© D. Ross Cameron-USA TODAY Sports
The Giants did just about all they could to stop the Dodgers on Saturday afternoon. They threw their bullpen at them and scored six runs, but it was not to be, as the Dodgers celebrated a playoff-clinching 10-6 win at AT&T Park.
Dereck Rodriguez ends stellar season on sour note
Rodriguez was pulled from today’s game after just three innings, having given up five earned runs, three walks and six hits. Despite today’s nightmare, he finished the season with a 2.81 ERA, the lowest for any Giants rookie pitcher with 100-plus innings since 1952:
Rodriguez's 2.81 ERA will be the lowest by a Giant who threw at least 100 innings since knuckleballer Hoyt Wilhelm's 2.43 in 1952. Wilhelm threw 159 1/3 innings that year as a reliever. #SFGIants
— Henry Schulman BLUE CHECK MARK (@hankschulman) September 29, 2018
Pence continues hot streak in potential final games
Hunter Pence will never not be himself. The Giants’ clubhouse leader scored two runs and ripped an RBI double, refusing to allow the Dodgers to secure an easy playoff-clinching win. The double upped the ante again after the Dodgers knocked Rodriguez out of the game in the fifth inning to take the lead.
Pence has just two days left on his contract with the Giants meaning this weekend could prove to be his final days with the team. He’s had a down year, but since September 15, he’s batting .333 with two home runs and six RBIs.
He got to third after a wild pitch before tying up the game on a sacrifice fly from Joe Panik. Needless to say, Pence was excited:
Get Pumped. #BeatLA pic.twitter.com/jJIvMCnovr
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) September 29, 2018
Abiatal Avelino has WHEELS
Since being traded to the Giants from the New York Yankees in the Andrew McCutchen deal, Avelino hasn’t had much playing time. But the rookie middle infielder has shown flashes of what he could be. Today, he took off from first base like he was fired out of a cannon, scoring a run on a double from Pence:
Hunter drives in Abiatal Avelino from first and this place is juiced! #BeatLA pic.twitter.com/7ttCvcKWYJ
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) September 29, 2018
Tony Watson shut out his former team in clutch fashion
Watson used to be a Dodger. Get your nausea out of the way now, because he made up for that by coming in with a perfect inning in a tremendously difficult situation. After Ray Black allowed leadoff singles in the 6th inning with the score tied at 5-5, Watson shut out the Dodgers with a pair of strikeouts between a popup.
Not a spoiler: The Dodgers secured a playoff spot
With a 2-1 win by the Saint Louis Cardinals over the Chicago Cubs earlier in the day, the Giants had a chance to stop the Los Angeles Dodgers, at least for a day, from securing a playoff spot.
If the Giants had won and both the Giants and Cardinals won tomorrow, it would have forced a one-game playoff between the Cardinals and Dodgers to secure the second NL Wild Card spot. Now, the Dodgers will play the first-placed NL Wild Card winner (either the Milwaukee Brewers, who hold the spot now, or the Cubs).
Throwing the kitchen sink
Bruce Bochy is serious about beating the Dodgers. He cut Rodriguez after three innings and used eight Giants pitchers in total. Ty Blach threw a pair of clean innings before Black failed to even secure an out. Watson backed him up for a clean inning before Derek Holland appeared in the seventh.
Holland secured a pair of outs before allowing a pair of hits and then intentionally walking the pitcher’s spot which was pinch-hit for by David Freese. Then, Mark Melancon took to the hill with the score knotted at 5-5. He kept the ball down and away for four pitches, three of which missed the strike zone. With the count at 3-1, Freese hit a shot on a ball that Melancon left over the middle, but it came right to Joe Panik for the inning-ending out.
Melancon pitched another inning before the newly-minted Willie Mac Award-winner, Will Smith, came in for the ninth and gave up four runs. Steven Okert relieved him to finish the inning.
No matter the stakes, Pablo Sandoval and Gorkys Hernandez will always have fun
After Alen Hanson shot a pair of foul balls toward the Giants’ dugout, Sandoval and Hernandez prepared themselves for a potential third heat-seeking missile from Hanson. Hernandez grabbed a kid’s mitt and Sandoval grabbed a catcher’s mask:
Hanson fouled two balls into the dugout. Pablo had seen enough. pic.twitter.com/FiJLPYRHxB
— Alex Pavlovic (@PavlovicNBCS) September 29, 2018
