The San Francisco Giants fell to the Cincinnati Reds, 5-1, on Friday night but for manager Gabe Kapler, that wasn’t even the worst of it.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Kapler made the call for relief pitcher Jake McGee, who had just come off of IL earlier that day. However, there was one major oversight that prevented McGee from entering the game: he wasn’t eligible to play.
Hours earlier, Kapler had turned the lineup card in to umpire Hunter Wendelstedt and McGee’s name wasn’t on it. Accordingly, the pitcher was prevented from taking the mound, forcing the Giants to turn to Jose Alvarez.
Cameras later caught Kapler and bench coach Kai Correa discussing the error in the dugout.
“We have an extremely detailed and meticulous group,” Kapler said, via NBC Sports. “We failed to get McGee on the lineup card. And ultimately, that’s my responsibility. So Jake was unable to pitch because he wasn’t on the lineup card. Subsequently, I had to bring [Jose] Alvarez into the game.”
Pressed further, Kapler assumed the brunt of the blame and refused to throw Correa under the bus.
“No. Everything we do around here … we do this together,” Kapler said. “This is a team effort. Our entire staff is incredibly detailed and pays very close attention. There’s a lot going on today. We just f—ed it up.”
Alvarez went on to surrender two hits, one walk and two runs (one earned) as San Francisco fell to 24-20 on the season.
