Buster Posey is still learning the art of pinch hitting.
For a five-time All-Star who plays every day, it’s a skill that probably doesn’t rank at the top of his list for what he’s desperate to improve on, but it’s one Posey –a consummate professional– takes very seriously.
On Wednesday, the Giants put that skill to the test, calling on Posey with two on and two out in the bottom of the eighth inning trailing by a run.
Despite entering the contest just 6-for-28, a .214 clip, in his career as a pinch hitter, Posey delivered a go-ahead, two-run double to lift the Giants above the Cleveland Indians in a 5-4 victory.
“It’s tough, I mean, my pinch hitting numbers are not very good but it’s nice to come through,” Posey said. “There’s definitely somewhat of an art to it. There’s certain guys around the league that seem to do it really well and again, just fortunate that I came through today.”
After catcher Nick Hundley, who started in place of Posey on Wednesday, struck out with runners on the corners and one out, Giants’ skipper Bruce Bochy called on Posey to pinch hit against Cleveland right-hander Bryan Shaw.
Shaw, a Bay Area native, has been tough to figure out for opposing hitters this season, as he carried a 2.95 earned run average into his relief stint.
Nevertheless, after falling behind early in the at-bat, Posey worked the count full against Shaw before clobbering a 3-2 mistake over the head of left fielder Michael Brantley to plate Brandon Crawford and Conor Gillaspie.
“He (Posey) used to be with the Diamondbacks so I’ve faced him a handful of times and he’s got great stuff,” Posey said. “A cutter that’s moving a lot, obviously with the curveball there 3-2, I was able to keep the hands back and I got enough of it.”
The Giants were in position to even the series in a late-inning rally thanks to an error by Indians’ first baseman Carlos Santana, who failed to handle a Gillaspie grounder cleanly and watched as it traveled right between his legs. Instead of starting a potential inning-ending double play or recording the second out of the inning, Santana committed a brutal error that helped cost the Indians the ballgame.
After the contest, Bochy said the error by Santana evened out the series for San Francisco after a bizarre error by left-hander Matt Moore played a defining role in the team’s series-opening loss on Monday.
“We got a break there and we took it and it kind of evened out from the first game to this game and the key is you take advantage of it,” Bochy said. “Of course, Buster bailed us out because we really had a hard time executing with a man on third and on out, we just couldn’t get him in. But with two outs, Buster came through for us to knock in the go-ahead run.”
