San Francisco Giants Continue to Frustrate after Blown Save to Marlins

The San Francisco Giants came into their homestand against the Marlins on Monday night with high hopes, but a blown save ruins the return home.

Despite Andrew Suarez‘s best efforts, a solid start was soiled by a blown save in the ninth as the San Francisco Giants lost to the Marlins again.

After yet another long, three city road trip, the San Francisco Giants returned home to take on the Marlins for the second time in the past week.

Their previous matchup against the Fish didn’t go quite as planned, with the Giants dropping the first three games, and then just barely squeaking out the win after a marathon 16-inning matchup on Thursday.

They then lost their next series two games to one in LA this past weekend and finished their road trip 4-6.

However, even after a tough road trip, the Giants still remain in the race for the division, as they have managed to all season.

Monday’s game kicked off a long homestand where the Giants have a chance to do some damage if they continue to play well by the bay.

Andrew Suarez wanted to get his squad off to a good start this time around, and he didn’t waste time getting into his rhythm. He got through four, one-hit innings and only stuttered once in the fifth when he gave up two runs on four hits. He bounced back well in the sixth, showing off a strong change-up that helped him work an easy inning.

His start, and another strong relief appearance from Sam Dyson, allowed the Giants to carry a 4-2 lead into the ninth.

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That lead didn’t stand though, and Suarez’s dominant outing was erased by Hunter Strickland‘s ugly ninth inning.

Strickland has settled into the closing role over the course of the 2018 season due to Mark Melancon spending the first couple of months on the DL.

While a handful of his save opportunities have gotten fans’ heartbeats up, because he doesn’t always have the cleanest of innings, he’s managed to get the job done, and done pretty well.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to work himself out of the mess he created this time.

Two walks and three hits allowed three runs to cross the plate and put the Giants behind 5-4, a deficit they couldn’t erase in the bottom of the ninth.

Considering this was a game that appeared to be the Giants’ for the taking, this defeat certainly left everyone with a bad taste in their mouth and frustration moving forward.

The Giants will play all but six of their remaining games between now and the All-Star Break at home. Considering the struggles they’ve had on the road and the success they’ve found at AT&T, this is a huge opportunity for them to make their run at the division and put them in a good position going into the second half.

Hopefully, this team can show some resilience and put the disappointing loss in the rearview. With two more games in this series against the last-place Marlins, there seems to be a lot of catching up to do.