San Francisco Giants utility player Pablo Sandoval entered the 2018 season on a minimum contract with the team, simply looking to find a way to stay on the major league roster and contribute to the team’s success.
While he had played at third base and first base in a combined 17 games this season, he could not have foreseen how he would contribute Saturday.
In the first game on the Giants’ doubleheader with the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers, the Giants were trailing 15-6 and had already used three relief pitchers on their 25-man roster entering the ninth inning. So what did they do?
They put in Sandoval.
https://twitter.com/Starting9/status/990378831579099136
Not only did Sandoval pitch the entire ninth inning, he retired all three Dodgers hitters he faced on just 11 pitches, making him the only Giants pitcher to record a 1-2-3 inning during the game. He displayed impressive command of a fastball in the mid-80s, as well as a surprisingly good curveball.
https://twitter.com/PitcherList/status/990377991728484352
The move provided welcome levity from a game in which Giants starting pitcher Chris Stratton and the team’s bullpen struggled to prevent the Dodgers from scoring runs all afternoon.
https://twitter.com/NBCSGiants/status/990380582801588224
