Make that seven in a row.
After the Giants came up a run short in Saturday’s 4-3 loss to the Dodgers, San Francisco has now dropped seven consecutive games against their rivals this year.
This one wasn’t a hard pill to swallow though. Maybe it’s because after six months and 161 games, I’m pretty numb to the pains of Giants’ baseball; or it’s the fact that wins–and-losses are besides the point right now; or it’s knowing that coming up short against one of the better teams in baseball history is not a particularly shameful occurrence — but most of all, I think this actually turned out to be a decent game.
First of all, this didn’t feel like a postseason soft launch for Blake Snell. Giants hitters weren’t milling about the field as underpaid caterers serving canapés while Dodger pitchers snacked and schmoozed for nine innings. They only managed to plate one run off him, but they kept the infamously sensitive starter from getting comfortable. Snell needed 77 pitches to record 12 outs — two pitches more than Tarik Skubal needed to record 21 on Friday. A Giant had an at-bat with a runner in scoring position in each of the first three frames. He allowed five hits, recorded just three strikeouts, and broke one necklace over four innings.
Jonah Cox led off the 3rd with a lead-off double against Blake Snell and promptly stole third to put himself in a position to score on Turner Hill’s sacrifice fly.
A 7th inning line change by the Drews of Gilbert and Cavanaugh cut LA’s lead down to one and seemed to turn the tide in the Giants favor. Gilbert worked a lead-off walk against Brock Stewart before scoring from first on Cavanaugh’s first career triple off the bricks in deep right center. He also put the tying run in scoring position in the 9th with a two-out, two-strike double to left off Tanner Scott.
Hill then led off the 8th against right-handed reliever Evan Philips by banking a double off the wall in Triple’s alley. With one-out and two strikes to Bo Davidson, a spiked breaking ball allowed Hill to take third, and Davidson capitalized on the gift by punching a fly ball just deep enough to center to score Hill and claim his first career run batted-in.
Two pitches into LA’s 9th, that hard-earned run was nullified by Enrique Hernández homer. A bucket of ice water that broke the 3-3 tie the Giants had just scratched and clawed for over two innings. Disappointing in the moment, especially for Trent Harris, who hadn’t allowed an earned run since August 21st (15.1 IP) — but we got over it pretty quick. LA was always going to win this game — it would have been embarrassing for them if they hadn’t.
What wasn’t guaranteed was the San Francisco offense erasing two deficits, or the bullpen working through (self-inflicted) trouble to keep the game from completely spinning out of control, as they have done in the recent past.
These are objectively embarrassingly small victories to applaud — stolen bases and sac flies and advancing the runner and one-off strikeouts — but that’s exactly what this iteration of the 2026 Giants are playing for. Opportunities, experience, footholds and feelings and tiny hooks to hang their hat on, however briefly.
Matt “Tugboat” Wilkinson will certainly strut into the off-season with a feeling. The southpaw backed up his last outing against LA with another solid, though abbreviated start. Wilkinson allowed just one hit, a Mookie Betts solo shot in 3rd, over three innings of work. He’s officially a rivalry legend, allowing just one earned run on four hits over eight IP across two games against the Dodgers.
Add three-pitching Shohei Ohtani to that short but spectacular CV as well.
And sometimes you play for perspective. Camilo Doval, after two trades and two teams and being DFA’d and claimed again, took the field as a Giant once again. The reliever became the 71st Giants player of the season, tying the Major League record set by the 2025 Atlanta Braves, and how ironic and maybe beautiful that the froth of that insane roster churn has spit an old friend back on San Francisco’s shores. A new number, possibly a new man? Who knows if we can expect more, or if this was just a one-off — all I know is seeing him out there on the mound felt good. I think he felt it too, fanning both Betts and Ohtani on his way to striking out the side in the 7th.
Tranquilo.
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