Jung Hoo Lee extended his hit streak to 16 games and the Giants rallied to a 3-1 lead in the eighth, but Keaton Winn surrendered three in the ninth and Washington’s late strikeout sealed a 4-3 loss.
San Francisco didn’t get long to breathe before the game slipped out of the Giants’ hands.
Jung Hoo Lee looked like himself again—electric and sharp—even with the kind of schedule that would flatten most players. After the Giants spent time in Chicago on Sunday, they didn’t arrive at Oracle Park until 3:09 a.m. Monday, then reached the ballpark by bus at 4 a.m. and didn’t settle into sleep until near sunrise.
Somehow, Lee turned that into momentum.
He extended his career-best hit streak to 16 games with a fourth-inning single and added three more knocks. His third and fourth singles helped spark a game-tying rally in the sixth, then another surge in the eighth that pushed San Francisco ahead.
The Giants took that 3-1 lead on a Jonah Cox safety squeeze after Keaton Winn had already been taxed in the late innings and Logan Webb had done his part by giving them eight innings of control—finishing for the first time in just over a year and limiting a potent Nationals offense to one run on five hits.
But baseball doesn’t reward effort if the last inning turns chaotic.
After the Giants scored twice in the eighth, the Nationals struck back in the ninth. Washington tagged Winn for three runs in the inning—his second blown save in three days—and the game flipped.
San Francisco still had a final chance. With runners on the corners and two outs, Bryce Eldridge chased a high fastball from Washington closer Gus Varland and was erased on a game-ending strikeout.
The Giants’ offense battled all night, clogging the bases and forcing Washington to work. Still, they finished 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position.
Manager Tony Vitello had reasons to consider different paths to the ninth. but the decision came down to timing and workload. After Eldridge’s double and the Jonah Cox safety squeeze gave the Giants their 3-1 edge in the eighth. Vitello went to the bullpen rather than leave Webb out there—partly because of a lengthy Giants eighth and partly because Webb was sitting at 99 pitches in his third game since returning from the injured list. with the top of Washington’s lineup due next.
Vitello said Caleb Killian was not an option. He also weighed starting the ninth with Webb, and Webb himself said he felt he could have handled it—but he had no problem with the call. “I was excited to watch Keaton throw,” Webb said. “It’s just unfortunate how that inning unfolded.”
Winn’s ninth didn’t begin with disaster, at least not immediately. He started by getting James Wood out on a weak grounder. Then Luis García Jr. doubled. Curtis Mead was hit. and after both runners advanced on an Eric Haase passed ball. CJ Abrams tied the game with a two-run single. Daylen Lile put Washington ahead with a two-out single.
Dylan Smith came in for the final out.
Smith wasn’t a late-bench throwaway. Vitello said Smith was one of three options he considered to pitch the ninth, alongside Webb and himself. Smith had saved Sunday’s 2-1, 10-inning win at Wrigley Field.
Vitello made it clear Smith is now in the real conversation. “Smitty is kind of putting his hat in there for the end of the game,” he said.
There’s also a longer bullpen question hovering behind the ninth-inning swing. Before the game. Vitello said the club was not ready to bring Ryan Walker back from Triple-A. despite mechanical changes that have helped Walker post a 1.08 ERA in seven games with Sacramento. The staff wants to stretch Walker into multiple innings so he can provide the length the bullpen has been short on.
So even when the Giants get what they need—Lee’s production, Webb’s dominance, two runs in the eighth—they can’t seem to convert it into a close win. Monday night ended 4-3, and the cloud still hangs over the late inning, where saves are supposed to be handled—not traded away.
Giants Nationals Jung Hoo Lee Keaton Winn Gus Varland Bryce Eldridge Logan Webb Tony Vitello bullpen