\u201cWhat a gift.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bader received the mother of all gifts Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n
He batted with the bases loaded, two outs and the San Francisco Giants leading by two runs in the fifth inning. He popped up. \u00a0A near-sellout crowd groaned. The Giants were about to let slip a rare chance to put an opponent away in a season that\u2019s been a greased slide to the bottom of the National League.<\/p>\n
Then something unexpected happened. White Sox third baseman Miguel Vargas lost the ball in the sun. It fell neatly between his feet, a step or two in foul territory. If Vargas had merely held out his glove, like Oliver Twist with an empty soup bowl, the ball might have landed by chance in the pocket. Instead, Bader was gifted the continuation of his plate appearance. And after rummaging through the tissue paper of two pitches out of the strike zone, he unwrapped a game-changing swing.<\/p>\n
Bader hit his third career grand slam and his second in a span of seven days. It powered the Giants to a 10-3 victory on the shores of McCovey Cove.<\/p>\n
![\"Harrison](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2277889159-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Harrison Bader hit his second grand slam in the Giants\u2019 last six games. (Thearon W. Henderson \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
The Giants snapped a four-game losing streak, but the gifts have to keep on coming. This is a team that must hope beyond all reasonable hope that Bader\u2019s plate appearance will serve as a good omen. When you are 10 games under .500 before Memorial Day, the only way to rescue your season is to hope for a second chance that is neither expected nor deserved.<\/p>\n
Casey Schmitt continued his productive first half by hitting his 10th home run, and a Giants bullpen still smarting from a blown outcome Tuesday in Arizona first rescued a teetering Adrian Houser in the fifth inning and then shut out the White Sox the rest of the way. A missing element all season, aggressive base running, dovetailed with a couple of wise decisions from interim third-base coach Ron Wotus to help the Giants score first in a three-run fourth inning.<\/p>\n
But when you step back and examine the Giants\u2019 body of work, in so many respects, this season appears to be a pop-up with an opposing infielder camped under it. Even the best of omens struggles to shine in shadow, and there\u2019s a mountain of statistical evidence that would appear to indicate the Giants have too many flaws to overcome.<\/p>\n
Among them:<\/p>\n
Walks<\/p>\n
The Giants had drawn 108 walks entering Saturday\u2019s game, and it would be incomplete to note only that it was the lowest total in the major leagues. It wouldn\u2019t tell the whole story to note that the Giants are distantly last, either. (The Philadelphia Phillies and Colorado Rockies were tied for 28th with 149).<\/p>\n
The Giants are on pace to draw 343 walks, which would be the fewest in a 162-game season in major-league history. The current \u201crecord\u201d belongs to the 1967 New York Mets (362), who finished 61-101 and had only one positive going for them: a rookie right-hander named Tom Seaver. The Giants have no young pitching analogue, although perhaps Kyle Harrison (5-1, 1.77 ERA in nine starts for the Milwaukee Brewers) might qualify if he hadn\u2019t been traded to the Boston Red sox in the Rafael Devers deal last year.<\/p>\n
Another way to look at it: Athletics first baseman Nick Kurtz led the major leagues with 50 walks entering Saturday, which was more than the combined total the Giants have received from Devers, Schmitt, Willy Adames, Heliot Ramos and Jung Hoo Lee.<\/p>\n
Matt Chapman drew his team-leading 20th walk Saturday, but the die appears cast with this lineup. And when you aren\u2019t drawing walks, you\u2019re probably not doing a very good job of \u2026<\/p>\n
Getting on base<\/p>\n
The Giants\u2019 .290 on-base percentage entering Saturday also ranked No. 30 among the 30 major-league teams. If that figure holds, it would be the franchise\u2019s lowest on-base percentage since 1902. It\u2019s difficult to make a current comparison to a season 124 years ago. The league wouldn\u2019t establish a 15-inch limit on the height of the mound until the following year. But even back then, in an era of horse-drawn conveyances and boundary ropes, a bad OBP spelled doom. The 1902 Giants finished 48-88-5.<\/p>\n
