SF Giants end road trip with whimper as Walker blows save against Angels
The fate of the Giants’ season wasn’t going to be determined by how they performed on this 10-game road trip against the New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies and Los Angeles Angels. A lot of ball still remains. But the cross-country swing did serve as an early litmus test, one that tasked them with facing two of baseball’s best teams.
For all their excellent play in New York and Philadelphia, the trip ended with a whimper.
Closer Ryan Walker inherited a three-run lead in the bottom of the ninth inning but blew the save, allowing four runs as San Francisco lost to Los Angeles, 5-4, on Easter Sunday at Angel Stadium, forcing the Giants to settle for a 5-5 road trip.
“You’re going to have some bad days. Unfortunately, it happened today,” manager Bob Melvin told reporters in Anaheim.
Walker, who converted all five of his saves entering play after going 10-for-10 on save chances last season, stepped on the mound with a comfortable 4-1 lead. But it was quickly apparent Walker didn’t have his typical command. He walked Mike Trout to begin his outing on a payoff sinker that appeared to clip the zone but was called a ball by home plate umpire Laz Diaz. Then ex-Giant Jorge Soler singled, bringing the tying run to the plate.
Logan O’Hoppe singled to load the bases, then Walker drilled Zach Neto to gift the Angels a run and shrink the lead to 4-2.
Jo Adell then played the hero, pulling Walker’s 1-2 sinker to left field, and the Angels began to fly. Soler scored easily. Kevin Newman, pinch-running for O’Hoppe, did as well. Third base coach Eric Young Sr. waved home Neto, who scored the game-winning run with a headfirst slide that barely beat San Francisco’s relay. The Giants challenged the call, but it was upheld.
Walker’s blown save cost Justin Verlander his first win with the Giants after the 42-year-old turned in a vintage outing, allowing one earned run over six innings with six strikeouts. Five starts into his tenure with San Francisco, Verlander remains stuck on 262 career wins.
“I feel like I’ve been trending in the right direction,” Verlander told reporters in Anaheim. “It was nice to give us a better chance to win today.”
Verlander entered play with a 6.75 ERA, the worst mark in the starting rotation, but retired the first nine batters he faced before allowing a leadoff double to Taylor Ward to start the fourth. The right-hander only needed 31 pitches to complete the first three innings but labored through a 33-pitch fourth inning, managing to put another zero on the board despite the Angels loading the bases.
“It’s one of those situations where (Angels starter) Yusei (Kikuchi) was pitching well,” Verlander said of getting out of the jam. “You got the bases loaded, and even though it’s the fourth inning, you kind of know the game’s on the line right there. So, it felt great.”
The Giants scored the game’s first run in the top of the fifth when Willy Adames drove in Heliot Ramos with a single, but the Angels got that run right back when Neto homered on Verlander’s first pitch in the bottom of the fifth.
San Francisco retook the lead in the sixth on catcher Sam Huff’s first homer with his new team, a two-run shot that gave the Giants a 3-1 lead. Adames added an insurance run in the seventh with another RBI single to extend the lead to 4-1.
That three-run lead appeared to be enough, especially after Camilo Doval and Tyler Rogers pitched scoreless innings in the seventh and eighth, respectively. Ultimately, it was not.
The Giants will now return for what will be an emotional two-series homestand. They’ll begin with the Milwaukee Brewers, the team that Adames played for from 2021-24 before signing a franchise-record seven-year, $182 million deal with the orange and black. On Saturday, with Bruce Bochy’s Texas Rangers in town, the Giants will celebrate the career of Brandon Crawford, who announced his retirement this offseason.