Giants' playoff hopes dim after delay-filled loss

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Giants experienced their biggest lowlight of the season at Oracle Park on Monday night -- literally.

Malfunctioning ballpark lights delayed the Giants’ series opener against the Padres by 40 minutes, with the game suspended after two innings when the field became too dark to play.

Left-hander Carlos Rodón took the mound to warm up for the top of the third, but he soon found himself walking off the field with his teammates after umpires met with both managers and Jorge Costa, the Giants’ senior vice president and chief venue officer. It wasn’t long before the ballpark DJ poked fun at the situation by playing Journey’s “Lights,” which famously begins, “When the lights go down in the city ...”

At 8:13 p.m., the lights finally came back on. The Giants’ playoff hopes, however, continued to dim after they fell, 6-5, to extend their losing streak to five games and slip a season-high five games under .500.

Joc Pederson launched his team-leading 19th home run of the year, and the Giants showed late life by scoring three runs in the eighth inning to pull within one, but it wasn’t enough to overcome an uncharacteristically rough start from Rodón, who needed 94 pitches to get through four innings and left his club trailing, 5-0.

At 61-66, the Giants now stand 8 1/2 games behind the Padres for the third and final National League Wild Card spot with 35 games left to play. Their playoff odds, which crested at 79% on May 13, have now plunged to 0.5%, according to FanGraphs.

“Our backs are more against the wall today than they have been at any other point during the season,” manager Gabe Kapler acknowledged before the game.

Added Pederson: “It’s not great.”

After a miserable 2-6 road trip to Denver, Detroit and Minnesota, the Giants hoped they’d be able to reset by returning to San Francisco to kick off a six-game homestand, but they fell behind early after the Padres scored three runs off Rodón in the first inning.

Juan Soto worked a nine-pitch walk, alertly advanced to second on a wild pitch and came home on Josh Bell’s RBI single to open the scoring. Brandon Drury then drove a first-pitch fastball out to left field for a two-run shot, putting the Giants in a 3-0 hole.

“It seemed like I didn’t have a putaway [pitch],” Rodón said. “I thought they had a really good approach. Their lineup is one of the better lineups in the game. They definitely gave me a run for my money today. They fouled off a lot of fastballs up in the zone, laid off some sliders. It was a tough game. Not my best.”

The game was interrupted in the bottom of the first, when home-plate umpire Marvin Hudson slipped and injured his right knee on Tommy La Stella’s popup in foul territory. Hudson was replaced by second-base umpire John Tumpane, though play was soon halted for a second time due to the lighting issue.

Despite the lengthy delay, Rodón returned to the mound once action resumed, though the Padres continued to wear him down by grinding out at-bats, with Austin Nola adding a two-run single in the fourth to extend the Padres’ lead to 5-0. The Giants absorbed another blow in the fifth, when rookie catcher Joey Bart was forced to depart after taking a foul ball off his mask. Austin Wynns entered the game to take over for Bart, who will go through concussion protocols but is expected to be OK.

“It was a weird game,” said Pederson, who put the Giants on the board with a 420-foot blast off Mike Clevinger in the bottom of the fourth. “The umpire blew out. The lights went out. Joey came out. It was just weird. What are you going to do?”

The Giants have gone 24-39 since June 19, the fourth-worst winning percentage in the Majors ahead of only the Nationals, Pirates and Angels. Kapler said he believes the slide can be attributed to several factors.

“I think we’re not driving the ball in the zone as much,” Kapler said. “I think that’s a notable factor. I think we’ve done a nice job of staying in the zone and making good swing decisions. I don’t think we have hammered balls in the zone as much as we’ve needed to. We have not made enough plays on defense. There’s a cascading effect to those plays. I don’t think we’ve made enough pitches at enough big moments throughout the season, and I think we’ve issued more walks than is optimal for success as a pitching staff.

“I think it’s a collection of things. We won a lot of games in 2021 as a team. And I think we’ve lost games this year as a team.”

Time is running out for the Giants to right the ship, especially with 16 of their next 19 games scheduled to come against five teams (Padres, Phillies, Dodgers, Brewers and Braves) who are ahead of them in the standings.

“I do think right now is a moment in time for us where we’re going to see who the toughest competitors are,” Kapler said. “That’s what happens in challenging times. You see who the toughest competitors are. The real character starts to emerge.”