In the past five seasons since the pandemic, only three teams have finished with an on-base percentage of .290 or worse. You can probably guess at what they had in common. The 2024 Chicago White Sox (41-121), \u201922 Detroit Tigers (66-96) and \u201922 Oakland A\u2019s (60-102) were historically bad teams. The lowest on-base percentage of any Giants team in the San Francisco era belongs to the 1985 club (.299), which is also the only West Coast iteration of the Giants to lose 100 games (62-100).<\/p>\n
It doesn\u2019t matter what else a team happens to do well. There\u2019s no recovery from a .290 on-base percentage. Of course, you can\u2019t force walks to happen. The Giants probably are seeing the highest percentage of pitches in the strike zone because opposing pitchers have lost any fear of challenging them. So it stands to reason that the Giants will have to start by hitting their way out of this sand trap. Except they haven\u2019t shown any signs that they can \u2026<\/p>\n
Do damage with count leverage<\/p>\n
Break down league-wide hitting numbers by count, and production tends to be robust when the first pitch is put into play. This tends to make sense. Hitters are getting off their \u201cA\u201d swing most often on an 0-0 pitch. They\u2019re up there looking to do damage with the security that more chances will follow.<\/p>\n
You might guess that the Giants, given their aversion to walks, are hyperaggressive on the first pitch. Not really. Entering Saturday, they\u2019d swung at the first pitch 30.9 percent of the time, slightly below the league average of 31.5 percent. It\u2019s the results that are disturbing when those first-pitch swings are put into play. The Giants\u2019 OPS on those pitches was .592, which was the worst in the majors and well below league average (.685). For comparison, the Los Angeles Dodgers ranked No. 1 with an .834 OPS when putting the first pitch into play.<\/p>\n
Achieving count leverage hasn\u2019t conferred much of an advantage on Giants hitters, either. Their OPS when ahead in the count (.787) also ranks last and well below the league average (.948). Oddly enough, Giants hitters have competed modestly well when behind in the count. They ranked No. 13 with a .503 OPS, which was 10 points better than the league average. But damage simply isn\u2019t being done in damage counts.<\/p>\n
Even the most offensively challenged teams can dig deep to manufacture runs, right? Well, that\u2019s tough when \u2026<\/p>\n
Stolen bases are almost nonexistent<\/p>\n
The Giants are on their fourth administration pledging to get more athletic, and you know what? In terms of personnel, there\u2019s actual progress to report. The Giants are not a slow team. Their average sprint speed of 27.2 feet per second puts them smack dab in the middle among major-league teams.<\/p>\n
So it\u2019s even more maddening to look up and realize that they\u2019re last in the majors in stolen bases yet again. They\u2019ve swiped just 12 bases in 17 attempts. Entering Saturday, there were 12 major leaguers playing for other teams who have stolen 12 bases all by themselves. Pittsburgh rookie shortstop Konnor Griffin has been in the league about as long as that bunch of bananas in your fruit basket and he\u2019s got 11 steals already.<\/p>\n
On Friday, after the Giants put Lee on the injured list, it was stunning to scan his statistics and realize it: He hasn\u2019t even attempted a steal this season.<\/p>\n
The first inning of Friday night\u2019s loss drove the point home. Adames led off with a single. The Giants had Luis Arraez batting behind him. He\u2019s the most talented and trustworthy contact hitter of his generation. The Giants weren\u2019t trailing. There was no reason to play conservatively. The hit-and-run play might be on life support in today\u2019s game, but the Giants might be uniquely qualified to bring it back a time or two per game. Yet Adames never looked to run. He was forced at second base on a grounder to short.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not as if the Giants are incapable of aggressive base running. They showed it Saturday when Devers sprinted from first to third on Chapman\u2019s single to right field, and Chapman alertly took second base when the throw went to third. Both runners scored on Daniel Susac\u2019s flared single to left field, thanks in part to Chapman\u2019s jump and that Wotus (filling in for Hector Borg, who was grieving the death of his grandmother) managed to keep his arm lubricated in the years since he\u2019d last patrolled the third-base coaches\u2019 box.<\/p>\n
