SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco Giants are running out of time.
They have 24 games remaining in the regular season. There are four teams — the Cardinals, the Cubs, the Mets, and the Braves — ahead of them for the final wild-card spot.
This weekend presented them with a perfect opportunity to gain ground: a three-game set against the Marlins, one of the worst teams in the entire league. Good teams, as the saying goes, beat up on bad teams.
Instead, the Giants have arrived at their season’s nadir. They lost Sunday’s game at Oracle Park, 7-5, before a sellout crowd. Logan Webb conceded six runs in six innings, playing into his own demise by failing to convert a double play and setting the stage for Miami’s four-run fifth inning. They lost the series, dropping two of three games. They are two games under .500 (68-70) as they enter the season’s final month.
And they are running out of time.
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The Giants entered the fifth inning with a 2-0 lead, assuming early control of the ballgame. Mike Yastrzemski hit a leadoff homer, the 100th home run of his career. Michael Conforto scored in the third inning on an error. Webb was cruising, needing 46 pitches to complete the first four innings. Soon enough, any semblance of control would slip through their fingers.
In the fifth inning, with one out and a runner on first base, José Devers hit a comebacker to Webb. If Webb delivers a throw to shortstop Tyler Fitzgerald cleanly, the Giants (68-70) likely turn an inning-ending double play.
Instead, Webb’s throw was high. Fitzgerald leaped off the base and tagged Griffin Conine, but the Giants had to settle for a force out instead of a double play. The Marlins (50-86) had new life, and they took advantage.
David Hensley followed with a single, putting runners on first and second. Nick Fortes pulled a single into left field; Devers scored, Hensley advanced to third and Fortes took second base when center field Grant McCray unfurled an ill-advised throw home. Kyle Stowers sent a changeup into the Marlins’ bullpen with two on and two out.
If the Giants turned the double play, they would’ve ended the inning with a 2-0 lead. Instead, they entered the bottom of the fifth with a 4-2 deficit.
By the end of the fifth, they were back on top.
Matt Chapman drove in Yastrzemski with a bases-loaded groundout. Mark Canha entered the game off the bench and shot a single into right field to score Fitzgerald. Jerar Encarnacion scored Conforto with a sacrifice fly. Giants lead, 5-4.
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By the end of the sixth, the lead belonged, again to the Marlins — a lead they’d never relinquish. Jonah Bride doubled home a run, Otto Lopez drove in a run with a groundout and the Marlins had a 6-5 advantage. They expanded the lead to two runs the following frame as Jesús Sánchez drove in a run against Camilo Doval with a sacrifice fly.
Now, the Giants face a gauntlet. All of their remaining opponents have a record above .500. Seven of their final eight series are against teams that would be in the playoffs if the season ended today. The lone exception is the Cardinals, who are one spot above the Giants in the Wild Card standings.