© D. Ross Cameron | 2021 Sep 17
The star of Friday night’s 6-5 extra innings win over the Braves was a starter who didn’t throw a pitch.
Kevin Gausman, typically known for his split-fingered fastball, not his fastball-splitting swing, turned an off-day into one of the most memorable days of his life with one swing of the bat. “Probably the birth of my two children, then that” he said postgame.
With the Giants out of position players, manager Gabe Kapler called Gausman out of the clubhouse to pinch-hit for reliever Camilo Doval with one out and the bases loaded in the bottom of the 11th inning. Gausman had 11 career hits to the back of his baseball card, but the rookie Doval hadn’t even faced a Major League pitcher.
So the left-handed batter watched Jacob Webb’s first offering for a called strike. Then he watched a ball on the corner. Was he ever going to swing? Was he going to try to bunt? Gausman had been spending some time in the cage as the inning developed, trying to time up velocity, but was so late he fouled off Webb’s third pitch, sending it near the home team’s dugout.
Gausman laid off a fastball outside and a changeup low. Kapler said postgame it was a solid at-bat period, pitcher or not. Gausman heard the Oracle Park crowd stand up at their seats and roar. On the sixth pitch of the at-bat, with the count full, Gausman met a fastball right down the middle and lifted it to right field to score Brandon Crawford from third.
Did he get enough of it? Gausman honestly had no idea. He’d only pulled a ball once in his 117 career plate appearances. The career .105 hitter has slapped a few singles the other way but that’s about it. He was “shocked” to see Crawford trying to score.
His fly ball traveled jussst far enough. After Crawford slid head-first into home around Travis d’Arnaud’s swipe tag, Gausman threw off his helmet, chest-bumped Brandon Belt and moshpitted with his teammates in the outfield.
Kevin Gausman walk-off sac fly. Just like they drew it up pic.twitter.com/sRUmSflXlJ
— KNBR (@KNBR) September 18, 2021
“That was the coolest thing I’ve ever done in my career,” Gausman said. “When it was 3-2 and everybody stood up, that was probably one of the coolest moments of my life.”
When Gausman left the on-deck circle for the batter’s box, he said he heard some boos from the crowd. Maybe they thought San Francisco had more options off the bench. But no, they were stuck with Gausman.
And he stuck them with an unforgettable sacrifice fly; his game-winning RBI was the third by a pinch-hitting pitcher in franchise history.
Best as I can tell, Kevin Gausman just collected the third walk-off RBI by a pitcher as a pinch hitter in San Francisco Giants history. Madison Bumgarner hit a walk-off single in the 12th on 9/25/18 vs. SDP and Don Robinson hit a walk-off single in the 9th on 7/31/1990 vs. HOU.
— Andrew Baggarly (@extrabaggs) September 18, 2021
The Giants wouldn’t have been in position with the game on the line in the 11th inning if not for Donovan Solano. In his first at-bat since contracting COVID-19 in late August, Solano blasted a game-tying solo home run off Atlanta closer Will Smith, erasing Tyler Rogers’ blown save.
A scoreless 10th inning and a couple strategically called intentional walks later, the Giants had the bases loaded with one of their least feared hitters up. Gausman knew from the start he wasn’t going up there to stand in as a practice dummy for Jacob Webb. He wasn’t going to bunt, either. He’d played with Webb in Atlanta in 2019, so he knew what kind of stuff he throws.
“I was trying to cheat to a fastball,” Gausman said. “I thought he was going to throw me a fastball. And somehow made contact with it, and we won. It was crazy.”
Really though, his approach was simpler.
“More than anything, I was trying to not look ridiculous,” Gausman said. “Just like, take good swings, swing at strikes.”
These guys are something else
pic.twitter.com/Rs6nvr8Hm3— KNBR (@KNBR) September 18, 2021
One teammate absent from the on-field celebration was Logan Webb, who gave SF seven two-hit innings as Friday’s starter. He’s notoriously the Giants’ “best” hitting pitcher; he nearly hit one out of the park in Coors Field and acted as the team’s emergency outfielder at one point.
Webb, recovering from his start in the clubhouse, was screaming while watching Gausman’s game-winning hit. “I’m still fired up about it,” he told reporters postgame.
Gausman and Webb debate all the time about who’s the better hitter; Gausman said he’s a better contact hitter, while Webb has more pop. Had Webb not started Friday, it likely would’ve been him in the batter’s box with the game on the line. He knows it, and let Gausman hear it as soon as he entered the clubhouse, telling him he was so jealous.
When asked about how he’d assess his performance from the mound, Webb summed up the game more concisely than any scribe could: “Who cares about that? Gaus got a walk-off hit!”
