Breaking down SF Giants' curious decisions from ‘painful' doubleheader vs. Phillies

PHILADELPHIA - The Phillies’ Cristopher Sánchez fired the first pitch of Thursday’s split doubleheader at 12:36 p.m. The Giants’ Matt Gage threw the last pitch of the night at 9:16 p.m. In the eight hours and 40 minutes in between, the Giants had two opportunities to close out a one-run win in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Instead, the Giants leave Philadelphia with three more losses to their name.

San Francisco was walked off two times in one day, a pair of back-to-back gut punches that hasn’t happened with this franchise since 1956. As the Giants (13-18) fly to Florida for three games against the Tampa Bay Rays, they’re left to compartmentalize an arduous, agonizing day at the ballpark, one in which there was a fair share of questionable decisions on all fronts.

"Painful," said manager Tony Vitello following the Game 2 loss. "Certainly not mistake-free, starting in here. Not much you can do about it at this point. Not an easy flight, whether it be the time you get in or the mood of the travel. And certainly no easy opponent we're about to go into. I don't know. You got to find a way to make the most of what we've got left of this road trip.”

Right-hander Ryan Walker blew his second save of the season in Game 1 when he allowed two runs to the Phillies in the bottom of the ninth, but what stood out the most about Walker’s outing was his pitch usage. Of the 21 pitches Walker threw in the ninth, 20 of them were sinkers.

Walker’s nine-pitch battle against Bryson Stott, which ended in Stott hitting a game-tying triple, was especially jarring from a pitch-calling perspective. The cross-firing right-hander exclusively threw sinkers to Stott, and while the first eight were outside, his ninth and final one ended up right over the middle of the plate.

“I don’t really have an answer for you on that one,” Walker said when asked he only threw one slider. “It’s just something that we need to figure out. Obviously, that would’ve been beneficial. The two-seam’s been working a lot. I think we overused them definitely today. But yeah, it’s in the back of my mind. If we utilize the slider in that situation, it’s a different story.”

Did Walker consider shaking off the pitch call?

“I have a tough time shaking,” Walker said. “I’m not a big shaker. I put a lot of trust in my catchers. I still have a ton of trust in Bailey, whatever he calls, especially as a two-pitch guy. I have the confidence to get outs with both pitches in any situation. Obviously, nine two-seams to Stott is not ideal, and we’ll be making some changes in terms of situational pitching.”

Catcher Patrick Bailey didn’t offer much when asked about Walker’s sinker usage in Game 1 or Keaton Winn’s splitter usage in Game 2 (Winn threw 10 straight at one point).

“Good pitches,” Bailey said. “Trying to get them out. … I trust my guys and their pitches.”

Vitello said Winn’s barrage of splitters wasn’t necessarily by design, saying that pitching coach Justin Meccage, “is kind of calling from the dugout trying to get (Kyle) Schwarber to chase up, but it’s also a pretty effective pitch from him.”

Along with Bailey’s willingness to spam the same offering, there was third-base coach Hector Borg’s decision to hold the speedy Drew Gilbert at third base when the rookie had a good opportunity to score the go-ahead run in the top of the 10th of Game 2.

With Gilbert at second as the automatic runner to begin the 10th, Heliot Ramos hit a sharp grounder up the middle. Second baseman Bryson Stott dove for the ball and made contact, but the ball rolled away into shallow center field.

Gilbert was off and running on contact and would’ve easily scored if Borg had waved him home, but Borg threw up the stop sign and Gilbert slammed on the brakes. The Giants still had runners at the corners with no outs and Matt Chapman, Luis Arraez and Casey Schmitt due up, but all three failed to drive in Gilbert. In the bottom of the 10th, Alec Bohm delivered the walk-off sacrifice fly.

"I feel pretty good holding him right there with Chappy coming up and Arraez. They both put the ball in play. I also didn't see the right footwork," Borg said. "Second baseman made a decision. Also, when the second baseman kind of hit the ball, kills the ball kind of more than I thought. But I feel pretty good in that situation with those guys coming up."

As for Vitello, one curious decision was to let Winn, a right-hander, face the left-handed hitting Schwarber with two outs and the tying run on third in the bottom of the ninth. Gage was warming up and would’ve given San Francisco a more favorable left-on-left matchup, but Vitello stuck with Winn, who allowed a game-tying double.

“Just how (Winn) was throwing the ball to the last hitter,” Vitello said. “He’s been in the fire out there. It’s a difficult decision, and if it goes well, right answer. If it doesn’t, wrong answer.”

One consequential choice with repercussions beyond Thursday was the Giants’ decision to start Adrian Houser for Game 2. Their alternatives were a spot start from right-hander Trevor McDonald, their 27th man for the doubleheader, or a bullpen game.

McDonald now returns to Sacramento without pitching during the doubleheader, while Houser allowed two runs over 4 2/3 innings. Now, San Francisco will have to get creative with its pitching plans when the San Diego Padres come to Oracle Park beginning on Monday. Neither Houser nor Logan Webb, who pitched Game 1, would be on short rest.

Left-hander Carson Whisenhunt, who last pitched on Tuesday for Triple-A Sacramento, is a possibility if the team wants to call him up.

“Just because we know he can give us a quality start and we’ll worry about that day when it comes,” Vitello said. “That’s what he did.”

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This story was originally published April 30, 2026 at 8:58 PM.