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Koss's first homer of the year cuts deficit, but Giants still lose

Christian Koss hit his first home run of the season, a two-run shot that pulled San Francisco within one of Arizona, before the Giants fell 10-6 at Oracle Park and left chances on the bases.

Saratoga Newsroom

August 29, 20263 min read

Symbolic baseball in a gold trophy frame with laurel wreaths, no athletes
MLBFinal
Arizona Diamondbacks10
San Francisco Giants6

August 28, 2026

Christian Koss's first home run of the season arrived in the fourth inning with San Francisco already trailing by five.

Hill had walked. Koss then drove a Kohl Drake pitch 365 feet to left, a two-run shot that made it 6-5 and briefly restored the noise at Oracle Park on Friday night. The Associated Press and CBS Sports both framed it as his first homer of the year.

It was also the high-water mark. Arizona answered later, the Giants stranded chances after getting within one, and Koss's night closed with a throwing error that helped the Diamondbacks finish a 10-6 win.

Koss went 1-for-3 with a run, two RBI, the home run and a strikeout. ESPN and CBS Sports agree on his season line of .211/.256/.281. The two RBI lifted his season total to four.

Arizona builds a five-run cushion

Lars Nootbaar had opened the game with a first-pitch home run. ESPN measured it 432 feet to center; CBS Sports' play-by-play said right center. Bryce Eldridge's solo blast to right in the bottom half, 381 feet and his 15th, and Hill's second-inning sacrifice fly that scored Lee after a single and steal, had San Francisco up 2-1. Then Blade Tidwell's third unraveled.

Carroll's two-run homer to center, 419 feet on ESPN and his 19th with 61 RBI, scored Nootbaar after a double. Tawa's three-run homer followed, left center at 379 feet on ESPN and left in CBS Sports' play-by-play, with Perdomo and Arenado scoring.

Eldridge's RBI double scored Devers later in the frame, but Arizona led 6-2 entering the fourth, when Koss's drive made it a one-run game.

Tidwell took the loss at 0-1 after five innings, seven hits, six earned runs, four strikeouts and one walk on 100 pitches and 67 strikes, ERA 4.54. Gerardo Carrillo earned the win with a scoreless fifth, one inning, no hits, one strikeout, two walks, moving to 3-1 with a 0.55 ERA. Drake allowed five earned runs over four innings.

Bivens gave up four earned runs in two innings for San Francisco.

Error, empty chances, and Saturday's doubleheader

Koss had grounded out to third in the second and struck out looking against Loaisiga in the sixth. Furman pinch-hit in the eighth. In that same inning, Koss's throwing error let Barrosa reach (E3).

Arizona had already padded the lead: Vargas's two-run single and Carroll's sacrifice fly in the sixth, McCann's RBI single in the seventh, and Hill's fielder's choice that scored Lee in the eighth after a walk and errors. San Francisco finished with five hits and one error; Arizona had 12 hits and two errors. ESPN's box shows the Giants 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position.

The Associated Press recap noted Arizona's half-game deficit to San Diego for the third NL wild-card spot and a 9-2 mark against the Giants this season. Baseball-Reference and CBS Sports confirm the 72-64 and 55-80 records, attendance of 27,153, a 3:06 game time and the 7:15 p.m. local night start. Porter ejected Vitello in the third; Jim Wolf ejected Logan Webb, who was not pitching.

Braxton Roxby retired Arizona in order in his major league debut in the ninth.

CBS Sports' preview for Saturday's day-night doubleheader in San Francisco lists Merrill Kelly (8-12, 5.35 ERA) for Arizona in Game 1 and Mitch Bratt (1-2, 4.54) in Game 2. Koss's first long ball of 2026 brought the Giants to the doorstep; the rest of the order never pushed them through.

Sources

https://www.espn.com/mlb/game/_/gameId/401816714

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401816714

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/gametracker/boxscore/MLB_20260828_ARI@SF/

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SFN/SFN202608280.shtml

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/gametracker/preview/MLB_20260829_ARI@SF_2/

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Saratoga Newsroom

Reporting from Saratoga and the surrounding area.

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