{"id":2510518,"date":"2026-07-21T06:04:30","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T06:04:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2510518"},"modified":"2026-07-21T06:04:30","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T06:04:30","slug":"giants-walked-off-in-heartbreaking-fashion-by-royals-for-58th-loss-in-100-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/giants-walked-off-in-heartbreaking-fashion-by-royals-for-58th-loss-in-100-games\/","title":{"rendered":"Giants walked off in heartbreaking fashion by Royals for 58th loss in 100 games"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>KANSAS CITY \u2014 Even when things are going mostly right for the Giants, this team has so little margin for error that all it took was two bunts for it all to go wrong.<\/p>\n<p>Such was the case on an obscenely hot and humid Monday night at Kauffman Stadium, which saw Willy Adames provide the clutch heroics to tie the game with two outs in the ninth inning, only for San Francisco to go on to yet another heartbreaking defeat.<\/p>\n<p>Adames played a factor in it all falling apart in the bottom of ninth when, for no apparent reason, he wasn\u2019t in position to tag second base after catcher Daniel Susac made an equally questionable call to try to get the lead runner on the first of two sacrifice bunts.<\/p>\n<p>In the end, the Giants were handed a 4-3 walkoff loss by the Royals, one of only four teams around the majors below them in the league standings.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo matter how it goes down,\u201d manager Tony Vitello said, \u201cyou don\u2019t like it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Vitello didn\u2019t second-guess Susac\u2019s decision to go for the lead runner, or Adames\u2019 failure to cover second. He was standing near the bag but his feet were inches off, allowing Josh Rojas, who led off the inning with a single against Caleb Kilian, to get in safely.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Rojas didn\u2019t need to slide, and even began to pull up before he reached the base, because Adames wasn\u2019t in position to tag the base for the force out.<\/p>\n<p>The two players convened about the miscommunication after the game with infield coach Ron Washington, who clarified that the mistake was on both players\u2019 shoulders. Susac should have gotten the out at first, and Adames should have been at second until that decision was made.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just couldn\u2019t tell from home\u201d that Adames wasn\u2019t on the bag, said Susac, who was also responsible for two of the Giants\u2019 six hits. \u201cI just threw it. \u2026 Looking back at it, probably [should have] taken the out at first. You live and you learn. I tried to take a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The game ended only two batters later, when Nick Loftin dropped down another bunt with Rojas representing the winning run on third base. Bryce Eldridge charged the ball, which appeared to be drifting foul up the first-base line, and tried to flip it to Susac with his glove but his 6-foot-7 frame didn\u2019t bend down far enough to get his leather around the ball.<\/p>\n<p>The ball rolled away, Rojas raced home and his teammates soon poured out of the first-base dugout to celebrate a win that appeared to be in jeopardy just a half-inning earlier.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it was a tough hop for Bryce,\u201d Susac said. \u201cIt was one of those balls that probably goes foul, but at the same time, if he gets it, he\u2019s out by three steps.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe talked about that. It was a tough play. But it tends to happen \u2014 one bad play leads to another, one bad throw leads to another. It\u2019s stuff we\u2019ve got to clean up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Susac was on the receiving end of one great throw earlier in the game, when Drew Gilbert fired a dime on one hop to home plate for an 8-2 double play, preventing Lane Thomas from scoring on a sacrifice fly in the second inning and keeping the score tied at zero.<\/p>\n<p>The catcher called the throw the \u201cbest we\u2019ve had from the outfield all year,\u201d though Vitello commended his catcher for corralling the one-hopper and making the tag.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSusac was great all night, and he was extremely composed as the ball was coming,\u201d Vitello said. \u201cWhen you\u2019ve got a throw coming that\u2019s that firm and it\u2019s gonna take a hop, you don\u2019t really know what kind of hop you\u2019re gonna get. I thought the composure was outstanding.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That put the Giants in position to take a 1-0 lead in the fourth on a 430-foot solo shot to right field from Heliot Ramos. But for the third game in a row, San Francisco took a lead, failed to add on and eventually let it slip away, never to be reclaimed again.<\/p>\n<p>The Giants were down to their last out when Adames launched his 18th home run of the season \u2014 his third in the past four games \u2014 to tie the score at 3. It was the second consecutive blown save by Royals closer Alex Lange that he allowed a home run with two outs in the ninth.