Tony Vitello ejected as Giants fall apart in fifth straight loss, swept by Royals

KANSAS CITY — Willy Adames said it was terrible. Landen Roupp used the word stupid. Tony Vitello was more congenial in his disagreement, yet the Giants manager was the one ejected Wednesday afternoon after a controversial decision at second base in the seventh inning.

Everything fell apart as soon as second base umpire Mike Estabrook said Adames had pushed Vinnie Pasquantino off the bag after the Royals outfielder doubled to lead off the seventh.

By the time the inning was over, the score had been flipped in the Royals’ favor, 5-3, from the 3-0 advantage the Giants held when it began. Casey Schmitt added a solo home run with two outs in the ninth, but the five-run meltdown held up to send San Francisco to its fifth straight loss.

The 5-4 defeat clinched a sweep for Kansas City, which began the series as one of four teams below the Giants in the standings. That number is now three after the Giants finished the road trip 1-5 to send them a season-worst 18 games below .500, at 42-60.

As has seemingly been the case all season, the Giants let one bad thing snowball into disaster.

“Just like that call today,” said Roupp, who had allowed only two runners to reach base through six efficient innings before the collapse in the seventh. “Just kind of unlucky things, and then it goes from there. We’ve gotta find a way to stop that.”

Roupp said he wasn’t impacted by the delay as the umpires sorted through the unfortunate ruling at second base. But he served up a home run to the next batter, Salvador Perez, and Sam Hentges and Keaton Winn combined to allow another three runs on four hits, a walk and an error when Hentges fielded a bunt and threw the ball past Rafael Devers, into foul territory.

Perez came out for a curtain call during the pitching change. The home run was the 317th of his career, tying George Brett for the Royals’ all-time franchise record.

It’s possible it all would have played out differently had another call not gone against the Giants to begin the inning. San Francisco was frustrated with the umpiring all series, particularly as it pertained to Adames, and it felt like it was building toward an ejection.

“Maybe some history there,” Vitello said. “Same thing with Willy. … As we stand here, I don’t know if he was out or safe, but in that situation … it’s a pretty obvious swing moment there.”

Although it was Estabrook who made the call at second, it was third-base umpire Lance Barrett who gave Vitello the hook for his third time this season — the second time in 11 days.

Barrett was behind the plate Tuesday, when a check-swing call and a missed catcher’s interference also went against Adames, leading to some chirping from the visitors’ dugout.

“I guess I’m in the middle of the mess all the time,” Adames said. “But I guess the whole year’s been like that.”

Pasquantino slid into second to lead off the seventh but lost his balance as his momentum carried him away from the bag. At the same time, Adames attempted to tag him out.

There were no clear angles showing that Pasquantino should have been out. But there was no opportunity to review the ruling because Estabrook had made a “judgement” call.

“I don’t think you as an umpire can judge how hard I tagged the guy,” Adames said. “Then you’re going to judge that I pushed him? I thought it was pretty obvious that he tripped. I barely touched him. … I don’t know if he was out or safe. I’m just saying, let it be reviewed.”

Adames was more animated than his manager while expressing his disagreement, waving his arms and wearing a look of disbelief while pleading his case to Estabrook. 

Vitello and his shortstop both said they were surprised that his actions led to an ejection.

“I just said it was a big call,” he said. “Twice, I said it was a big call. … No curse words.”

“Whether he was out or safe, I think it was a pretty bad call,” Roupp added. “I’ve watched it 10 times since I’ve been in here and there’s no way Willy pushed him off the bag. I don’t really know. I just thought it was kind of a stupid call.”

What it means

The Giants’ losing streak is their third of five or more games this season — one away from matching their longest skid of the year. They haven’t won more than three games in a row.

In all five losses, the Giants took a lead in the early innings but failed to build on it and eventually let it slip away. Their four runs were the most they’ve scored in any of the losses, and they only got there thanks to Schmitt’s solo homer when they needed two runs, not just one.

They were robbed of at least one run in the second when Jung Hoo Lee laced a would-be RBI double foul with Rafael Devers on third. On the next pitch, he lined a ball at 104.6 mph — right into the glove of shortstop Andrew Velazquez, who fired to third to double up Devers.

“I think those things become more noticeable when you’re not winning,” Vitello said. “[But] I think you pile up the games, I think there’s some truth to the fact that there’s been … more unfortunate things happen than you want to.”

Who’s hot

After Roupp was knocked around and the Giants lost for the 11th consecutive time he took the mound, he went looking for answers, made a mechanical tweak and has seen the payoff.

Roupp said his arm was lagging behind the rest of his body in his motion, leading him to lose command. In three starts since speeding up his arm, he has surrendered only three runs over 21 innings, a 1.29 ERA.

“I feel like I’m back to where I should be, locating the sinker and really all my pitches,” Roupp said. “I feel like I’m back to where I was at the beginning [of the year], so I’ve just got to keep building off that.”

On Wednesday, he didn’t issue a walk and upped his strikeout total with seven over six-plus innings. Before he yielded the double to Pasquantino and the ensuing home run to Perez to begin the seventh, he had faced only one batter more than the minimum through six innings.

“Leading up to that inning,” Vitello said, “that was about as good as you can throw the ball.”

Who’s not

Vitello chose an interesting player to single out when he brought up the team’s confidence level before the game.

“You’ve lost two games, lost the Seattle series. You can see yourself in that light,” Vitello said, “or you can see yourself as Casey Schmitt, one of the best defensive players in the league and capable of driving the ball out of the park and having good at-bats.”

Whether there was anything more to read into the manager’s choice of examples, Schmitt has been in a bit of a rut at the plate and looked more out of sorts than normal Wednesday.

The third baseman took a long, slow walk back to the dugout after he struck out for the second time in his second trip to the plate against Seth Lugo. He went down looking his third time up.

His home run in the ninth inning snapped him out of a 3-for-23 skid since the All-Star break.

Up next

The Giants return to San Francisco, where they’ll have the day off Thursday before Logan Webb begins their weekend series against the Angels on Friday. Following the off-day, the Giants will play 13 consecutive games before their next break Aug. 6.

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