In front of a sold-out Oracle Park crowd for Will Clark’s jersey retirement ceremony, Luis González and Joey Bart smashed back-to-back home runs en route to a 5-4 win.
One night before, the Giants left a season-high 13 runners on base in a 4-2 loss. They felt like they were taking good at-bats and driving the ball. That One Big Hit just never came.
With a lineup stacked with righties against southpaw Drew Smyly, the barrels kept coming Saturday, and they came at more opportune times. And they clung just enough to the edge they built in the ninth, holding off a Cubs rally.
But while the Giants (50-51) got back in the win column for the second time since the All-Star break, they may have lost shortstop Thairo Estrada.
“He’s still a little dizzy,” manager Gabe Kapler said postgame. “Some pressure on his left side. He’s having concussion-like symptoms. We haven’t yet taken that step to diagnose him with a concussion, but good chance that’s where we’ll be. And we’ll figure out what to do from a roster perspective in the next few hours or tomorrow morning.”
Estrada left in the fifth inning after getting hit in the head by a Mark Leiter Jr. changeup. Kapler and a trainer immediately rushed out from the dugout as Estrada crashed to the dirt. Kapler said he didn’t think Estrada lost consciousness, but wasn’t completely sure. Eventually, trainers Dave Groeschner and L.J. Petra helped him off the field.
Jason Vosler took Estrada’s spot at shortstop. As Brandon Crawford remains on the injured list with a knee injury, the Giants are particularly thin in the middle infield. Vosler last played the position in 2015, at the Low-A level.
When Estrada — SF’s leader in hits and stolen bases — exited, the Giants had already built a 5-0 lead.
In the third inning, Darin Ruf walked and scored from first on a scorched Austin Slater double into the left-center gap. Yermín Mercedes stood on one leg and did a crane kicking motion after his second hit of the night drove in Austin Slater for the Giants’ second run of the frame.
SF also flashed some leather. David Villar made a diving stop at third. Luis González slid in for an inning-ending grab.
Right after González’s catch, he won a left-on-left battle against Smyly for a two-run homer into the arcade above the Levi’s Landing sign. Then Joey Bart took Smyly’s very next pitch over the left field fence for a solo shot.
It was the third time the Giants have gone back-to-back this year.
Bart’s seventh bomb of the season left his bat at a scorching 114.3 mph with a .990 expected batting average. That’s statistics for: “absolutely crushed.”
“It’s just a good feeling,” Bart said postgame. “There’s really no other way to put it.”
The 411-foot homer was the hardest-hit ball in play of the Giants’ season. It was also the hardest-hit home run a Giant has hit since Statcast began tracking exit velocities in 2015.
Clark watched Bart’s no-doubter from Larry Baer’s seats by San Francisco’s dugout. As a special advisor, Clark has grown close with the rookie catcher.
“I have a great relationship with Will,” Bart said. “He’s really been in my corner for a while now. He cares. He cares a lot about us. And everything he said out there was real.”
Bart’s homer gave the Giants a 5-0 lead and allowed Jakob Junis, who’s still building up his pitch count after his hamstring injury, to leave with a cushion.
Tyler Rogers, who has struggled this year compared to 2021, tossed two perfect frames while striking out three. The Cubs scored once in the seventh then rallied in the ninth against Yunior Marte and Dominic Leone.
Chicago loaded the bases on a hit-by-pitch and two singles. Then three straight balls to Vosler at short plated three runs. He didn’t look entirely comfortable, but also didn’t bungle any of them terribly.
Still, Vosler’s action in the ninth serves as a blaring reminder that the Giants’ attention surely will shift to Estrada and the shortstop position. The club had planned for Crawford to begin a rehab assignment in the coming days. They don’t want to rush him back into action, as pain quickly returned to his knee last time he returned from the IL.
The Giants don’t have a healthy shortstop currently on the 40-man roster. Donovan Walton is injured. Isan Díaz has 19 home runs for the River Cats and started at short Saturday, but he’d require a roster move to be activated and even he isn’t traditionally a shortstop.
Most importantly, of course, is Estrada’s health. Joc Pederson was diagnosed with a concussion recently, and Kapler stressed how seriously the club takes head injuries. That’s also the type of traumatic incident that could impact a player’s comfortability and confidence in the batter’s box.
The Giants, having lost eight of nine out of the All-Star break, surely needed the victory Saturday. But given Estrada’s importance to their club, even when they win, they lose.