SF Giants drop two of three to Cardinals, prepare for crucial six-game home stand

ST LOUIS In a vacuum the Giants had an acceptable road trip They dropped the rubber match to the St Louis Cardinals on Sunday at Busch Stadium but with a sweep of the Colorado Rockies they ll fly home with four wins to two losses The Giants do not exist in a vacuum With games remaining with a record of - they re at a juncture where acceptable is not enough They had an opportunity in St Louis to inch closer to that final NL wild card spot but Saturday s walk-off loss combined with Sunday s - loss leaves them four games behind the New York Mets Now they enter their greater part crucial home stand of the season Three games against the surging Arizona Diamondbacks who are making their own late push for the final wild card spot Three games against the Los Angeles Dodgers who are clinging to the division lead San Francisco has revived its playoff hopes over the last two-and-a-half weeks winning of its last games even after dropping two of three to the Cardinals A good home stand will keep them in the hunt especially if the Mets continue to stumble A bad home stand could see their playoff odds fall closer to zero Kai-Wei Teng and Sonny Gray traded zeros for the first four innings but St Louis put up a four-spot in the bottom of the fifth when Teng suddenly lost his command The right-hander began the frame by walking the Cardinals seven eight and nine hitters Jordan Walker Nathan Church Jos Ferm n and setting the table for the top of the order Lars Nootbaar s RBI single broke the scoreless tie knocking Teng out of the battle in the process Right-hander Jos Butt couldn t prevent the Cardinals from padding their lead by allowing all three inherited runners to tally By the end of the frame St Louis led - and San Francisco had yet to record a hit Teng ended his day having allowed four runs over four-plus innings with eight strikeouts but five walks In the top of the sixth the Giants ultimately had a response Gray began the inning by walking Drew Gilbert and Knizner gifting San Francisco a rally Following Heliot Ramos strikeout Rafael Devers recorded the Giants first hit with a single that drove in Gilbert and cut the deficit to - Willy Adames walked to load the bases and Dominic Smith drove in the second run of the inning with a bases-loaded single of his own knocking Gray out of the battle in the process The Giants got within one run when Matt Chapman drove in Devers with a single against reliever Matt Svanson but Svanson maintained the Cardinals - lead by retiring Jung Hoo Lee and Casey Schmitt