SAN FRANCISCO — Arguably the biggest series of the season starts Monday at Oracle Park.
Welcoming the Atlanta Braves, who hold a slim lead on the National League’s final playoff spot, for four games, the Giants will hope the momentum they built over the past two weeks can withstand a loss Sunday afternoon in their series finale against the Detroit Tigers, 5-4.
They will be kicking themselves for two late mistakes on the base paths that potentially cost them a series sweep and a chance to make up more ground in the wild card standings.
Representing the tying run, Matt Chapman splayed out over home plate after making the first out of the eighth inning when he broke from third base on contact, and just one batter later, Mark Canha was caught in between second and third for the second out of the inning.
Chapman, who already had driven in three runs on a pair of singles, led off the eighth with a triple to the track in center field, prompting the Tigers to bring their infield in to protect a one-run lead. Canha sent a sharp grounder to shortstop Javier Baez, and Chapman was dead to rights at home plate.
Canha was likewise caught in no man’s land when Patrick Bailey sent a ground ball back to the pitcher and he broke for third.
A fifth straight win and a series sweep eluded them, but for the first time since the end of May, the Giants’ recent hot play meant that even after a loss they ended the day with a winning record. At 61-59, they will have a chance this week to leapfrog Atlanta, which let a late lead slip away in Colorado and enters Monday 1½ games ahead.
The Giants must also pass the Mets (61-56), who wrap up their series in Seattle on Sunday Night Baseball, and hold off the Cardinals (60-58) and Cubs (59-60). In possession of the top two spots, the Padres (66-53) and Diamondbacks (66-53) are closer to catching the Dodgers (68-49) than falling out of postseason position.
Looking to rebound from the roughest outing of his young career, rookie right-hander Hayden Birdsong put the Giants in an early hole and was tagged for five runs over 4⅓ innings, including a leadoff home run to Matt Vierling and a two-run shot in the second from catcher Dillon Dingler.
Allowing 12 runs over his past two starts, Birdsong’s ERA has risen to 5.76 from a sterling 2.97 at the end of July.
In his ninth game in the leadoff spot, Tyler Fitzgerald nearly provided a one-for-one answer to Vierling’s leadoff homer but had to settle for a ground-rule double. The Giants got the run back and more, though, as Chapman doubled home Fitzgerald and LaMonte Wade Jr., who reached on his first of two walks, to open a 2-1 lead.
There were two down in the second when Dingler turned on a first-pitch fastball and deposited it into the Tigers’ bullpen, flipping the score, 3-2. It was the rookie catcher’s first career home run, and he drove a nearly identical pitch in his next at-bat for a leadoff double that started a two-run fifth and extended Detroit’s lead to 5-2.
After allowing four home runs in his first six big-league starts, Birdsong has been tagged for four over his past two outings.
Fitzgerald gave the Giants runners at the corners with one out in the second with his second hit of the game, but that was the last hit they were able to muster against Tigers 24-year-old starter Keider Montero until Michael Conforto started the sixth with a triple off the left field wall.
The Tigers’ left fielder, Justyn-Henry Malloy, crashed into the wall, allowing Conforto to make it to third and kickstart a two-run rally that pulled the Giants within one, 5-4. Conforto was initially waved home on a balk. Umpires reversed their decision, saying the catcher called time, but it didn’t matter.
Chapman laced a single into center field for his second hit and third RBI of the game.
The Giants had two on and nobody out after Canha drew a pinch-hit walk, and it appeared they would have to settle for one run when Patrick Bailey grounded into a double play, but Jerar Encarnacion lined a two-strike cutter through the right side at 109.7 mph to drive home Chapman and make it a one-run game.
Up next
The Braves visit Oracle Park for a four-game series with significant wild card implications. Trailing Atlanta by 1½ games for the third and final National League playoff spot, the Giants will line up LHP Blake Snell (2-3, 4.31), LHP Kyle Harrison (6-4, 4.08), LHP Robbie Ray (2-1, 3.98) and RHP Logan Webb (10-8, 3.32) against LHP Chris Sale (13-3, 2.75), RHP Charlie Morton (6-7, 4.47), RHP Grant Holmes (0-0, 3.79) and LHP Max Fried (7-6, 3.56). First pitch Monday is scheduled for 6:45 p.m.