Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports
In a pitchers’ duel that pitted emerging, 2021 excellence and historic dominance, neither Kevin Gausman nor Shohei Ohtani blinked.
By the end of the afternoon, it would have been understandable if both teams were sleeping.
The Giants, with more lives than a cat, somehow kept surviving near flat-lining in extra innings and finally got big hits in the 13th to come up with the most deceiving 9-3 win in major league history, at Angel Stadium on Wednesday.
The Giants got six quality innings from their bullpen and little from their offense until the Angels’ pitching began bailing them out in the 13th. The first run came from a bases-loaded walk to Brandon Crawford, and a wild pitch scored a second. Steven Duggar’s infield single knocked in two — it was that kind of day — before Mike Tauchman, one pitch away from his sixth strikeout in six at-bats, blasted a three-run home run.
For Duggar, it was a second big hit in extra innings. The Giants went 3-for-19 with runners in scoring position, two of those not arriving until the final, merciful inning, when they exploded for seven.
Nothing was normal on a day Joe Maddon’s crew was forced to use a left fielder as a catcher and a pitcher in left field in the 12th and 13th because Kurt Suzuki took a foul ball off the mask and was shaken, and their other catcher, Max Stassi, already had been used. So left fielder Taylor Ward got in the squat as the emergency catcher. Because they were out of position players, pitcher Griffin Canning came in to left field.
The Giants won for a fourth time in nine tries in extra innings, but it appeared they were headed for an unhappy flight again and again and again. Jake McGee pitched around a leadoff double in the ninth; Zack Littell faced a bases-loaded-with-one-out jam in the 10th, but got a strikeout and a comebacker; John Brebbia used a double-play ball to strand the ghost runner in the 11th; Dominic Leone somehow kept the Angels to one run in the 12th before Jarlin Garcia pitched the 13th.
In Leone’s inning, it appeared the Giants had lost, Juan Lagares scoring the winning run on a ground ball to first. But Darin Ruf’s throw, upon review, got there in time because of Buster Posey’s slap tag, and the Giants survived again.
It’s possible the Giants lost Brandon Belt, but their bullpen refused to allow them to lose a game. The run Leone allowed was the first from the Giants bullpen, which was outstanding. Less outstanding were bats that waited until the 13th to wake up.
In all, there were 19 strikeouts by Giants batters, which is a new season high.
Somehow, some way, the Giants (48-26) moved 3.5 games up on the Dodgers and five above the Padres before the NL West rivals faced off later Wednesday.
In a matinee with a whole lot of excitement, a dark moment arrived in the top of the eighth. Belt, who was on base from another bunt, tried to advance to third on Donovan Solano’s single to right, and the ball trickled past the third baseman. Without sliding, he then put on the jets to get home and was easily thrown out. He looked hobbled, and lay on the ground and exited the game.
Brandon Belt has been taken out of the game after injuring himself on this play pic.twitter.com/xJyilbk2gp
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) June 23, 2021
There was no immediate update from the Giants, but it was a blow in the game (Belt represented the go-ahead run) and may have been a bigger one for the valuable first baseman.
On the mound, Gausman was more efficient and lasted longer, Ohtani more breathtaking even as he struck out twice in three at-bats against his adversary, but both put on shows that lived up to expectations.
Their only mistakes were mirrored: Ohtani allowed a fifth-inning home run to Mike Yastrzemski on a hanging splitter, Gausman a fifth-inning homer to Luis Rengifo on a fastball that was neither in nor up enough, and otherwise they left the game up to the bullpens.
Gausman went seven strong, one-run innings and has allowed more than two runs in one of 15 outings this year. His ERA is down to 1.49, which is best in baseball among qualified humans. (Alien Jacob deGrom is at 0.50.)
Ohtani and his 23 home runs, tied for the most in baseball, also might not be from this planet. While Gausman was methodical, mid-90 fastballs up and splitters that looked like the four-seamer until they disappeared, Ohtani was artistic. His fastball was 91 or 92 mph until he needed it.
The Giants went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position against Ohtani, who could reach back at will. In the fifth, they put two on with one out, but a 99-mph fastball to Brandon Belt got one strikeout and a 98-mph fastball to Brandon Crawford got another.
Ohtani’s last pitch, his 105th, was a 97-mph fastball blown past Mauricio Dubon. The Giants were not completely dominated by the Ruthian talent — they collected six hits in his six innings, including three from Alex Dickerson, who became the first MLB batter to do so against Ohtani — but they were mostly silenced.
The most fun strikeout of the afternoon, though, came when Ohtani was at bat. In the third, the lefty hitter took such a cut at Gausman’s cutter his helmet popped off. Gausman would not relent, throwing that offering five times — the first, third and fifth got swings and misses.
In all, the Giants ace used 49 splitters among his 100 pitches and got an incredible 18 whiffs. The Angels managed to put six in play but could not record a hit on the pitch. The average exit velocity was 79.1 mph — only soft contact.