SAN FRANCISCO — In theory, the Giants can say they had a productive week.
They entered Monday sitting four games back of the New York Mets for the third and final wild card spot after dropping two of three to the St. Louis Cardinals. With 13 games remaining, they’re now only 1.5 games back of the Mets, a team in the midst of a complete collapse.
Despite their progress, this series against the Los Angeles Dodgers amounted to a wasted opportunity.
The Giants began their weekend with Patrick Bailey’s walk-off grand slam, a momentous win that brought them within a half game of the Mets. They then kicked off Saturday night by scoring four in the first off Clayton Kershaw, someone who has historically dominated at Oracle Park. With the Mets losing earlier in the day, that elusive wild card spot was in their hands.
Over the next 17 innings, Los Angeles discarded San Francisco’s plans with an offensive onslaught. Saturday ended with a loss as Logan Webb allowed six runs over four-plus innings. Sunday’s rubber match was even more one-sided, a 10-2 loss as Robbie Ray, whose start day was moved up, surrendered five runs over four-plus innings.
Now, the Giants will depart San Francisco for a seven-game road trip against two teams they just faced at Oracle Park: three games against the Diamondbacks, then four against the Dodgers.
Ray’s lone start of the road trip projects to be at Dodger Stadium, and the Giants will need him to re-discover his All-Star form for that crucial outing. Over his last five starts, Ray has allowed 20 earned runs with 14 walks over 23 innings.
Ray breezed through the first inning and retired the side in order but labored through the second, issuing three walks and tossing 34 pitches — 16 balls, 18 strikes.
The left-hander allowed one run in the second on Enrique Hernández’s sacrifice fly, but the Dodgers threatened to put up a crooked number when Shohei Ohtani walked to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded. Ray avoided surrendering Ohtani’s 50th homer of the season, striking out the three-time MVP and stranding all three runners.
Ray allowed another run in the third, but the fifth is where his afternoon went sideways. Like Webb on Saturday, Ray faced three batters in the fifth and was pulled after failing to retire a single one. Right-hander Joel Peguero allowed all three inherited runners to score, then allowed a run of his own to score when he was called for a balk with a runner on third.
