J.D. Davis, Thairo Estrada's blasts not enough in SF Giants 7-5 loss to Tigers

The SF Giants missed multiple late-inning opportunities, and were unable to ride Thairo Estrada and J.D. Davis' home runs to victory against the Tigers.

The SF Giants fell to the Detroit Tigers on Friday night 7-5 despite a pair of home runs and an impressive outing from the team's bullpen. Facing a Tigers squad that lost 96 games in 2022, the Giants once again were unable to prove they are a team ready to contend for a postseason appearance.

SF Giants left fielder Thairo Estrada celebrates after hitting a lead-off homer against the Tigers. (2023) / Lon Horwedel-USA TODAY Sports

Giants Left fielder Thairo Estrada led off the game with a massive 441' home run, the longest and hardest hit of his career. Estrada, who had only played second base and shortstop this season entering play on Friday, had a difficult day defensively. While he did not record an error, Estrada struggled with angles on several hits. Still, at the plate, Estrada continued his scorching start to the season. He finished the day a triple short of the cycle, improving his triple-slash on the season to .378/.429/.644.

Tigers starter Joey Wentz was not shaken by the lead-off blast. In fact, the rookie southpaw did not allow another run over his 5.2 innings of work. Wentzpounded the zone across 5.2 innings of work, consistently putting Giants' hitters in two-strike counts. Playing from behind, the Giants offense was unable to square him up.

For the Giants, lefty Sean Manaea made his second start of the season after an excellent outing on Saturday. Manaea's command was not as sharp as it was in his last outing on Saturday, but he also fell victim to some tough batted-ball luck. Former top Tigers prospects Spencer Torkelson and Riley Greene drove in the two runs Manaea allowed on Friday. Torkelson hitting a sacrifice fly in the second inning while Greene tripled in the third.

With that said, Manaea continued to show off improved velocity. His sinker averaged 94.6 mph during his appearance, which only further solidifies his elite potential. Manaea allowed two earned runs in 3.1 innings pitched on four hits and a walk with four strikeouts.

Jakob Junis relieved Manaea in the bottom of the fourth inning, handling the middle innings for Giants manager Gabe Kapler. Junis allowed a pair of runs in the fifth inning with doubles by Matt Vierling and Javier Báez delivering the biggest hits of the inning.

Trailing 4-1, the Giants lineup rallied against Tigers righty Garrett Hill. After recording the final out in the seventh, Hill walked Estrada and gave up a single to first baseman Wilmer Flores early in the seventh inning. With third baseman J.D. Davis coming to the plate, Tigers manager Hinch lifted Hill for Mason Englert

Kapler feigned pinch-hitting LaMonte Wade Jr, but opted to stick with Davis. Davis had made a pair of impressive defensive plays at third base on Friday evening. Both plays required him to slide awkwardly on his knee, however, and he was visibly in discomfort throughout the game. Obviously, it will be a situation worth monitoring in the coming days. Still, he remained in the game.

It paid off.

The former Mets slugger capitalized on Englert's first pitch, sending a 91.4 mph fastball over the right-field wall for a game-tying three-run homer.

No matter how many fish in the sea, it'll be so empty without J.D. 🎤 pic.twitter.com/R6UrThH504

— SFGiants (@SFGiants) April 15, 2023

Flores was unable to capitalize on an error by Tigers left fielder Eric Haase in the top of the ninth that put runners on second and third with two outs, flying out.

Giants southpaw Scott Alexander shutdown the Tigers in the bottom of the ninth, sending San Francisco to their first extra-inning game of the year.

Despite starting the 10th inning with a free runner on second base, thanks to commissioner Rob Manfred, the Giants were unable to manage a run against Englert. Englert struck out Mike Yastrzemski and Kapler chose not to pinch-hit lefty Joc Pederson for Darin Ruf, and Ruf struck out before David Villar grounded out to end the inning.

Kapler turned to closer Camilo Doval in the bottom of the tenth, hoping to prevent the winning run from scoring. Tigers outfielder Akil Baddoo bunted the free runner over to third, but Doval blew away Torkelson on three pitches before inducing an inning-ending groundout. San Francisco's closer had kept their chances alive.

In the top of the 11th, new Tigers reliever Jose Cisnero allowed back-to-back singles to Brandon Crawford and Wade, but retired the next three hitters. So, the Giants only scored the free runner in the inning, giving them a 5-4 lead.

Tigers second baseman Zach McKinstry chopped a ground ball to Villar to lead off the bottom of the 11th. Rather than taking the easy out at first, Villar made a terrible decision to go for the lead runner at third. The runner was easily safe.

McKinstry stole second base to put the winning run in scoring position. Doval nearly escaped, striking out Jake Rogers and Matt Vierling. However, a 3-0 sinker to Nick Maton was smashed over the right-field wall for a walk-off home run.

After falling to 5-8 on the season, the SF Giants will send righty Anthony DeSclafani to the hill tomorrow. Tigers manager A.J. Hinch has yet to announce a starting pitcher. First pitch on Saturday is scheduled for 10:10 AM Pacific time.