It may have been years since the last time Brandon Crawford was nervous on a baseball diamond.
With his Giants up 10 runs in the ninth inning, though, on a day in which he got an off day, Crawford suddenly felt tense.
For the first time in his career, Crawford took the mound. The Oracle Park crowd erupted, as Renel Brooks-Moon announced that their future Wall of Famer was entering center stage.
Fighting through the nerves of a new experience, Crawford threw six straight balls to begin his pitching debut. But he settled in, allowing one hit in a scoreless inning while touching 90 mph.
“I always give pitchers a hard time about it not being that hard,” Crawford said postgame. “I think I proved today that it’s not. They probably don’t love that I have a 0.00 ERA, because I’ll continue to give them a hard time about it.”
Crawford walked out to the bump for the ninth inning of a 13-3 blowout Giants win to a huge ovation. “They seemed to be pretty into it right away,” Crawford, 36, said. He’d played 1600 career games — and only taken the field as a shortstop. Now he can add the best ERA in MLB history to his legendary résumé.
The 13-year veteran has probably dreamed of taking the mound in San Francisco since he was a kid in Mountain View. He pitched in high school and a bit of college before fully committing to shortstop, the position that he’s defined for the Giants franchise.
Crawford’s wife, Jalynne tweeted: “His dreams in the BIG LEAGUES just came true!!! He has been begging to pitch!!!!”
For years, Crawford has joked about wanting to pitch. He’s messed with pitch grips and shapes in the outfield during pregame warmups and spring training. He’s playfully bugged manager Gabe Kapler to give him a chance.
When Kapler asked Crawford if he wanted to take down the ninth inning on Sunday, Crawford said he was torn. He’s proud to be the most durable, consistent shortstop in MLB history. His 1,564 defensive games exclusively as a shortstop was the fourth-longest streak ever, trailing only Derek Jeter, Luis Aparicio and Ozzie Smith.
“I was a little bit torn,” Crawford said. “I’ve only played shortstop my whole career. That was something I thought about. But I doubt many guys have played only shortstop for 1600 games and pitched one game.”
Crawford told Kapler that if he was going to pitch, he wasn’t going to lob it. He was going to give it his all.
The crowd fed him adrenaline and nerves, which may have played a part in him starting off with six straight balls. But Crawford settled in, eventually touching 90 mph on one fastball — a number he was quick to correct a reporter.
Blake Sabol threw down signs, leaving the PitchCom behind. Crawford even shook the rookie catcher off a couple times, wanting to take his slider out for his spin instead of just throwing heaters. His pitches ranged from 72.2 to 89.7 mph in velocity. Tracking technology categorized five distinct pitches: fastball, four-seam fastball, changeup, curveball and slider.
Crawford said he only got five or six warmup pitches in the batting cage before it was his turn. He insists he would’ve lit up the radar gun even more if he had more time to loosen up his arm.
After a walk and a single, Crawford retired the next three Cubs in order on a groundout, flyout and shallow pop-out. He threw 20 pitches, which wasn’t even enough to prevent the veteran from going through a postgame workout.
An encased game ball sat in Crawford’s clubhouse chair as he spoke with reporters postgame. Jalynne thanked Kapler for giving her husband the nod. He joked that he has a better ERA than his brother-in-law, Gerrit Cole, and said he’ll make sure that former teammate Brandon Belt sees his highlights.
Crawford didn’t close the door on making another appearance and putting his pristine ERA on the line, saying he was told that his pitches looked good on the team’s charts.
“We’ll see,” Crawford said, with a grin.
There isn’t much left for Crawford to accomplish in his career. He’s won two World Series rings, four Gold Glove awards and a Silver Slugger. The three-time All-Star went to Candlestick Park growing up and became the only shortstop a generation of Giants fans now know.
After Sunday, at least on his baseball card, he can be known as a two-way player.
“You have to admire him,” infielder Thairo Estrada said, through interpreter Erwin Higueros. “You have to respect him. He’s a role model for all of us. And obviously very happy that he was able to get all three outs without allowing a run.”
