ST. LOUIS — The Giants lost to the St. Louis Cardinals 3-2 on Saturday night at Busch Stadium as closer Ryan Walker allowed three runs in the bottom of the ninth without recording an out, ending San Francisco’s winning streak at five games.
Nolan Gorman and Mason Wynn led off the bottom of the ninth with back-to-back singles, then Walker loaded the bases by plunking Jimmy Crooks. The Cardinals brought the game within one run on an RBI single by Thomas Saggese, then Jordan Walker delivered a walk-off, two-run double.
The Giants wasted an opportunity to gain ground on New York for the final National League wild-card spot after the Mets lost 6-3 to the Cincinnati Reds. The Giants (72-70) are now four games back of the Mets (76-66), though it’s technically five since New York holds the tiebreaker.
The Giants’ streak of consecutive games with at least one home run ended at 18, one shy of tying the 1947 New York Giants.
With a strikeout of Nolan Gorman in the sixth, Justin Verlander recorded the 3,535th strikeout of his career to pass Giants Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry for eighth on the all-time strikeouts list. The next pitcher for Verlander to pass is Don Sutton, who totaled 3,574 strikeouts over 23 seasons. Verlander pitched six shutout innings with five strikeouts to no walks.
Verlander, who has a 3.52 ERA over 10 starts in the second half, benefited from several excellent defensive plays. In the second, right fielder Drew Gilbert bumped into the wall in foul territory when tracking down Thomas Saggese’s fly ball, causing the ball to bounce out of his glove. Gilbert stuck with the play and corralled the ball to record the out.
Along with Gilbert’s circus catch, second baseman Casey Schmitt made a leaping catch in the fourth to rob Iván Herrera of a hit. Catcher Patrick Bailey helped stymie a rally in the fifth by throwing out Victor Scott II, trying to steal third.
The Giants, as they’ve been wont to do over the last two weeks, struck first, plating a pair of runs in the top of the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Casey Schmitt and an RBI single by Drew Gilbert.