This is one area of deficiency where it\u2019s reasonable to believe the Giants can improve in no small measure. For now, they rank No. 28 in bases taken (advances on fly balls, passed balls, wild pitches, balks and defensive indifference). Their biggest problem to date? It\u2019s hard to be aggressive on the bases when you\u2019re playing from behind. About that \u2026<\/p>\n
The rotation has been awful<\/p>\n
Turn on KNBR or read aloud any social media feed (if, for some reason, that idea appeals to you), and you\u2019ll find yourself in an echo chamber of I-told-you-sos. Houser and Tyler Mahle were not signings that garnered excitement, and although hindsight is always unfair on some level, the Giants didn\u2019t even need to spend a ton more money to give themselves better options to fill their rotation. The Tampa Bay Rays are getting plenty of value out of Nick Martinez (1.51 ERA in 10 starts) for roughly the same guaranteed money, and the Giants saw plenty of that guy with the San Diego Padres to know what they\u2019d have been getting.<\/p>\n
With the arrivals underwhelming and Logan Webb (knee bursitis) finally showing there are limits to even his remarkable durability, the Giants entered Saturday with minus-3.3 Wins Above Average from their rotation. That\u2019s the lowest figure in the major leagues.<\/p>\n
Their starters ranked No. 25 with a 4.76 ERA. They also ranked near the top in innings per start (5.5, fourth) and pitches per start (90, tied for second). That\u2019s a little reminiscent of a panned restaurant review: The food isn\u2019t very good but at least the portions are large.<\/p>\n
Although bullpen catastrophes tend to damage the psyche beyond the window in which they are inflicted, Giants relievers have been decent. Even if you have a high opinion of Keaton Winn\u2019s season, it\u2019s been better than you probably realize. Winn ranks in the 100th percentile in xwOBA, tied with the Padres\u2019 amazing closer, Mason Miller.<\/p>\n
Perhaps Giants manager Tony Vitello is already learning that he needs to go to his bullpen earlier in games, even if that strategy isn\u2019t super sustainable over the long haul. When you break down run differential by innings, the Giants had been outscored in six of nine entering Saturday and none worse than the fourth (minus-24) and fifth (minus-17).<\/p>\n
It was a refreshing change Saturday when Bader went deep and the Giants outscored the White Sox 9-3 over the fourth and fifth innings, especially because all those midgame deficits have had a crippling effect on the team. It\u2019s even worse when you factor in that \u2026<\/p>\n
The Giants haven\u2019t been the comeback kids<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve blown some late leads, sure. They are 14-5 when leading after six innings. That\u2019s not a death-spiral statistic, though. Six other teams have at least five losses when leading after six innings, including the New York Yankees (25-5) and Brewers (22-5). Of course, creating many more leads that you can potentially blow is what they call a good problem to have.<\/p>\n
The real dreariness sets in when you combine the Giants\u2019 blown leads with the fact their hitters haven\u2019t flipped games in the other direction. They are 0-24 when trailing after six innings. Entering Saturday, the Houston Astros and Los Angeles Angels were the only other teams that hadn\u2019t won a game in which they had to erase a deficit in the seventh inning or later.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a trait that the Giants will have to display, and they\u2019ll have to do it pretty quick. After starting the way they did, they\u2019ve turned their whole season into one huge comeback effort.<\/p>\n
If it\u2019s hope you\u2019re searching for, there\u2019s always this: It\u2019s baseball. Strange things can happen. Second chances can be granted against all reasonable expectations.<\/p>\n
A gift can fall in your lap. Or in foul ground.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 Harrison Bader has a personal motto. He\u2019ll recite it in moments of gratitude. He\u2019ll invoke…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":663935,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,2329,99],"class_list":["post-663934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-mlb","tag-san-francisco-giants","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=663934"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663934\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/663935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=663934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=663934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=663934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}