The Giants had the lead in all four games at Pittsburgh over the past weekend; in fact out of 38 innings played, they were behind in only four. But those four innings were enough to lose two of the games, and the general feeling around these parts was one of genuine relief when the Giants closed out Sunday's finale with a solid win, and we all, players and fans, escaped beautiful PNC Park with a series split.
Any feeling of relief was far, far away on Saturday night as we straggled back to the hotel utterly bewildered and discouraged after watching the Giants let a 6-2 lead melt away. It was so bad that when the ESPN news trailer in the TV showed "GIANTS SIGN RB COREY CLEMENT" we read "RB" as "RP" and shouted, "Well, that didn't take long!"
Such was the state of the San Francisco bullpen after two consecutive walk-off losses that were especially devastating considering the smart, well-pitched games that preceded the disasters. Friday night our first glimpse of Kevin Gausman confirmed everything we'd heard. "Completely dominant" was the verdict from a companion in the left-field cheap seats. Gausman held a fragile 1-0 through eight innings of two-hit twelve-strikeout shutout ball, and it was no surprise to us when Gabe Kapler sent him out for the ninth.
Adam Frazier-- more on him later-- dropped a softly-hit single into left, and Kevin-- "Mr Clutch", according to his family-- Newman ripped a solid shot into center. That was enough for Kapler to make a decision, and out came Jake McGee, he of the 11 saves. Former Giants prospect Bryan Reynolds, now a budding All-Star center fielder, hit the first pitch he saw for an RBI single, and Gausman's fine start went up in smoke. McGee recovered to strike out the side, but off we went into extra innings and the "funny runner" on second to start the tenth. Our guy, Buster Posey, was stranded after Brandon Belt struck out to lead off the inning. Their guy, Erik Gonzalez, got to third with one out but died there when Tyler Rogers-- how entertaining it is to see his submarine delivery in person!-- struck out the next two.
Deliverance, of a sort, came our way in the eleventh, as Mauricio Dubon's sacrifice fly moved Brandon Crawford to third with one out, and Austin Slater made it moot with an RBI single. Visions of a big inning mounted as Darin Ruf drew a walk and Mike Tauchman's slow roller moved the runners up. But Mike Yastrzemski grounded out to end it. Still, it was 2-1 and Caleb Baragar was tasked with the save opportunity. It didn't happen. Frazier, who was an absolute beast in the series-- 4-for-5 this night and 8-for-18 over the four games-- tripled on a high drive to right as Yaz bounced painfully off the scoreboard trying to grab it. Tie game, winning run on third, and Kapler brought Slater in from center field to form the first five-man infield we'd witnessed since Little League. Newman obligingly popped up, and Baragar then walked the bases loaded to set up the force. Gregory Polanco responded with a fly ball to Slater, now back in center, and in came the demon Frazier with the winning run.
And we ain't had seen nothin' yet. 21 hours later Johnny Cueto brought his assortment of hip swivels, glove flourishes, cap waves, and myriad pitching angles to the PNC mound. He was rewarded with a three-run lead right out of the gate. Darin Ruf, starting in right field with "Yaz" sore after the previous night's argument with the scoreboard, started off a memorable night with a one-out cannon shot into the bullpen in deepest center field. With two out, Wilmer Flores, starting at first with Belt nursing sore ribs, reached when catcher Jacob Stallings-- more on him later-- backed away from a simple infield popup and let it fall untouched. Up stepped Brandon Crawford, who loves to hit at PNC Park. His grand slam in the 2014 wild-card playoff is the stuff of legend, and he'd boomed one the night before in support of Gausman. Now he launched yet another into those oft-visited right-field stands, Polanco just turning to watch it go. It was 3-0 before Cueto threw a pitch.
After a lengthy but unshaken first inning, Cueto was golden for three more, and Ruf led off the third with a double and later scored to make it 4-0. But in the fifth, Pittsburgh opened with a single and a double: second and third, nobody out. Will Craig, whose first major-league hit had been a home run Thursday night for the Pirates' only run, came in to score on a close play at first, Cueto taking the toss from Flores and lithely stepping on the bag just as Gonzalez arrived. The safe call was properly overturned on replay, but Cueto limped around as if he'd been spiked. He shook off all attempts to take him out, fired a couple of warm-up pitches, and then gave up two more base hits, the second a double by the ubiquitous Frazier. It was 4-2 with the tying run on second, and Kapler had seen enough. Zack Littell came in and killed the rally-- well, actually, Ruf killed it. Newman skied one to medium-deep right, Ruf made the catch, Ka'ai Tom took off from third, and Ruf's solid throw nailed him at the plate, no doubt about it as Curt Casali made the tag.
