The SF Giants lost to the San Diego Padres 4-0 on Sunday, falling to 70-67 in the standings. While they are now in a four-way tie with the Diamondbacks, Reds, and Marlins for the final National League Wild Card, San Francisco missed a great opportunity to give themselves some breathing room against a struggling opponent.
Giants starter Alex Cobb quickly found himself laboring in the bottom of the first inning. Padres shortstop Ha-Seong Kim led things off with a single, and two batters later, Cobb left a splitter up over the middle of the plate against Juan Soto. The star slugger blasted the pitch over the left-center field wall for a two-run homer. A single by Manny Machado and a double by Xander Bogaerts would give the Padres another run before the frame was finished.
Cobb needed 32 pitches to get through the first inning, and while he retired San Diego in order in the second, he threw a fastball down the middle to Machado in the third inning that turned into a solo home run.
It makes sense that Cobb struggled five days after throwing more than 130 pitches in a near no-hitter. Given the depth of the Giants bullpen and the recent promotion of Keaton Winn (Giants Top 9 Prospect), it seemed like San Francisco had the perfect opportunity to give Cobb and top pitching prospect Kyle Harrison an extra day of rest after season-high pitch counts. Instead, manager Gabe Kapler kept them both on a usual routine. Perhaps, with hindsight, they would do things differently.
Nevertheless, Kapler opted to pull Cobb after just three innings (and 58 pitches), hoping Winn could bridge the gap and save the rest of the bullpen. The rookie righty delivered. Winn continued struggling to generate whiffs from big-league hitters, only recording two strikeouts in five innings pitched, but he also continued to induce plenty of soft contact with his four-seam fastball and splitter.
Winn has now made six MLB appearances this season, completing at least three innings in each one. He still has not allowed more than three runs in an outing. The imminent return of reliever John Brebbia from the injured list will create a roster crunch, which could send Winn back to Triple-A. However, after missing time with an elbow injury, it's a great sign for the Giants that he was able to pick up where he left off.
Offensively, the Giants were stymied by San Diego's starter for the second consecutive day. Seth Lugo reached deep into his six-pitch arsenal to keep San Francisco's hitters off balance and was able to locate most of his pitches on the corners. Wilmer Flores and Patrick Bailey each came a few feet shy of solo home runs, with Flores settling for a double while Bailey's blast was caught by Trent Grisham. However, the rest of the Giants' lineup was limited to two singles and a walk against Lugo.
Lugo completed six shutout innings before Padres manager Bob Melvin turned to his bullpen. Nick Martinez, Scott Barlow, and Josh Hader each completed one shutout inning of work en route to the shutout win.
The SF Giants will stay on the road, traveling east for a three-game series against the Chicago Cubs, where they could face former Giants prospect Alexander Canario. With both teams in the wild-card picture, the series could have massive tie-breaker implications. It will be a battle between aces on Monday, with Logan Webb set to face Justin Steele. First pitch at Wrigley Field is scheduled for 11:20 AM Pacific.
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