There’s no great way to practicing sliding. Much of it comes down to instincts and athleticism.
So on the game-tying play in Sunday’s series finale against the Royals, Bryce Johnson let his instincts and athleticism take over twice.
To manufacture a run in a game in which San Francisco had been no-hit for four innings and shutout for seven, Johnson took off for a steal. He heard Wilmer Flores’ bat crack, but couldn’t see where the ball in play was, so he slid head-first into second base.
Instantly, Johnson popped back up to his feet and then sprinted from second to home, wheeling around third with an aggressive send from third base coach Mark Hallberg and executing a final textbook slide into home plate.
“Thank God it was down the left field line,” Johnson said postgame. “So I had a good look at it, and then I saw it kick forward, I knew to kick it into another gear and we got a chance to score right there. Just kept going.”
On batter later, Michael Conforto parked the go-ahead home run off left-handed reliever Ryan Yarbrough. The Giants’ first comeback win of the season prevented a series sweep and turned their clubhouse into a dance party for the first time this year.
The combination of Johnson’s speed and Conforto’s power added up to a come-from-behind thrill.
“In this atmosphere, with the home crowd, getting them fired them up and showing some offense there at the end,” Conforto said postgame. “It felt amazing.”
Johnson, SF’s first hero on Sunday, is the Giants’ fastest player on the roster. In high school, he ran a 4.72 40-yard dash — 0.01 seconds off the combine times of Christian McCaffrey and Deebo Samuel. Last year in Triple-A, the outfielder swiped 31 bags in 36 tries. Then he went a perfect 12-for-12 to lead both spring training leagues in steals in 2023.
The switch-hitting Johnson reached on a bloop single to shallow left field. Because runs were so hard to come by, the Giants sent him on a steal attempt during Thairo Estrada’s at-bat. But Estrada flew out for the second out of the inning, and Johnson trotted back.
At that point, San Francisco had a 22.6% win probability, per Baseball Savant.
Then Johnson called his own number. He had a strong jump off Yarbrough on his first attempt and was confident he could duplicate it.
So Johnson left, and Flores smacked a double just past third baseman Matt Duffy. It left the infielder’s bat at 96.6 mph with a .330 expected batting average. The Giants were lucky it snuck out of the infield and caromed off the wall in foul territory.
Hallberg, the third base coach, started windmilling his arm before Johnson had even gotten back to his feet at second. He trusted Johnson’s wheels.
“Really great read on Mark’s part,” manager Gabe Kapler said of Hallberg. “Really aggressive, but necessary send, given the circumstances of the game — the run scoring environment for us was very challenging. Really gutsy and well-timed send. Obviously, it got the entire dugout really fired up.”
Had Flores’ hit gone in the other direction, a completely gassed Johnson wouldn’t have been able to locate it so quickly.
But Johnson recognized that he had a chance to score. Conforto, who was on-deck as Johnson rounded third, stood at home plate directing him to slide.
“Just an incredible play from such an athlete,” Conforto said. “He had that hit to start us off, too, then Flo comes up clutch. Just an all-around great inning.”
Players are taught not to slide head first into home because it can be potentially dangerous. But runners slow down slightly when they turn their body for feet-first slides. Johnson knew there wasn’t any room for error and aimed for the outside of the plate, with catcher MJ Melendez positioned in front.
“I just beat him to the spot,” Johnson said. “It was a good slide.”
Johnsons’ precise head-first slide into home fired up his teammates, including Conforto. It also set the table for Conforto, who provided the gasoline.
On the fifth pitch of his at-bat against Yarbrough, Conforto socked a 3-1 curveball over the plate deep to right-center. His home run registered an exit velocity of 109.6 mph and traveled 429 feet.
“I just kept it simple,” Conforto said. “Just want to hit a ball hard and swing at strikes. Try to keep that approach going forward.”
It was Conforto’s eighth career go-ahead home run in the seventh inning or later.
Conforto’s home run turned the Giants’ win probability from 22.6% two batters earlier to 93.2%. It was the first time in 2023 that a Giant homered off a left-handed pitcher.
“I’ve been really working hard on keeping my shoulder in against lefties,” Conforto said. “Been a little bit uncomfortable against them. That was just kind of the culmination of some work.”
As he flipped his bat down the first base line, Conforto looked across the diamond and shouted at San Francisco’s dugout. Players leaned over the railing, jumped up and down and slapped the green padding.
Then shortly thereafter, as Taylor Rogers capped a 2-hour, 15-minute game, the Giants mobbed Conforto in the clubhouse celebration.
It all happened on a day that the Giants considered giving Conforto a day off. Instead, they decided to give center fielder Mike Yastrzemski a breather and save Conforto’s rest for Monday against the Dodgers.
It turned out to be a difference-making decision.