Now Panik and freak out!#SFGiants pic.twitter.com/OfKk4fPSkP
— San Francisco Giants (@SFGiants) May 22, 2019
SAN FRANCISCO – Tuesday afternoon the Giants announced that catcher Stephen Vogt will start in left field for San Francisco. Forcing Vogt’s hot bat into the lineup was not enough to spark any sort of offense for the Giants against Atlanta’s pitching, that is until the absolute last moment in Tuesday night’s game.
Anderson ran into some early trouble in the first inning but technically got off to a better start than Andrew Suarez did in Monday nights game. Anderson did not surrender a first-pitch homer to Ronald Acuña Jr. (like Andrew Suarez did in the series opener) but instead retired him for the first out of the inning. Dansby Swanson followed with a base hit to center before Josh Donaldson did the same thing two batters later. With runners on first and third, Nick Markakis lined a double to right, scoring Swanson, and giving the Braves a 1-0 lead.
Unable to touch rookie Mike Soroka on Monday night, the Giants offense touched up Braves starter Julio Teheran Tuesday night in the first inning. Joe Panik led off the bottom of the first with a base hit to center. Two batters later, Buster Posey lined a base hit to right, giving the Giants first and second with one out. Panik advanced to third on a Brandon Belt fly ball to left center field. Evan Longoria tied the game at one with a double down the left field line.
Innings two and three came and went quietly as both Anderson and Teheran began to settle in after rocky first innings. In the bottom of the third, Belt crushed a ball to left-center, only to be robbed by Acuña Jr.
Fun fact: @ronaldacunajr24 can play defense too ? pic.twitter.com/uUyw6387Gd
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) May 22, 2019
Anderson followed up his solid debut with an almost identical second start. Holding the Braves scoreless through innings two through five, Anderson departed in the sixth after giving up back-to-back base hits to Donaldson and Markakis to open up the inning. A fly ball to left-center advanced both runners with one out. The next batter up was Brian McCann, who brought home Donaldson with a sac-fly of his own, giving the Braves a 2-1 lead. Anderson’s final line from Tuesday night was: 5.0 IP, 8 H, 2 ER, 0 BB’s, 3 K’s
The Braves added a run in the top of the seventh. With one out, Acuña Jr. walked and then immediately stole second. Swanson followed with a walk, then Freddie Freeman drove in Acuña to extend the Braves lead to 3-1.
Offensively, the Giants didn’t go down quietly. With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Kevin Pillar singled home Brandon Crawford, who had singled two batters prior. Pablo Sandoval came to the plate with Pillar advancing to second on a stolen base. Grounding a ball in the hole at third, Donaldson made a nice diving stop to prevent Pillar from scoring.
Sandoval reached first with two outs and Pillar at third. Panik came to the plate as Mac Williamson pinch ran for Sandoval. Williamson stole second base and gave the Giants the winning run in scoring position. With a full count and two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Panik lined a single to right, scoring both Pillar and Williamson and giving the Giants a 4-3 walk-off win.
It was a stunner on Tuesday night. The final from Oracle Park: Giants 4, Braves 3. Shaun Anderson followed up his debut with another solid start as Giants bats continue to struggle against Atlanta pitching, until the dramatic walk-off in the bottom of the ninth. Panik was the hero in the ninth, winning the game with a walk-off two-run single. Trevor Gott entered in the top of the ninth and got the win, improving to 2-0 on the year. Braves reliever Luke Jackson took the loss, falling to 2-1.
Wednesday is the third game of this four-game series. The Giants will send out Jeff Samardzija, who will square off against Braves lefty Max Fried.
