You can call the 2017 San Francisco Giants a lot of names, but as long as Hunter Pence is around, you can’t call them quitters.
But as long as the rest of the Giants continue to flounder, you can’t exactly call them winners, either.
For the second time in the last four games, Pence put a blown save on an opposing closer’s ledger with a ninth inning home run to keep the Giants alive, only to have Braves’ left fielder Matt Kemp hit a two-run walkoff home run in the bottom of the 11th inning to send San Francisco to a 5-3 loss.
On Sunday, Pence’s pinch-hit blast on Father’s Day kept Ty Blach from taking the loss in front of his dad, Randy, at Coors Field and on Wednesday, Pence’s smash kept Jeff Samardzija from becoming the first Major League pitcher with 10 losses this season.
After losing on a walkoff three-run home run off the bat of Nolan Arenado on Sunday, San Francisco suffered its third walkoff defeat in its past seven games, losing on Kemp’s opposite field drive off of reliever Cory Gearrin.
Pence’s solo shot off of Braves’ closer Jim Johnson helped the Giants turn a 3-2 deficit into a 3-3 tie, and forced the contest into extra innings one frame after a triple off the bat of San Francisco center fielder Denard Span and a wild pitch from reliever Aroldys Vizcaino cut Atlanta’s advantage to one run.
The home run also marked Pence’s ninth hit in his last 26 at-bats, and helped prove he’s as intent on slugging his way out of the .228 hole his average dropped to on June 10 as he is on helping the Giants turn a nightmare start around.
In addition to Pence’s late surge, Bruce Bochy’s ballclub was able to push the game into extra frames thanks to two scoreless innings of work from reliever Sam Dyson, who’s now thrown 4.1 scoreless innings in his last three outings.
The Giants’ late comeback offered a sigh of relief for starter Jeff Samardzija, who worked seven innings and allowed three runs while racking up eight strikeouts without issuing a walk. Samardzija, who has fanned 77 hitters and walked just three since the month of May began, narrowly avoided becoming the first pitcher in the Major Leagues to lose 10 games this season.
For the second night in a row, the Giants staged a late innings rally, and this time, it prevented Braves’ starter Sean Newcomb from recording his first career win. Starting his third career game in place of 44-year-old right-hander Bartolo Colon, whose spot in the rotation was skipped due to Colon’s stiff back, Newcomb tossed six innings of one-run ball against a Giants’ lineup that’s struggled to hit Braves’ starters this series.
Though Newcomb was still a week away from being born when Atlanta’s Monday starter, R.A. Dickey, was first drafted, the 24-year-old was nearly as effective as the veteran knuckleballer was in his seven shutout innings against the Giants on Monday.
A night after launching his 12th home run of the season in the ninth inning of the Giants’ 6-3 victory, first baseman Brandon Belt ripped an RBI triple down the right field line in the top half of the second inning to plate Pence and give San Francisco an early 1-0 lead.
Aside from Belt’s triple, though, Newcomb was largely unhittable and he let an Atlanta offense that capitalized on a pair of Samardzija mistakes put him in position to walk away with a win.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Braves’ first baseman Matt Adams turned on a 2-2 fastball deposited a two-run home run over the the brick wall in right center field, giving Atlanta a 2-1 lead. Samardzija rebounded quickly, setting down eight of the next nine Braves’ hitters, including three in a row in the sixth inning, when Samardzija struck out the side.
When Samardzija returned to the mound in the seventh, Atlanta catcher Tyler Flowers greeted Samardzija with a solo home run that forced the umpires to head to the replay booth for the third time in the series. Flowers clobbered a 2-1 pitch to left field that bounced off the top of the left field wall, caromed off the netting attached to the foul pole and rebounded into the glove of left fielder Austin Slater.
Though Flowers stopped at first base amidst all the confusion, the replay review allowed him to continue his trot around the base paths, and put the Braves ahead 3-1.
Atlanta’s extra innings win marked the team’s third walkoff victory in its last five games, and sent home with their 17th loss in their last 22 games. San Francisco is now 20 games under .500 for the second time this season, and will look for a series split on Thursday evening.
