The SF Giants lost to the San Diego Padres on Saturday night 3-0. In a battle between left-handed strikeout pitchers, Padres veteran Blake Snell came out on top against Giants rookie Kyle Harrison. Following the loss, the Giants fell to 70-66 on the season and remained in a tie with the Arizona Diamondbacks for the final National League Wild Card spot.
Harrison surrendered six runs across 5.2 innings pitched, allowing six hits, four home runs, and two walks in the process. However, his final line was a bit deceiving. His fastball continued to show its potential to be one of the best heaters in the major leagues, inducing a 38% whiff rate. However, Juan Soto took advantage of a poor location by Harrison in the bottom of the first inning to blast a solo home run against the fastball. Xander Bogaerts and Gary Sánchez would hit solo blasts against offspeed pitches in the bottom of the second.
Despite the early runs, a far cry from Harrison's historic Oracle Park debut on Monday, the young lefty was able to right the ship for five innings. Rather than taking advantage of the expanded September rosters, though, Giants manager Gabe Kapler decided to push Harrison up above 90 pitches again. He came one out away from a quality start, but a three-run homer by Garrett Cooper on a poorly placed fastball at 92 mph undid a relatively solid outing.
Slated to be a free agent at the end of the season, Snell continued pitching his way into a massive contract. The Giants did not put a runner in scoring position until the fifth inning when a line drive single by Casey Schmitt and a two-out walk by Austin Slater gave Thairo Estrada an opportunity with runners in scoring position. He flew out to center field.
Walks by Wilmer Flores and Patrick Bailey in the top of the sixth inning gave the Giants another opportunity to bring the potential tying run to the plate against Snell. But J.D. Davis lined out, and Paul DeJong grounded out to end the inning without scoring a run.
Snell labored through six shutout innings, throwing 113 pitches, but he did not allow a run on three hits and four walks with eight strikeouts. In fact, San Francisco did not manage to score a run until the top of the ninth, when Raymond Kerr surrendered an RBI-double to Austin Slater.
After dropping the last two games, the SF Giants need a win tomorrow to split the series in San Diego. Veteran starter Alex Cobb is slated to take the mound for the Giants and square up against Seth Lugo. First pitch at Petco Park is scheduled for 1:10 PM Pacific.
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