SAN DIEGO -- Before the drama of the late innings, there was Lucas Giolito’s stunning loss of command in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Not long after the Padres put the finishing touches on a 5-4 walk-off win over the Red Sox in 10 innings on Saturday night at Petco Park, Giolito wanted to make it clear when the game was actually lost.
Boston’s big righty, who came into Saturday on a certifiable roll (7-1 with a 2.03 ERA in his previous 10 starts) went to the mound for that fateful fifth in possession of a 3-2 lead.
Fernando Tatis Jr. led off with a single, and Giolito then retired the next two batters.
Giolito then did something he had never done in his career, walking four straight batters, the last two of which forced in runs to put San Diego in front, 4-3.
What exactly happened?
“It’s hard to put my finger on,” said Giolito. “I lost feel. Lost feel for my mechanics. I just couldn't make the adjustment. It’s inexcusable. I truly believe that if I had just gotten out of that fifth inning, made the adjustment, then we would have won that game.”
A quick glance at the box score shows that Garrett Whitlock took the loss, throwing just one pitch, which Ramón Laureano luckily chopped (expected batting average of .080) over the head of Red Sox third baseman Alex Bregman. Automatic runner Xander Bogaerts came home to score the winning run against his former team.
“I know the way baseball works,” Giolito said. “The ‘L’ doesn't go next to my name, but it should. That was really bad.”
It was also Laureano who worked that final walk that led manager Alex Cora out to the mound to come get Giolito following his 97th pitch.
Did Cora consider getting him sooner?
“We’ve got to trust these guys to give us 100 [pitches], at least five innings,” Cora said. “It just didn't work. He lost it. We were one pitch away, one out away from getting out of that inning.”
Given the way Boston’s bullpen pitched after Giolito’s exit (4 1/3 innings, two hits, zero earned runs), it seems likely the visitors would have scored a win if the normally trusted veteran had avoided that fifth-inning mess.
“If I was just a little bit better and was able to make that adjustment, maybe after the first walk or the second walk, then, we'd be talking about a win right now,” Giolito said.
Roman strikes for big knock
The highlight of the night for the Red Sox was the big swing by nerveless 21-year-old rookie Roman Anthony in the top of the ninth.
With one out, Anthony hammered a slicing, game-tying double to the gap in left-center against closer Robert Suarez.
Considering the way San Diego’s bullpen smothered the Boston bats from innings four through eight, Anthony’s clutch hit provided a temporary jolt of excitement in the third-base dugout.
“Obviously, knowing that the bullpen that they have, and trying to just kind of get a good pitch to hit early and not miss it,” Anthony said, “I think I did a good job of it right there, just kind of hitting it where it was pitched, and trying to do everything I can put bat on ball and get a run in.”
Hamilton can’t get bunt down
It was a frustrating night off the bench for David Hamilton. The speedster came on as a pinch-runner for Masataka Yoshida with nobody out in the top of the eighth and was thrown out trying to steal when his sliding mitt came off the bag as Bogaerts tagged him.
Yet Hamilton had the ultimate chance for redemption to lead off the top of the 10th, when he was asked to move automatic runner Trevor Story up 90 feet. But Hamilton, after a first-pitch ball, missed bunt attempts on three straight pitches, fouling off the final one for a strikeout.
“It's pretty frustrating,” said Hamilton. “I’m trying to help the team win. I feel like I didn't do that tonight.”
Not moving the automatic runner has been a source of frustration for the Red Sox numerous times, who are 1-8 on the road in extras.
Perhaps conditioned to bunt for hits because of his speed, Hamilton was running as he bunted on all three attempts.
“In the second attempt, we’ve got to get it down first,” said Cora. “Get it down and advance the runner. That’s the job there. If you get on base, that's great. But the job is to get him to third base.”