Doval devolved in the 9th

The San Francisco Giants had a chance to finish a tough home stand series against the two best teams in baseball with a respectable 3-3 record.

Spotted a two-run lead in the 9th, Camilo Doval took the mound well-rested and, as we’d quickly discover, a little rusty.

The Yankees tagged the Giants closer for four runs with eight batters stepping into the box to face him in the frame. Both numbers matched career highs: the last time such a disaster took place was on July 3rd, 2023 against Seattle. The blown save was Doval’s second of the season. His 2.77 ERA has ballooned to 4.24.

Though it’d be easy to put the finger at a lackadaisical effort from our closer, credit first should go to New York’s 8-9-1 hitters in the inning. They didn’t go quietly, worked fast, and put some of Doval’s best offerings in play before turning it over to New York’s clout.

Exhibit A: Gleyber Torres ripped lead-off single.

The location ain’t bad in a 2-2 count. The sinker painted on the inside. Torres’s bat just beat the ball to the spot and ripped it up the middle.

Though a runner-on brought the tying run to the plate, as well as increasing the likelihood of Juan Soto and Aaron Judge hitting in the inning, there was still an escape route: the double play. The Yankees hit into more two-fers than any other club in baseball, and catcher Jose Trevino, with his sprint speed one of the slowest in the league, appeared to be an excellent candidate to do just that.

Doval executed a perfect knee-high sinker and got the grounder. The play however developed slowly. The baseball took a while to get to Casey Schmitt charging in at short, the exchange from glove to hand to second could’ve been hastier, and it all combined to buy Trevino just enough time to beat out Brett Wisely’s relay throw to first by a cleat’s stud.

Even with the lineup turned over, the double play was still on order. Once again Doval executed, pounding Anthony Volpe down and in a sinker that could’ve easily produced a routine grounder to the left side of the infield. But again, a good pitch got beat by a better swing. Anticipating heat, Volpe didn’t try to pull the pitch, rather he inside-outed it, driving it into the right-center gap for a stand-up triple.

Only 9 pitches into the inning and New York’s tying run stood on third. With a razor thin wire to walk in front of him and Soto at the plate, Judge and Stanton waiting in the wings, Doval threw in the towel. All nuance went out of his arm: a 1-0 cutter right-down-the-middle was deposited onto the arcade.

Soto’s 17th homer of the season, and his second of the game after he took Blake Snell deep in the 1st. Doval then walked Judge, who scored on Stanton’s double off another sinker, for New York’s 7th run.

Great hitting broke down great pitching. Against Doval’s velocity, the Yankees looked to the opposite field and jumped on early count fastballs. Doval had only thrown one slider by the time Soto had flipped the Giants’ lead on its head, and the only breaking ball he threw for a strike was to DJ LeMahieu, the last batter he faced (DJ struck out).

The damage already done, Doval was pulled before he could close out the frame. Deflated and dejected, the Giants went without fuss in the bottom of the frame.

Though far from the 2023 version of himself, Blake Snell might have had his best start in Giants uniform.

Efficient? Absolutely not—he needed 99 pitches to get through 4.2 innings (he still hasn’t tossed 5 complete). Healthy? Probably—until he reinjured his adductor on a pitch to Alex Verdugo in a two-out, bases-loaded situation in the 5th that forced him to exit the game mid-AB.

An inopportune time considering Erik Miller came in relief and gave up a two-run double that erased San Francisco’s first lead of the game. As it was in Pittsburgh, Snell was not on the mound when most of the damage to his ERA was inflicted.

All in all, the positives were there. He continued to attack the zone (42% in this game, 35% on the season) and showed better control of his fastball, using it to get ahead in counts. He earned 14 whiffs to go along with seven strikeouts. While he bagged a K with all four of his pitches, his curveball collected more than half of them.

On the offensive side of things, the Giants got a bit of a boost from a small lineup adjustment. Hitting in the top spot, Heliot Ramos went 2-for-5 with a home run off Nestor Cortes in the 3rd and a tie-breaking, 2-RBI single in the 6th.

Casey Schmitt knocked in a couple of runs himself and homered for the second day in a row, while Jorge Soler went 3-for-4 with two runs scored. Their 11 hits and five runs scored were their most since their 8-4 win against Philly on Monday. In the four games between Monday’s win and Sunday, the team hit .176, averaging less than six hits a game with only four extra base hits total and just seven runs scored.

Today’s offensive jump, Snell’s improvement are silver linings that no one gives a turd about right now. San Francisco needed a win today, they were in position to get it, and they didn’t. It’s their second loss of the season when scoring at least five runs in a game (the other one: May 21st against Pittsburgh).

The Giants are on four-game dive and were swept at home for the first time all season.

Now off to the desert.