The Giants summoned comebacks against Connor Seabold’s gem and the Cardinals’ late-inning relievers. They did it after six innings of getting no-hit in Dodger Stadium and, this week, in extras against the Padres.
Before Tuesday’s game, manager Gabe Kapler posited that his club’s penchant for thrilling comebacks comes from a combination of grit, resilience, confidence, togetherness and, most of all, talent.
They put it all on display again against the Padres for the second consecutive night. Trailing 3-1 entering the seventh inning, the Giants scored a run in each of the last three innings to win, 4-3.
Joc Pederson smacked the game-tying homer in the eighth and drew the game-winning walk with the bases loaded in the ninth. The walk-off came off Josh Hader, a familiar foe, and was set up by a trio of productive at-bats from rookies Patrick Bailey, Luis Matos and Casey Schmitt. San Francisco’s second consecutive comeback walk-off over San Diego gave the Giants (41-32) their ninth straight victory.
The Giants have had MLB’s best record for over a month, and their fans have noticed. The paid attendance of 32,060 was Oracle Park’s biggest draw for a Tuesday night on the season.
“It’s fun, fun to be a part of,” Pederson said postgame. “It feels like we’ve got 26 guys pulling on the same string. It’s somebody new every night.”
The hitting environment at Oracle Park to start the game must have been brutal; nine of the first 12 batters struck out. In that stretch, rookie Luis Matos fanned for the first time of his career after 21 plate appearances.
When the sun set a bit behind the scoreboard, removing some of the tough shadows in play, the bats came around.
San Diego dropped two on Anthony DeSclafani in the third inning off two singles and a double. They should have had more, but ran into a costly out when they botched a first-and-third play; Patrick Bailey cut down Ha-Seong Kim with a back pick at third when the runner got caught halfway down the base path expecting a bunt.
David Villar doubled down the left field line in the bottom half for San Francisco’s first hit, and Thairo Estrada doubled and scored the next inning. Between those, Fernando Tatis Jr. tattooed a poorly executed sinker over the middle for a solo shot to center field. DeSclafani’s misfire was in almost the same exact location as his previous pitch, which Tatis fouled off.
DeSclafani dug deep to finish the fifth, coming back from a 3-0 count to Jake Cronenworth for a strikeout and ending the inning. But that’s when he departed. As did Padres starter Seth Lugo, who was at 66 pitches after five one-run innings.
The starters left with the Padres up 3-1. Two runs is hardly insurmountable for the 2023 Giants, who just a night prior rallied from the same deficit to win on Mike Yastrzemski’s extra-innings walk-off Splash Hit. Five of the Giants’ wins in June have been comebacks when they trailed in the seventh inning or later.
Sure enough, the Giants’ comeback juices started flowing. A walk and a pair of singles from Yastrzemski and Matos loaded the bases with no outs. Brandon Crawford’s RBI single up the middle cut San Diego’s lead to 3-2.
A major reason for why the Giants have been able to pull off so many come-from-behind wins is because their bullpen keeps them in games. Tristan Beck allowed one hit in three scoreless innings, continuing the trend. Beck’s ERA is now 3.05 in 38.1 innings.
“Casey’s got a lot of shine, so has Pat,” Kapler said. “For really good reason. Luis is now here and especially shiny…Tristan has been every bit as good as those guys.”
Beck kept the score tight. Pederson made it even.
In a 2-0 count to lead off the eighth, Pederson smoked an elevated fastball from righty Nick Martinez. He watched from the batter’s box and coaxed it fair, where it kicked off the promenade and into McCovey Cove.
Tyler Rogers stranded two in the ninth to give the Giants a chance to win in regulation. Both rookies, Matos and Patrick Bailey reached with one out in the bottom of the ninth. Then Kapler pinch-hit Casey Schmitt for Crawford to face Hader, the four-time All-Star.
Schmitt, with the help of a pitch timer violation, walked to load the bases, joining his fellow rooks. Schmitt had drawn just one walk in his first 133 MLB plate appearances, but earned ball four in extras on Monday and again against Hader, who sports a 1.26 ERA.
“What’s that, 2 in 2 days? Walking machine,” DeSclafani quipped.
Hader punched out David Villar on three pitches to face Pederson, the posterboy of platoon splits.
All Hader had to do was throw strikes. Pederson is a career .212 hitter against southpaws. But Hader, who let up three homers in a six-run avalanche of a blown save in Oracle Park last year, was in his House of Horrors.
In a full count, with two outs and the bases loaded, Pederson took ball four low and outside. He flipped his bat. And for the second straight night, the Giants charged out from the dugout and celebrated.
The Giants have scored 137 runs in the seventh inning or later, most in MLB. Tuesday just added to their clutch lead.
“I think it speaks to the tenacity of the team,” Kapler said. “And also to the fact that you get a bigger sample size — you get more at-bats in a game, and that’s when the true colors of the offense are going to come out. And I think they have, in a lot of ways, in the biggest moments.”