Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
For one night — or more precisely, for innings seven through 10 on one night — the old Giants looked like the Giants of old.
This elusive Giants squad is neither good enough to win easily nor uncaring enough to lose easily, proving so yet again by coming back from a fourth four-run deficit of the season and breathing life into bats that looked dead.
Hunter Pence’s three-run home run in the seventh brought them within striking range, Darin Ruf struck with a game-tying RBI single in the ninth, and Brandon Crawford stroked his own RBI single in the 10th as the Giants survived the extra-inning madness, 7-6, on Tuesday night at Minute Maid Park.
The Giants (8-11) evened the series and are now 3-6 on a road trip that ends Wednesday. They scored six runs in the first game of the trip and hadn’t touched that total until Tuesday. This was their 15th game in as many days, and it often looked like that: The bats were quiet until the end, perhaps the legs tired and the arms imperfect, but enough.
Trevor Gott, who earned the win, threw a solid ninth and Tyler Rogers rebounded with a perfect 10th to strand the Astros’ runner on third. He struck out Carlos Correa with a slider that just kept sliding then froze Kyle Tucker on a fastball.
While the young bullpen was excellent after a sixth-inning Rico Garcia blowup, the old bats were the best surprise in turning a 6-2 deficit into a victory.
Crawford got on base three times and raised his average above .200 (.204), a much-needed step in the right direction for the struggling shortstop who’s been reduced to mostly a platoon role. Facing righty Cy Sneed with runners on the corners, Crawford came through for just his third RBI of the year.
Ruf’s single an inning prior had finally completed the comeback, bouncing a single past third to knock in Mike Yastrzemski. Pence’s fourth career pinch-hit home run had reinvigorated a club that had been flatlining. Gabe Kapler’s decision to hit Pence for Alex Dickerson against lefty Blake Taylor paid off when his two-strike slider got too much of the plate, and Pence volleyed it just clear of the right-field fence for the three-run bomb.
Pence had stepped into the box 2-for-32 this year, and that long ball against his former club will alleviate some stress, as will Crawford’s nice day.
The stress will still be on Pablo Sandoval, who pinch-hit in the eighth for Chadwick Tromp with two on and two outs, but he struck out in three pitches. The Panda is batting .179.
That’s a number Brandon Belt would appreciate, the first baseman plunging down to .121 after his 0-for-3-with-a-strikeout day.
Prior to Pence’s first home run of the season, the Giants’ only offense of the night came via a Wilmer Flores home run and Alex Dickerson RBI single. Yastrzemski’s bat has cooled, and Donovan Solano’s was forced to the bench with abdominal soreness.
With their veterans looking old rather than looking like themselves of old, and with their finds being lost, there is not much room for error with the Giants’ staff. And there were errors Tuesday.
Tyler Anderson was not as great as he had been in Colorado, but he was not the problem. The lefty lasted five, four-run innings, a rough second inning his demise.
A Tucker triple preceded a Martin Maldonado double, which accounted for the Astros’ first run. After Anderson walked Jose Altuve, Josh Reddick’s double knocked two more in (though Reddick would get thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple).
Apart from that blip, Anderson (80 pitches) was effective, but Garcia was bruised in a troubling sixth. The hard-thrower recorded just two outs while allowing five hits, actually fortunate to allow just two runs because of a smooth Evan Longoria-to-Tromp bases-loaded double play.
The Giants’ defense was better (although it could not have been much worse). The starting pitching was not bad, and the relievers who followed Garcia were strong. But the Giants likely will swing based on whether they look old or look like the Giants of old.