© D. Ross Cameron | 2021 Aug 22
OAKLAND — Of course it was going to be like this. This close, this tense, this dramatic.
Sunday’s iteration of the Bay Bridge Series — the last of the 2021 season — had quite the billing to live up to. The Giants had taken three of the first five games, two of which they won in extras. The A’s outscored SF, 20-17, in the aggregate. The rivals are both in October contention, in first and second of their divisions.
Longtime San Francisco columnist Scott Ostler wrote it’s maybe the most important installment since the 1989 fall classic.
So it was only right that the finale came down to the eighth inning, with go-ahead run on first base and Donovan Solano pinch-hitting for yesterday’s hero, LaMonte Wade Jr.
Like clockwork, the most clutch pinch-hitting team in MLB did it again. Solano, on the first pitch he saw, slammed a two-run home run over the left field fence. The pitch came off A.J. Puk’s fingertips at 97.1 mph and left Solano’s bat at 101.6.
No other team in baseball has more than eight pinch-hit home runs. San Francisco has 14, and two in the past two days. Even more incredible, it’s the first time in MLB history a team has hit pinch-hit home runs to come from behind in the eighth inning or later on back-to-back days. Solano’s blast, his sixth, put SF ahead for the first time of the game and rendered A’s starter Frankie Montas’ brilliant outing a thing of the past.
The drama didn’t stop there. Against setup man Tyler Rogers, the A’s brought their most powerful hitter, Matt Olson, up to bat with two outs and two men in scoring position. SF decided to pitch to Olson despite having an open bag to play with, and it paid off: Olson grounded out to third.
And of course, as it had to, the A’s put a runner in scoring position in the bottom of the ninth against closer Jake McGee. Then Giants fans exploded in the Coliseum when McGee, in a 3-2 count against Chad Pinder, earned his 28th save and capped SF’s 2-1 win with a punch-out.
It was Solano’s homer that keyed the Giants’ second straight come-from-behind victory over the A’s and secured their second Bay Bridge Series win of the year. Each late-August game felt like October, an encouraging sign for a Giants (80-44) team that continues to win games even without playing up to their potential.
Before Sunday’s game, Gabe Kapler fielded several questions about his pinch-hitting philosophy. It was natural, considering the previous night’s heroics and Kapler’s penchant for late-game subbing.
As a player in Boston in the early 2000s, Kapler would often pinch hit for Trot Nixon, platooning with the lefty based on matchups. Kapler said a key component of successful pinch-hitting is preparation. He added SF’s coaching staff doesn’t like to overload hitters with too much information, rather give them pitch locations to seek out and drive.
“It’s all about walking up to the plate with the right mindset,” Kapler said. “It’s also all about knowing your opponent. Knowing the pitcher that’s on the mound, and being prepared for his specific arsenal.”
The Giants needed to maneuver the bench because of how the early innings played out. Sunday began as a pitchers duel. Neither team could touch the opponent’s starter, putting up zeroes in each of the first five frames. Both Frankie Montas (7IP, 0ER, 2H, 9K) and Logan Webb (6IP, 1ER, 5H, 7K) dominated.
All afternoon, Webb showed exceptional command, especially with his sinker and slider — his primary weapons. He punched Matt Olson out on a slider. Fanned Josh Harrison on a sinker. Canha on a slider in the first, and again in the third.
Logan Webb, 93mph Sinker (called strike) and 82mph Slider (swinging K), Overlay.
Switch places. ? pic.twitter.com/CwRWkbqRq0
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) August 22, 2021
Since he returned from the IL on July 9, Webb hasn’t allowed more than two earned runs in a single start. He’s gone at least 6 innings in each of his last five starts, and has recorded a 1.72 ERA in his most recent three.
But Webb was also the first to break. In the bottom of the sixth, Webb surrendered a leadoff double down the third base line to Tony Kemp before Mark Canha singled him home. Webb caught a break when a ground ball grazed Canha’s cleat on the base paths, and escaped the inning with just one earned run.
Meanwhile, as Montas’ pitch count rose up into the nineties, he didn’t slow down. He threw an 0-2 slider breaking from in the zone away from Kris Bryant for his eighth strikeout. Then he slapped his glove and walked off the mound after his 105th pitch, a splitter that put Alex Dickerson out.
Montas handed a 1-0 lead to his bullpen in the eighth. Then Donovan Solano happened. One pitch, one swing, one lead change. Another Giants win.