When LaMonte Wade Jr. struck out on a high cutter from Seattle’s Carlos Vargas, I dropped my head into my hands and groaned. A necessary release of stale, anxious air that had built up over the past four hours. Bottom of the 11th, down a run — and another San Francisco Giants hitter couldn’t muster a deep enough fly ball or a well-placed grounder to advance the runner the final 90 feet home.
It was the Giants’ eight blown opportunity to knock in a run with an out, and this latest failure felt like the decisive blow.