San Francisco Giants Drop Game 2 to Miami Marlins, 7-5

Despite coming from behind once again to tie the Miami Marlins in the 6th inning, the San Francisco Giants dropped the second game in the four game series against them. The final score was 7-5 with the Marlins scoring two runs in the top of the 9th to give them the win.

Miami got on the board early once again when the first batter of the game, Christian Yelich, hit a home run to center field. The Giants countered that run with a run of their own when Pablo Sandoval doubled to score Angel Pagan.

The two teams gave it a back and forth, the Marlins scoring, the Giants catching up, up until the 6th inning when the Giants tied it. It stayed that way until the top of the 9th. Yelich led off the inning with a walk, followed by a Derek Dietrich single. Giancarlo Stanton struck out, but singles by Casey McGehee and Garrett Jones was enough to score both Yelich and Dietrich, giving the Marlins a 2 run lead heading into the bottom of the 9th.

With Hector Sanchez in to pinch hit, and the top of the line up coming up, the Giants had a good shot of tying or winning the game. Sanchez walked, but after that, it was lights out as Angel Pagan, Hunter Pence, and Buster Posey all hit the ball straight to Marlins players. Game over.

Jean Machi has been the Giants best reliever this season. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Pitching

Yusmeiro Petit was the starter, filling in for Tim Hudson who was scratched due to a strained hip. Petit pitched 5 innings. He didn’t look good by any means, but he didn’t look terrible, despite the 2 home runs he gave up. He looked like a reliever getting a spot start. He didn’t issue any walks. In fact, the Giants pitchers only walked 2 batters all night, both by Santiago Casilla, who was credited with the loss.

The Giants went through five relievers in David Huff, Jean Machi, Jeremy Affeldt, Santiago Casilla,and Javier Lopez. Casilla allowed the only two runs scored by the bullpen.

Machi, once again, was fantastic. He pitched 1.1 innings, gave up 0 hits, 0 walks, and 0 earned runs. He’s rocking a .042 ERA. That’s the lowest in all of baseball among pitchers with at least 20 innings pitched.

Pablo Sandoval has hit safely in his last 7 games. Mandatory Credit: Bob Stanton-USA TODAY Sports

Hitting

Pablo Sandoval has gotten a hit in 7 consecutive games now. He’s raised his season average to a whopping .212, however in his last 10 games, he’s hit .351 and driven in 4 RBIs. That doesn’t seem like a lot, but considering he only had 6 RBIs total in his first month plus of the season, I’ll take it.

Sandoval, Pagan, and Michael Morse all had two knocks a piece. The team managed three 2-out RBIs (Sandoval, Brandon Hicks, Gregor Blanco), but overall was 4-for-14 with runners in scoring position. They got 11 hits and had plenty of opportunities to score runs, but just didn’t cash in on it.

Overall, it wasn’t the best performance by the Giants this season. They did lose, after-all. But it wasn’t the worst. What I continue to say about this team is that I never feel like they are out of it, or that any deficit is too hard to overcome. They fell short last night, but we can’t win them all I guess.