You will eat your Giants slop and you will like it. After a couple weeks of torture, and some unseasoned-tofu-style baseball in the first half of Wednesday night’s game, this team found life.
That’s not to say there wasn’t some form of torture on Wednesday. But for the first time in seven games, they came out on top, beating the Arizona Diamondbacks 7-5 on the back of some late-game magic, scoring five runs in the last two innings.
The win keeps the Giants, now, 41-39, from falling to .500.
At long last, there was a spark. For the first four innings, it sure didn’t feel like there would be.
It seemed destined to be another limp, lifeless snoozer, as San Francisco was getting no-hit by Merrill Kelly until Brandon Crawford pulled a double down the right-field line in the fifth.
A Tommy La Stella walk followed, setting up what seemed — until the eighth inning — like it would be the defining moment of the game.
It was a jolt from Joey Bart, initially logged as a three-run home run. Bart, after struggling in his first couple months with the Giants, had been in the minors for all of June.
This was a punctuation on his return, albeit one with a bit of a sour taste. It turned into a very long RBI double because of the catch from a Diamondbacks fan which was ruled interference.
It was apropos of this team’s struggles over the last few weeks. The high of the moment was quickly dampened. The fan was escorted out and only one further run came in for the Giants in that fifth inning.
But for once, there was more to come from this team.
And it came at Bart’s expense.
In the eighth, Gabe Kapler made a choice that would have left himself open to substantial criticism if it had backfired. Instead, it was a masterstroke.
He substituted Bart for Austin Slater, who came up with what now-broadcaster Hunter Pence called an “ambush bunt.”
Slater surprised the Diamondbacks by laying one down towards third and beat it out, despite initially, erroneously being called out. A challenge overturned that decision just about immediately.
The Giants’ tact paid immediate dividends.
Three pitches after Slater reached base, Darin Ruf became the first Giant this season to hit a pinch-hit home run, and did it to tie the game at four runs apiece.
Neither Slater nor the Giants were done. A ninth-inning rally awaited.
It began with Mike Yastrzemski getting nicked on the elbow pad by an erroneous curveball and a furious exclamation from Arizona reliever Sean Poppen.
Poppen would remain frustrated. He secured one out on a near double play from Brandon Crawford, but loaded the bases with one out for Slater.
Slater came through again, but in a much more assertive fashion than the inning prior. This time, he sliced a ball down the right field line, scoring two and giving the Giants their first lead of the game.
Austin Wynns was next, and proceeded to send a ball 355 feet to center field, scoring La Stella from third and providing a three-run lead.
They got to that ninth inning tied — and remained in touching distance throughout this game — thanks to some solid bullpen work and a fairly impressive rebound performance from Alex Cobb.
Cobb opened the game with back-to-back strikeouts, but was nicked for a first-inning run, and struck out just one further batter.
Arizona came right back at him in the second inning, and benefited from an iffy play at second from Tommy La Stella. It was ruled a double, but just as easily could have been an error.
By the end of that inning, the Diamondbacks had tagged Cobb for three runs. Despite the shaky start, though, that’s all they would get.
Cobb settled down for four shutout innings after the first two. He had plenty of misses, but fought off a rising pitch count to get through six by leaning on his heavy sinker.
It was not a sterling performance, but it got the Giants to their bullpen without things getting out of control.
Kapler proceeded to tap Jarlín Garcia for a pair of outs and Mauricio Llovera for another in the seventh, with John Brebbia putting in a clean eighth.
That left the always electric — and terrifying — Camilo Doval with a save opportunity and three-run cushion.
It couldn’t be straightforward. He began with an anxiety-inducing walk to Geraldo Perdomo, but responded with a strikeout on a nasty slider.
A deep fly out from Josh Rojas left a two-out situation, but another walk followed, this time to Alek Thomas.
The nerves did not end there. Ketel Marte knocked a low single into right field, scoring the first of those two walked batters, and leaving runners at the corners.
It couldn’t be simple. What’s the fun in that?
Doval rarely likes to keep things simple. He proceeded to allow a scorcher down the left field line to Christian Walker that would almost certainly have scored both runners. Instead, mercifully, it landed foul.
But Walker was relentless in that at-bat. He drew the third walk of the inning from Doval, fouling off four pitches in a 10-pitch at-bat that loaded the bases with two outs.
It was a 37-pitch inning for Doval that ended with him on the hook for a loss. Just 20 of those pitches were for strikes.
So, in came Sammy Long.
He was a proponent of brevity. He led with a first-pitch changeup, drew a foul ball, then struck out Jordan Luplow with a gorgeous curveball.
At long last, the Giants have won a game.
