Bruce Bochy has shot down any questions about his closer this season, but that’ll be hard to do after the way the final two innings played out at Petco Park on Saturday night.
Sergio Romo was absolutely dominant in the ninth and Buster Posey gave the Giants the lead with a homer in the top of the 10th. Santiago Casilla gave it right back. He balked in the winning run, handing the Giants a crushing 7-6 loss to the Padres.
Casilla came on with a one-run lead and gave up two straight singles before losing track of the runner at first, allowing a stolen base that put two in scoring position. Adam Rosales singled past a drawn-in infield, tying the game. Casilla then tripped as he came down the mound, and a balk was called. Derek Norris strolled in from third.
This one got off to a horrid start for the Giants. Jeff Samardzija walked the first two batters he faced and a run scored when Posey’s throw down to third on a stolen base sailed into left field. A broken-bat single to right-center made it 2-0. Ryan Schimpf, a 28-year-old rookie infielder, took Samardzija deep to kick off the second. Matt Kemp hit a long solo blast in the third and Schimpf made the Giants pay for a Ramiro Peña fielding error, lining an RBI triple off the very top of the wall in the deepest part of the yard.
The Giants got two runs back in the third on Angel Pagan’s homer and cut the deficit to two on Posey’s RBI double in the fifth. Mac Williamson led off the top of the sixth with his first career pinch-hit homer. Two batters later, Peña hit his first as a Giant, tying the game.
The Giants looked poised to take the lead in the seventh when the first two batters reached, but Posey hit into a double play and Brandon Crawford struck out.
The Padres loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the inning, but they wouldn’t score either. Albert Suarez helped clean up his own mess by striking out Derek Norris. Josh Osich entered and threw Adam Rosales one pitch, a 97 mph fastball that was grounded to first.
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Starting pitching report: Samardzija was charged with five runs — four earned — in five innings. He gave up two more homers and now has allowed 17 in 19 starts.
Bullpen report: Sergio Romo is as nasty as he has ever been. He struck out Wil Myers on a slider that seemed to stop in the air, and then froze Kemp with a two-seamer. Yangervis Solarte grounded out softly to second to end the ninth.
At the plate: Peña’s homer was his first since June 8, 2014. He was an Atlanta Brave back then and took Brad Ziegler deep.
In the field: Posey never seemed to have a grip on the ball on the early error. He has two throwing errors in two games after not making a single error behind the plate in the first half.
Attendance: The Padres announced a crowd of 40,550 human beings who spent the night at the Best Nacho Park in America.
Up next: Johnny Cueto makes his second start at Petco Park in six days. He’ll face Edwin Jackson. Yes, that Edwin Jackson.
Tags: mlb, SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS,
