PHOENIX, Ariz.–With their 90th win of the season on Sunday, the Arizona Diamondbacks clinched a wildcard berth and secured a spot in the playoffs for the first time since 2011.
There’s no doubt the Diamondbacks went out and celebrated their victory on Sunday night, and on Monday, their lineup reflected as much. Outside of former Giants’ outfielder Gregor Blanco and former A’s infielder Adam Rosales, there weren’t too many faces the average Bay Area sports fan would recognize on the Diamondbacks’ side of the diamond.
“It’s part of the game,” Giants’ catcher Nick Hundley said. “Obviously they put themselves in a really, really good position to make the postseason. So those guys have been grinding every day and no, it’s not surprising. Coming in today, I was really interested to see what their lineup would be. When those guys like Goldschmidt, Pollak and Peralta and all of those guys grind for you every day and play the game the right way, I feel like that’s something, it’s not my job to manage their team, but this just looks like Torey is taking care of their guys.”
It was a welcome sight for the Giants, who earned their only victory in Los Angeles over the weekend the night after the Dodgers clinched the National League West. With a 9-2 win on Monday, San Francisco is now 2-0 against teams playing in hangover games. And because they’ll finish the season against the fourth-place Padres this weekend, the Giants will remain undefeated in hangover games this season.
That deserves a toast.
Quite frankly, a loss on Saturday against the Dodgers or on Monday against the Diamondbacks would have been par for the course for a Giants team that triple-bogeyed the season. But for a team desperately hoping to avoid the embarrassment that comes with a 100-loss season, Saturday and Monday’s wins were gimmes.
While Dodgers’ manager Dave Roberts still played a handful of his regulars on Saturday, Diamondbacks’ skipper Torey Lovullo practically pulled fans out of the front row to pen his lineup on Monday. The only regular Lovullo forced to play against the Giants was second baseman Brandon Drury, which prevented Lovullo from earning Gregg Popovich comparisons for resting every relevant player.
Drury probably didn’t mind facing Giants’ starter Johnny Cueto, either, considering he entered the night 5-for-7 lifetime against the right-hander. Drury didn’t waste time padding his stats as he laced a first inning RBI double and a third inning RBI single to push the Diamondbacks out to a 2-0 lead.
But even for a Giants team that lost a season series to the Philadelphia Phillies and was smacked around by the Chicago White Sox earlier this month, losing to a Diamondbacks’ hangover lineup wasn’t in the cards.
San Francisco responded to Drury’s early outburst with a five-run fourth inning, which marked the first time the Giants have scored at least four runs in a frame since August 19.
For a team that’s ranked dead last in home runs for almost the entirety of the 2017 season, the Giants received an uncharacteristic power surge in the form of home runs from Hundley and right fielder Hunter Pence in the top of the fourth inning.
Hundley’s home run, a towering three-run blast to left field, represented just the seventh three-run home run hit by a Giants’ player this season, and his fifth home run since the All-Star break. The Giants’ starting catcher, Buster Posey, has hit just two during the second half of the year.
After a Cueto strike out, Pence lifted his 13th home run of the season, a high, arcing shot to right field that caromed off the foul pole.
The Giants will take a home run from any right-handed hitter who can provide one, but the fact it was Hundley and Pence who powered the team to victory on Monday provided for an intriguing story line given the decisions San Francisco must make this offseason.
On the one hand, the Giants have Hundley, a career backup who played in his 96th game of the year on Monday and could conceivably hit the century-mark in the season’s final weekend. Despite sporting just a .275 on-base percentage, Hundley has proven himself as one of San Francisco’s most valuable assets this season and his presence amidst a losing campaign has allowed manager Bruce Bochy to rest Posey’s legs more frequently in a lost year. Hundley’s power and his improved defense have made a convincing case for the Giants to re-sign him, and his status as a universally well-liked and respected figure in the clubhouse only adds to his resume.
“I think he knows what we think about him, how much we think of him, so he’s going to have some choice but he has done a great job for us this year,” Bochy said. “I’ll sit down with him in the next day or two.”
With each passing week, Hundley feels like more of a favorite to win the Giants’ Willie Mac Award, which will be handed out on Friday, and if he does claim it, general manager Bobby Evans would have a hard time allowing Hundley to walk in free agency.
“You never know what’s going to happen, that’s the thing with this winter,” Bochy said. “But I think Nick is probably pretty happy with the playing time that he’s gotten this year and when you’re backing up Buster Posey, you know he’s going to play some first, but not as much as he has this year and so it’s worked out well for him. He’s taken advantage of that playing time and putting up some numbers. But as much as the numbers he’s putting up, what a great job he’s done behind the plate for us.”
On the other hand, the Giants have Pence, an 11-year veteran who’s been one of the most positive, upbeat spirits since joining the club in the middle of the 2012 season. A key cog on two of the Giants’ three World Series teams, Pence played in 160 games in 2012, and all 162 in 2013 and 2014. But over time, his body has worn down. Even though he appeared in his 130th game of the season on Monday, Pence has been hampered by various aches and pains on a few different occasions this year. In 2018, he’s set to make $18 million, but because his average and on-base percentage are more than 20 points below his career marks, the Giants may pursue a new everyday starter in right field this offseason.
The decisions to re-sign Hundley or pursue an alternative to Pence next season are nuanced and complex, and on Monday, the Giants were simply happy to have a supply of power from the right-handed batter’s box.
The five-run fourth was more than enough for Cueto, who logged six innings of two-run ball while also picking up his 1,500th career strikeout when he set down Ray Fuentes to end the top of the third. Cueto finished with eight strikeouts in his eighth win of the season, and offered high praise for the way Hundley helped him navigate a lineup of unfamiliar faces.
“You get used to it as you throw games to him, there’s been a couple of them and I feel that I’m very easy to learn how a catcher positions himself and he catches very well,” Cueto said.
With the win, the Giants improved to 62-95, which means if they earn one more victory in their final five games, they’ll avoid the dubious distinction of losing 100. At last, the tension builds.