Giants' frustrations continue after being swept by Marlins

Justice delos Santos, Bay Area News Group on Jun 26, 2025

Published in Baseball

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SAN FRANCISCO — Wilmer Flores does not typically run hot. Which made the scene after the seventh inning especially odd.

After striking out to end the seventh, Flores became incensed with someone on the Miami Marlins. Instead of retreating back to his dugout, he took several purposeful steps towards the school of Marlins. The benches quickly cleared; Flores’ teammates directed him back to their confines.

That was the extent of the extracurriculars. There was no sparring of any kind, and equanimity was restored after roughly a minute. But the episode, one that unfolded in the middle of a 12-5 loss to the Marlins, encapsulated the Giants’ collective frustrations.

The frustration of being swept by Miami and finishing the nine-game homestand with six losses. The frustration of their hitters repeatedly getting plunked. The frustration of an offense that still remains cold even with Rafael Devers in the lineup.

There was tension in the ballpark before Thursday’s game even started.

Following Wednesday’s 8-5 loss, several players voiced their displeasure at the frequency with which opposing pitchers have hit San Francisco’s batters. Casey Schmitt, one of three hitters hit on Wednesday, underwent X-rays after being hit in the left wrist and was out for Thursday’s game as he underwent a CT scan. Logan Webb, in particular, offered some cryptic messaging.

“Hopefully, there’s a little bit of an edge tomorrow because of some of the stuff that happened today,” Webb said on Wednesday.

An edge, indeed.

Hayden Birdsong began his afternoon by retiring the first two batters he faced on a pair of popups. On his 12th pitch of the day, Birdsong plunked Otto Lopez in the leg with a 97.5-mph four-seam fastball that was nowhere near the zone. It was a beanball that unquestionably fell in line with the Giants’ ethos of protecting their hitters.

The umpiring crew congregated after the hit-by-pitch and quickly issued a warning to both sides, proactively ensuring Thursday’s game did not devolve into a beanball fest. Marlins manager Clayton McCullough immediately emerged from the first base dugout and argued with home plate umpire Alfonso Márquez, who ejected him from the game.

If the Giants were sending a message, the Marlins sent a couple right back.

Following the hit-by-pitch, Agustín Ramírez smashed a 113.0-mph double off the left-field wall, then Kyle Stowers sent a three-run shot into Miami’s bullpen to put San Francisco in a 3-0 deficit.

Two innings later, Ramírez sent a hanging 0-2 slider from Birdsong more than halfway up the left-field bleachers, a majestic two-run blast that Ramírez admired for a few moments before jogging around the bases. When Ramírez touched home, the Giants were trailing 5-0.

Down by five runs, San Francisco responded with five runs of their own.

Devers trimmed the Giants’ deficit with his own no-doubter, a two-run shot in the third that cleared the Marlins’ bullpen and cut the Marlins’ lead to 5-2. By the end of the fourth, San Francisco knocked starter Janson Junk out of the game.

Jung Hoo Lee began the fourth by tripling on a low line drive that right fielder Jesús Sánchez missed on a dive. Willy Adames drove in Lee with a single, Christian Koss doubled to put runners on second and third, and Brett Wisely drove in Adames and Koss with a double off the right-field wall to tie the game.

Following San Francisco’s three-run fourth, Miami responded with a three-run fifth.

Birdsong walked the first two batters he faced, prompting manager Bob Melvin to summon Spencer Bivens. The right-hander struck out the first two batters he faced but Eric Wagaman’s two-run double and Connor Norby’s RBI single gave the Marlins an 8-5 lead.

After the fireworks between Flores and the Marlins to end the seventh, Miami put the game away for good with four runs in the eighth off right-hander Sean Hjelle.