Then Mike Tauchman crushed, absolutely crushed, a two-run homer in the top of the sixth that nearly left the premises. Just like that the Giants had the two runs back. Ruf followed with another assist in the bottom of the frame, nailing Reynolds as he tried to stretch a single into a double. It was 6-2 after six, Cueto could salve his sore ankle with his third win of the season, and-- aw, the hell with it. Everything fell apart in the seventh. First Sam Selman and then young Camilo Duval surrendered two walks, two hits, two hit batsmen, and a wild pitch, all of which added up to four runs and a tie game. Essentially, Selman set the table and Duval reaped the whirlwind with one of the ugliest pitching outings we've seen in years. Even now, we shudder to think about it. You can look up the gruesome details for yourself, though we will note that for once, Adam Frazier had nothing to do with it.
The Giants stranded runners in the eighth and the ninth, and out came McGee again, no save chance, just the chance to force extra innings again. Frazier, making up for his lack of participation in the previous rally, hit the first pitch he saw for a clean single. McGee got Newman, but then Reynolds, with the "crowd" of eight thousand sounding like five times that, ripped a sure-game winner down the left field line. Tauschman relayed to Crawford, who fired to Casali, and Frazier was out at the plate by a mile-- again! In fifty-five years of baseball we can't recall ever witnessing three runners thrown out on the bases in one game, which just goes to show that when you go to the ballpark, you're sure to see something you've never seen before. Our giddiness lasted all of twenty seconds or so-- until Stallings, whose gaffe had handed the Giants two runs in the first, blasted a no-doubt-about it walk-off game-winner over the fence in left, and the ballpark went absolutely nuts.
Anthony DeSclafani had opened the series on Thursday night with what the old-time sportswriters call a "tidy" five-shutout-inning one-hit start. Four relievers then held the line (Duval, in perhaps a premonition of things to come, allowed the one run on Craig's booming homer in the seventh). The Giants provided "Disco" all the runs he needed in the fifth. Steven Duggar, surprise starter in center field, opened the scoring with his first home run of the season. Tauchman and Buster Posey followed with base hits, and Tauchman scored when Stallings threw an attempted pickoff into left field. Yaz then brought Posey in with a drive to right that Polanco couldn't handle, and which went for a triple. DeSclafani pitched the bottom of the fifth and left with his third win, dropping his ERA to 2.14.
Oh, how the Giants needed another "tidy" start on Sunday! Well, truth be told, Alex Wood's six eight-hit one-run innings weren't especially tidy, but they were effective, not to mention entertaining. He received some heads-up defensive plays, particularly by Mauricio Dubon. Dubon, pressed into an everyday starting role lately with all the Giants' injuries, made this series his personal defensive highlight film-- and also went 2-for-4 in each of the Giants' wins. Saturday night he had made a sensational back-to-the-plate running catch at last 200 feet into the outfield to rob Polanco and send Cueto into a fist-shaking twirl as he danced off the mound. In the fifth inning Sunday, Dubon killed the Pirates' chance to take the lead after they'd tied it an inning earlier. It started with Frazier again, leading off with a single. Dubon then chased Newman's foul popup all the way to the stands behind first base, sweeping past two teammates to snag the ball before he dove into the protective netting and bounced off, holding Frazier at first. Reynolds then singled, moving Frazier to third. With Stallings batting, Reynolds took off for second. Posey's throw caught him in a rundown; Dubon took the throw from Crawford, then suddenly turned and fired a strike to Longoria at third, who tagged out Frazier to kill the budding rally. Sensational play, and it turned the game. The Giants rallied to take the lead in the next frame, Longo scoring on a wild pitch from reliever Clay Holmes. Wood, Baragar, Matt Wisler, and finally Rogers held the Buccos the rest of the way, and Yaz, perhaps coming out of his slump at last, boomed a two-run shot to right-center in the ninth that settled the issue.
It was a long series, yet it went by so quickly. There's nothing like being at the ballpark, at least for fans like us. The televised game can't begin to demand the same awareness, the same concentration, that comes from seeing the whole game-- the positioning, the minute adjustments, the play-by-play anticipation. As we've mentioned many times before, PNC Park is one of the best places in the world to see a ballgame. We had seats behind the Giants' dugout Thursday, out in left field Friday, in the upper box above home plate Saturday, and along the first base line Sunday, which afforded a great view of Dubon's dash-and-catch into foul territory. The upper seats reveal a beautiful view of the Pittsburgh skyline and the Monongahela River, and the general ambience, including the rowdy but friendly Pirate fans, is as good as it gets.
The experience of sitting in a socially-distanced ballpark is truly unique; we'd never experienced anything like it and likely never will again. Of course it's unsustainable for the ballclubs in the long run, but it's a treat for fans like us. Five to eight thousand is still enough to make noise and generate excitement, as we discovered against our will Friday and Saturday, but being completely uncrowded, with room to stand up and stretch out, is a rare joy at the ballpark any time. It's past time the nation opened up again, and we long to see big crowds filling the stadiums for the health of the game, but as time goes by we believe we will treasure the memory of this series like few others.
And despite the fears generated by our bullpen, despite the ongoing injuries, despite the savage competition in our division, the Giants still left Pittsburgh in first place. And you know that can't be bad.
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