SAN FRANCISCO — The stakes of Tuesday night’s game were simple enough for the Giants. If they lost and the Mets won, they’d be officially eliminated from playoff contention. Their season, for all intents and purposes, would be over.
As San Francisco entered the bottom of the third inning trailing 3-0, New York wrapped up a win over the Chicago Cubs as Edwin Díaz recorded a six-out save. With the Mets’ win, the Giants’ elimination number dropped down to one.
That number is now at zero.
With a 9-8 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, the Giants (77-81) have been mathematically eliminated from postseason contention, squandering a five-run lead as their bullpen allowed six unanswered runs.
Logan Webb allowed three runs in the first and put San Francisco in an immediate three-run deficit but rebounded to hold St. Louis over the next five frames. Webb ended his evening with a quality start — six innings, three runs — and eclipsed the 200-inning mark for a third consecutive season, becoming the first pitcher to do so since teammate Justin Verlander (2017-19).
Following the Cardinals’ three-run first, the Giants rattled off eight straight runs beginning with a five-run third, knocking starter Andre Pallante from the game in the process.
The five runs that San Francisco scored in the bottom of the third was largely a product of a throwing error by third baseman Nolan Arenado, who has long been a thorn in the Giants’ side.
With no outs and the bases loaded, Heliot Ramos hit a chopper right at Arenado. With a force at every base, Arenado elected to throw home to get the force out. Arenado’s throw deflected off Patrick Bailey and rolled toward the Cardinals’ dugout, allowing Bailey and Christian Koss to score.
From there, the Giants continued to pile on. Willy Adames tied the game at three with a single. Matt Chapman gave San Francisco the lead with a sacrifice fly. Jung Hoo Lee padded the lead with an RBI single of his own.
By the end of the sixth, San Francisco owned a commanding 8-3 lead. Bailey and Koss drove in a run apiece in the fifth and Ramos hit a solo homer in the sixth, becoming the fourth Giant to hit at least 20 homers alongside Rafael Devers (33), Willy Adames (28) and Matt Chapman (21).
With their own season on the line, the Cardinals would not go quietly into the night and put up four runs in the seventh. Iván Herrera hit his second homer in as many nights, a three-run shot that trimmed the Giants’ lead to 8-6. Two batters later, Arenado hit his 34th career home run against the black and orange, a solo shot that trimmed San Francisco’s advantage to one run.
In the ninth, the Giants lost their lead entirely. Ryan Walker allowed the tying run on an RBI single by Brendan Donovan, then the go-ahead run on an RBI single by Alec Burleson.
