W    L    GB                                                     

Philadelphia        79 67 Braves clinch at their expense 

Chicago                78 69         Now they start running cold

Arizona                76 71   Cubs will be coming to town

Cincinnati         76 71    Race tighter than ever

GIANTS                75 71 0.5 Big comeback keeps them in it

Miami                 75 71 0.5  One more in Milwaukee

Yesterday

Giants defeated Cleveland, 6-5, in ten innings, to win the three-game series.

Arizona lost at New York and Cincinnati defeated Detroit to pull into a tie for the third wild-card spot.

Miami defeated Milwaukee to keep pace.

Philadelphia lost to Atlanta and Chicago lost at Colorado.  

So all three front-running teams lost, and all the following teams won, and now six teams are within four games of each other, and four teams are separated by half a game. 

 

Today

Giants move on to Colorado to open a four-game set through the weekend. Logan Webb starts tonight against Chase Anderson. 6:40 PM local time; 8:40 EDT.

Arizona has another chance to lose in New York, Cincinnati's at Detroit, and Miami wraps it up at Milwaukee. 

Philadelphia and Chicago are both idle.

Yesterday's Game

The Giants came back, came way back, came back from a 5-1 early hole to pull it out in yet another walk-off tenth inning.  Rookie Kyle Harrison started off about as bad as could be-- a leadoff walk (which always seems to spell doom) and a two-run homer by Cleveland's answer to Superman, Jose Ramirez. Harrison then allowed two singles while getting two outs before Casey Schmitt threw the inning-ending ground ball away and two more runs scored. Shades of last night! It was 4-0 before the Giants came to bat.

They answered back with three singles, leadoff man Austin Slater scoring and rookie Luis Matos with the RBI, and loaded the bases after Patrick Bailey-- welcome back., young man!-- walked with two out. But J.D. Davis grounded out and it stayed 4-1. Harrison allowed a less dramatic fifth run in the second: single, stolen base, single. And there it stayed for five innings. 

Let's give some props to Alex Wood, so horrid his last time out. He pitched four scoreless three-hit innings to keep things under control and give the Giants time to mount a rally. Which started modestly enough in the bottom of the seventh when LaMonte Wade opened with a single and was immediately erased on pinch-hitter Mike Yastrzemski's double-play ball. But Thairo Estrada doubled down the left-field line and Mr Reliable, Wilmer Flores, singled him in for a 5-2 game.

Back in 2021 a regular Giants theme when trailing late was to pounce on the first sign of vulnerability from an opponent's relief pitcher. And guess what happened in the eighth after Eli Morgan plunked Joc Pederson to lead it off. Yep, it was our man Bailey with a single, and our man Davis with the three-run homer. A tie game, and Tyler Rogers and Camilo Doval kept it that way through the top of the tenth, Doval stranding that "ghost runner" without an advance.

The Giants wasted no time in their half. With Bailey opening on second, Davis walked as Xzavion Curry lost control of his pitches on a 0-2 count. Curry then walked pinch-hitter Brandon Crawford on a 3-1 count to load 'em up. And LaMonte Wade became "Late Inning La Monte" for a change, with a fly ball deep enough to score Bailey with the game-winner, though the Guardians challenged the call to no avail.

These are the kind of games that make a pennant-- that is, wild-card-- race worthwhile. We get the feeling there's bound to be a few more.  In the meantime, there are four games coming up in Colorado, and this is the time for the Giants to seize the moment. Arizona will be facing the Cubs this weekend, Miami gets the Braves, and Cincinnati goes to New York.  That traffic jam at the third wild-card spot might look a lot different come Monday.