SAN DIEGO — The Giants were already clinging to their paper-thin playoff hopes when they flew south to San Diego for a four-game series against the Padres.
As things stand, San Francisco will spend the next five weeks playing out the string.
With a sloppy 8-4 loss on Thursday at Petco Park, the Giants have lost 10 of their last 12 games. They’re 61-67, a season-low six games below .500, and their odds of making the playoffs are less than one percent. Those odds could further dwindle by weekend’s end following their three games against the Milwaukee Brewers, the best team in the majors.
To top it off, right-hander Landen Roupp may be done for the season after sustaining an ugly left knee sprain on Wednesday.
The Giants, who are 6.5 games back of the National League’s final wild card spot, have yet to be mathematically eliminated. With 34 games remaining, the math isn’t in their favor.
“What are we, five, six games out of the wild card?” said third baseman Casey Schmitt, who committed a crucial error in the Padres’ six-run fifth inning. “It’s not crazy. Crazy things have happened, and we’re still definitely in it. We just gotta pull ourselves together and get back out there.”
A quick glance at Thursday’s box score would suggest that this loss was largely on Justin Verlander, who allowed a season-high seven runs over 4 1/3 innings and dropped to 1-10 on the season. That’s the worst single-season record after 11 decisions in Giants franchise history.
Most of those runs allowed, though, followed a two-error sequence that paved the way for the Padres’ six-run fifth inning.
“It’s one of the more frustrating games of my career, especially with the kind of season I’ve had,” said Verlander, who pitched seven shutout innings in his last start. “You’re kind of scratching and clawing to find a way out of it. You feel like you’ve finally found something to grasp onto, then you have a game — an inning — like that. Being tested, for sure.”
Through three innings, the Giants positioned themselves to at least salvage a series split. Verlander retired the first nine batters he faced, and rare shoddy defense from right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. paved the way for San Francisco to take a 2-0 lead.
That lead was short-lived. San Diego tied the game at two apiece in the fourth, then landed its haymaker by taking advantage of San Francisco’s uncrisp defense to plate six runs and take an 8-2 lead.
With runners on first and second and no outs, the Padres’ Freddy Fermin laid down an excellent bunt to the infield’s left field. Schmitt barehanded the ball and fired to first, but the throw sailed wide and allowed a run to score.
Jake Cronenworth, the runner on first, planned on stopping at third. That changed when right fielder Luis Matos failed to cleanly gather the ball, giving Cronenworth a window to waltz into home. Rafael Devers and Willy Adames would hit back-to-back homers in the sixth, but the deficit was too much to overcome against the Padres’ elite bullpen.
“It looks terrible,” manager Bob Melvin said. “When you’re not hitting and you play defense, it looks awful. Two errors on one play. You look at Justin’s line, he certainly did not pitch to that line. His stuff the first couple innings was just as good as we’ve seen it.”
For Schmitt, who’s been replacing the injured Matt Chapman, the misplay was his fourth error in his last four games. Schmitt partially attributed his recent rash of injuries to rust, noting he hasn’t consistently played the hot corner since June.
With Chapman expected to be back in the lineup on Saturday, Schmitt will soon slide back over to second base.
“It’s not really an excuse,” Schmitt said. “It is what it is, and we get back out there tomorrow.”
One of San Francisco’s lone bright spots on Thursday afternoon was rookie right-hander Joel Peguero. Along with throwing two scoreless innings in his debut, Peguero touched 102.1 mph on a sinker to usurp Jordan Hicks for the hardest-thrown pitch by a Giant this season.
“I’m going to be real, I was crying a little as they were singing the national anthem,” Peguero said. “Like, ‘You’re here now. You waited 10 years.’”
Adames clarifies conversation with Melvin
On Wednesday, a video clip gained traction on social media of Adames energetically talking to Melvin in the Giants’ dugout, the implication being that Adames was upset with his manager.
Adames said on Thursday that he was telling Melvin about his conversation with Wednesday’s home plate umpire, which happened right before the beginning of the video clip that made waves.
Originally Published: August 21, 2025 at 2:54 PM PDT
