SAN FRANCISCO – With the Oracle Park crowd roaring after Dominic Smith lined a single to right and extended his MLB-best 15-game hit streak, San Francisco had runners at every station with one out in the sixth inning.
Mired in a three-game losing skid and trailing by a trio of runs, the Giants just needed one hit, one player, to create a spark against the Padres.
Instead, as they have often done during a miserable post-All Star break stretch, the bats came up empty when it counted. Patrick Bailey and Heliot Ramos each popped up to end the threat.
“Very frustrated, because you know, we have the one where the bases are loaded, one out and we get a chance,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said. “We can’t get anybody home, so similar theme.”
San Francisco fell 5-1, the team’s fourth consecutive defeat, and 12th loss in its last 13 home games.
Heliot Ramos did not mince words after another poor team performance that also saw him go 0 for 5 with two strikeouts. Following his inning-ending whiff in the second, Ramos was seen snapping his bat over his right knee.
“It’s just not happening, and its frustrating,” Ramos said. “I don’t know what to tell you , but honestly it’s just not happening, and we have to get it done.”
The dugout watches the final outs of the ninth inning against the San Diego Padres at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
The Giants, who had 10 hits, were just 3 for 10 with a runner on second or third on Tuesday night, with the team also coming up empty with runners on the corners in the fifth inning. It was another instance of offensive ineptitude for a team that entered the game 10 for 78 with runners in scoring position over their last dozen home games.
Robbie Ray made his 25th start of the season, entering the day ranking in the Top 10 in innings pitched, ERA, batting average against and strikeouts.
He had a shaky first inning though, allowing a single – albeit one that was lost by recently called-up Tyler Fitzgerald playing his first MLB inning in right field – a double, and bringing Manny Machado home from third on a balk. It was Ray’s first balk since his rookie season as a member of Detroit in 2014.
Ray (9-6) finished with seven hits allowed, four strikeouts and one walk issued in six innings, throwing a season-high 113 pitches.
“You’re just saving the bullpen, and giving your team a chance to win deeper in the game,” Ray said.
Wilmer Flores’ infield single slow roller didn’t make it out of the infield, but stayed fair and away from Padres fielders long enough to tie the game in the bottom of the first.
But Jose Iglesias entered the game with zero home runs on the season and answered in the top of the second with a 2-run homer. That became a 4-1 Padres lead in the fourth inning when Jake Cronenworth lined a single to right and scored Ramon Laureano.
Jackson Merrill slugged his ninth home run of the season in the eighth inning to put the finishing touches on the Giants (59-61) defeat. San Diego improved to 68-52 and pulled into a tie with the Dodgers for first place in the NL West.
Casey Schmitt was a rare bright spot, going 4 for 5 and scoring the Giants only run of the night. But otherwise, the game led to another postgame trying to figure out what went wrong in a ballpark that the Giants are now 29-30 in.
Kai-Wei Teng, who won Saturday after pitching five innings of scoreless relief, is expected to start against San Diego’s Nick Nick Pivetta on Wednesday in the series finale as the visitors look to complete the sweep.
San Francisco Giants’ Jung Hoo Lee (51) heads to first base on his single against the San Diego Padres in the fourth inning at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
San Francisco Giants’ Casey Schmitt (10) throws to first base for an out on a hit by San Diego Padres’ Manny Machado (13) in the ninth inning at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
San Francisco Giants’ Matt Chapman (26) heads to the dugout next to San Francisco Giants manager Bob Melvin after striking out against the San Diego Padres in the seventh inning at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
San Francisco Giants’ Dominic Smith (7) hits a single against the San Diego Padres in the sixth inning at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
San Francisco Giants’ Casey Schmitt (10) scores off of a single hit by San Francisco Giants’ Wilmer Flores (41) against the San Diego Padres in the first inning at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
San Francisco Giants’ Wilmer Flores (41) hits an RBI single against the San Diego Padres in the first inning at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)