Giants run themselves out of rally in latest ‘annoying’ loss to Diamondbacks

SAN FRANCISCO — Willy Adames used the word “annoying,” but in a positive way. The Arizona Diamondbacks, who have taken all six matchups against the Giants this season, are an annoying team to play and have been for a while. They run the bases well and find ways to beat out infield hits and take the extra base on any ball in the gap. They play good defense, particularly in the outfield, an area of concern for the Giants in recent seasons. They find a way to get timely hits, too, and seem to have just enough pitching to survive the late innings of close games. And then there are the Giants. There have been plenty of moments lately that could be described as “annoying,” but not in a complimentary way. Exhibit A, perhaps for this entire 2026 MLB season, might have come in the eighth inning of a sixth consecutive loss to Arizona. With the Giants trailing 3-2, Adames caught a break when left fielder Ryan Waldschmidt misplayed his sun-ball. Standing on second, he did exactly what you’re supposed to when Luis Arraez followed with a flare that looked for a second like it might be caught by center fielder Jorge Barrosa. Adames went halfway, and when the ball dropped past a diving Barrosa, he broke for third. Third base coach Hector Borg aggressively waved him despite the fact that Adames was only about two-thirds of the way to third when Waldschmidt picked up the ball. Adames had no chance and was easily thrown out at the plate. The relay preserves the lead&excl; pic.twitter.com/44JZxoAaR0 — Arizona Diamondbacks (&commat;Dbacks) May 27, 2026 One mistake would have been bad enough, but a few seconds later, Arraez was picked off. The Giants ran themselves out of a rally and an inning. They lost 3-2, falling to 12 games under .500.It’s a start that’s almost impossible to believe. Unless you watch the way they handle innings like the eighth on Wednesday. “It’s annoying,” Adames said of the result. “When you get swept twice by the same team, it’s embarrassing I guess. We played hard baseball today and couldn’t even get the result that we wanted.”The worst part about getting out-hustled and out-executed by the Diamondbacks in back-to-back weeks is the fact that this is exactly why manager Tony Vitello is here. A lack of clean baseball was what ultimately cost Bob Melvin his job, and Vitello and his coaches spent all spring focusing on the fundamentals. It seemed like the Giants would be playing a much cleaner brand of baseball. They might not fly around the field like the Diamondbacks — they don’t have a Corbin Carroll or Geraldo Perdomo — but even something closer to average would have been acceptable. Instead, the Giants rank a distance last in the big leagues in stolen bases, and by FanGraphs’ all-encompassing baserunning metric, they’ve easily been the worst team in the league at going base to base.Where has it all gone so wrong over the past two months? “I think a part of it is it needs to be revisited more,” Vitello said. “Just because you do things in spring training, you know, it could be anything — bunting, PFP, baserunning — days go by, and you’re always sensitive to guys having their legs under them, but I think those things need to be revisited, whether they are mentally or actually physically, with reps.“Part of the baserunning thing, I think, is by nature of not having guys on base as much as we would like to earlier in the year. I think things are at least trending in the right direction as far as the on-base percentage … (also) we’ve created a lot of problems by digging ourselves in a hole early and trying like crazy to get out, and I think what we’ve all done is driven ourselves a little bit too crazy.”Vitello is fond of the word “tryhard,” and perhaps the Giants are just wound too tight in big moments. But if that’s their problem, it’s one that they’ve been unable to solve for two months. For the first time since 2008, the Giants are threatening to go an entire season without even touching the .500 mark.Their next game will be Friday against the Colorado Rockies in what might be a battle for last in the NL West. The other three teams have separated themselves, with the Diamondbacks — thanks in large part to these two series against the Giants — now sitting in a tie for second, 9 1/2 games ahead of San Francisco. After the latest loss, Vitello said effort is not the problem. He has been careful not to be critical of anyone — players or coaches — in public this season, saying often that good teammate behavior is important to him. But he did note Wednesday that the attention to detail might be lacking at times. That’s been a problem across the board, and it bit the Giants in the eighth inning Wednesday. The decisions would have been bad in just about any situation, but they were magnified by the fact that Casey Schmitt, the team’s best hitter this year, was on deck. Rafael Devers, the team’s most talented hitter, was due up next. They never got a shot. “I was just following Borgy’s decision and unfortunately we had that result at the plate and couldn’t tie the game there,” Adames said. “I don’t know. I don’t think that I could have done anything else … It’s tough because (Waldschmidt) just caught it right away, and after you see it drop you just go and I’m expecting the best. But that was an unfortunate play at the plate.”Download and follow the Giants Talk Podcast

Giants run themselves out of rally in latest ‘annoying’ loss to Diamondbacks

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