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Giants' comeback habit stalls vs. Padres' bullpen buzzsaw in series-opening loss originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN DIEGO — LaMonte Wade Jr. reached out across the plate and made solid contact with a slider that would have been ball three, lining it down the left field line. As two Giants started racing home, San Diego Padres catcher Elias Diaz dropped his head and smacked the dirt with his fist. For San Francisco, it was a familiar scene. 

They have frustrated one opponent after another through the season’s first month, seemingly always clawing back in the late innings. By advanced metrics and the eye test, they have been as clutch as any team in baseball, but the first look at a division rival reminded them that it won’t always be easy.

The only bullpen better than San Francisco’s is San Diego’s, and while the Giants did threaten when right-hander Nick Pivetta initially exited the game, they went down in order in the final three innings, striking out four times. There would be no comeback Tuesday night, just a 7-4 loss to the Padres. 

“They just attack well, put pressure on us as a hitter and get in a pitcher’s count,” shortstop Willy Adames said. “I feel like we tried to battle today. It just didn’t end up our way. We didn’t give up until the last out, but we’re not going to come back every time, unfortunately.”

Adames got the Giants on the board with a solo shot in the fourth, his second of the season, but by that point, the Giants already trailed by three runs. It was an uncharacteristic night for Logan Webb, although against the Padres recently, he has had to get used to this.

The Padres have Webb’s number at the moment, and the nine hits they sprayed across the field felt familiar. He has given up 36 hits in his last four starts against the Padres, many of them at low exit velocities. That was the case on Tuesday. 

“I definitely think it’s something that they’re trying to do. I know that going into it,” Webb said. “I watched every at-bat against these guys and it was the same thing they did to me last year. Some stuff in there is kind of unacceptable — the two-out walk to the guy in the first inning was pretty bad, but I thought I did what I wanted to do for the most part. Balls kept finding grass and holes. It’s kind of the way it goes, that’s baseball. That’s why it’s a great game, that’s why it’s a s—-y game.”

Webb lasted just five innings in his first look at an NL West rival, but the Giants got within a run in the sixth on Wade’s double, the latest sign of life for a hitter who has had a rough April. Adames, who had his best all-around night at the plate as a Giant, started the inning with a double, and it seemed the Giants would do what they do.

Comebacks have become the norm, but after Wade got to Jeremiah Estrada — who entered with a 1.32 ERA — the Giants went down quietly. Left-hander Adrian Morejon lowered his ERA to 1.84 in the seventh. Jason Adam and Robert Suarez are both under 1.00, and they got the final six outs. 

The Giants have had the late-game advantage all year long, but that might not be the case when they face the Padres or the Los Angeles Dodgers. They’ll need to play better across nine innings, and they trailed all night in front of 47,345, the second-largest crowd in Petco Park history. 

The first taste of NL West action was a disappointing one, and a refresher course on just how difficult this division is. 

“Obviously they have a really good team and it’s a good matchup when you’re going to face your rivals in your division,” Adames said. “I feel like they got lucky today against Webby, who was very unlucky. They had a lot of bloopers their way. Those days are going to happen. We’re going to continue to battle until the end.

“We’re going to come tomorrow and try to get that win and even the series up, and go back home and try to sweep the Rockies, or win the series at least.”

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Phillies pull off dramatic win over Nats, win on walk-off wild pitch originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The Phillies squandered Zack Wheeler’s strong work but avoided a deflating loss with a thrilling ninth-inning rally Tuesday night.

Bryson Stott hustled home to score on a Kyle Finnegan wild pitch and lift the Phillies to an ultra-dramatic, walk-off 7-6 win over the Nationals at Citizens Bank Park. 

Wheeler went 6 2/3 innings and allowed five hits and two runs in the first contest of a three-game series vs. Washington. 

Trea Turner led off against MacKenzie Gore with an opposite-field single. After Bryce Harper flew out to the right-field warning track, Kyle Schwarber extended his on-base streak to a career-best 35 games in slugging fashion. Schwarber nailed a 96 mph fastball over the left-center wall to put the Phils up 2-0. 

Wheeler threw an auspicious, 10-pitch first inning and a solid second. 

The Nationals nearly broke through in the third. They loaded the bases with two outs and Wheeler’s command appeared shaky, but he got Keibert Ruiz to whiff on a 3-2 cutter. Across his last three starts, Wheeler’s tallied 29 strikeouts and three walks. 

Wheeler kept a shutout intact until Luis Garcia Jr. opened the sixth inning by drilling a home run. He walked off with two outs in the seventh following a Jacob Young double. Matt Strahm couldn’t strand the inherited runner, giving up a two-bagger to CJ Abrams. 

Jose Alvarado was an escape artist in the eighth.

He wriggled free from bases-loaded, no-out trouble with sinkers that hovered around 100 mph and high-quality cutters. Josh Bell, Dylan Crews and Alex Call all struck out swinging, which fueled a fist-pumping, chest-thumping Alvarado celebration.

Orion Kerkering couldn’t earn the save. The Phillies’ defense did not help his cause. 

Johan Rojas misplayed a James Wood RBI double and Turner committed a costly error, throwing wide to Harper at first base. The Nats got the tying run to second with two outs and Nathaniel Lowe cracked a two-strike, go-ahead homer into the right-field seats.

The Phillies kicked off the bottom of the ninth against Finneganwith an Alec Bohm single and a Stott walk. Max Kepler’s deep fly out to center moved Bohm to third base.

Stott stole second base with Rojas up and the Phillies’ center fielder just about drove in Bohm. He flew out to right field and Crews’ throw home was off target. That set the stage for the walk-off action.

Phillies manager Rob Thomson didn’t have lefties Stott and Kepler in the lineup for the series opener against a southpaw. Edmundo Sosa played second base and hit seventh. Weston Wilson manned left field and hit eighth. As a pair, Wilson and Sosa went 0 for 5.

Rojas provided pop from the nine-hole, hammering a third-inning home run. The 421-foot dinger was Rojas’ first of the season and the sixth of his career. 

Outside of the Phillies’ two early long balls, Gore fared well. Over his six innings, Turner was the one Phillie to record a non-homer hit vs. Gore.

Turner had a stellar night in leadoff duty, notching a four-hit game (and watching Stott sprint home in the ninth). His batting average has leaped from .245 to .290 in two games. Turner’s last knock was a double to right that brought in Rojas as the first of two Phillies insurance runs in the eighth.

The latest on Marsh 

Thomson laid out the team’s rotation plans pregame — Cristopher Sanchez on Wednesday, Taijuan Walker on Thursday, TBD for the weekend.

His dugout media session also included an update on Brandon Marsh, who was pulled from his fourth rehab game Sunday at Triple-A Lehigh Valley because of a right hamstring camp. 

According to Thomson, Marsh worked out Tuesday and was seeing the doctor pregame. If he’s cleared, the Phillies will send Marsh on another rehab assignment. Thomson sounded confident he would be back on the field soon.

“He said he feels fine,” Thomson said. “It’s just a cramp. We’re just being cautious.”