From great to downright terrible, the Giants' defense displayed two extremes all within 24 hours.
After San Francisco's thrilling 2-1 walk-off win over the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday night at Oracle Park, Giants manager Gabe Kapler applauded the defensive effort that made the victory possible, calling it one of the best defensive performances of the season.
Well, that momentum certainly was short-lived.
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The Giants ended up losing 4-2 in Thursday's rubber match against the Rockies, dropping a very winnable series at home. The four total errors, with three in the top of the fourth inning alone, sank the Giants behind starter Logan Webb, who pitched well in spite of the poor defensive performance behind him. The ace allowed seven hits, three runs, two of which were earned, while walking one and striking out three in 5 2/3 innings.
Rockies right fielder Charlie Blackmon reached on a fielding error by Giants second baseman Thairo Estrada to lead off the fourth inning. A C.J. Cron single to center and a subsequent throwing error from Austin Slater allowed Cron to advance to second. Brendan Rodgers followed with a single, scoring Blackmon and cutting the Giants' lead to 2-1.
Ryan McMahon then reached on a second fielding error by Estrada, scoring Cron before a Yonathan Daza single scored Rodgers, giving the Rockies a 3-2 lead.
Two innings later, Rockies left fielder Sam Hilliard reached on a fielding error by first baseman Darin Ruf but ultimately did not score.
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"Yeah, I don't think we played our best defense," Kapler told reporters postgame. "It's a really tough week when you're not converting ground balls into outs. I think we've seen, consistently, a better brand of defense that we've played today. It still hasn't been good enough overall and today was not good.
Kapler was asked if there are any other approaches the Giants could take in fixing the defensive miscues, to which he expressed confidence in the team's current approach.
"I think the steps we have in place right now are the correct ones, I think it's just consistently tuning the mindset of our players, reminding them they need to be aggressive at all times and expect that they can make any play on the field," Kapler added.
As frustrating as it must have been for Webb, his postgame demeanor was that of a good teammate who understands the everyday grind of a 162-game season.
"It was a weird inning," Webb said. "We're all human, stuff happens. Unfortunately, it was all kind of back-to-back-to-back. Couldn't get back in the game after that. Tried my best to make sure those first couple guys didn't score, but couldn't do that. It was a weird inning, one of the more ... weirder innings that I've been apart of.
"There's peaks and valleys. S--t happens sometimes. I think last year if you look at the numbers, it was kind of the same in the beginning and then it kind of went the other way. So hopefully that trend starts going back to what it was last year. As a pitcher, you can't worry about stuff like that."
The standard metrics show the Giants as a middle-of-the-pack fielding team, with a .987 fielding percentage that ranks 14th in baseball while committing the 17th-most errors (27).
On the other hand, the advanced metrics tell a different story. San Francisco ranks 27th with a -19 rating in Outs Above Average and 29th with a -25 rating in Defensive Runs Saved. The Giants' .675 Defensive Efficiency rating is the third-worst in all of baseball, a stat in which they were the sixth-best last season with a mark of .707.
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The Giants have had very little turnover from last season, but injuries to key defenders such as Brandon Belt, Steven Duggar, and Austin Slater could have played a role in some of the regression. Not to mention that Estrada, catcher Joey Bart and a slew of mid-season fill-ins have played significant innings in recent weeks.
For now, the Giants will continue with the approach to fielding they've had all season and will hope that a few key returns will provide stability at key positions around the field.