SF Giants lose heartbreaker, but it’s nothing compared to Dodgers collapse

The SF Giants lost a heartbreaker to the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday night. However, they can feel good about the fact that the Los Angeles Dodgers lost in even more heartbreaking fashion.

The Giants have been playing great baseball as of late but they cannot afford to lose winnable games the rest of the season if they want to improbably make the playoffs. They played a very clean and solid game for eight innings against St. Louis and gave themselves a two-run lead going into the ninth inning before closer Ryan Walker coughed it up and allowed three runs to let the Cardinals win.

SF Giants lose but Dodgers lose in an even worse way

It was yet another waste of a great start by Justin Verlander who has been pitching much better as of late. This is not the first time Walker has blown a save after Verlander gave the Giants a lead so the 42-year-old must be getting a little sick of it especially as he is still trying to pursue 300 career wins.

That pursuit is secondary to San Francisco’s attempt to make the playoffs. With other teams in a better position than they are, they really do need to win the vast majority of their games while also getting some help from other teams. Blowing games like Saturday’s is not going to cut it but it is not a huge shock since the depleted bullpen has seemed like it had the potential to sink the team’s playoff chances. 

It was a gut punch loss but at least Giants fans can feel a little better about what happened to the Dodgers. Starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto carried a no-hitter into the 9th inning and was one out away from securing a no-no but then, with a three-run lead, Baltimore came roaring back and ended up walking off the Dodgers.

Los Angeles has been struggling as of late and the Giants are only six games behind them in the NL West. LA has lost its last five games. That’s what makes the loss to the Cardinals all the more disappointing because the Giants failed to gain ground on any of the teams they are trying to chase down.

There is still a chance, but San Francisco is going to have to play nearly flawless the rest of the season to secure a spot in the playoffs.

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