Gabe Kapler says SF Giants ‘still in a playoff race’ but they don’t play like it in loss to Dodgers

Giants fall below .500 for first time since June 4, but silver linings in the loss came via the trio of rookies in their lineup and the one on the mound

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Gabe Kapler wanted to make a point before the Giants’ four-game series against the Dodgers began here. A reporter inquired about the value of exposing Kyle Harrison to the hostile environment of Dodger Stadium, where the 22-year-old left-hander is certain to pitch in important games.

That was not the case on Thursday night. San Francisco’s slide through the first six games of this road trip means that making the playoffs will require a minor miracle. With a 7-2 loss a few hours later, the Giants (76-77) fell below.500 for the first time since June 4th. Their elimination count fell to seven.

“Yeah, so, I just want to say this because I can kind of sense where some of these conversations are going, which is things like evaluation of young players, experience for a guy like Kyle Harrison,” Kapler said before the first pitch. To me, we should all be thinking that we are still in a playoff race.”

But, realistically, the Giants are at the point in the season where it’s time to start thinking about 2024. A team that believes it has a chance doesn’t go hitless for five innings against a rookie, doesn’t have its right fielder forget how many outs there are, allowing the go-ahead run to score on a sac fly, and doesn’t have one of its leverage relievers bury two pitches to the backstop, allowing two more runs to score. To top it all off, they made two more errors, bringing their total to 112, and struck out 15 times.

“I think it’s just an attitude thing where we should take a little more pride in our work and gotta look in the mirror, myself first and foremost, more than anybody,” said Mike Yastrzemski, who made the uncharacteristic error in right field that allowed Los Angeles to take a 3-2 lead. “It’s just one of those things where I believe we deserve to be embarrassed like this.” You just have to put that on for the next ten hours until we can play again.”

The Giants’ 26th loss in their last 31 road games was their worst road stretch in a single season since 1902.

“Not crisp enough across the board, obviously,” Kapler said afterwards. “It’s just not good enough to beat good teams in baseball.” It’s not good enough to win baseball games consistently, as we’ve seen for quite some time. We have to improve or we’ll continue to be beaten by teams like the Dodgers.”

The Giants’ silver linings came from their young core, if there was any good news Thursday night.

Blake Sabol started behind the plate for the Giants, with Harrison on the mound, Marco Luciano at shortstop, and Tyler Fitzgerald in center, making his major-league debut. The only position up the middle that didn’t have a rookie still had an eye toward the future, with Thairo Estrada at second base, who has proven to be a key piece for 2024 and beyond.

Take, for example, Harrison.

Harrison allowed two runs on three hits over 513 innings against a dangerous Dodgers lineup, the third time in six major-league starts he has recorded an out in the sixth inning. Although his line only had two strikeouts, consider it a valiant effort given that Harrison was a “50-50” bet to start hours before game time, according to Kapler, due to an illness that covered his body in hives and a rash.

If the concerns that led to Harrison’s optioning following his last start were his progressively declining fastball velocity, his predictable pitch mix, and left-handed hitters’ inexplicable success against him, he did a good job of assuaging those concerns Thursday night, despite having only seven days rest since his last start. Harrison threw a bullpen session in Arizona on Monday, which he said unlocked some doors for him.

“I wouldn’t say it was the most difficult grind, but I definitely grinded through some minor issues,” Harrison said. “I was happy to just go down to AZ, throw a ‘pen, find my (arm) slot again, and get back to doing what I do best, shooting fastballs up in the zone, so that was good for me.”

He only struck out three batters in 20 swings against his fastball, but he averaged 93.3 mph with it, not quite his usual 94-95 mph, but the most oomph he’s had since his third major-league start. They also accounted for a lower percentage of his pitches than in any previous start, with more sliders and changeups thrown.

He’d like to get back a 93 mph heater he grooved to J.D. Martinez with two strikes, which Martinez deposited in the right field bleachers.

Harrison’s final pitch, a slider, caused Freddie Freeman to roll over on an easy grounder to second base. Harrison’s seventh at-bat against a lefty ended in a strikeout. Lefties were 12-for-24 against Harrison in his first five starts.

“I thought he pitched really well,” said Kapler. “He wasn’t necessarily throwing hard, but he had enough carry to beat some of those guys.” And those are some of baseball’s best hitters. He was able to make a couple of pitches with his changeup and a couple with his breaking ball. I thought he stayed in his delivery, worked quickly, controlled the pace of the game, and threw enough strikes to keep us in that game until the end.”

The three rookies in the bottom third of the Giants’ batting order combined for five baserunners, including back-to-back-to-back walks to force in their first run without a hit in the fifth. Fitzgerald also roped a double down the left field line in the seventh inning for his first major-league hit, allowing him to demonstrate his elite sprint speed for the first time.

Fitzgerald threw his bat into the ground emphatically after taking ball four on the eighth pitch of his at-bat in the fifth inning, bringing in Mike Yastrzemski, who started the hitless rally with two outs when he was hit by Sheehan. Fitzgerald worked a bases-loaded walk with a 0-2 count, following a nine-pitch battle won by Sabol and a six-pitch free pass to Luciano. The rookies reached base all three times after coming back from two-strike counts.

“They’re all big-league at-bats,” Kapler said. “Out there, Fitzgerald looked like a major-league center fielder.” He appeared at ease and competitive in the batter’s box. Luciano hit one of the night’s hardest balls (a 106.9 mph line drive single to right field, second only to Pederson’s 108.6 mph home run). I thought he was in complete command of his at-bats. He appeared to be both confident and competitive.”

Their only other run came in the sixth inning on a no-doubt solo shot from Joc Pederson, his 15th of the season, measured at 430 feet and also registered their first hit of the night. Emmet Sheehan, who no-hit the Giants for six innings in his MLB debut in June, didn’t allow a hit in all 423 innings Thursday, striking out nine batters, including seven of the first nine. Sheehan has a 6.18 ERA in his other ten appearances.

In the sixth inning, catcher Will Smith was tagged and scored from third base on a relatively shallow pop fly to right field, tying the game at 2-2. He got a jump on Yastrzemski because he took a few steps toward the dugout before realizing it wasn’t the third out. His throw home was late and offline. When Fitzgerald laid out for a ball in the right-center field gap, it kicked off his glove and away from Yastrzemski, who was backing up the play. Smith, a slow runner, advanced to third on a triple.

“Yaz obviously knows that can’t happen; nobody’s going to feel worse about it than he will,” Kapler said, and the veteran outfielder took responsibility later.

“It was a weird play (before), but there’s no excuse to not know the ins and outs,” Yastrzemski said. “I got lost, wasn’t thinking, and just assumed there were two outs.” … It’s never a good feeling to cost your team like that. It’s the kind of inexcusable, bad mistake that can’t happen.”

The Dodgers put runners on second and third against Luke Jackson in the eighth inning and added two insurance runs without getting another hit.

After J.D. Davis bobbled a grounder from Chris Taylor and James Outman doubled to right field with Kike Hernández batting, Jackson threw two sliders in the dirt three pitches apart, allowing both runners to score despite Hernández eventually striking out. Davis’ error was the team’s second of the game and 112th of the season, 12 more than the next closest team.

“There are so many guys in here who work so hard, and to keep getting snake-bit by little, stupid mistakes that could be avoided, we just need to hold each other to a higher standard,” Yastrzemski said. “It kind of stinks… Right now, I don’t have an answer. It’ll most likely just be a point of reflection during the offseason. Maybe we’ll talk about it later because you can’t just look at someone and say, “Hey, don’t make a mistake.” That is not how people operate. I believe there is a way for us to play with a little more edge in every game.”