© Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports
With the best record in baseball on the line, Saturday’s contest between the San Francisco Giants and the Houston Astros had the feel of a heavyweight clash.
It was a back-and-forth event that featured eight home runs and a handful of lead changes, but ultimately it was Brandon Crawford’s two-out single in the sixth that made the difference. They would not look back and hold on to that lead, beating the visitors 8-6 to even the weekend series.
Alex Wood (10-3) pitched well despite the high score, pounding the strike zone all afternoon. He fell prey to a few mistakes and a pair of poorly-timed errors to give up four earned runs on six hits in five innings pitched.
It was the first time his opposition, Zach Greinke (10-4), had recorded a loss in San Francisco. He was 6-0 entering the afternoon.
The two combined for a No Run First Inning, but the runs started to pour in after that.
Solano got the proceedings going with a solo shot to left in the second, using a helpful breeze in that direction. The lead did not last long. Aledmys Diaz hit a two run shot a half inning later, his first of two on the day, and gave his team the lead.
Wood should’ve gotten out of the inning following the dinger, but Donovan Solano bobbled a tough grounder, Wilmer Flores sailed a ball to first, and the Giants allowed a third run in an uncharacteristically bad defensive inning for San Francisco.
The Astros saw the Giants having fun bobbling the baseball around the park and wanted to get in on the action in the bottom of the frame. Correa misfielded a grounder of his own, and Wilmer Flores atoned for his sins, smashing a ball to left to tie the game at three.
Flores left the game after hitting the jack with lower back tightness. Kapler said postgame the injury was minor and he expects Flores to be available on Sunday.
The best moment of the game game in the fourth inning, when Lamont Wade Jr. (who was not in fact traded for Kris Bryant as one errant Twitter report may have had you believe) mashed his first splash hit of his career.
The hit was sweet, but he crushed the ball over his mom’s head, who was standing in the arcade in right. She watched the ball sail into the water, screaming the whole way.
LaMonte's mom had the best view of her son's homer ❤️ pic.twitter.com/w99BstW2TC
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) July 31, 2021
The bombs kept flying in the middle innings.
Diaz hit his third home run of the series and second on the day in the fifth, Ruf hit one 386 out of the park to left in the same inning, Martin Maldonado left the yard in the sixth, Mike Yastrzemski in the eighth.
The runs dried up late for Houston as Dominic Leone, Tyler Rodgers, and Jake McGee combined for a delightfully boring final three innings for the Giants, who started the day 0.5 games up on Houston and ended it one more than that.
The two teams will meet for a rubber match on Sunday at 1:05 p.m.. Logan Webb will be on the bump for San Francisco, Luis Garcia for Houston.