What was close to becoming a glorious doubleheader sweep turned into a gut-wrenching doubleheader split.
The Giants were two outs from narrowing their magic number to 1, celebrating their grandest day of the season, showering Wilmer Flores with virtual beer, beating the Padres 5-3 in the nightcap after beating the Padres 5-4 in the opener.
The two outs never came Friday night because Trent Grisham swattched Sam Coonrod’s 88 mph changeup over the right-field wall for a walkoff homer at Oracle Park.
That’s right, a walkoff homer by an opposing hitter because, technically, it was a “road” game for the Giants, a makeup game from the Sept. 12 postponement in San Diego.
Coonrod walked off the field after the Giants lost 6-5 and fell back to .500 at 29-29. They’re still in the eighth and final playoff spot, and they’d assure themselves of their first postseason since 2016 by winning both weekend games.
It’s possible they could advance if they win just once more, but that would require help elsewhere. That’s why a sweep would have been game-changing.
“Lot of faith that these guys are going to bounce back,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “We’ve done that all year. It’s the furthest question from my mind that this would be a crushing blow that these guys can’t come back from and be excellent the next few days. I believe wholeheartedly that that’s exactly what’s going to happen.
“This sucked. It was a gut-punch loss, and we will bounce back like we have all season long.”
After Jeff Samardzija came off the injured list, pitched two perfect innings and gave up three runs in the third, Kapler successfully used four relievers to get through six innings, but Coonrod didn’t finish the job.
Doubleheader games during the coronavirus pandemic last just seven innings, and Kapler went with Coonrod instead of Sam Selman, who threw five pitches to get the final out in the sixth, and Wandy Peralta, who was fresh.
But Coonrod, with his fastball reaching the high 90s, even the low 100s, is the kind of pitcher the Giants prefer in that situation. It just so happened he had command issues.
Tommy Pham reached on an infield single, and Coonrod issued a one-out walk to Greg Garcia. He had trouble finding the strike zone, at least until Grisham ended the long night.
“He was our length option,” Kapler said of Peralta. “Coonrod is our leverage option. Peralta hasn’t been a leverage option for us all year.”
Kapler was short in the bullpen after Thursday’s 11-inning loss to the Rockies that required six relievers, three of whom worked the previous day.
So it was determined the situation called for Coonrod.
“His key is getting in the zone and staying in a the zone,” Kapler said. “It’s not his stuff. It never has been, it never will be. He’s 97 to 100, 101 with a wipeout changeup. His key to being an elite major-league reliever is throwing a ton of strikes. It’s also the thing holding him back from being an elite reliever right now. Sam is well aware that’s the key to his success.”
Coonrod declined reporters’ request for an interview. Flores, whose dramatic three-run homer in the sixth inning put the Giants ahead 5-3 — his Game 1 homer also gave the Giants the lead — said it wouldn’t be necessary to say anything to Coonrod.
“We all know. We all know we still got a game tomorrow,” Flores said. “There are enough veteran guys here who know the situation and know how to recover from a tough loss.”
Indeed, that has been the Giants’ strength, able to overcome the odds and obstacles, not to mention tough losses.
Still, it’s tough not to imagine how differently this day would have been remembered had the nightcap been closed out, Flores with game-changing homers on both ends, the second one seemingly the most momentous homer of the season.
“It felt like we were playing Game 7 of the World Series,” Flores said. “A lot of energy.”
With the Game 2 pitching matchup of the 35-year-old Samardzija, who was reinstated from the injured list Friday, and San Diego’s Dinelson Lamet, who had a 2.07 ERA in his first 11 starts, it was crucial for the Giants to win the opener.
Mission accomplished, thanks to Mike Yastrzemski’s fruitful return to the lineup after he missed a week with a calf strain (his homer into McCovey Cove proved the difference, and he added a double) and Tyler Anderson pitching into the seventh and final inning.
Anderson had a 5-1 lead through six and yielded a double to the first batter in the seventh, Jurickson Profar. So Tony Watson was asked to finish, usually a routine proposition for the lefty, who had given up one run in 17 innings. But a three-run rally, aided by a Watson throwing error, made it a one-run decision.
Samardzija returned to the mound for the first time since Aug. 7, having finished his shoulder rehab and looking forward to possibly his last Giants start because his five-year contract is winding down.
He retired his first seven batters and hit 93 mph on the radar gun, which he hadn’t done in a big-league game in a long time, but the Padres rallied for three runs in the third on Grisham’s RBI single and Fernando Tatis Jr.’s mammoth two-run homer.
That gave the Padres a 3-1 lead, which normally is plenty of cushion for Lamet, but he walked off the mound with an elbow injury two outs into the fourth inning, a serious blow for a playoff-bound team that already had Mike Clevinger out with an elbow impingement.
Without Lamet, the Padres used a string of relievers, including former Giant Drew Pomeranz, who was victimized by a three-run rally. Donovan Solano reached on an infield single, and pinch-hitter Austin Slater walked.
That’s when Flores stepped up and hit his majestic homer to put the Giants on top 5-3. It wasn’t enough.
“Every time we have a tough loss,” Flores said, “the next day we do a pretty good job of forgetting what happened the last day. Same thing tomorrow.”
John Shea covers the Giants for The San Francisco Chronicle. Email: jshea@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JohnSheaHey
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