Instant Analysis: Giants 11, Nats 10

The Nationals blew an eight-run lead after the eighth inning, with Mitchell Parker giving up a walk-off grand slam to Bryce Eldrdige

Photo by Grace Navarro / ALL-PRO REELS

SAN FRANCISCO – The Nationals put themselves in a seemingly comfortable position to come home in a position they’d not occupied in a long time. And then with one disastrous collapse, they found themselves heading home following their worst loss of the year.

Leading by eight runs in the eighth inning, the taxed Nats bullpen gave them all back and more to suffer an unfathomable loss to the Giants. Instead of a series sweep and their best record since the final day of the 2019 season, they now must cope with this implosion by a relief corps that had righted its ship over the last month but crumbled today.

San Francisco scored five runs off Paxton Schultz in the eighth, turning a 9-1 game into a 9-6 game. Curtis Mead’s homer in the top of the ninth added a bit of cushion, but Gus Varland couldn’t retire any of the three batters he faced to begin the bottom of the inning, and Mitchell Parker then gave up a walk-off grand slam to Fairfax native Bryce Eldridge as Oracle Park exploded.

The Nationals had opened up that commanding lead behind another offensive outburst from the majors’ most-productive lineup. James Wood got things started with a two-run, opposite-field homer off Robbie Ray in the top of the third, his 18th of the season. His teammates then added four runs in the sixth via five consecutive two-out singles. And they seemingly put the game away with three more runs in the seventh, a rally highlighted by Luis Garcia Jr.’s pinch-hit RBI double and Daylen Lile’s second RBI single in as many innings.

They didn’t need all those runs with Foster Griffin cruising on the mound. The left-hander tossed six innings of one-run ball, giving up his lone run on Matt Chapman’s solo homer in his final inning. But they did need the extra cushion once their taxed bullpen took over. Schultz got through a scoreless seventh but then allowed the first five batters he faced in the eighth to reach base, and ultimately score. Orlando Ribalta then put out the fire to end the eighth, but Varland and Parker could not do the same in the ninth.

HITTING HIGHLIGHT: How about that four-run rally in the sixth? It included five consecutive two-out singles by Dylan Crews, Lile, Jacob Young, Nasim Nunez (who started at shortstop to give CJ Abrams a rare day off) and Jorbit Vivas. Only one of the hits (by Young) was hit harder than 95 mph, with the others simply well-placed. But the rally also was made possible by the Nationals’ aggressive baserunning. Crews and Young each stole second, each putting himself in position to then score on one of the subsequent singles. That contact-plus-speed combo made this one of the most-enjoyable rallies of the season, and surely drove the Giants crazy.

PITCHING HIGHLIGHT: If there was any concern about the back tightness that limited Griffin to 62 pitches Friday night in Arizona, he erased all doubts from the get-go this afternoon. The left-hander was at his best, scattering six hits without issuing a walk, getting better as the start progressed. The Giants did make him work a bit early on, fouling off a bunch of offerings to drive up his pitch count 56 after only three innings that included only three baserunners. But Griffin responded with a seven-pitch fourth and kept himself efficient enough to complete six innings on an even 100 pitches.

NOTABLE: After beginning the season 0-for-25 with runners in scoring position, Vivas went 3-for-3 on this trip.

UP NEXT: The Nationals get a well-deserved day off after their cross-country flight before opening a six-game interleague homestand against the Mariners and Royals. Zack Littell is listed as Friday’s starter against Seattle, which has not announced its plans yet for the 6:45 p.m. game. TV: Nationals TV RADIO: 106.7 FM