In one pitch, on one swing, J.D. Davis rescued what could have been a disastrous loss for the Giants.
All-Star closer Camilo Doval had just given away San Francisco’s 2-0 lead in the top of the ninth. But on an afternoon in which the Giants struggled all game with runners in scoring position, Davis took matters into his own hands.
Against the Red Sox’s All-Star closer, Kenley Jansen, Davis torched a cutter 387 feet down the left field line for a walk-off home run. The veteran infielder watched and yearned for the ball to stay fair before emphatically flipping his bat.
Davis’ heroics gave the Giants (57-48) a 3-2 victory over the Boston Red Sox in front of 37,470 fans. The Giants left 12 men on base by going 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position, but Davis ended the angst.
“The best way I could describe it to anybody is if you’re teeing up on a par-five, and you’ve got your best drive, you see it right down the middle, you’re sitting there looking at it,” Davis said postgame. “That’s the only way I can really describe it. You just hit it flush and it just feels like there’s no recoil or anything like that.”
With the win, the Giants are now 7-0 in games in which Ryan Walker starts — if that’s even the correct term.
Walker, the rookie reliever, has been tasked with opening games by getting between three and nine outs. The strategy has allowed the Giants to put their veteran starters who have struggled this season in more advantageous positions out of the bullpen.
After Saturday’s victory over Boston, San Francisco is 13-4 in games with an opener. The team’s ERA in such games is below 3.00. Any club would prefer to have a more defined rotation, with five starters capable of going at least six innings every five days, but the Giants’ amalgamation has produced elite performance.
Walker and a dominant relief performance from Sean Manaea (4.1 IP, 2 H, 0R, 0 BB, 5K), kept a red-hot Red Sox lineup in check, even as the Giants’ offense remained stuck between gears.
Especially with Thairo Estrada and MItch Haniger sidelined for the past month, San Francisco has been searching for answers against left-handed pitching. They rank 29th in OPS against southpaws on the season and have a .581 OPS against lefties in July.
But in the first inning against Boston lefty James Paxton, the Giants strung three straight hits together before recording an out. Platoon specialist Austin Slater singled, the red-hot Wilmer Flores doubled to deep center, and struggling infielder J.D. Davis found a gap.
Flores, who drove in SF’s run, later made a stumbling catch in foul territory and went 3-for-5 on the afternoon. He entered Saturday’s contest with a 1.129 OPS in July.
The Giants have struggled scoring in July, and have especially gone cold early in games. One first-inning run, against a lefty, must’ve felt like a minor miracle.
Walker, who has run with John Brebbia’s mantle of SF’s preferred opener, made the run stick. The cross-throwing reliever struck out three in 2.2 scoreless innings. The rookie has allowed just two runs in his past 13 innings and has a 2.50 ERA on the year.
Walker shortened the game for Manaea, who put together one of his best outings as a Giant. Manaea dealt 4.2 scoreless innings. He induced an inning-ending double play in the sixth and struck out the side in the seventh.
Manaea gave the Giants his best outing since June 10, and the Giants needed it because their offense kept struggling.
The Giants left the bases loaded against Paxton in the fourth inning, squandering a premium chance to add to their lead. That made San Francisco 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position in just four innings; this is the same team that went through a 2-for-31 RISP stretch this month.
Then the next inning, Michael Conforto struck out looking at a pitch well off the plate to strand two more, making San Francisco 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position. They scratched across a second run in the sixth, but did so on a sacrifice bunt and groundout after Marco Luciano cracked his second hit of the game.
Still, the Giants were in position to win. Then the All-Star Doval, in his third blown save of the season, lost command of the strike zone and allowed the two tying runs in a matter of minutes. A walk, double and single against MLB’s saves leader prevented the Giants from escaping with a shutout.
Giants manager Gabe Kapler visited Doval on the mound before the righty even finished his second at-bat. Doval wasn’t mixing his pitches enough, Kapler said postgame, and struggled landing his slider in the zone. Six of Doval’s first eight pitches were balls, and he gave up SF’s lead in the span of five minutes.
Masataka Yoshida drew a leadoff walk, Jarren Duran nearly homered but settled for a double, and Justin Turner drove them both home with a single up the middle. After the Red Sox foolishly tried running on Patrick Bailey — who’s now 18-for-47 in caught stealing — Doval finally turned the inning over.
Then, in a tie game to lead off the ninth, Davis dug in. Davis had been hitting .174 with a .590 OPS, both season-lows, in the month of July Davis described as “a grind.”
Davis had seen Jansen, the sport’s active leader in career saves with 414, the night before. The scouting report, Davis said, was to try to turn on a cutter, which is often counterintuitive for right-handed pitchers against a pitch that fades away from them. Especially through the shadows on Oracle Park at dusk, that’s easier said than done.
Kapler was in the dugout chatting with pitching coach Andrew Bailey to plan out how the Giants would handle extra innings. He missed what happened next. It all happened so fast.
Davis connected on a first-pitch cutter from Jansen, sending it 103.1 mph over the Chevron cars in left. As soon as it made sure it cleared the fence in fair territory, he flipped his bat into the air.
“I thought it was pretty cool, it was one of my better ones,” Davis said. “Just like I said, I didn’t really go up there trying to bat flip or anything like that. To be honest with you, I was just praying it was fair so I didn’t have to face Kenley again.”
Davis won’t have to face Jansen again, with his 14th home run stamping the game tight. None were bigger.