SAN FRANCISCO — Video replay upheld one of the Twins’ two would-be home runs against Taylor Rogers in the top of the sixth Saturday afternoon at Oracle Park, which was enough to send the Giants to a 4-2 defeat and even their series at a game apiece.
The score was tied at 2 when Carlos Santana hooked a home run around the left-field foul pole that, upon lengthy video review, was determined to have stayed fair. They went through the same motions a batter later, when Max Kepler sent a ball into McCovey Cove that was ruled and later confirmed to be foul, but that decision proved inconsequential as the Giants mustered only two runs on eight hits against Simeon Woods Richardson and the Twins’ bullpen.
“The ball typically comes back here to both lines with the wind, so it was kind of odd,” manager Bob Melvin said of the sequence. “I guess it hit the foul pole, the one down the left-field line, obviously that was a big run at the time.”
Patrick Bailey launched a two-out fly ball in the eighth that traveled farther than either of the would-be home runs, but he was left stranded on third base as the potential tying run after Matt Chapman popped out to end the inning. Bailey’s 417-foot triple would have been a home run in all 29 other ballparks, according to Statcast.
The Twins padded their lead with a run in the top of the ninth against Sean Hjelle, who allowed the first three batters to reach base.
The loss was the Giants’ 50th of the season, ensuring they will enter the All-Star break no better than three games below .500. They must win Sunday’s finale to avoid ending the first half with their third consecutive series loss.
Rogers entered a tied ballgame after the Giants’ starter, Hayden Birdsong, surrendered two runs (one earned) over five innings, allowing only two hits but harmed by three walks. Both of the Twins’ runs against Birdsong scored in the fourth after he hit the leadoff batter and Mike Yastrzemski misplayed Matt Wallner’s double to right field.
In four starts, the 22-year-old right-hander has a 3.72 ERA, 18 strikeouts and 10 walks over 19⅓ innings, but the Giants’ rotation is about to become a crowded place with the looming returns of Robbie Ray and Alex Cobb after the break.
Birdsong, the Giants’ No. 6 prospect, made only two starts at Triple-A before he was called up to perform emergency duties, and Melvin said more seasoning in Sacramento could be an option but that “it just depends on when we get guys back.
“He seems more and more comfortable every time he goes out there,” Melvin continued. “He’s pitched well. There was a need for us. He only had a couple starts in Triple-A and he’s come up here and performed pretty well. We have big expectations for him down the road. We’ll see how it works out when we start getting some guys back.”
Yastrzemski earned quick redemption for his fourth-inning error in the bottom half by legging out an infield single that scored Michael Conforto from third after a ground-rule double from Wilmer Flores gave them runners at second and third. Adding a single in his first at-bat, Yastrzemski and Bailey were the only Giants to reach base multiple times.
Extending his hitting streak to nine games, Heliot Ramos singled home Jorge Soler to even the score at 2 in the fifth after Soler led off the inning with his 13th double since the start of June, second only to the Reds’ Jonathan India in that span.
Rogers’ worst outing in two months — and the first home run he surrendered since April 27 — so happened to come against the team where he spent the bulk of his career, which gave him a pregame tribute when the Giants visited Target Field last season.
The 33-year-old left-hander had lowered his ERA to 1.98 entering his 40th appearance of the year, limiting opponents over 21 games since May 13 to one run. But after retiring Wallner on four pitches for the first out of the sixth, Rogers fell behind 3-1 to Santana and then threw a sweeper that caught too much of the plate.
The ball landed in the stands in foul territory, but the replay room at MLB’s New York headquarters determined its trajectory carried it fair.
“What’s he got, a 2.00 ERA now?” Melvin said. “He gave up a run. Sometimes it happens.”
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Notable
The “Core Four” — Jeremy Affeldt, Santiago Casilla, Javier López and Sergio Romo — were inducted into the team’s Wall of Fame in a pregame ceremony.
Bryce Eldridge, the 19-year-old first baseman the Giants selected 16th overall in last year’s amateur draft, took part in the Future’s Game at Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas, to kick off All-Star week, going 1-for-2 and scoring a run in the National League’s 6-1 win.
Up next
In their final game before the All-Star break, LHP Blake Snell (0-3, 7.85) battles RHP Chris Paddack (5-3, 3.18) and looks to build on his longest start with the Giants the last time he took the mound. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m.
