Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
A few former Phillies had some of the biggest moments for the Giants, but it was a current Phillie — who very much is not a Giant — who had a huge homer and scored the winning run.
Darin Ruf smacked a game-tying three-run home run and Jose Alvarez came up with a strikeout to pitch a scoreless eighth inning, but it was Gabe Kapler’s old team that walked off a 6-5 victory at Citizens Bank Park on Wednesday.
The Giants (11-7) finished up an East Coast trip 3-3 and now head home for four more with the Marlins beginning Thursday. San Francisco’s pitching continues to impress, and its bats have begun to awaken, tallying 11 hits Wednesday. They could not pull off the sweep in Philadelphia, though, as the Phillies got a one-out single from Andrew Knapp off Wandy Peralta that drove home Bryce Harper.
Harper, who had flirted with the Giants in free agency before eventually choosing the Phillies, had tied the game at 5-5 in the seventh with a homer and acquitted himself very nicely against his old manager.
The Giants, after burying themselves into an early hole, had climbed back up with plenty of help from some former Phillies. First it was Ruf — who was drafted by the Phillies in 2009, rose through their system as “Babe” Ruf and played parts of five seasons with the NL East team before his career took a three-year detour in South Korea — who knocked a pinch-hit, three-run home run that tied it in the seventh.
Ruf’s blast was his third of the year — he only has one hit that is not a dinger. It makes for a strange statline; he is batting .200 with a .954 OPS, which the Giants will take.
They took the lead with some luck. Andrew McCutchen dropped a flyball that would have been the third out, putting Mike Yastrzemski on second. Alex Dickerson, in a rare matchup with a lefty, singled off Jojo Romero for the lead.
Alvarez, who pitched the last two seasons with Philadelphia, was in a bases-loaded jam in the eighth during a tie game, although it was not entirely a jam of his own making. McCutchen beat out an infield single that Brandon Crawford bobbled to bring Rhys Hoskins to the plate and drama to the proceedings. But it took three pitches for Alvarez to punch out the slugger. Alvarez pumped his fist and dashed off the mound and into the Giants’ dugout.
Apart from Alvarez, the Giants’ bullpen was not as sharp as it has been of late. Caleb Baragar, who had gone 22 straight appearances without allowing a run, dating back to Aug. 12 of last year, ended the streak but with an asterisk. The lefty gave up one unearned run in the sixth, the Phillies extending their lead to 4-1 when Nick Maton slapped a single to left that Dickerson misplayed. The left fielder thought he was in front of the liner, only for the ball to elude his glove and keep rolling until Maton was on third and a run had scored.
After the Giants’ four-run seventh to move into the lead, it was Camilo Doval’s first time to get touched up. The rookie, making his third appearance of his major league life, watched Harper staple a slider to right for his fourth homer of the season that tied it. That set the stage for Harper to walk in the ninth and score the game-winner.
The Giants ran into trouble early, and both clubs had to battle Mother Nature.
The Phillies jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second, when Mickey Moniak, the No. 1 overall pick in 2016, knocked his first career home run. Anthony DeSclafani had allowed two runs in his first three starts of the season, then surrendered more with one swing.
Those would be the only runs allowed by DeSclafani, who was not sharp but gave the Giants plenty. After a third-inning rain delay that lasted 44 minutes, he came out and ate a few more innings, finishing his game after four frames in which he allowed five hits and two walks. His gritting by enabled the Giants to get one inning apiece from a series of relievers, rather than ask, say, Jarlin Garcia to get six outs.