PHOENIX — A Giants club that began the day with the best record in the majors is surprisingly no stranger to blowing big late-inning leads in devastating losses.
Monday’s would have been the worst one yet.
But after failing to protect a 7-1 lead and an 8-5 advantage, the Giants escaped a 10-inning series-opening matchup with the Arizona Diamondbacks with an 11-8 victory thanks to a three-run 10th-inning outburst.
Giants catcher Buster Posey’s RBI double, Steven Duggar’s RBI single and Donovan Solano’s RBI safety squeeze provided left-hander Jarlín García with the cushion he needed to save the Giants from a potentially embarrassing lost to the last-place club in the National League West.
After the Giants took a 7-1 fifth-inning lead against the Diamondbacks following Alex Dickerson’s third career grand slam, a total collapse from the team’s pitching staff allowed Arizona to come all the way back and tie the game at 8-8 in the seventh.
Early home runs from Alex Dickerson, Mike Yastrzemski and Wilmer Flores should have been enough for the Giants to easily take a series-opener in Arizona, but a Diamondbacks team jumped on mistakes from starter Anthony DeSclafani before making reliever Jay Jackson labor through a long seventh inning.
When Dickerson snapped an 0-for-17 stretch with a towering grand slam into right center field in the fifth inning, the Giants looked as if they could push the cruise control button and ride to an easy win. A five-run fifth that also featured a bases loaded walk from Posey gave the Giants a 7-1 lead over a club that entered the night 40 games under .500, but the Diamondbacks are a different team now than they were when San Francisco last saw them.
An Arizona club with a healthy Ketel Marte has a deeper lineup and a Giants team that wanted to avoid using its three best relievers, Dominic Leone, Tyler Rogers and Jake McGee, was met with a challenge when starter Anthony DeSclafani simply wore down in the fifth inning.
With his pitch count climbing into the 90s, DeSclafani gave up a pair of two-run home runs that pulled the Diamondbacks back within two runs. The first — hit by pinch-hitter Josh Reddick — followed a leadoff single from Nick Ahmed, and the second — hit by second baseman Asdrúbal Cabrera — came after a slow infield tapper hit by Marte stayed just inside the foul line.
Flores’ sixth inning solo home run into the left field bleachers gave the Giants’ bullpen a three-run cushion, but the lead evaporated after Jackson took the mound in the seventh.
After giving up a pair of home runs in the Giants’ series against the Astros this weekend, Jackson was one strike away from escaping a bases loaded, no out situation with only allowing one run, but a two-out, two-strike mistake to Diamondbacks first baseman Christian Walker resulted in a game-tying bases-loaded double.
Had every member of the Giants’ bullpen been able to take the ball on Monday, it’s likely Kapler would have pulled DeSclafani in the bottom of the fifth after Marte’s infield chopper. It also would have made sense to remove Jackson at any point after the Diamondbacks loaded the bases in the seventh as he was clearly battling issues with his command, but on a night when the Giants needed to coax every out they could from their middle relievers, Jackson remained in the game.
Bullpen meltdowns happen on a nightly basis around the majors and it’s rare for even the best teams to go even a few weeks without blowing a lead, but the bigger-picture issue for the Giants is that their top starters haven’t been able to pitch as deep into games since the All-Star break.
Monday’s outing was the second in a row in which DeSclafani exited before completing five innings while All-Star starter Kevin Gausman has had three straight starts in which he didn’t go five. Veteran right-hander Johnny Cueto and lefty Alex Wood have been slightly more consistent for Kapler’s club, but neither has finished six innings in a start since the Giants hosted the Cardinals during the first week of July.
