SAN FRANCISCO -- For the second straight day, the Giants battled back from an early deficit to create late-inning fits for the Padres. And for the second straight day, they came up short.
Despite crushing four home runs -- including the first of rookie catcher Drew Cavanaugh’s career -- the Giants fell, 7-6, to seal a series loss to their National League West rivals on Saturday afternoon at Oracle Park.
Rafael Devers, Shay Whitcomb and Drew Gilbert also went deep for San Francisco, which scored each of its six runs via the long ball. It was only the fourth time the Giants have lost a game at Oracle Park in which they hit at least four homers and the first since Sept. 15, 2021.
“I think you have the foundation of what you’re looking for,” manager Tony Vitello said. “You’ve got to build a house brick by brick if you want a strong foundation. I think there’s obviously things within each of those games we would definitely like to do better. … But if the foundation is there, then you can feel good about the place you’re coming to work at and the guys you’re going to compete or go to battle with. You know that you have an opportunity to be in every game.”
The Giants, who had Padres closer Mason Miller on the ropes in the bottom of the ninth on Friday before Bryce Eldridge struck out looking to end the game, once again made it interesting by rallying to score three runs in the eighth. They were down 7-3 before Cavanaugh led off the inning with a Statcast-projected 355-foot shot off Padres reliever Bradgley Rodriguez that landed in the arcade in right field.
The 24-year-old backstop became the sixth different Giants hitter to record his first career home run this season, with the milestone hit coming 50 games into his nascent big league career.
“I just couldn’t stop smiling, to be honest,” Cavanaugh said. “It was just one of those moments that you dream about your whole life. It was sweet.”
Gilbert followed with another big blast two batters later, launching a two-run homer that bounced into McCovey Cove and pulled the Giants within one. The Padres subsequently brought in left-hander Adrian Morejon, who struck out Devers and Eldridge before coaxing a groundout from Jonah Cox to end the inning. Miller then worked a 1-2-3 ninth to close it out for the Padres for the second day in a row.
While they were unable to complete the comeback, the Giants took solace in their ability to play a scrappier, livelier brand of baseball. That mentality has largely been fueled by the arrival of young upstarts like Cavanaugh, Cox, Eldridge and Turner Hill in recent weeks.
“We just want to win, and we’ll do anything to win,” Cavanaugh said. “We know that if the game’s not over, we’ve still got a chance, so we’re going to keep fighting until the very end.”
Left-hander Cesar Perdomo was charged with the loss after allowing five runs over 4 2/3 innings in his third career big league appearance and second start. The 24-year-old Venezuelan leaned almost exclusively on his fastball-changeup combination on Saturday (deploying the two pitches a combined 70% of the time), but he was hit hard by the Padres, giving up 10 hits while walking two and striking out three.
“I just see it as an outing to learn from,” Perdomo said in Spanish.
The blistering-hot Devers opened the scoring in the bottom of the first, when he launched a two-run shot to right field to give the Giants a quick lead against Padres starter Michael King.
It was Devers’ 11th homer in his last 18 games and his 37th overall on the season, leaving him one shy of matching the career high he set for the Red Sox in 2021. The 29-year-old slugger is also up to 98 RBIs, giving him a chance to become the first Giant to drive in 100 runs in a single season since Buster Posey in 2012.
“He’s just locked in,” Vitello said. “He’s staying on the ball longer, battling with two strikes. It’s a pretty well-rounded deal he’s got going on right now."