Wednesday was Career Day at Oracle Park, a day where students could “learn about careers in sports and media with an exclusive Q&A with San Francisco Giants Front Office executives.” They got to see the Giants lose their second straight to the San Diego Padres, 5-1, a game where the team and the organization were left with far more Q’s than A’s.
Some of those questions included:
- “Have you guys considered getting more than three hits in a game?
- “How long is that Willy Adames contract again?”
- “What’s Tony Vitello’s favorite show coming to the Curran Theatre this year?”
- “Why are you obsessed with playing catchers in the outfield?”
- “I am a sports psychologist. Can you give Ryan Walker my business card?
The Giants got two hits from rookie Jesus Rodriguez and a 5th-inning home run from Rafael Devers, but that was the entirety of their offense Wednesday. Perhaps they were confused by opener Bradgley Rodriguez, specifically by the arrangement of consonants in his first name, and his befuddgling sinkerball dgelivery that let him retire the Giants on seven pitches.
Matt Waldron (1-1) took over in the second inning, sporting a 9.88 ERA. Five innings, seven strikeouts and one Devers bomb later, he exited with a 2-1 lead and a 7.71 ERA. Yes, facing the Giants offense is like prescribing Ozempic for your ERA.
It was the first time Devers had gone deep since April 18 and it tied up the game at 1-1. He hit the dinger to lead off the the 5th inning, but the Giants only managed a single baserunner the rest of the way off a Padres bullpen that’s quite good — but not that good.
Adrian Houser (0-4) was the hard-luck loser for the Giants, giving up three hits and two runs in 6+ innings. Gavin Sheets began the scoring by blasting a ball into McCovey Cove the 4th inning and is now slugging .538 against the Giants for his career.
Houser got tagged with an extra run and the loss through very little fault of his own and a great deal of fault to the Giants defense. He faced one batter in the 7th, Fernando Tatis, Jr., who reached on a Matt Chapman error. Keaton Winn issued a walk and retired two hitters, then Vitello went to lefty Matt Gage when Ty France pinch-hit for Sung-Mun Song. France lined a ball to right field that went off Rodriguez’s glove for a two-run triple.
Vitello acknowledged that Rodriguez hadn’t played much right field, with most of his outfield experience coming in left, but thought the catcher had done well for the most part and “showed no fear…just didn’t catch that ball, which would have been an outstanding play.”
It’s a tough right field and it would have been a tough play for most players, but it’s reasonable to ask if a non-catcher would have had an easier time. However, Rodriguez was also the only Giant to get a hit after the Padres took the lead, and with two outs, France would have driven in both runs with a single anyway.
In the top of the 8th, the Padres put the game out of reach against Walker, who walked Manny Machado, threw a wild pitch, and then gave up a two-run shot to Xander Bogaerts, who went deep for the second straight game.
Padres manager Craig Stammen really pushed the right buttons Wednesday. Not only did he get a big pinch-hit from France, but he brought in Bogaerts for Sheets after France stayed in to play first base.
It didn’t end up mattering, as Adrian Morejon struck out four in two innings of relief work before Mason Miller struck out two more in the 9th. Miller now has 34 strikeouts in 17.1 innings this season, an even better K rate than Henry Rowengartner.
So the Giants dropped the series, but never fear! There was a College Fair after the game, where aspirants for a career in sports business can look for jobs and, we assume, try out for entry-level jobs as corner outfielders and middle relievers. As for the 2026 Giants, their playoff résumé is looking worse by the day.
