San Francisco Giants’ Denard Span (2) can only watch as the ball leaves centerfield for a grand slam home run by New York Mets’ Justin Ruggiano (1) in the fourth inning at AT&T Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, August 18, 2016. NY could use another big outing by deGrom after allowing 28 runs while losing two of three at Arizona to fall four games behind the St. Louis Cardinals for the National League’s second wild-card spot.
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NY had taken a 4-0 lead in the fourth on Justin Ruggiano’s second career grand slam in his first game back off the disabled list. His last outing, he pitched seven innings while allowing only one earned run and striking out nine. One alarming trend, though, is that he has walked at least two batters in four of his last five starts. Bumgarner’s 14th career home, with a man aboard, capped a five-run Giants inning and gave them a 5-4 lead that moments earlier had seemed as probable as creatures from Neptune landing on the infield to sweep it between innings.
Bumgarner’s third homer of the season highlighted the Giants’ five-run fourth.
DeGrom (7-6) had allowed only two earned runs over his previous 27 2-3 innings before giving up career-highs in runs (8) and hits (13). Santiago Casilla worked the ninth for his 28th save.
Travis d’Arnaud and T.J. Rivera had two hits apiece for the Mets.
Ruggiano entered the at-bat 4-for-10 against Bumgarner with two homers after a single in the second inning, and after taking a close 1-2 pitch, the center fielder battled to a full count.
The Mets loaded the bases again in the seventh, but reliever Derek Law managed to get of his own jam.
The Giants added two runs in the eighth on Buster Posey’s two-run double to push the lead to 10-7. Hal Jeffcoat did it with the 1957 Cincinnati Reds. The Giants placed RHP Matt Cain (sore lower back) on the 15-day disabled list and reinstated RHP Cory Gearrin from the DL. Mets manager Terry Collins disclosed before the game that he’s planning to activate LF Yoenis Cespedes (strained right quad) and SS Asdrubal Cabrera (strained left knee) from the DL on Friday.
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Mets: LHP Steven Matz (9-8), who took a no-hitter into the eighth inning of his most recent start on August 14, faces the Giants for the second time in his career. He has a stellar 1.47 ERA in 13 home starts but his record is just 6-3 due to San Francisco’s offensive issues.
