Martinez Tribune The website of the Martinez Tribune.
BY DANIEL GLUSKOTER
Two outs away from solidifying their postseason aspirations with a doubleheader sweep of San Diego, the Giants saw their dreams turn to nightmares as the Padres got to Sam Coonrod for three runs in the bottom of the seventh in a 6-5 loss punctuated by a three-run walk-off home run by Trent Grisham.
Fernando Tatis Jr. (R) is greeted at home plate by Trent Grisham following a his two-run home run in the night cap of the Padres doubleheader split in San Francisco. It was Tatis’ 16th homer of the year, moving him into a tie for second place in the National League with his teammate Manny Machado and two others.
Wilmer Flores gave San Francisco a 5-3 lead in the sixth with a three-run homer of his own, but with the Padres getting the last at bat as a result of technically being the home team due to the game being rescheduled following a false Covid scare in San Diego earlier in the month, the Giants suffered the indignity of losing a key game in the pennant race on a walk-off homer on their own field.
The loss dropped the Giants to 29-29 with just two games remaining. They still hold the eighth and final National League playoff spot, a game ahead of both the Brewers (28-30) and Phillies (28-30), but are in a precarious situation with little room for error as both teams own tie-breaking advantages over San Francisco.
The day started out better for the Giants in the opener as the team rode a fine six-inning effort from Tyler Anderson (4-3, 4.37) to score a 5-4 win. Mike Yastrzemski, in his first start in over a week, launched a two-run homer into McCovey Cove to highlight a four-run fourth inning that gave San Francisco a 5-1 lead. Flores and Brandon Crawford also launched solo shots for the Giants.
Brandon Crawford launches a second inning home run to help give the Giants a 5-4 win in the opener game of a doubleheader with the San Diego Padres.
It got interesting when Tony Watson replaced Anderson after Jurickson Profar opened the seventh with a ground-rule double, as San Diego closed the gap to a run with the tying run on base, but the deliver settled down to retire Will Myers and Austin Nola to end the game.
The teams will face-off again Saturday at 6:15pm, two hours after the start of both the Brewers and Phillies games. Zach Davies (7-4, 2.85) is scheduled to take the ball for the Padres, while Gabe Kapler has yet to announce who will get the starting assignment for the Giants.
