Chris Mezzavilla | KNBR
The Giants went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position during Saturday night’s 6-1 loss, adding to an alarmingly ice-cold clutch hitting stretch. In their past seven games heading into Sunday, they’d gone 10-for-74 (.135) with men on second or third, leaving potential runs on the basepaths and ending innings without any damage.
Despite out-hitting LA in Saturday’s loss and coming up empty, Giants manager Gabe Kapler wasn’t concerned about the trend. He’s been around long enough to know that kind of rut is normal, and when a team finally breaks through, runs can come in bunches.
“You get one big hit in one big moment and it tends to be fairly contagious,” Kapler said.
Kapler looks especially clairvoyant after Sunday night’s 6-4 victory over the Dodgers in the series finale. A timely hitting resurgence came against one of the best pitchers in baseball and from at least one unlikely source. SF went 4-for-10 with runners in scoring position and hung six runs on Cy Young Award contender Walker Buehler, knocking him out after three innings.
It was the last time the Dodgers and Giants (87-50) meet — at least in the regular season. SF edged the season series, 10 games to nine. With 25 regular season games to play, the Giants lead the Dodgers in the division by a game. If they finish with the same record, Sunday’s win gives SF home-field advantage in a potential tiebreaker. It also gives them sole possession of the NL West lead, once again, as well as “best record in baseball” status.
This win was as convincing, as complete, as any of the Giants’ 10 victories over LA this year.
After Brandon Belt’s first-inning solo shot — his 21st of the season — put San Francisco ahead 1-0, the Dodgers tied it with a walk and two singles. José Álvarez failed to record an out in the top of the second, but Zack Littell relieved him and helped SF prevent further damage.
Then Kapler’s prediction came true.
Steven Duggar, who was called up from Triple-A Sacramento to replace Austin Slater (concussion) on Sunday, stepped in to face Walker Buehler with runners on second and third. Duggar’s name didn’t come up a single time during Gabe Kapler’s pregame chat with reporters. Buehler started the game leading MLB in win percentage, ERA and ERA+.
Duggar’s last big league at-bat was exactly one month ago. That didn’t stop him from smoking a grounder down the right field line for a two-RBI triple. His helmet flew off his head as he rounded first base, and he popped up from his slide into third base with a fist pump and a scream. San Francisco’s first multi-run inning of the series came via the guy who wasn’t on the active roster until hours before the finale.
Contagious is a delicate word these days, but the hits kept coming. Darin Ruf, pinch-hitting for the pitcher, singled home Duggar to add to SF’s second-inning flurry. The next inning, Brandon Crawford and LaMonte Wade Jr. knocked back-to-back doubles off Buehler to score another run. Curt Casali’s floated single into left field scored Crawford from second, too.
San Francisco’s first six runs scored came on seven hits. The night prior, they scored one run on nine base knocks. SF put up the most runs Buehler has allowed in a game in 2021, knocking him out after three innings.
Buehler’s fastball didn’t have its normal life, and Giants hitters were all over it. The All-Star threw 22 fastballs and cutters combined, and SF didn’t whiff on any of them. The spin rate on each of Buehler’s pitches was down at least 100 rotations, per Baseball Savant.
Meanwhile, SF dealt its second consecutive bullpen game, a daunting task for any team. Kapler was aggressive in making pitching changes, using six arms in the first five innings and nine total. Opener Dominic Leone, Zack Littell, Tony Watson, and Tyler Rogers each tossed scoreless innings.
One of the keys to winning games without a traditional starter, though, is ample run support. That can always alleviate potentially volatile pitching results. SF fared worse against the Dodgers’ bullpen — scoring no runs against five relievers — but by the time Buehler walked off the diamond, the deed had already been done. Enough to withstand Albert Pujols’ ninth inning two-run blast.
The Giants have already exceeded outsiders’ preseason expectations, but are on track based on their internal hopes, president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi told the LA Times this weekend.
“We talk a lot about playing meaningful games as late in the season as possible,” Zaidi told The Times. “So, we expected to do that.”
And as evenly matched as the two clubs have been, it’s fitting that they have the same strength of schedule remaining; both teams’ remaining opponents have a .485 combined winning percentage.
Meaningful games in September. For Zaidi and the Giants, even that is mission accomplished. And Sunday’s convincing win could spell much more than that.