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>It has seemingly been impossible for the Giants to get all three phases of their game working at the same time. <span class=\"credit\">AP Photo\/Charlie Riedel<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>As the ball dribbled away, Josh Rojas raced home to score the winning run. <span class=\"credit\">AP Photo\/Charlie Riedel<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>But a pair of hits from Daniel Susac and a couple scattered singles from Rafael Devers and Jung Hoo Lee was all the rest the feeble Giants lineup was able to muster against All-Star Michael Wacha (above), who went six innings, and a trio Kansas City relievers. <span class=\"credit\">AP Photo\/Charlie Riedel<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What it means<\/h2>\n<p>There are officially 100 games down, 62 to go in what is shaping up to be one of the worst seasons in the Giants\u2019 history, before or after their move to San Francisco.<\/p>\n<p>At 42-58, they are one of only 10 in the 143-year history of the franchise with as many losses at the 100-game milepost. The 16 games below .500 matches a season-worst.<\/p>\n<p>They\u2019ll need to win Tuesday to avoid falling further below .500 than any point since the end of the 2017 season, which produced the Giants\u2019 second-worst finish in their West Coast era.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Who\u2019s hot<\/h2>\n<p>Blink, and you might miss it.<\/p>\n<p>A day after the less-than-fleet-footed Bryce Eldridge swiped second base \u2014 his first career stolen base \u2014 catcher Daniel Susac kicked it into gear, too. Unlike Eldridge, the catcher drew a throw on his stolen base attempt and dove headfirst ahead of the tag for his second steal.<\/p>\n<p>The Giants, who began Sunday\u2019s game tied for third-fewest steals in the majors, intended to be more aggressive on the base paths, and that apparently includes two of their slowest runners.<\/p>\n<p>Susac\u2019s successful steal was the Giants\u2019 12th in the month of July without being thrown out.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In 15 games, they have matched their most stolen bases of any previous month, when they went 12-for-18 across 26 games in June. They had been 27-for-39 when July began.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>There are officially 100 games down, 62 to go in what is shaping up to be one of the worst seasons in the Giants\u2019 history, before or after their move to San Francisco. <span class=\"credit\">AP Photo\/Charlie Riedel<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Who\u2019s not<\/h2>\n<p>It took less than an inning for Trevor McDonald to cough up the 1-0 lead Ramos provided with his home run, and he would walk off the mound only an inning later after experiencing discomfort in his elbow.<\/p>\n<p>McDonald served up a 440-foot blast to Salvador Perez after he hit his second batter of the game to begin the bottom of the fourth. Isaac Collins singled home another run to make it 3-1.<\/p>\n<p>That wasn\u2019t the Giants\u2019 biggest concern after the game, however. McDonald is set to undergo MRIs, and the prognosis didn\u2019t sound great \u2014 San Francisco already has another arm, Tristan Beck, en route.<\/p>\n<p>The 25-year-old right-hander summoned the training staff after something felt off on a slider he threw while warming up for the fifth inning. Teammates consoled him on the mound, and JT Brubaker took over.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Up next<\/h2>\n<p>The Giants resume their series against the Royals with the second of a three-game set Tuesday (4:40 p.m. PT). Tyler Mahle will make his first start of the second half against Luinder Avila.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source celebrity.land \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>KANSAS CITY \u2014 Even when things are going mostly right for the Giants, this team has so little margin for error that all it took was two bunts for it all to go wrong. Such was the case on an obscenely hot and humid Monday night at Kauffman Stadium, which saw Willy Adames provide the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2510520,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[25866,319715,21848],"class_list":["post-2510518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-royalty","tag-mlb","tag-san-francisco-giants","tag-sports"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Giants-walked-off-in-heartbreaking-fashion-by-Royals-for-58th.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2510518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2510518"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2510518\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2510522,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2510518\/revisions\/2510522"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2510520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2510518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2510518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2510518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}