SAN FRANCISCO – A two-out double in the ninth inning on Tuesday cost Alex Cobb a no-hitter and his second shutout of the season, but just moments later Cobb froze Elly De La Cruz and secured an easy win. It was a pretty big game for the Giants, and not just because of the way it went.
By winning the first two games of the series, the Giants secured the tiebreaker against the Cincinnati Reds, another wild card contender. However, they couldn’t get greedy and lost 4-1 on Wednesday.
The series win over the Reds came a few days after the Giants’ final-day victory in Philadelphia, securing a tiebreaker lead over the team currently leading the Wild Card race. The Giants will have a chance to continue that run next week.
They head to San Diego and it won’t matter who wins this season series. When Josh Hader gave up a walk-off home run in St. Louis on Wednesday, the disappointing Padres fell 10 games below .500.
However, next week’s series in Chicago will have major playoff implications. The Giants are currently two games behind the Cubs, who took two of three games at Oracle Park in June. The head-to-head record will be used to break all ties in the new playoff format and will be up for grabs at Wrigley Field.
The Giants currently hold a 6-5 lead over the Diamondbacks and have two games left to play in Phoenix next month. They tied their season series with Miami, but the second tiebreaker is an intradivision record and the Giants are close to having that lead over the Marlins, who are just three games out of a playoff spot. With a few well-placed wins over the next few weeks, they could win the tiebreaker over the entire Wild Card field. With MLB not playing any additional games after 162, that could be crucial.
A week ago it was hard to think about how a season-ending tiebreaker might affect the Giants, but they played much better baseball against the Reds, and given the way Cobb and Kyle Harrison have thrown this week, The Giants feel like they have a good chance heading into the final month of the season.
Largely due to the general mediocrity of the wild card field, they remained in contention despite battling through the toughest part of their schedule. They can now see the light at the end of the tunnel because after surviving this road trip, they have two series against the Rockies coming up.
As his team prepared to board another flight, manager Gabe Kapler said he sensed the mood had changed against the Reds. Cobb’s one-hitter came a night after Harrison’s spectacular home debut, and Kapler felt good about his group despite another disappointing offensive performance on Wednesday. It was a far cry from the feeling in the manager’s office at the end of the last homestand.
“The dynamic of the last few games hasn’t changed,” he said. “We’re going to take it to San Diego and wash this (loss) off quickly, get on the plane and get ready for the Padres.”
Download and follow the Giants Talk Podcast