SAN FRANCISCO -- The Giants had a chance to climb into the third NL wild-card spot during this series. Now they're just hoping for a split with the Atlanta Braves.
For a second consecutive night, the wild-card hopefuls went to extra innings. The Braves again scored their automatic runner, and once again, closer Raisel Iglesias kept the Giants' free runner from scoring in the bottom of the inning, this time clinching a 4-3 win for Atlanta.
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The Giants had a chance to get within a half-game of a playoff spot on Monday. They're now 3 1/2 back of the Braves and have dropped games to the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks each of the last two nights, as well.
After playing nine scoreless innings in the first game of the series, the teams combined for five runs in the first three innings Tuesday. The Braves hit a couple of solo homers off Kyle Harrison and got a hard RBI double from Jorge Soler, while the Giants got an RBI groundout from Patrick Bailey and a solo shot from slugging shortstop Tyler Fitzgerald.
It remained that way until the eighth, when the teams seemed to be saying, "No, you take this one."
Soler couldn't track down a fly ball to left that dropped for a leadoff double and Austin Riley booted Heliot Ramos' routine grounder. That put two on for Michael Conforto -- who promptly hit into a double play. The Giants got their run anyway when old friend Pierce Johnson spiked a curveball, allowing the tying run to score from third.
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Here are three observations from Tuesday's game:
Back At It
Fitzgerald took on the deepest part of left-center to pick up his 13th homer of the 2024 MLB season, hitting a 425-foot bomb that was his second-longest this year. The homer was the 15th of his career and put him in some very exclusive company.
Fitzgerald and Willie Mays are the only players in franchise history to homer at least 15 times in their first 59 career games with a plate appearance. Mays had 16 homers through 59 games in 1951.
Fitzgerald now is tied for second in the majors in homers in the second half. With 11, he's two behind Miami Marlins third baseman Jake Burger. Fitzgerald's 22 runs scored are the most in the National League since the MLB All-Star break.
San Diego's Jackson Merrill has emerged as Paul Skenes' greatest threat in the Rookie of the Year race, but Fitzgerald continues to climb the leaderboards. He's fourth among NL rookies in homers and entered the night ranked second to Merrill in fWAR among rookie position players in the NL.
First Look
Facing the Braves for the first time in his career, Harrison got through five innings for the first time this month. He was charged with three earned on six hits and two walks. Harrison had six strikeouts, including three of No. 3 hitter Marcell Ozuna, who is among the league leaders in average, homers and RBI.
Harrison's fastball velocity has been a topic of conversation in recent weeks, but it was better on this night, averaging 92 mph and topping out at 93.4. He leaned heavily on his changeup, which is becoming more of a weapon, throwing it a career-high 30 times and getting six swinging strikes. The lefty had thrown 33 changeups without getting a single swinging strike in his previous two starts.
Found The Barrel
In his second at-bat, Patrick Bailey reached out and flicked a curveball back up the middle for a single. It was a sneaky-big hit for the sophomore catcher.
The single was Bailey's first hit since Aug. 6 and snapped an 0-for-22 skid. He entered the night with just one hit in 38 at-bats this month, although he nearly added a walk-off later Tuesday. His drive to deep center was caught at the wall in the ninth.
This is the second straight second-half slide for Bailey, who bulked up in the offseason in an effort to make sure he was more prepared for a full season behind the plate. The slump has dropped Bailey down the order, but manager Bob Melvin is still going to ride him as much as he can down the stretch. Bailey leads all MLB catchers in Defensive Runs Saved and has been -- by a wide margin -- the best pitch-framer in baseball.
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