SAN FRANCISCO -- Had the rain continued Sunday afternoon, the Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers both would have given up an off day eight days from now so they could play a makeup game. The Giants might have preferred that.
They lost 4-3 in 10 innings at Oracle Park, falling to 4-15 this season against the Dodgers. This is the first time since the Giants moved to San Francisco that they have lost 15 games in one season against their rival.
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The final game between the two in 2022 lasted four and a half hours and included some late drama.
A game that included a 20-minute rain delay went to extra innings, with the Dodgers bringing their free baserunner home on a double by Mookie Betts. A walk with the bases loaded made it a 4-2 game.
Wilmer Flores got one run back in the bottom of the inning and the Giants loaded the bases for LaMonte Wade Jr., who came about 10 feet away from hitting a walk-off grand slam. Instead, he grounded out, dropping the Giants to 1-13 against the Dodgers in the second half.
The Giants had plenty of offensive chances in the middle innings but piled up the strikeouts every time they were threatening. They loaded the bases in the fourth, but Evan Longoria and Joey Bart struck out. Three innings later, Wade Jr.'s one-out single was followed by strikeouts from Mike Yastrzemski and Luis Gonzalez.
San Francisco Giants
The big hit finally came in the bottom of the eighth. With two on and two outs, J.D. Davis hit a double into the gap to tie the game. It would have given the Giants the lead but it bounced over the wall in right-center, sending Thairo Estrada back to third. After an intentional walk, Wade Jr. struck out with the bases loaded, sending the tie into the ninth.
More Of The Same
The gap between Alex Cobb's expected statistics and actual ones has shrunk in the second half, but he still will look back on this season feeling he deserved better, and Sunday was another example of that.
Cobb was charged with two runs on four hits in 5 1/3 innings, but the second one was hard to swallow. Trea Turner hit a liner to center and Lewis Brinson slipped, then lost the ball in the lights as it fell for a double. Freddie Freeman followed with a grounder up the middle that Wilmer Flores couldn't get to, allowing Turner to score easily.
Cobb entered the night ranked second in the NL in groundball rate, one spot ahead of Logan Webb. Alex Wood ranks 14th. Sure, Aaron Judge will get all the headlines, but fixing the infield defense needs to be at or near the top of the offseason wish list.
Hel-a Fast
It's been a rough year for Heliot Ramos offensively both in Triple-A and the big leagues, and his second game back got off to a brutal start when he misjudged a fly ball on the windiest night of the season, allowing Betts to reach with a bloop single. But Ramos made up for it in the third, running down a Turner rocket that looked like an RBI triple off the bat:
You don't see many right fielders chase balls down in that spot at Oracle Park, and Ramos made another nice catch on a deep fly ball in the fourth. He'll have to shake off 2022 and he has a lot of work to do in Triple-A early next season to force a call-up, but the tools are still there for the former first round pick, who is still just 23.
Snapping Out Of It
The last time the Giants faced Andrew Heaney, Brinson hit a leadoff bomb as part of a two-homer night. Brinson had three homers in that series at Dodger Stadium, but entered Sunday's game with no hits in his last 15 at-bats. The trouble led him to try and put a bunt down his first time up against Heaney, and it was unsuccessful.
Brinson broke out of the slump with a hard double in the fifth inning and he tagged and took third on a fly ball to center. When Turner's throw to first on an Estrada grounder was high, Brinson tied the game.