PHOENIX, Ariz.–The Giants’ final road game of the season ended in the exact same fashion as their first one.
The only difference? This time, it was Sam Dyson who blew the save, not Mark Melancon.
Seventy nine road games after the Giants lost an Opening Day heart-breaker that set the tone for the worst season in franchise history, they lost their final road contest of the season against the same team that dealt them their initial blow.
Armed with a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the ninth inning, Dyson surrendered a leadoff home run to Diamondbacks’ slugger J.D. Martinez and then proceeded to crash and burn in San Francisco’s 4-3 loss.
“It would have been nice to get this one,” Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy said. “With how the game went, win our last road series, you know. You’re glad that Shark finished on a good note, it would have been nice for us to finish up on a good note here on the road. It would have made for a decent road trip against two tough teams but it got away from us. That’s just the way this year has gone. Dyson’s done a heck of a job since he’s gotten into that role, he just had a hiccup today.”
After allowing the Diamondbacks to rally in the bottom of the ninth, Dyson surrendered a walkoff walk on five pitches to pinch hitter David Peralta to end a game the Giants had no business losing.
“He (Dyson) just got that ball into Martinez’s zone to start that inning, and he’s a low ball hitter and he’s got us a couple of times in that same zone,” Bochy said. “Then the shift was beat, and you know, groundballs, we had the infield set up for a double play ball but you know, they hit it where we couldn’t quite get it. Craw, great effort trying to make the play at home, but then I think he (Dyson) got just a little tired there at the end and walked a guy. His stuff was fine. Well played game. Until the bottom of the ninth, that game couldn’t have gone better.”
After controlling the action for most of the afternoon, the Giants watched a near-victory slip out of their grasp in a devastating turn of events. Now, San Francisco must win one of its final three games of the season against the San Diego Padres to avoid losing 100 games for just the second time in franchise history.
If not for the ninth inning collapse, the Giants’ inability to close out a Diamondbacks’ team that has already clinched home field advantage for next week’s National League Wildcard game wouldn’t have been much of a story at all
That’s because an hour before the first pitch of the series finale, Giants’ veteran Matt Cain announced that he planned to retire at the end of this season.
“To know that I started out in 2002 putting a Giants’ uniform on and getting picked up by the Giants and knowing that that’s the exact same way that I’m going out, it’s with a Giants’ uniform on,” Cain said on Wednesday. “I’ve been able to be lucky enough to be in the same organization and it means so much to me and I can’t picture myself putting a different uniform on.”
At 11:30, Cain called the Giants together in the visiting clubhouse at Chase Field, and 15 minutes later, he stepped outside to detail his decision with reporters. After 13 Major League seasons, Cain’s career is coming to an end, and his start at AT&T Park on Saturday against the Padres will mark the final outing of his professional career. He could do the team a huge favor by winning one final game.
“I think we’ve been through the full gamut of everything and I think that’s something that is satisfying,” Cain said. “I know that I’m able to hang my hat at the end of the day and say that I put everything I could into this and that I’ve experienced it all and enjoyed every bit of it.”
Prior to the start of Wednesday’s game, the Arizona Diamondbacks congratulated Cain on his decision to retire, and one of the most storied pitchers in Giants’ franchise history tipped his cap and acknowledged the crowd.
After an emotional morning, it didn’t take long for the Giants to get rolling, as center fielder Denard Span set the tone with a leadoff triple against Diamondbacks’ starter Braden Shipley. After a Joe Panik walk, Pablo Sandoval doubled a pitch over the head of Arizona center fielder A.J. Pollock and the Giants staked out a 2-0 lead before Shipley was able to record his first out.
In the third inning, San Francisco added to its early advantage, as another Sandoval double plated Span, who led off the frame with his second extra base hit of the afternoon. That, however, was all the scoring the Giants would do, as their inability to add to their lead came back to haunt them.
The Diamondbacks didn’t retaliate until the bottom of the fifth inning, when third baseman Jake Lamb led off with his 29th home run of the season against Giants’ right-hander Jeff Samardzija. Lamb’s laser to right field was the 30th home run Samardzija surrendered this season, which represents a new career-high.
Samardzija wound up throwing six innings in his 32nd and final start of the season, bringing his total to a National League-best 207.2 innings. The 2017 season is his fifth straight with at least 200 frames, but his 4.42 earned run average is his second-highest mark during that span.
Despite his high ERA, Samardzija ended the year with a remarkable 6.41 strikeout/walk ratio after striking out four Diamondbacks and walking just one on Wednesday. That ratio ranks second only to Dodgers’ ace Clayton Kershaw in all of baseball, and it also sets the Giants’ franchise record, which was previously held by Christy Mathewson and Juan Marichal, who each posted a 6.17.
“I’m happy with the way I threw the ball,” Samardzija said. “It’s easy when it’s your last one, you know you can just let it all go. You didn’t have to hold back for anything. You can go out there and have some fun, you’re a little more relaxed and talking to guys a little more, it was a good experience. Obviously we didn’t end how we wanted it to, but those things happen.”
Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy pulled Samardzija after just 80 pitches on Wednesday, but in the end, it wasn’t the team’s middle relievers that cost the team a shot at its first road series win since early July. It was their closer, just as it was on Opening Day.