SAN FRANCISCO — From the field to the opponent to the bunt itself and even the handedness of the pitcher who made the error, so much of how the Cardinals lost to the San Francisco Giants on Saturday was familiar.
Except the stakes.
Instead of a pivotal game in a series to decide the National League pennant, the throw that got away from a Cardinals left-handed reliever this year only gave the Giants a chance Sunday to reach .500 for the season in both teams’ finale. After the Cardinals rallied to tie the score, Matthew Liberatore pounced on Brett Wisely’s two-out bunt and threw wide to first base. His throw even followed the same path at Oracle Park as Randy Choate’s did a decade earlier when the Giants turned a bunt and that error into a walk-off win for Game 3 of the NL Championship Series.
On Saturday, Giants rookie Tyler Fitzgerald scored from first base on the error to give the Giants a one-run lead and, after the Cardinals’ scoreless ninth, a 6-5 victory.
People are also reading…
There was a time when the shiver was from the temperatures when these two teams played not from the flashback of a play.
A little more than a decade ago the Giants and Cardinals alternated appearances in the World Series — Giants had evens, Cardinals odds — and they clashed twice during the Cardinals’ run of four consecutive National League championship series. ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ were postseason fixtures, model franchises, October rivals right down to their generational catchers, Yadier Molina and Buster Posey. So much has changed for each team in the 10 years since they faced each other the playoffs only to put them in the same spot: eliminated, left out from the cold.
The comparisons do not stop with the calendar.
With Masyn Winn in red and Fitzgerald by the Bay, both teams have rising rookie shortstops to build an infield. They each play alongside Gold Glove-winning third basemen and graduates of the same Southern California high school, Nolan Arenado and Matt Chapman. The Giants and Cardinals each signed a free-agent starter this past season, though Sonny Gray is a Cardinal to stay for a few years, while Blake Snell can bounce. Attendance at each team’s ballpark has softened. And in the coming days both teams face decisions with their front office. Change is expected. The level is the question.
Giants executive Farhan Zaidi acknowledged to San Francisco writers this past week that his future is uncertain.
“You look around baseball and there are other teams in the same boat as us with playoff aspirations and it didn’t happen,†Zaidi told them, as quoted in The Athletic.
The similarities between the teams continue beyond Brandon Crawford to their place in the standings. Entering Saturday’s game, the Cardinals struggling offense had a combined OPS of .702. That tied with the Giants for 13th lowest. The Cardinals’ pitching staff entered the weekend with an ERA of 4.08, tied for the 14th highest with … the Giants.
In Snell and Logan Webb, the Giants have two starters to build a case for being closer to a playoff return, just as the Cardinals could counter with their resolute bullpen and younger position players. It’s debatable, maybe even a coin flip, who is better positioned to reclaim the standing reservation they once had in October.
Within the loss Saturday, the Cardinals saw contributors to that cause.
Brendan Donovan matched Paul Goldschmidt with three hits, and in the seventh-inning uprising that tied the game, Donovan had the two-run double that pulled the Cardinals within a run. Jordan Walker tied the game, 5-5, by bouncing a base hit to left field for an RBI. The Cardinals would like both of them to be leading producers in the front half of the 2025 lineup.
Donovan “fits just about anywhere in that lineup,†manager Oliver Marmol said. “What I am confident in is he can hit anywhere and bring a lot of value.â€
Few Cardinals have changed their value to the club and its future this season than Andre Pallante. In his final start of the season he reinvented himself for the rotation, Pallante allowed two runs scored by the first two batters he faced. The game did not unravel on him, and he got nine outs from the next nine batters he faced. When the Giants threatened again to blow out an inning after scoring two runs, stealing a base, and adding a second double, Pallante struck out two batters to minimize the damage.
That stand meant the rally later tied the score instead of tidying it.
“Those are things that you take away from the season,†Marmol said. “Now, if something happens, whether it’s a misplay behind him or a walk, he can stay present and get the job done. I felt like he did a much better job of that. His overall growth has been incredible. He’s one of the brightest spots of what has happened this year.â€
Pallante, who finished 8-8, was also one of the drivers behind the Cardinals’ best stretch of the year. When they were closer to contention, before a wild-card berth slipped from their grasp, Pallante and Gray led the rotation.
“That’s what you need to get on a run,†Marmol said. “You need some stoppers and some guys who can take the ball and give you six or seven and do it consistently. They did that.â€
Where the Cardinals kept stumbling routinely through the year was on offense, and they did so Saturday. Including the tying run on base in the ninth inning, the Cardinals marooned a season-high 14 batters on base Saturday. Walker left four batters in scoring position behind, Michael Siani two. The Cardinals went 4 for 16 with runners in scoring position.
After Walker’s RBI single to tie game with no outs and two runners still on, the Cardinals had four more plate appearances with a runner in scoring position. ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ went 0 for 3.
Which brings the Giants and Cardinals to another similarity as they reach the end of their seasons Sunday— they’ll both be looking for offense this winter, maybe even in the same place.
In the eighth, Liberatore retired the first two batters before an infield single ricocheted off of him to get Fitzgerald to first. Wisely dropped a savvy bunt to get Liberatore moving off the mound after that, and the wild throw meant Fitgerald scored easily. After the game, Marmol detailed what Liberatore could grasp from that situation. The Giants had two lefties do up next. He had the matchup advantage even with two on base. Better to avoid rushing that throw and go make pitches.
Measuring a season not in October meetings, but lessons learned.
Something the Giants and Cardinals share when they don’t share October.
“At the end of the day, we’re not in the postseason,†said Donovan after the game when told he’d likely lead the team in hits. “Hits are great. But you’re not in the postseason. I want to win with this organization, and I want to do it for a long time. So it’s back to the drawing board. How can we get back into October baseball?â€