Returning the Elimination Favor

Sep 25, 2025 | 2025 Season, Latest Post

by
Greek Giant

One night after the Cardinals officially eliminated the Giants from postseason play the boys in orange and black returned the favor in the form of a gritty 4-3 win that saw St. Louis perform various acts of crimes against outfield defense. It was a funny game, with St. Louis starter Sonny Gray mostly mowing down Giants and the hometown San Franciscans cobbling together innings from the scraps of their bullpen. On paper it seemed like a mis-match but you just never know in baseball. The Cardinals, a team that prides itself on clean play and smooth defense, made three errors and should have been charged with another. Of the four runs the Giants scored only one was unearned but their red-clad opponents made their pitchers work a little extra by dropping fly balls, throws to first or turning singles into triples.

For the Giants it was a nice night for backup catcher Andrew Knizner. Against his former teammates he went 1-2 with two runs driven in including the aforementioned triple. It was funny to see him book around the bases. Andres Torres he ain’t. An average runner might have scored an inside-the-park homer on the botched play but it did not matter in the end because that hit scored Christian Koss with the fourth and winning run in the bottom of the eighth inning. Speaking of Koss, he is playing great baseball of late. Last night he made one spectacular play in the first inning to rob a Cardinal of a hit. He also went 1-3 and scored two runs. He has been a hard-nosed, clutch player in many of his appearances and he appears to be a part of the Giants infield future.

The Giants opened the scoring in the bottom of the second inning thanks to back to back doubles by Schmitt and Lee. Schmitt’s liner to left (the first of his three hits) smacked the base of the wall. I daresay that during a day game it probably goes out. Lee’s double was a soft floater that found real estate in left center field because neither the Cardinals center fielder or left fielder appeared to be very interested in making a play.

Strange defense for a team on the fringes of the playoff hunt.

That hit made it 1-0 Giants until the top of the third inning when the St. Lous Baseball club scored two thanks in part to another Brendan Donovan double off the very tippy top of the Barry Bonds wall in right field. In any other park it’s a homer but it did not matter in the end because Donovan later scored on a Herrera single. Those two players, Donovan and Herrera have absolutely demolished Giants pitching this series and played like perennial NL MVPs. Where did they come from?

With the score 2-1 in favor of St. Louis Rafael Devers tied things up in the bottom of the third inning in very Rafael Devers fashion with a booming, moonshot of a homer into San Francisco Bay. It had a lot of hang time and was something to behold. The home run came off a Gray fastball traveling at 95 mph on the inside corner and belt high. It was not a pitch your average Major League hitter is going to hit out. Devers was ready for it. It was his first splash homer along with home run number 34 of the season. The Giants took the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning when Christian Koss scored on a Knizner sac fly to right fielder Jordan Walker. Christian was aboard thanks to the Cardinals first baseman who dropped a routine throw for a sure out. It was actually quite funny.

As I mentioned, the Giants are cobbling together a pitching staff these days, giving many players the opportunity to pitch, which means no lead is safe, especially a one-run lead and sure enough St. Louis tied the game in the top of the eighth inning when Herrera singled, Burleson doubled and Arenado drove in the lead runner with a sac fly to deep center.

Thankfully the Giants responded with a rally of their own in the bottom of the inning to win the game and send the fans home happy. Starting pitcher J. T. Brubaker pitched four innings and allowed two runs. He was on the mound because the Giants decided, wisely in my opinion, to scratch Robbie Ray and let him ride into the offseason with some rest. Ray has thrown the third-most pitches in Major League Baseball one year after maxing out at 30 2/3 innings bouncing back from Tommy John surgery,

Butto earned his fifth win of the season with Tristan Beck getting his second save of the year.

For the Giants it was win number 78 against 81 losses matching the Cardinals’ record exactly. What a weird series this was, with each team eliminating the other from the expanded MLB playoffs!

The 2025 Willie Mac Award

The Giants are off tonight and begin their final games, a three-game series, against Colorado at Willie Mays Field tomorrow night. We will publish John’s guest post on the Willie Mac Award tomorrow morning, bright and early. If you want to enter the contest for your pick then simply add a comment below.

For those of you new to this blog or to Giants fandom “The Willie McCovey Award is an annual honor bestowed upon the most inspirational player on the team, as voted upon by Giants players, coaches, training staff, clubhouse staff and the fans. This season marks the 45th anniversary of the award, which was established in 1980, in honor of legend and Hall of Famer Willie McCovey. Engraved on the plaque are the words “Competitive Spirit, Ability and Leadership” to characterize the qualities McCovey exemplified.”

The 2025 Willie Mac Award Ceremony will be held pregame on Friday, September 26. Be in your seats by 6:45 p.m. I have attended one such ceremony and it was a fun night.

The Highlights

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