Brooks Conrad is out of professional baseball, and the San Francisco Giants aren’t in the midst of a title hunt, but on Tuesday evening, the Atlanta Braves’ defense did its best Conrad impression to help the Giants score a come-from-behind win.
Back in 2010, it was Conrad, a fill-in second baseman, who made a trio of errors in Game 3 of the NLDS that helped the Giants capture a narrow 3-2 victory over Atlanta. That win helped Bruce Bochy’s ballclub take control of the series en route to the franchise’s first World Series title in the San Francisco era, so understandably, Tuesday’s victory didn’t take on the same type of historical significance. Still, for a Giants’ team that had lost seven straight games entering Tuesday evening’s affair, three late Braves’ errors were a welcome sight.
In the heat of the Giants’ World Series pursuit, Conrad dropped a second inning popup that allowed Mike Fontenot to score from third and in the ninth inning, Conrad botched a Buster Posey groundball that let Freddy Sanchez race home from second base to score the winning run.
The Braves’ Tuesday miscues weren’t quite as epic, but their late-inning defensive drop-off did bring back memories of Conrad’s collapse.
After Hunter Pence reached base on a leadoff infield single to start the eighth inning, first baseman Brandon Belt dribbled a sure-fire double play ball toward second baseman Brandon Phillips. Phillips’ throw to shortstop Dansby Swanson pulled Swanson to the center field side of the bag, and the ball shot out of Swanson’s glove faster than a souvenir t-shirt ejects from a cannon. Though it took a replay reversal to overturn an out call from second base umpire Quinn Wolcott, the gateway to a run-scoring opportunity was finally within site.
In the ensuing at-bat, rookie left fielder Austin Slater walloped a three-run home run over the right field fence, giving the Giants a 3-2 lead and their first runs in 17-plus innings.
Later in the frame, with Denard Span standing on a first base, Braves’ reliever Ian Krol tossed a Joe Panik bunt attempt up the first base line, allowing Span to reach scoring position.
The inning could have come to an end in the next at-bat, when Brandon Crawford tapped a potential inning-ending double play ball to first baseman Matt Adams, but Adams threw the ball into left field, allowing Span to score the Giants’ fifth run of the inning.
The comedy of errors committed in the Atlanta infield brought back memories of Conrad, whose late collapse in 2010 played a critical role in the Giants’ World Series run.
The Giants’ ability to snap a season-high seven-game losing stretch and avoid their longest losing streak of the decade took more than just a Braves’ blowup.
To halt what felt like an interminable stretch, the Giants needed closer Mark Melancon to notch his first save in the month of June, their second three-run home run of the entire season, and a ninth-inning blast off the bat of Brandon Belt, who was 4-for-36 in his previous 11 games.
After Conrad’s infamous episode, the Giants kept their momentum rolling and won Game 4 to clinch the series. On Wednesday, the Giants will look to seize the opportunity the Braves bestowed upon them, and win back-to-back games for the first time this month.