SAN FRANCISCO — On a lethargic Saturday night at Oracle Park, there was not a single facet of the game where the San Francisco Giants outplayed the New York Mets. The Mets had better hitting. The Mets had stronger pitching. The Mets had crisper fielding. Christian Koss, a position player, pitched the ninth inning. The Giants totaled three hits and as many errors. The final score, 9-0 in the ...

The San Francisco Giants' Heliot Ramos swings for a strike in the third inning against the New York Mets at Oracle Park in San Francisco on April 3, 2026.

Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group/TNS

SAN FRANCISCO — On a lethargic Saturday night at Oracle Park, there was not a single facet of the game where the San Francisco Giants outplayed the New York Mets.

The Mets had better hitting. The Mets had stronger pitching. The Mets had crisper fielding. Christian Koss, a position player, pitched the ninth inning. The Giants totaled three hits and as many errors. The final score, 9-0 in the visitor’s favor, only partially encapsulates the degree to which New York (5-4) outplayed San Francisco (3-6) in front of a packed house that had more reasons to groan than reasons to cheer.

Right-hander Landen Roupp started his night strong, striking out the first four batters he faced, but ended the night with a clunker: 4 2/3 innings, seven runs, six earned. On a night where Clay Holmes was dominant, tossing seven scoreless innings with four strikeouts, Roupp exceeded his minuscule margin of error.

One of the few things that the home crowd could applaud was Koss, who pitched a scoreless ninth inning and has yet to allow a run over five career innings. Koss, interestingly enough, made his first pitching appearance this season before getting his first at-bat.

If Roupp had sharper defense behind him, the trajectory of his second outing of the season might’ve looked different.

San Francisco’s defense committed two errors behind Roupp, both of which were on the same play. In the top of the second with the bases loaded, the Mets’ Carson Benge hit a slow roller to the left side of the infield. Third baseman Matt Chapman charged hard and fielded the ball, but the ball popped out of his glove on the exchange.

Chapman recovered and snatched the ball before it hit the ground and fired to first, but Jerar Encarnacion couldn’t make the catch and the ball skurried away. Two runs scored, and Chapman and Encarnacion were both dinged for errors.

For the Giants, it marked their second multi-error game of the season, the other being from their tense loss to the Padres where Chapman told first baseman Casey Schmitt to “catch the (expletive) ball.”

That sequence was the beginning, not the end, of the Giants’ defensive lowlights.

In the fifth with no outs and Luis Torrens on first, Francisco Lindor hit a grounder to Encarnacion’s right. If Encarnacion had fielded the ball clean, the Giants could’ve gotten the force out at second. Instead, Encarnacion awkwardly went into a half dive and could only knock the ball down. Roupp, sprinting over from the mound, picked up the ball and tagged first for the out.

Encarnacion wasn’t charged with an error, but the inability to get the lead runner hurt. Bo Bichette, the next batter, snuck a single past shortstop Willy Adames, allowing Torrens to score from second. It was one of five runs that the Giants allowed in the fifth, a defining frame that effectively sealed the game for New York.

More sloppy defense was ahead. In the seventh and Brett Baty on second, the Mets’ Tyrone Taylor, who hit a pinch-hit three-run homer in the fifth, lined a single to right field. Baty scored easily, and right fielder Jung Hoo Lee’s throw skipped to the back stop, gifting Taylor a free base.

On the very next pitch, Keaton Winn spiked a splitter that bounced in front of home plate. Catcher Patrick Bailey went for the pick instead of a block, and Winn’s splitter banged off the backstop.

One of the few things that the home crowd could applaud was Koss, who pitched a scoreless ninth inning and has yet to allow a run over five career innings. Koss, interestingly enough, made his first pitching appearance this season before getting his first at-bat.

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