their rivals on that call. That makes the situation so difficult across so many levels.
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