St Louis starter Sonny Gray pitches into the seventh inning against the San Francisco Giants at Busch Stadium in St Louis on Sun Jun 26, 2024 (AP News photo)
Sunday, June 22, 2024
Busch Stadium
St. Louis, Missouri
San Francisco Giants 3 (36-42)
St. Louis Cardinals Cubs 5 (39-37)
Win: Sonny Gray (9-4)
Loss: Logan Webb (6-6)
Save: Ryan Helsley (26)
Time: 2:15
Attendance: 37,492
By Stephen Ruderman
Well, the Cardinals have swept the Giants. After the Giants lost despite a strong offensive performance Saturday, the offense went dead again for the most part Sunday, as Sonny Gray took a perfect game into the seventh inning, and the Cardinals finished off the sweep with a 5-3 win to hand the Giants their fifth-straight loss on another hot and muggy Sunday in St. Louis
Just as the Giants’ offensive has finally come back to life, the starting pitching, which has been mostly reliable this season, has now started to struggle. The normally-reliable Jordan Hicks got rocked for five runs over four innings Saturday, and the Giants would need a better outing from their ace, Logan Webb, this afternoon.
Opposing Webb and the Giants for St. Louis was longtime veteran right-hander Sonny Gray. Gray, who is in his 12th season in the big leagues, is having a really good season. Gray came into Sunday 8-4 with a 2.95 ERA, and the Giants would have their hands full against him Sunday.
Gray promptly pitched a 1-2-3 top of the first inning, but Webb would have the opposite luck in the bottom of the first. In fact, it took Webb only three pitches to give up his first run. Masyn Winn doubled to lead off the inning, and on the very next pitch, Alec Burleson, who went 3-for-4 with a pair of home runs Saturday, singled the other way to left field to knock in Winn.
For the Cardinals, they were just getting started. Burelson stole second base, and got to third on a fly out by Nolan Gorman for the second out of the inning. Brendan Donovan, who also homered Saturday, knocked in Burleson with a ground-rule down the left field line, and Matt Carpenter plated Burleson with a base-hit to right.
The Cardinals already had a 3-0 lead as the game went to the second, and Gray was literally unhittable. Gray threw another 1-2-3 inning in the top of the second, and the Cardinals scored another run in the bottom of the second, as Pedro Pages singled, stole second and scored on a base-hit by Burleson.
So, it was now 4-0 Cardinals going to the third, and Gray was in complete control. In fact, he was perfect through six innings. Aa for Webb, he finally settled down somewhat with a 1-2-3 bottom of the third, but he had to wiggle his way out of trouble in the fourth and fifth.
Gray retired the first two men he faced in the top of the seventh to make it 20 up 20 down, but Patrick Bailey finally broke up the perfecto with a two-out home run to right. Jorge Soler struck out swinging to end the inning and the day for Gray, but Gray had a remarkable outing.
Seven innings, a hit, a run, just one base-runner and eight strikeouts, even with the Giants’ struggling offense, not bad.
Webb was also done. He gave up four runs and nine hits over six innings, but he did strike out 80, and he really hung in there after he was on the ropes early in the game.
Randy Rodriguez pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the seventh, and the Giants’ offense would finally wake up against lefty Jojo Romero in the top of the eighth. Matt Chapman and Thairo Estrada both walked, and with one out, Cardinals Manager Oliver Marmol pulled Romero for Andrew Kittredge.
Wilmer Flores hit a ground-rule double down the left field line to make it 4-2, and Austin Slater knocked Estrada in with a sacrifice fly to right. Suddenly, it was a one-run game, and the Giants had the tying run at second. Brett Wisely walked, but Flores was tagged out trying to advance to third on a ground ball to end the inning.
The Giants were unable to tie the game, but their propensity from the end of May to come back late has certainly returned over the last week. All they would need is a quick bottom of the eighth.
At first, it seemed that they would get it. Left-hander Taylor Rogers retired the first two men he faced, but Dylan Carlson doubled to right-center, and Brandon Crawford, the greatest shortstop in Giants History, put the hurt on his lifelong team with a double to right to make it 5-3. Taylor’s brother, Tyler Rogers, then came in to keep the deficit at two.
Cardinals’ closer Ryan Helsley, who came into Sunday with 25 saves in the Cardinals’ first 75 games, was summoned for the top of the ninth. Unfortunately, the comeback energy the Giants had in the top of the eighth was gone, and Helsley pitched a 1-2-3 top of the ninth to end it.
Sonny Gray got the win; Logan Webb took the loss; and Ryan Helsley picked up his 26th save of the season. The Giants have also now lost five in a row, and they have tied their season-high six games under .500, as they fall to 36-42.
The Giants now return to San Francisco for four games against the Cubs, and three over the weekend against the Dodgers. Their four-game series against the Cubs will begin at the Giants’ friendly confines of Oracle Park Monday night, though neither team has announced their pitcher. First pitch will be at 6:45 p.m.
Giants News and Notes:
There is some good news. A trio of Giants will be rehabbing Sunday in the River Cats’ game against the Round Rock Express.
LaMonte Wade Jr. will be playing Sunday; Blake Snell will be making the start; and Robbie will pitch three innings.
Getting those three back healthy as the All-Star Break nears, especially Wade, who was hitting .333 before he went down on Memorial, will provide a tremendous shot in the arm both on the field and in the clubhouse to a Giants team in desperate need of a morale boost.
Final Thoughts:
Giants fans probably disagree with me, but this is a fairly-decent team. However, next week could very well be make or break this season, and time is running out.
The offense has struggled mildly all season, and now the Giants are six games under .500. After the series against the Cubs, the Giants will have three games against the Dodgers, followed by a six-game road trip through Atlanta and Cleveland against two very very strong teams in the Braves and Guardians.
That means the Giants have to win at least three of four from the Cubs. If they don’t, they could easily find themselves anywhere between nine to 13 games under .500 when they leave Cleveland on July 7, and the season will essentially be over.
The one thing that could keep them in contention in the second half is the fact that the National League is absolutely putrid this season, and almost the entire league could be competing for the second and third wild card spots.
They also should be getting Wade, Snell and Ray back soon. They will have some help, but they need to turn things around fast, or else there is a very good chance that their season will be over in the next couple of weeks.
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