SAN DIEGO — LaMonte Wade Jr. reached out across the plate and made solid contact with a slider that would have been ball three, lining it down the left field line. As two Giants started racing home, San Diego Padres catcher Elias Diaz dropped his head and smacked the dirt with his fist. For San Francisco, it was a familiar scene.
They have frustrated one opponent after another through the season’s first month, seemingly always clawing back in the late innings. By advanced metrics and the eye test, they have been as clutch as any team in baseball, but the first look at a division rival reminded them that it won’t always be easy.
The only bullpen better than San Francisco’s is San Diego’s, and while the Giants did threaten when right-hander Nick Pivetta initially exited the game, they went down in order in the final three innings, striking out four times. There would be no comeback Tuesday night, just a 7-4 loss to the Padres.
“They just attack well, put pressure on us as a hitter and get in a pitcher’s count,” shortstop Willy Adames said. “I feel like we tried to battle today. It just didn’t end up our way. We didn’t give up until the last out, but we’re not going to come back every time, unfortunately.”
Adames got the Giants on the board with a solo shot in the fourth, his second of the season, but by that point, the Giants already trailed by three runs. It was an uncharacteristic night for Logan Webb, although against the Padres recently, he has had to get used to this.
The Padres have Webb’s number at the moment, and the nine hits they sprayed across the field felt familiar. He has given up 36 hits in his last four starts against the Padres, many of them at low exit velocities. That was the case on Tuesday.
“I definitely think it’s something that they’re trying to do. I know that going into it,” Webb said. “I watched every at-bat against these guys and it was the same thing they did to me last year. Some stuff in there is kind of unacceptable — the two-out walk to the guy in the first inning was pretty bad, but I thought I did what I wanted to do for the most part. Balls kept finding grass and holes. It’s kind of the way it goes, that’s baseball. That’s why it’s a great game, that’s why it’s a s—-y game.”
Webb lasted just five innings in his first look at an NL West rival, but the Giants got within a run in the sixth on Wade’s double, the latest sign of life for a hitter who has had a rough April. Adames, who had his best all-around night at the plate as a Giant, started the inning with a double, and it seemed the Giants would do what they do.
Comebacks have become the norm, but after Wade got to Jeremiah Estrada — who entered with a 1.32 ERA — the Giants went down quietly. Left-hander Adrian Morejon lowered his ERA to 1.84 in the seventh. Jason Adam and Robert Suarez are both under 1.00, and they got the final six outs.
The Giants have had the late-game advantage all year long, but that might not be the case when they face the Padres or the Los Angeles Dodgers. They’ll need to play better across nine innings, and they trailed all night in front of 47,345, the second-largest crowd in Petco Park history.
The first taste of NL West action was a disappointing one, and a refresher course on just how difficult this division is.
“Obviously they have a really good team and it’s a good matchup when you’re going to face your rivals in your division,” Adames said. “I feel like they got lucky today against Webby, who was very unlucky. They had a lot of bloopers their way. Those days are going to happen. We’re going to continue to battle until the end.
“We’re going to come tomorrow and try to get that win and even the series up, and go back home and try to sweep the Rockies, or win the series at least.”
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