Talk about adding insult to injury.
Brandon Belt’s bizarre inning-ending bunt attempt with two runners in scoring position killed any momentum the Giants had in the seventh inning of Thursday’s 5-0 ballgame. If that wasn’t enough, Belt was booed off the field as starting pitcher Zac Gallen chuckled on his way to the dugout.
It was a brutal sequence for Belt who is having arguably the worst season of his professional career.
Giants broadcaster Mike Krukow believes the moment represented a rock bottom for the two-time World Series champion.
“Yeah, you know it doesn’t happen to players very often,” Krukow told Murph & Mac regarding being booed. “It happens to pitchers because if you are going on the downside of your career, you go out there and you give up six runs in an inning and a third, you’re going to get booed. It does hurt, it stings, but I think it hurts more to a player when he gets booed like that, cause it just doesn’t happen. And we all love the guy.
“Look, we all know what’s going on with him too right now. He’s cold. He’s a guy that runs hot and cold. When he’s hot he can carry a club, and he knows that, but he has been looking for it for awhile. Then this happens to him yesterday. I honestly believe that was the lowest point in his career when he was walking back to the dugout from the plate.”
Though the optics were awful, Krukow, like Gabe Kapler, actually defended Belt’s decision to bunt. As a former player, Krukow knows that sometimes you face an opponent that has your number. He can empathize with Belt’s belief that bunting was the only chance he had to keep the inning alive.
“I see it a little differently only because I’ve been in similar situations,” Kruk said. “You play this game long enough, you do recognize a few things. One, you recognize an unbeatable foe…There have been times where I’ve been out there and a guy steps in the box and I knew I had no chance against the guy.”
“I think that is exactly what happened with Brandon Belt yesterday against Zac Gallen. Zac Gallen owned him, and he could not figure out this cutter that he was throwing. He had the worst swings I’ve ever seen. The ball was coming in and it was a flat break from Gallen the right-handed pitcher to Belt the left-handed hitter and it was exploding in.”
“It was just eating Belt alive. He just could not pick it up. So, here we go. 5-0 ballgame, two outs, runners at second and third and he steps up there. And we’re thinking ‘Okay, base hit here and they’re back in it.’”
“I don’t know if you saw the at-bat, but the second strike of the at-bat was a slider that comes in and it breaks him down. About halfway to his swing he just stops. This movement, he can’t figure it out. At that point in time he has a revelation: ‘I can’t hit this guy.’
“So you’re in a situation with two on, you need an RBI, what’s the one thing that everybody talks about? Keep the line moving. And he says in his own mind, ‘This is my best option, to bunt.’ And he squares around and guess what he gets? He gets another cutter. And it ran right up his bat, almost hit his hands. Foul ball, inning over.”
Listen to the full interview below. You can listen to every KNBR interview on our podcast page at knbr.com/podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.
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