San Francisco Giants starter Jordan Hicks delivers to the Philadelphia Phillies in the bottom of the second inning at Citizens Bank Ballpark on Fri May 3, 2024 (AP News photo)
Friday, May 3, 2024
Citizens Bank Park
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
San Francisco Giants 3 (15-18)
Philadelphia Phillies 4 (22-11)
Win: Matt Strahm (2-0)
Loss: Aaron Hicks (2-1)
Save: Jose Alvarado (6)
Time: 3:00
Attendance: 40,888
By Stephen Ruderman
The Giants’ offense wasted more opportunities, and the Phillies got to the undefeated Aaron Hicks to beat the Giants 4-3 in the opener of this four-game wraparound series, as the Giants have now dropped three of the first four games of their road trip.
After dropping the first two games of their three game series against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, the Giants scored two runs in the seventh inning to salvage a game in the series yesterday. Now, the Giants were headed to Philadelphia to face the red-hot Phillies, who after winning the National League Pennant in 2022, and getting within a win of the pennant again last season, were off to a 21-11 start.
The Giants sent Jordan Hicks to the mound, and the Phillies went with Aaron Nola, who pitched a scoreless top of the first. As for Hicks, a reliever brought in over the off-season to convert to a starter, he has been off to a great start, as he entered tonight’s game 2-0 with a 1.59 ERA.
Hicks got Kyle Schwarber to fly out to center to start the bottom of the first inning. However, he ran into trouble when he gave up an infield single to Trea Turner and walked Bryce Harper with one out. Hicks then bore down, as he struck out Alec Bohm looking on four pitches, and he got J.T. Realmuto to ground out back to the mound to escape the inning unscathed.
Patrick Bailey and Matt Chapman walked to start the second inning, and after Mike Yastrzemski struck out swinging, Thairo Estrada doubled to center to knock both runners in. As for Bailey, he has taken a foul ball off his mask off the bat of Alec Bohm. After experiencing blurry vision following his walk and run, Bailey had to leave the game.
Hicks pitched a scoreless bottom of the second, which would have been a 1-2-3 inning had it not been for a one-out throwing error by Matt Chapman at third base. The Giants were in business against Nola again in the top of the third, as Michael Conforto and Tom Murphy, the latter of whom came in to catch for Bailey, singled to start the inning.
The Giants had runners at first and second with nobody out and were ready to extend their 2-0 lead, but Chapman grounded into a 5-3 double play, and Yastrzemski swung out swinging to end the inning.
It was another wasted opportunity for the struggling Giants’ offense, and it would prove to be a momentum switch. Schwarber reached on the second error in as many innings for Chapman. Turner struck out looking, but Harper drew his second walk to put runners at first and second for the Phillies with one out.
Bohm then came up and hit a ground ball into left field to score Schwarber and put the Phillies on the board. Realmuto walked to load the bases, and Brandon Marsh singled on a ground ball up the middle to center field to score two and give the Phillies the lead.
Nola threw a 1-2-3 top of the fourth, and Hicks set down the first two men he faced in the bottom of the fourth, but things would get tricky again for Hicks. Turner singled the other way to right and stole second, and then he scored all the way from second on a passed ball by Tom Murphy, which also happened to be ball four to Bryce Harper to make it 4-2 Phillies.
Phillies Manager Rob Thompson lifted Aaron Nola after just four innings for Matt Strahm, who pitched a shutdown 1-2-3 top of the fifth. Hicks was also done after four, as Sean Hjelle came in for the bottom of the fifth, and for Hicks, it was six up, six down in the fifth and sixth.
Mike Yastrzemski reached on a two-out error and got to second on a wild pitch by Seranthony Dominguez, who came in for the sixth, but the Giants wasted another opportunity. Orion Kerkering came in for the seventh and gave up three-straight singles to Nick Ahmed, Jung-hoo Lee and LaMonte Wade Jr. to load the bases with nobody out for the slugger, Jorge Soler.
It was another golden opportunity for the Giants, but Soler grounded into a 6-3 double play. Ahmed scored on the play to make it 4-3 and get the tying run to third, but it was a massive blow to the Giants, and Conforto flew out to right to end the inning with the Phillies still ahead.
Luke Jackson gave up a leadoff single to Realmuto to start the bottom of the seventh, but he retired the next three men in order. Jeff Hoffman came in for the top of the eighth, and threw a 1-2-3 innings while striking out the side. The submariner Taylor Rogers also struck out the side in the bottom of the eighth, though his inning was not a 1-2-3 innings like Hoffman’s was.
The Phillies brought in their closer, Jose Alvarado, who gave up a leadoff single to Thairo Estrada. Ahmed flew out to center, and Lee grounded out to short. Estrada, the tying run, advanced to second on Lee’s groundout to put the tying run in scoring position with two outs. Bob Melvin decided to have Wilmer Flores pinch-hit for Wade, but Flores struck out swinging to end the game.
At the end of the day, it was another tough loss for the Giants, who fall to 15-18. However, the Giants were two or three missed opportunities away from beating one of the best teams in Baseball in the Phillies in their park.
As frustrating as the Giants’ start to the 2024 Season has been, especially with an offense that has wasted many opportunities in the early going, they are a couple of bats away—whether it be midseason acquisitions, or two or three guys in the lineup getting hot—from having a solid offense to bolster a strong pitching rotation that will get even stronger as the season progresses.
It is frustrating for fans and for this writer, but I have confidence this team will eventually get it together at some point later in the season.
Anyway, the Giants will be back at it for the second game of this series Saturday night with Keaton Winn on the mound. First pitch will be at 6:05 p.m. in Philadelphia, 3:05 p.m. back home in San Francisco.
News and Notes:
According to Bob Melvin, Patrick Bailey is feeling better and is not going through concussion protocol. However, with head injuries, nothing is certain, and I would surely expect that the Giants will monitor him again when he gets to the park Saturday.
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