With a whopping 20 names dotting the injured list, the San Francisco Giants have had to rely on a multitude of unheralded call-ups from Triple-A Sacramento to fill out the roster. Among them is Cesar Perdomo, who made his first start in the majors after working through four innings of relief on Tuesday.
The Venezuelan right-hander began the year in Richmond, moved up to Sacramento midway through the year, and then got his summon to San Francisco on Sept. 1. With the rotation decimated by injuries and trades, manager Tony Vitello handed the ball to the rookie on Sunday afternoon at Citi Field in New York for the final game of the Giants’ series against the Mets.
The 24-year-old was exceptional, pitching six scoreless innings. The Giants took a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the eighth.
But Perdomo’s great effort and positive finish to the seven-game trip was wiped out by another disasterclass by the bullpen in a 4-2 loss. The Giants (59-85) went 3-4 on the trip through Atlanta, Pittsburgh and New York, and blew a late in two of the losses.
“It’s pretty tough,” Vitello told reporters in New York. “You’re up the whole game. (But) it’s tough thinking two (runs) is going to be enough against their lineup and being on the road.”
Reliever Carson Seymour allowed all four runs in the eighth, walking one and allowing three hits. Two of the hits were home runs, including a go-ahead three-run shot by Bo Bichette after the Giants intentionally walked Juan Soto with two out and the potential tying run at third base.
Perdomo allowed only three hits and one walk in his six innings. Facing Soto as his final batter with a runner on first, Perdomo fought back from an 0-2 count to induce a ground ball on a 94 mile per hour fastball for an inning-ending double play that kept the Giants’ 2-0 lead intact.
“He was phenomenal,” Vitello told reporters in New York of Perdomo. “They were able to do some things against him, but any time they did, he kind of bared down. Had a lot of poise to him and seemed to find a way to (prevent) anything from kinda snowballing on him. He showed a lot of savvy out there. He looked like a veteran.”
The game began to unravel in the eighth when Brett Baty led off with a homer off Seymour. AJ Ewing followed with a single and went to second on a sacrifice bunt, but Jung Hoo Lee saved a run with a spectacular diving grab in right field on Francisco Lindor’s sinking liner.
That merely delayed the inevitable. Following the intentional walk to Soto, Bichette slammed his 16th home run of the year to give the Mets a 4-2 lead. The Giants were retired in order in the ninth.
Mets right-handed starter Christian Scott stifled the Giants hitters early on, not allowing a hit until Bryce Eldridge lined a single to right in the fourth inning.
Jonah Cox, playing his first game at second base, followed that up by turning a single into a double with aggressive baserunning with two outs.
Having seemingly figured out Scott, Lee gave the Giants a 2-0 lead with a broken bat bloop single over the head of Mets second baseman and Bay Area native Marcus Semien.
Scott finished the day having pitched 4 2/3 innings, throwing 80 pitches, allowing four hits and two earned runs.
The Mets were able to threaten in the seventh inning, putting a runner on third with two outs against Joel Kuhnel. But the right-hander who had been claimed off waivers from the Milwaukee Brewers the day before worked out of the jam, getting Semien to fly out to Cox, now back to center.
Rafael Devers entered Sunday afternoon as the hottest hitter in baseball, having slugged six home runs in his past half-dozen games. That included a two homer effort in Saturday’s victory at Citi Field. He was unable to send another ball over the fence, but he did lace a 107 mile per hour single in the eighth inning.
The Giants will return to the Bay Area on Monday to begin a series against the St. Louis Cardinals. Logan Webb (8-8, 4.21 ERA) will take the mound against a yet to be determined St. Louis starter.