Tyler Austin earlier this season. Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
LOS ANGELES — When things are not breaking right for Tyler Austin — like, say, going 1-for-20 in nine games entering Wednesday — he gets creative.
And grabs his razor.
Sporting a wispy mustache that his wife “hates,” Austin was a cut above Wednesday, even if the Giants were buried below in a 9-2 loss at Dodger Stadium.
The 27-year-old left fielder, whose natural position is first base, looked far more comfortable in his 17th game at the position this season, coming up with two diving catches and playing a Justin Turner swat off the wall well and throwing the Dodgers third baseman out at second.
Tyler Austin doing a little bit of everything tonight. pic.twitter.com/HQLuWSYjyL
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) June 20, 2019
His most impressive moment, though — on a day he homered — came in the fifth inning, when Cody Bellinger skied a blooper to shallow left. Austin’s first steps were circuitous. His next were better, racing in for the diving grab.
“I think it’s just working in practice,” Austin said. “The fifth inning, the ball I dove for today, I broke back then broke forward. That might be part of the reason I had to dive for it to begin with. But it’s coming along and getting better every day.”
He looked a bit banged-up after the grab, but he said the dive just “knocked the wind out of me.” For the mustachioed Austin, it was a close shave.
¡Tremenda joya defensiva de Tyler Austin en la carretera!#SFGigantes pic.twitter.com/THWMECv8tv
— SF Gigantes (@SFGigantes) June 20, 2019
“Playing time out there, [Austin has] gotten more and more comfortable and made some nice catches,” Bruce Bochy said after Austin got his second straight start, the Dodgers throwing lefties back-to-back. “One in front of him, he got a slow start on it but recovered, did a real nice catch.
“… He’s getting better and better out there. He can run. He’s got range. There’s no reason he shouldn’t be a good left fielder.”
Austin is not on the team for his glove, though. The 6-foot-2, 220-pound early-season trade acquisition went the other way for his sixth home run of the year, a day after hitting a shot to right that died on the warning track.
It felt good. But he still doesn’t feel right.
“Got a long way to go,” said Austin, who struck out three times in his other at-bats. “I still don’t feel great at the plate. Just one of those stretches right now where I’m trying to battle, do everything I can to help the team win.”
Had this shot not gone out, he may have shaved. He said he gives the new facial hair two games when he’s slumping, and if the mustache hasn’t solved the problem, he loses it.
After the home run, though, he has bad news for his wife.
“She’s gonna be pissed,” he said.
Steven Duggar was scratched with a back that “really stiffened up to the point that he couldn’t go,” Bochy said.
Bochy was unsure about Duggar’s availability Thursday.
Pablo Sandoval, who hadn’t played since his pinkie got trampled Monday, pinch-hit in the ninth. He grounded into a double play.
