Gabe Kapler does not like to go home before he hashes every nuance, every game of ballgame, with his staff. He was destined for a long night early in the morning because the Giants’ last loss this historic bad was a long time ago.
We talked flappers, ban, Herbert Hoover and Black Tuesday long ago.
The Giants had held 2,133 straight games without blowing a lead of at least five runs in the ninth inning or later, dating back to 1929, before a hot night at Oracle Park came crashing down on their heads on Friday night from 8-9. 7 10-inning loss to the A’s.
Trevor Gott allowed five runs in the ninth, including Stephen Piscotty’s bound grand slam, following a mental error by first baseman Wilmer Flores that overshadowed his night of four hits.
Matt Chapman, who started the 10th inning as the free-runner in second place, scored on Jarlin Garcia’s Mark Canha exit. The Giants had no answer against Liam Hendricks, and so it ended.
“The first thing is, the processing happens tonight, the review after the action,” Kapler said. “The game happens again in your mind tonight. And we talk about it and find ways to get better for tomorrow, and things we could have done differently, and see it from a perspective” how can we raise the bar for ourselves tomorrow “.
Trevor Gott got an enormous exit to start the ninth, with Chapman fired with a pop-up before Matt Olson hit something that looked like it was an inconsistent solo homer.
After Gott Mark Canha ran, Flores felt Robbie Grossman’s baseball and started to the first base. All he had to do was step on the bag. The Giants would have two outs, a four-run lead and one Athletic on second base.
But Flores stepped up, turned and tried to throw to second in a bid to force Canha. Shortstop, Brandon Crawford got out of the bag when he took the throw and tagged Canha, but too late. Kapler acknowledged that Crawford might have thought Flores stepped up first and needed to put up a tag for a game-ending doubles match.
Kapler convinced the umpires to watch it on video. The original call was established and Oakland had two runners on, still with one out.
Flores blamed the mistake on ‘indefinitely. That was on me. I put Crawford in an awkward situation. I should start with the lead we have instead of making things harder on a first-come, first-served basis. ‘
Gott then hit Khris Davis with a two-stroke pitch to load the bases for Piscotty, who sent his slam into the left field to ban the game 7-7 when the dugout of ‘ e A exploded in cheers – which did not end there.
Kapler turned to Tyler Rogers, who allowed a Sean Murphy single and Marcus Semien a double.
With the inside field, Rogers came into the fray again to knock out Chad Pinder and Chapman to maintain the bond.
Flores finished with one out in the Giants’ ninth for his fourth hit, but with Flores on the third and two outs, Pablo Sandoval (7-for-43) grounded out to send the game into extra time.
Kapler had inserted Crawford for defense but did not do the same with Belt, saying he tried to keep the first baseman off his feet after returning from a 3-7 trip with the Giants with a bad left calf and remained soreness in his right foot.
And moreover, Kapler said, first base said Flores’ best defensive position
Kapler had Belt pinch-hit in the 10th with free-runner Austin Slater on second base, the one situation that Kapler said he would use Belt, which struck out.
Ruined was a great seven innings by Johnny Cueto, who took a one-hit shutout in the seventh and went with a 6-2 lead.
Wiped out were the good feelings of a homer from Evan Longoria and Hunter Pence’s second three-run homer in a span of eight at-bats, dating to Tuesday night in Houston. Pence had not hit a three-run homer since 2017 before those two.
For what should be the largest collection of paper people in the majors, Longoria hit a solo homer in the first inning to launch a night of three RBI. It would have been four if not for catching Canha as he slammed into the wall of the center field to finish the sixth inning.
The Longoria two-RBI single in the fourth gave Cueto breathing space as he kicked off this longest game by a Giant this season through innings (seven) and pitches (104).
Kapler visited Cueto in the middle of the seventh inning and let him finish on a 85 degree night.
The Giants scored six of their runs against starter Jesus Luzardo, who was suspended a day after the A’s shook Frankie Montas with a loving back.
Luzardo is not a picnic, but he is not the reigning American League Player of the Week, as Montas is, and Luzardo is left-handed. That already made it an easy night for the Giants, who came in with a winning record in games started by lefties at 4-3. They were 4-9 in right started games.
Things may change, but for now, the Giants’ right-handers are getting better.
This is especially true for Donovan Solano, who returned from an absence of two injuries and put an end to center-left to start the third inning, extending his hit line to 15 games.
Flores shot a one-out single just below shortstop Semien’s backhand glove for another single ahead of Pence’s three-run homer.
Pence smashed the ball at 105 mph and he flew 406 feet, where it would likely be caught before the Giants move their fences.
Canha pushed back as he had a shot, and kept drifting, until he jumped at the gate for the new visitors bull and saw the ball pass by.
Mike Yastrzemski’s solo homer in the eighth gave the Giants a five-run lead, which in baseball talk is “grand slam-proof.”
The Giants were not grand slam-proof Friday night, and they lost a game of which they apparently won 2,133 times out of 2,134.
Henry Schulman defeats the Giants for The San Francisco Chronicle. Email: hschulman@sfchronicle. com Twitter: @hankschulman
