Baserunning proves costly as SF Giants can’t complete sweep of Tigers – The Mercury News

SAN FRANCISCO — Arguably the biggest series of the season starts Monday at Oracle Park.

Welcoming the Atlanta Braves, who hold a slim lead on the National League’s final playoff spot, for four games, the Giants will hope the momentum they built over the past two weeks can withstand a loss Sunday afternoon in their series finale against the Detroit Tigers, 5-4.

They were left kicking themselves for two late mistakes on the base paths that potentially cost them a series sweep and a chance to make up more ground in the wild card standings.

Chapman said he was “disgusted” with himself for running into the first out of the eighth inning at home plate.

Representing the tying run, Chapman splayed out over the plate after being thrown out when he broke from third base on a chopper to short from Mark Canha, and just one batter later, Canha was caught in between second and third for the second out of the inning.

“Obviously in that situation, you want to be careful,” Chapman said. “I saw Mark hit it into the ground and off the bat I thought it was going to make (the shortstop) move a little bit more. I got caught being a little too aggressive there. If I could do it over again I definitely would have stayed at third base, but I was trying to make something happen there, got a little bit too aggressive and just made a bad read.”

Chapman, who already had driven in three runs on a pair of singles, led off the eighth with a triple to the track in center field, prompting the Tigers to bring their infield in to protect a one-run lead. Canha sent a sharp grounder to shortstop Javier Baez, and Chapman was dead to rights at home plate.

Canha was likewise caught in no man’s land when Patrick Bailey sent a ground ball back to the pitcher and he broke for third.

“Look, our situational at-bats haven’t been great recently, so he was just trying to make something happen, and Mark just read the wrong side,” manager Bob Melvin said. “I don’t think you can say we should have won that game because we ran into an out or two on the bases.”

The loss was only the Giants’ fifth in their past 18 games, but over that stretch they possess the lowest OPS — .576 — with runners in scoring position of any team in the National League. They stranded four runners in the first two innings against Tigers starter Keider Montero and finished with three hits in 14 at-bats with runners in scoring position, dropping their batting average in those situations since July 25 to .193 (31-for-161).

“I know we haven’t gotten some of those runs in when we wanted to,” said Chapman, who contributed two of their timely hits. “I’m sure that was in the back of my head a little bit. … We still won that series. Obviously we’d have loved to get the sweep, but we’ve got four games against Atlanta, so I think we just have to turn the page and get ready for the next series.”

A fifth straight win and a series sweep eluded them, but for the first time since the end of May, the Giants’ recent hot play meant that even after a loss they ended the day with a winning record. At 61-59, they will have a chance this week to leapfrog Atlanta, which let a late lead slip away in Colorado and enters Monday 1½ games ahead.

The Giants must also pass the Mets (61-56), who wrap up their series in Seattle on Sunday Night Baseball, and hold off the Cardinals (60-58) and Cubs (59-60). In possession of the top two spots, the Padres (66-53) and Diamondbacks (66-53) are closer to catching the Dodgers (68-49) than falling out of postseason position.

“It’s just about winning as many games as we can right now,” Melvin said.

Looking to rebound from the roughest outing of his young career, rookie right-hander Hayden Birdsong put the Giants in an early hole and was tagged for five runs over 4⅓ innings, including a leadoff home run to Matt Vierling and a two-run shot in the second from catcher Dillon Dingler.

Allowing 12 runs over his past two starts, Birdsong’s ERA has risen to 5.76 from a sterling 2.97 at the end of July. After allowing four home runs in his first six big-league starts, Birdsong has been tagged for four over his past two outings.

With 95 innings between all levels this season, Birdsong is nearing his total from last season (100⅔) but quickly shot down the notion that fatigue played into his recent struggles.

“No,” he said. “Not fatigued. Just mistakes and getting the ball where I need it to go. That’s a work in progress.”

Birdsong had walked multiple batters in each of his first seven major-league starts but issued only one free pass to the Tigers, which didn’t come back to bite him.

“It’s just two homers,” Melvin said. “You’d rather see him giving up some hits than walking guys. I thought he pitched better. He was behind a little bit early in the game, but only walked one. Not a lot of free passes and you make them work for it a little bit more.”

In his ninth game in the leadoff spot, Tyler Fitzgerald nearly provided a one-for-one answer to Vierling’s leadoff homer but had to settle for a ground-rule double. The Giants got the run back and more, though, as Chapman doubled home Fitzgerald and LaMonte Wade Jr., who reached on his first of three walks, to open a 2-1 lead.

There were two down in the second when Dingler turned on a first-pitch fastball and deposited it into the Tigers’ bullpen, flipping the score, 3-2. It was the rookie catcher’s first career home run, and he drove a nearly identical pitch in his next at-bat for a leadoff double that started a two-run fifth and extended Detroit’s lead to 5-2.

“He can hit a fastball,” Birdsong said. “I know that now.”

Fitzgerald gave the Giants runners at the corners with one out in the second with his second hit of the game, but that was the last hit they were able to muster against Montero until Michael Conforto started the sixth with a triple off the left field wall.