Giants’ bullpen meltdown spoils

Manaea’s outing

JaSon M aStRoDonato

BAY AREA NEWS GROUP SAN FRANCISCO — was the history he made with catcher Blake Sabol as the two formed Major League Baseball’s firstever Samoan battery. for clearing skies with a 63-degree high and winds hitting 25 mph. It could all make for a decent Navy SEALs training video. Third-round play resumes at 8:30 a.m. EDT while the final round is slotted for 12:30 p.m. with the field going off both No. 1 and No. 10 tees.

It was almost a big day for the Giants’ offseason acquisitions on Saturday.

Sean Manaea was masterful in six innings of one-run ball. Joc Pederson and Michael Conforto played important roles in the revamped offense.

The rest of the field will need to refind its footing.

Behind the leaders, Patrick Cantlay, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Collin Morikawa and Viktor Hovland all stood eight shots back. A group of six, including majors champions Justin Rose, Phil Mickelson and Jason Day, were all 4 under, nine shots behind

But Ross Stripling, who signed a two-year, $25-million deal with the Giants in December, let it all fall apart while allowing four runs in the late innings as the Royals overcame a four-run deficit to topple the Giants, 6-5, at Oracle Park.

The Giants move to 3-5 on the year with one more game against the Royals on Sunday before the Dodgers come to town on Monday.

Stripling’s meltdown blew an otherwise historic day for Manaea.

There was the 97 mph heater Manaea threw in the second inning that marked the hardest pitch he’s ever thrown in a game he’s started.

There were eight strikeouts and six innings of one-run ball. And there

The outing will be remembered by many as Manaea’s most impressive since he tossed seven no-hit innings against the Diamondbacks to open his 2022 season, an otherwise disappointing year in which he finished with a 4.96 ERA.

The Giants offered him a two-year, $25million deal to return to the Bay Area. Saturday, the 6-foot-5 lefty showed off while touching 97 mph and hovering in the mid-90s with his sinker. A year ago, he averaged 91 mph on his sinker, the pitch he’s thrown more than any other during his eightyear big league career.

Paired with an evaporating changeup, Manaea was powerful and masterful all at once. He got some help from his defense – yes, the Giants defense that entered Saturday with negative-6 defensive runs saved, tied for the