THEY DID IT AGAIN ? pic.twitter.com/DYGkSPqBx8
— KNBR (@KNBR) July 23, 2021
Just when you thought this series couldn’t get any wilder.
After back-to-back nights where the Giants and Dodgers traded ninth-inning comebacks, San Francisco did it again in the final regular season game at Dodger Stadium on Thursday night. Kenley Jansen again played the role of goat, blowing a 3-1 lead in the ninth inning, and again getting boo’d off the mound by his supposed fans.
Ultimately, it was a LaMonte Wade Jr. double that did him in, giving the Giants a 5-3 lead they would not relinquish. That hit was set up by the defining at-bat of the evening, when Jansen walked Darin Ruf with the bases loaded to tie the game.
Did he really walk Ruf? Replays seemed to indicate that Ruf definitely went around on a 3-2 pitch which that was ruled as a no-swing by the first base umpire, walking in the winning run. An incensed Dave Roberts was quickly tossed for the second night in a row.
The Giants tied the game and Dave Roberts LOST HIS MIND pic.twitter.com/93BzpqWfE4
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) July 23, 2021
Max Muncy is big mad ? pic.twitter.com/qVJk6DXKHB
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) July 23, 2021
Perhaps the no-call was justice for a 2-0 strike earlier in the count.
Rough inning for the umps ? pic.twitter.com/2LXWGyNNle
— Alex Pavlovic (@PavlovicNBCS) July 23, 2021
The Giants scored all their runs with two outs in the inning. The first one came via a Thairo Estrada infield single, after Jason Vosler was ruled safe at second base upon review, keeping the Giants alive by a millisecond.
The win gives the Giants a three-game cushion over the Dodgers in the NL West.