The fate of the Giants’ season wasn’t going to be determined by how they performed on this 10-game road trip against the New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies and Los Angeles Angels. A lot of ball still remains. But the cross country swing did serve as an early litmus test, one that tasked them with facing two of baseball’s best teams.
For all their excellent play in New York and Philadelphia, the trip ended with a whimper.
Ryan Walker inherited a three-run lead in the bottom of the ninth inning but blew the save and allowed four runs as San Francisco lost to Los Angeles, 5-4, on Easter Sunday at Angel Stadium, forcing the Giants to settle for a 5-5 road trip.
Walker stepped on the mound with a 4-1 lead having converted all five of his saves on the season, but San Francisco’s closer didn’t have his typical command from the jump. Walker plunked Zack Neto with the bases loaded, then allowed a game-winning, three-run double to Jo Adell.
Justin Verlander entered play with a 6.75 ERA, the worst mark in the starting rotation, but turned in a vintage outing, allowing one earned run over six innings with six strikeouts. The 42-year-old retired the first nine batters he faced to begin the game before allowing a leadoff double to Taylor Ward to start the fourth inning. The right-hander only needed 31 pitches to complete the first three innings but labored through a 33-pitch fourth inning, managing to put another zero on the board despite the Angels loading the bases.
The Giants scored the game’s first run in the top of the fifth when Willy Adames drove in Heliot Ramos with a single, but the Angels got that run right back when Zack Neto homered on Verlander’s first pitch in the bottom of the fifth. San Francisco re-took the lead in the top of the sixth with Huff’s first homer with his new team, a two-run shot that gave the Giants a 3-1 lead. Adames added an insurance run in the seventh with another RBI single. Those three runs, ultimately, weren’t enough for San Francisco’s typically steady bullpen.
The Giants will now return for what will be an emotional two-team homestand. They’ll begin with the Milwaukee Brewers, the team that Adames played for from 2021-24 before signing a franchise-record seven-year, $182 million deal with the orange and black. On Saturday, with Bruce Bochy’s Texas Rangers in town, the Giants will celebrate the career of Brandon Crawford, who announced his retirement this offseason.
