Seymour’s starting debut spoiled in SF Giants’ blowout loss to Orioles

SAN FRANCISCO — Beneath blue skies and the beating sun, the temperature gauge at Oracle Park read 80 degrees at first pitch Saturday afternoon, the balmiest conditions for a baseball game on the shores of McCovey Cove in more than four years.

Carson Seymour, awarded the opportunity to make his first major league start, found himself in hot water for entirely different reasons.

The burly 26-year-old right-hander pitched around a leadoff walk and an error in the first inning, and a double to begin his second frame, but things boiled over after he walked the first batter of the third. The Orioles punished him for a pair of home runs and continued to pile on, sending the Giants to an 11-1 loss.

Seymour allowed four runs in three innings and was handed the loss, which snapped the Giants’ win streak at six games and prevented them from evening their record at .500. He gave way to Tristan Beck, who surrendered a home run on his first pitch and allowed the Orioles to pad their lead by another four runs.

After scoring a season-high 15 runs in their win Friday night, the Giants couldn’t find an answer for Baltimore starter Trevor Rogers, who turned in his 10th straight start of six or more innings and two or fewer runs, lowering his ERA to 1.39, the best mark in the majors since his season debut May 24.

The Giants fell to 15-24 when facing a left-handed starting pitcher, the fifth-worst record in the majors. Against southpaws of all stripes, no team has a lower batting average than the Giants’ .212 mark.

Their lone offense came from an increasingly familiar source: a home run off the bat of Willy Adames, which opened a 1-0 lead in the first inning. The homer was Adames’ sixth in his past nine games, and if he continues apace, he could become the first Giants batter to reach 30 in one season since Barry Bonds.

With 26 games to play, Adames has 25 homers — though, like this one, all but five have come without runners on base.

As a team, the Giants have gone deep in 13 straight games, matching their most powerful stretch since 2002. Their opponents, however, were the bigger beneficiary of the long ball, with two-run shots from Jeremiah Jackson and Ryan Mountcastle and a solo shot from rookie catcher Samuel Basallo, the first of his career.

Jackson got Baltimore on the board after Seymour issued his second leadoff walk, depositing a letter-high first-pitch fastball into the left-field bleachers to put the Orioles up 2-1. Mountcastle made it 4-1 two batters later, sending a 1-0 sinker out to straightaway center field.

Seymour, acquired from the Mets in the Darin Ruf trade, had made 10 appearances out of the bullpen with a 3.74 ERA but started 85 of the 101 games he pitched in throughout his minor-league career. His first start in the big leagues raised his ERA a full point, to 4.74.

Beck served up the home run to Basallo and allowed Jackson Holliday to triple off the brick wall in right field that led to two more runs. But Beck settled in to toss 3⅔ innings of relief, striking out the side in a 1-2-3 fifth inning and finishing with six punchouts — a career-high.

Did you know?

Since Oracle Park opened in 2000, it has hosted 42 games before Saturday with the first-pitch temperature at 80 degrees or above. The Giants were an even 21-21 in those contests, with the last one coming June 17, 2021, against the Diamondbacks — 4 years, 2 months and 10 days ago. The longest the Giants had previously gone between 80-degree home dates was 3 years, 8 months, 5 days from August 25, 2010, to April 30, 2014.

Notable

— After Tommy John surgery was recommended for Randy Rodríguez, Melvin confirmed before the game that the Giants’ All-Star closer decided to go forward with the elbow reconstruction operation. Rodríguez was still determining which doctor will perform the procedure, which typically comes with a 12-18 month recovery.

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— Without naming names, Melvin suggested catcher/infielder Jesus Rodriguez will join the club at some point once rosters expand to 28 players on Monday. Rodriguez, 23, was acquired from the Yankees in the Camilo Doval trade and has batted at least .300 at every level of the minor leagues. He could serve as a third catcher behind Patrick Bailey and Andrew Knizner, while also being an option at third base.

— The Giants are leaving the door open to the possibility that Jerar Encarnacion (hamstring) returns before the season is over. The 27-year-old outfielder has been limited to 10 games amid three stints on the injured list for separate ailments, but Melvin said he will begin a rehab assignment during the club’s upcoming road trip.

Up next

RHP Justin Verlander (2-10, 4.47) gets the ball against RHP Tomoyuki Sugano (10-6, 4.06) in the rubber match against the Orioles as the Giants wrap up their homestand. San Francisco will head out on its penultimate road trip of the season through Colorado and St. Louis.