What we learned as Giants’ win streak ends vs. Diamondbacks originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
SAN FRANCISCO — Throughout a five-game winning streak, the Giants bullpen was flirting with disaster in the late innings. On Wednesday it caught up to them.
The Diamondbacks scored two in the eighth and won 3-2, snapping the Giants’ five-game winning streak. With the loss, the Giants fell back to 5 1/2 games behind the San Diego Padres, who won in Miami earlier in the night to strengthen their grip on the final wild card spot.
This one was particularly painful for the Giants because they wasted another strong start. Carlos Rodón was dominant for most of his night, but he needed to show his best stuff in the sixth to leave the bases loaded. The Giants already had a solo homer from LaMonte Wade Jr. at that point, and they would soon get another one from JD Davis. But the lead wouldn’t hold up.
After Jarlin García stranded the tying run on third in the seventh, Dominic Leone put two in scoring position in the eighth. Jake McCarthy came off the bench and brought both runners home with a single to right that gave the Diamondbacks a one-run lead.
The Giants got the leadoff runner on in the ninth, but Mike Yastrzemski hit into a double play. Former Giants closer Mark Melancon then got Thairo Estrada to pop up to end the game.
Ringing Them Up
Rodón has had some trouble against the Diamondbacks this year, but he brought the good stuff early. He had five strikeouts through three innings and already had nine swinging strikes on his fastball at that point. Rodón finished with 11 strikeouts, reaching double-digits for the seventh time this season.
He’s the first Giants pitcher to have seven double-digit strikeout games since Tim Lincecum reached that mark in 2010, and he ranks third in the majors this season behind only reigning AL MVP Shohei Ohtani and reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes.
Rodón’s 11th strikeout was a huge one. He threw a slider past Jordan Luplow to leave the bases loaded in the sixth. That was Rodón’s 106th and final pitch.
More K Talk
With the 11 strikeouts, Rodón got to 179 for the season. That ranks third in the big leagues, behind only Gerrit Cole (184) and Burnes (181). He could reach 200 by the end of the month, which would put him in rare company.
Madison Bumgarner (four times), Kevin Gausman and Jeff Samardzija are the only Giants to strike out 200 in the last decade. He’s currently on pace for about 246 of them, which would make him the ninth Giant to strike out at least 240 in a season. Bumgarner (251 in 2016) was the last to do it.
Rodón currently has the third-most strikeouts by a Giant in his first season with the team. He should soon pass Johnny Cueto (198) and Sam Jones (209).
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Just Dingers
Davis hit four homers in 66 games with the Mets. He has four in 12 games with the Giants, and they haven’t been cheapies. His go-ahead blast on Wednesday left the bat at 104 mph and landed a half-dozen rows deep in left.
The first homer of the night kept a similar hot streak going for Wade Jr. After four rough months, he now has five homers in his last nine games. The Giants are up to 137 as a team, which is nowhere near last season’s pace but ranks fifth in the NL.
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