ST. LOUIS — In a vacuum, the Giants had an acceptable road trip. They dropped the rubber match to the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday at Busch Stadium, but with a sweep of the Colorado Rockies, they’ll fly home with four wins to two losses.
The Giants do not exist in a vacuum. With 19 games remaining and a record of 72-71, acceptable is not enough. They had an opportunity in St. Louis to inch closer to that final NL wild card spot, but Saturday’s walk-off loss combined with Sunday’s 4-3 loss leaves them four games behind the New York Mets.
Now, they enter their most important homestand of the season: Three games against the surging Arizona Diamondbacks, who are making their own late push for the final wild card spot, and three games against the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are clinging to the division lead.
San Francisco has revived its playoff hopes over the last two-and-a-half weeks, winning 11 of its last 15 games even after dropping two of three to the Cardinals. A good homestand will keep the Giants in the hunt, especially if the Mets continue to stumble. A bad homestand could see their playoff odds fall closer to zero.
Kai-Wei Teng and Sonny Gray traded zeros for the first four innings, but St. Louis put up a four-spot in the bottom of the fifth when Teng suddenly lost his command.
The right-hander began the frame by walking the Cardinals’ seven, eight and nine hitters — Jordan Walker, Nathan Church, José Fermín — and setting the table for the top of the order. Lars Nootbaar’s RBI single broke the scoreless tie, knocking Teng out of the game in the process.
Right-handed reliever José Buttó couldn’t prevent the Cardinals from padding their lead, allowing all three inherited runners to score. By the end of the frame, St. Louis led 4-0 and San Francisco had yet to record a hit. Teng allowed four runs over four-plus innings with eight strikeouts and five walks.
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In the top of the sixth, the Giants finally had a response. Gray began the inning by walking Drew Gilbert and Knizner, gifting San Francisco a rally. Following Heliot Ramos’ strikeout, Rafael Devers recorded the Giants’ first hit with a single that drove in Gilbert and cut the deficit to 4-1.
Willy Adames walked to load the bases, and Dominic Smith drove in the second run of the inning with a bases-loaded single of his own, knocking Gray out of the game in the process.
The Giants got within one run when Matt Chapman drove in Devers with a single against reliever Matt Svanson, but Svanson maintained the Cardinals’ 4-3 lead by retiring Jung Hoo Lee and Casey Schmitt.