SAN FRANCISCO -- After a disappointing first year at the helm of the Giants, manager Tony Vitello got a headstart to the offseason in Sunday’s regular-season finale against the Dodgers at Oracle Park.
Vitello was ejected by home-plate umpire Ryan Blakney for arguing a check-swing call in the top of the third of the Giants’ 5-1 loss in 10 innings, forcing him to watch the rest of Game 162 from the home clubhouse. It was the seventh ejection of the season for Vitello, the most among big league managers this year.
The Dodgers had runners on first and second with one out when Mookie Betts appeared to swing at a 2-2 pitch from left-hander Sam Hentges. First-base umpire and crew chief Marvin Hudson, however, ruled that Betts managed to check his swing for the second time in the at-bat, keeping the matchup alive.
The ruling -- which is considered a judgment call and not reviewable -- drew the ire of Vitello, who immediately jumped up, slammed his hand on the dugout rail and started barking at the officiating crew.
Blakney responded by giving Vitello the quick hook, prompting the Giants’ skipper to walk out to the field to continue arguing. Vitello exchanged heated words with Blakney and then continued to vent his frustration directly to Hudson, who walked over from first base and got in Vitello’s face for several seconds before the two men finally separated.
Vitello had a previous run-in with Blakney, who also tossed him for arguing a similar check-swing call in the first inning of the Giants’ 10-9 loss to the Reds on Aug. 26.
Dealing with umpires has been part of the steep learning curve Vitello has faced since being hired directly out of the University of Tennessee last October. Vitello had no experience working in professional baseball before joining the Giants, which has seemingly earned him less leeway during contentious moments with big league umpires this year.
Vitello declined to comment on his latest ejection after the game.
The check-swing call didn’t end up hurting the Giants on Sunday, as Hentges got Betts to strike out on the very next pitch and then punched out Freddie Freeman to end the inning. Still, the Dodgers tied the game on Andy Pages’ sacrifice fly in the fourth and then erupted for four runs off right-hander Duncan Davitt in the top of the 10th to cap a three-game sweep of the Giants.
San Francisco finished fourth place in the National League West with a 65-97 record in the first year of the Vitello era, marking the ninth time in the last 10 seasons the club has missed the playoffs. The 97 losses are the third most in a single season since the franchise moved west in 1958.
The Giants’ .401 winning percentage is also the fourth worst in the Majors ahead of only the Rockies, Angels and A’s this year, but an unfortunate wrinkle is that they won’t be able to pick higher than 10th in next year’s Draft regardless of their record. That’s because they moved up to No. 4 in the 2026 Draft via the MLB Draft Lottery and aren’t eligible to have a lottery pick in consecutive seasons.
Despite falling wildly short of expectations this year, the Giants are optimistic they’ll be able to turn it around soon, especially since they’ll have core pieces like Rafael Devers, Willy Adames, Matt Chapman, Casey Schmitt, Bryce Eldridge and Logan Webb back in the fold in 2027.
The Giants will need to focus on shoring up their pitching depth this offseason, but they believe the hard lessons they learned this year will help yield better results for the organization in the future.
“A lot of takeaways are little, but they pile up over 162 games,” Vitello said Saturday. “They pile up, for sure. I think one of the conversations -- or many of the conversations, I should say -- that have gone on over the last week is there needs to be improvement in all areas. I'm not exempt from that. I don't think anybody's exempt from that. I think improvements are needed. There's a lot of information. Information's power. You’ve got to take it, and you’ve got to make it useful.”