The Giants were rolling. The New York Mets lost. It was lining up to be a perfect day for a team that was dead in the water three weeks ago, on the cusp of finding themselves only three games back from an MLB postseason spot with the most valuable asset in baseball on their side — momentum
And then in the blink of an eye, it all came crashing down in heartbreaking fashion. With San Francisco holding a 2-0 lead over the St. Louis Cardinals, Giants manager Bob Melvin handed the ball to reliever Ryan Walker to get the final three outs of the game.
Walker instead coughed up three runs without recording a single out, as the Giants watched their five-game winning streak snapped in horrific fashion. Cardinals outfielder Jordan Walker’s RBI double landed in left field with the impact of a dagger to the chest as the Giants fell 3-2 to St. Louis in a game that very well could be looked back at three weeks from now if San Francisco narrowly misses out on playoff baseball.
Justin Verlander was stellar, tossing six shutout innings while also moving past Giants legend Gaylord Perry for the eighth spot on MLB’s all-time strikeout leader list.
In what has become a tragic routine during the 2025 MLB season, Verlander’s gem will be forgotten as the sting of another bullpen collapse steals the show in a gut-wrenching defeat.
While the Giants entered this game as MLB’s hottest team, late-inning collapses like this are an unfortunate consequence of San Francisco shipping out two key bullpen arms at the trade deadline in Tyler Rogers and Camilo Doval.
Once the Giants lost Randy Rodriguez for the season with an elbow injury, it always was going to be a tall ask for San Francisco’s bullpen to pick up the slack of three backend options that were as good as any in MLB during the first half of the season.
But they did have an arm who previously had succeded in high-leverage situations in Walker, who entered the season as the Giants closer after an outstanding 2024 campaign thats saw the right-hander log a 10-4 record with a 1.91 ERA in 80 innings of work. Walker didn’t stick in that role after some early-season struggles and location issues that reared their head on Saturday in St. Louis
Perhaps Giants manager Bob Melvin hoped Walker would be able to rekindle some of that magic, or maybe it was as simple as the limited arms at his disposal, but the relievers ninth-inning meltdown hardly came as a surprise to anyone who has watched this movie unfold countless times over the course of this season.
Saturday’s defeat is the kind of loss that feels like a gut punch, even if San Francisco still finds itself in the thick of the NL playoff picture.
There likely will be no shortage of close games down the stretch where the Giants will need to rely on their bullpen to see out wins and Saturday’s disastrous defeat feels like a harrowing reminder that San Francisco remains a few pieces short of what it takes to be a true contender.
Right now it’s obvious those pieces are in the backend of the Giants’ bullpen, making it difficult to envision a scenario where San Francisco is able to consistently scrape across enough run support to make a serious run into October.
Crazier things have happened in baseball, but the lack of trustworthy arms feels like the final nail in the coffin of the roller coaster ride that has been 2025 Giants baserball.
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