The SF Giants have gotten a lot of mileage out of using openers this season. Tuesday night was not one of those occasions. Starter Scott Alexander didn't retire a hitter and the Los Angeles Angels scored four runs in the first inning and never trailed in a 7-5 victory.
Red-hot Wilmer Flores carried the offense again, with a two-run single in the third and a two-run homer in the 8th off former Giant Dominic Leone that cut Los Angeles' lead to one run. But a mediocre effort from their usually stellar bullpen, combined with an offense that managed only three hits outside of doomed the Giants.
Alexander fell to 6-2 on the season after a forgettable start. Shortstop Luis Rengfio doubled, Shohei Ohtani drove him in with a single, and Brandon Drury's single chased Alexander after 11 pitches.
Jakob Junis couldn't stop the bleeding. Mike Moustakas got revenge for the 2014 World Series with a bouncing RBI single to score Ohtani. Then Hunter Renfroe drove in two on a double that was another outfield adventure for the Giants, capped by an errant throw home by Thairo Estrada.
Starter Lucas Giolito was cruising into the third, retiring the first seven batters he faced and getting to 0-2 on Brandon Crawford. But Crawford worked a walk, Luis Matos singled, and Joc Pederson drove in the Giants' first run with one of his more forgettable RBIs: a squib off the end of the bat that didn't even reach the infield dirt.
Then it was Wilmer Time once again. With the bases loaded, Flores went up the middle on Giolito, driving in two runs.
Matos was only in the game because the Giants' big trade deadline acquisition, AJ Pollock, left the game with "left side soreness" before hit first at-bat. Not clear if he'll go on the injured list, or how the Giants will replace his defense or zero hits, but we hope AJ gets well soon.
Giolito didn't give up another hit, though he did hit Flores in the fifth with Matos on first, clearly out of fear of Flores' offensive prowess.
Crawford saved a run in the third inning, robbing Randall Grichuk of a single with Moustakas on second.
Alex Wood replaced Junis in the fifth and gave up a bomb to Brandon Drury.
Wood did work his way out of a jam later in the inning, after a walk and a second Estrada error put two on with one out. But Drury and Moustakas got Wood and the Giants again in the seventh, with a double and a sacrifice fly to make it 6-3.
The Giants got their first hit since the third inning when rookie Patrick Bailey led off the eighth with a single, pinch-hitting for Pederson. Flores followed with his 15th home run, and his seventh since the All-Star break.
Flores' bomb made it a 6-5 game, but the Giants didn't get a base runner the rest of the way. The Angels added an insurance run in the ninth, and Leone shook off the home run to retire six straight batters for his first save of the season.
Drury, Moustakas, and Renfroe combined to go 7-12 with five runs and five RBIs. Ohtani was 1-4 with a run, an RBI, and a walk, clearly taking it easy on his future team.
The Giants will face Ohtani on the mound Wednesday night as they try to take the series. He might not sleep a wink worrying about Wilmer.
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