14

 

GIANTS       96-52                      Backatcha with a last-ditch win.

LA                 94-54   2   GB        Castillo costs 'em a game in the standings.

Yesterday

Giants defeated Atlanta, 6-5, a walk-off win in 11 innings.

LA lost at Cincinnati, 3-1.

Today

Giants host Atlanta; 6:05 PDT, 9:05 EDT at the O. Alex Wood returns from the IL and faces Charlie Morton, 13-5 on the year.

LA is at Cincinnati, an afternoon game with mighty Max Scherzer going against Sonny Gray.

Last Night's Game

The Giants were down to their last man off the bench in the bottom of the ninth as Donovan Solano, fresh off the IL, stood in at the plate and Curt Casali waited in the on-deck circle. The shock waves from the top of the ninth-- when Tyler Rogers gave up a three-run homer to Travis d'Arnaud that put the Braves ahead, 5-4-- had yet to subside, and Solano looked overmatched at the plate against former Giant Will Smith. Dave Fleming on KNBR tried to whip up a little hope: "He's got some power... he could run into one."  Seeing nothing but breaking balls, down to the Giants' last strike, Solano turned on a 2-2 pitch and yanked it down the left-field line-- and just over fence and into the seats. Tie game. The crowd went wild as Solano circled the bases with the Giants' 16th pinch-hit home run in this season like no other.

It shouldn't have come to that. Logan Webb set down another masterful start over 7 innings, allowing six hits and striking out nine. He gave up two runs in the first on RBI leader Adam Duvall's double, and after that it was crickets the rest of the way. Then Dominic Leone set 'em down in order in the eighth. It was 4-2 Giants, courtesy of home runs by LaMonte Wade (into the Bay) and the Brandons, Belt and Crawford, as Rogers came out to close. As you may have gathered by now, Rogers didn't have it. Every ball was hit hard: two line-drive singles and two line-drive outs before d'Arnaud turned the game around with his blast.

And so it went to the tenth after Casali struck out following Solano's homer. Tony Watson, unfazed by Thursday's meltdown, got 'em 1-2-3 in the top, though the "3" required Steve Duggar to make a full-speed wall-slamming catch of Freddie Freeman's long drive. Advantage Giants, with the designated runner on second and the heart of the order up. But they managed to waste it, as reliever Tyler Matzek followed two intentional walks with two ground-ball outs. And that "last man off the bench" situation came to the forefront in the eleventh after Camilo Doval had stifled the Braves in the top of the frame.

Crawford started the inning on second, and immediately took third as pitcher Brandon Webb threw an attempted pickoff into center field. Atlanta's third intentional walk of the game put Evan Longoria at first. Steven Duggar flied out to left, not enough for Crawford but enough for Longo to take second. Sure enough, here came the fourth intentional walk, to Solano, bringing up the pitcher's spot with the Giants out of pinch-hitters. Not only that, but the one pitcher on the team we all know can hit had already been pulled-- Logan Webb. So here came Kevin Gausman. Why not? He bats left and Brandon Webb throws right. And he can take a pitch. He took five, working the count full. Knowing Webb had to come in or lose the game, Gausman made solid contact, sailing a fly ball to medium right. Joc Pederson gloved it, Crawford took off for the plate, and he just did beat Pederson's strong throw with a headfirst slide. Game over.

"That's the coolest thing I've ever done in my career," said Gausman afterward. 

"I'm jealous," said Webb to Gausman.

"Resilient," said Mike Krukow in the broadcast booth. 

Notes

Rogers was tabbed to close because Jake McGee just went on the IL with an oblique strain. It don't get any easier, do it?... Belt's homer was his 26th of the year and he has a shot at becoming the first Giant to hit 30 since Barry Bonds in 2004... Castillo, loser of fifteen games this year, really pitched well against LA: ten strikeouts over six-plus shutout innings, five hits and two walks. The Reds are right behind St Louis and just ahead of San Diego in the wild-card scramble... The loss cut Atlanta's lead to two over Philadelphia, who won their third straight. Both the Phillies and the New York Mets are closer to the division lead than to the wild-card... The AL wild-card tug-o-war between Boston, the Yankees, and Toronto has all three of 'em within one game. Oakland and Seattle look like spectators at this point... Duvall's first-inning double off Webb gives him a league-leading 103.