Giants fall to Twins, clinching losing record at Oracle Park; Bo Davidson injured
· Yahoo Sports
One of the most fun aspects of the wet-behind-the-ears San Francisco Giants is the small-ball ways the group of young players, backups and waiver-wire pickups has employed since the roster turned over in the past month and a half.
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The team's power hitters - including Rafael Devers, Willy Adames, Casey Schmitt, Bryce Eldridge - are on the IL, and the current iteration runs like crazy and bunts a lot. It can be a work in progress, though. In a 4-2 loss to the Twins, Christian Koss' decision to bunt for a hit with men at the corners and two outs misfired in the fourth inning.
That gave the series to Minnesota and sank San Francisco's shot at a winning record at home. The Giants are 37-41 at Oracle Park this year and they have three games remaining - against the division-leading Dodgers this weekend.
The Giants also had their requisite injury, with exciting outfield prospect Bo Davidson exiting two innings after slamming a foul ball off his lower leg. Davidson looked in major pain and got a look from the training staff but finished that at-bat and played two innings of defense before coming out.
Koss' bunt was not a sacrifice attempt, of course, not with two outs, but the Giants have 40 sac bunts, third most in the majors and San Francisco's most since 2016. For a team that struggles to win close games - the Giants are 16-28 in one-run games, the worst record in the league - a well-placed sacrifice bunt, combined with speedy baserunners, is a great weapon. Almost everyone on the current roster can bunt well, with Jonah Cox atop the leaderboard.
The Giants only had five hits all day Wednesday. Why not bunt? It was a one-run game, the Giants leading, when Koss put down his attempt at a bunt single, but Ben Ross tripled off Cesar Perdomo with one out in the fifth and Luke Keaschall's sacrifice fly tied it up, then the Twins added two more off the Giants' bullpen in the seventh.
The Giants have hit 23 homers this month, their fewest since April, when the everyday lineup started off slow as could be. The top power hitters remaining are Osleivis Basabe, who has five homers but was out with a leg injury incurred the previous night and who is more than iffy for the Dodgers series, and Victor Bericoto, who also has five. Bericoto's home-run percentage is 4.9, third best on the club this season behind Devers and Schmitt.
The Twins hit the only homer of the day, with Keaschall (Aptos) banging a solo shot out to left off on a 1-2 slider from Perdomo in the third.
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There’s more to San Francisco with the Chronicle. Subscribe today for just 25¢.This article originally published at Giants fall to Twins, clinching losing record at Oracle Park; Bo Davidson injured.