Tony Vitello wears Giants' tough loss to D-backs with honorable postgame response

It has been an absolutely brutal season for the SF Giants and Tuesday night delivered yet another gut punch as the Arizona Diamondbacks walked off the Giants in heartbreaking fashion. Manager Tony Vitello deserves credit for owning the loss after the game.

Speaking to reporters, Vitello said, “Obviously, it’s on me.” Vitello explained his thought process behind the ninth inning. He left Caleb Kilian on the mound who has arguably been the team’s best reliever this season. He got the Giants out of a huge bases loaded jam in the eighth inning by inducing a double play so it made sense to bring him back out for the ninth.

Kilian allowed a single to the leadoff batter but then recorded two quick outs. It seemed like he had the game in hand but things quickly got hairy. The runner on first stole second and then a single allowed him to score. Then, catcher Daniel Susac was called for catcher’s interference which put the tying run in scoring position.

At that point Kilian was up to 25 pitches on the night with Ketel Marte on deck. Vitello opted to go with left-handed reliever Matt Gage which was a bit of an odd decision considering Marte has hit .304/.363/.531 in his career against lefties compared to a .266/341/.439 against righties.

That home run was Marte’s sixth homer of the year but it was only the first one he’s hit off a lefty so maybe that’s what Vitello and the Giants were thinking by bringing in Gage to face him. Still, Marte is hitting .263/.283/.386 against lefties compared to .202/.269/.378 against righties in what has been a down year by his standards so leaving in Kilian to face him may have been the better choice.

“Went with a fresh arm, different look, and, um, made the wrong decision. It cost us the game,” Vitello said.

He was quick to clarify that he wasn’t blaming Gage since he has largely been solid this season, but it seems pretty clear Vitello did not put him in the best position to succeed against a guy who has thrived against lefties in his career.

Giants' front office deserves more blame for blown save than Vitello

At least Vitello owned up to it and admitted his mistake. He has been willing to do that throughout this season which is what a big league manager should do. With how dreadful this season has been he has to be feeling the weight on his shoulders even though a lot of people deserve blame for what has gone wrong in 2026.

If the two relievers you’re going with in the ninth inning of a tight ballgame when your bullpen is fully rested are Caleb Kilian, a guy signed to a minor league contract in the offseason, and Matt Gage, a guy the Giants scooped up on a minor league deal last season, then that is a failure of the front office.

All due respect to both Kilian and Gage since they have been really good this year, but on a serious big league team they would be seventh inning options at best, not closers.

The Giants chose not to spend on the bullpen and this is what they get. Vitello will take the heat for it and he deserves credit for taking responsibility honorably, but this falls on the front office more than anyone else.

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