The Angels grabbed a run early and then blew the game open with a 3-run fourth, building the cushion they'd eventually need. San Francisco didn't go quietly — a 2-run ninth got the tying run to the plate before the Angels shut the door and walked away with a 4-3 win, snapping their three-game skid against this same Giants club.
Soriano had cooled off considerably from his hot April, but his last time out — 7 innings, 2 earned runs, 7 strikeouts against the Cardinals — was a sign of life, and it carried over into Sunday's finale. For a team sitting at 41-64, stealing the last game of a series in San Francisco after getting outscored 16-8 the two days prior counts as a real building block.
The Giants, meanwhile, are the ones staring down bigger questions. At 44-60 with a bullpen already down Rowan Wick, Randy Rodriguez, Hayden Birdsong and Jose Butto for the year, San Francisco's front office has more urgent problems than one blown save chance in a series they still won. Jung Hoo Lee's 3-run shot Saturday was a nice reminder of what this lineup can do when it's clicking — it just didn't show up when it mattered most on Sunday.
Take series wins where you can find them — San Francisco did that with two comfortable victories to open the weekend. But letting the finale slip after building momentum is the kind of game a seller doesn't want on the ledger with the deadline bearing down.