Baseball Lifer

A 10-inning thriller ends up being a really rough loss for the Giants, as the Giants lose a wild one, 8-7.

Jakob Junis made the start for the Giants, and other than a four-run third inning by the Padres, he was pretty solid through six innings. The Giants trailed 4-1 going to the bottom of the third, but make it 4-3 on a two-run home run off the bat of Darin Ruf. Ruf then tied it with a solo shot to left in the bottom of the fifth.

The game remained tied until the eighth, when Tyler Rogers came in. Rogers hit Jake Cronenworth to start the inning, which is never a good omen. Rogers then got the white-hot Manny Machado to foul out deep to the right field corner, and got Hosmer to ground out, which moved Cronenworth to second. Unfortunately, Rogers caught a bad break, as he got a ball right back to him off the bat of Jurickson Profar, but Rogers deflected it over to Evan Longoria, who had no shot of getting Profar. Profar then stole second, and that set up things nicely for Wil Myers, who hit an opposite-field double off the wall in right to give the Padres a 6-4 lead.

Surprisingly, we didn’t see Tyler Rogers’ twin brother, Taylor, for the bottom of the ninth—I guess the Padres wanted to give him some rest. The Padres went to the right-handed flame-throwing sinker-baller, Luis Garcia, who made quick work of Joey Bart—who came in for Curt Casali after taking a shot to the mask earlier—and Luis Gonzalez, striking out both of them. Mike Yastrzemski hit a bullet into the hole at short that Padres’ shortstop, Ha-Seong Kim dove to his right to to knock down, but he Kim couldn’t get Yaz at first. Darin Ruf, looking for his third home run, instead drew a walk; and then the Giants sent up Joc Pederson to pinch hit, and Joc worked an 0-2 count to a walk to load the bases for Wilmer Flores, who tied the game with a base-hit to left, just over the head of Kim, and Ruf scored the tying run just ahead of the tag at the plate.

Then came the 10th, and the completely bastardization of the game—Keith Olbermann’s words, not mine—with the automatic runner at second. Camilo Doval came in for the Giants, and he did what got him into trouble a lot at the beginning of the season: he over-relied on his slider, and Manny Machado roped one into the left-centerfield gap for a double to put the Padres right back ahead. After Machado went to third on a ground out by Eric Hosmer, Jurickson Profar singled to left-center to score Machado, and make it 9-7.

The Giants had their own automatic runner at second in Tommy LaStella against Robert Suarez in the bottom of the 10th, and Crawford singled in LaStella with one out to make it 8-7. However, Bart then struck out, and Luis Gonzalez grounded out to short to end it.

It’s Luis Garcia, who ends up getting the win for the Padres after blowing the save. Camilo Doval got the loss for the Giants, and Robert Suarez got his first big league save.

GAMEBALL:

Darin Ruf

It’s been a tale of two months for Ruf, who has really come alive here in May after an abysmal start to the season in April. Ruf hit two home runs tonight. Then in the ninth, as the tying run at the plate with the Giants down to their final out, he patiently drew the walk against a very tough pitcher in Luis Garcia. He then chugged on home, and scored the tying run just ahead of the tag of Jorge Alfaro at the plate.

TIP OF THE CAP:

Jakob Juinis: With Disco out, Junis is our fifth starter now, and even though he got lit up for four runs in the third, I really do feel that he did a nice job in his other five innings to give his team some innings, and keep the bullpen fresh.

Wilmer: He always knows how to get the big hits, and where to place them. I really like that he chokes up a bit on the bat, and doesn’t try to do too much. Luis Garcia tried to jam him with a 97-MPH sinker right on the inside corner, and Wilmer took a perfect swing to hit a broken-bat single to left, just over the head of the Padres’ shortstop, Ha-Seong Kim, to tie it. Perfectly executed.

Yaz: As the Giants’ last hope with two out and nobody on in the bottom of the ninth, he muscled one to short, and legged out an infield hit to keep the game going.

Joc: After Garcia walked Ruf, Kap sent in Joc to pinch-hit for Longo, who Garcia clearly much preferred facing over Ruf. Garcia overmatched Joc, as Joc was quickly down 0-2. Joc hung in there, and worked the walk to load the bases for Wilmer.

Bob Melvin: I didn’t hear until after the game that Melvin had prostate surgery just last Wednesday, and had to miss some time. A former Giant, and one of my favorite old school managers in the game today. It’s no surprise the Padres are off to the great start they have had under him. As Luke Voit said today, he alone is a big presence in the Padres’ clubhouse.

Curt Casali: Curt took one to the mask, and even though he didn’t appear dazed, or to have any concussion symptoms afterwards, Kap still pulled him, so let’s hope he’s okay.

JOKER:

Extra Inning Rule

The Extra Inning Rule, or as Keith Olbermann refers to it, the BASTARDIZATION of the game, came into play tonight, and it gave the momentum the Padres needed to quickly re-take the lead in the 10th after losing it in the ninth.

Everyone has already heard me go on and on and on and on about how much I hate this rule, so I’ll spare you another rant, but the cool thing about extra innings is that it used to be a huge advantage for the home team. If you were the road team, you needed to score, AND hold the lead; whereas if you were the home team, all you needed to do was get the lead, and the game was over. That still applies, but with the automatic runner at second, that sets up the road team for a huge inning. Yes, the home team is going to get the same runner at second, but it’s nowhere near the advantage it’s supposed to be when you’re down two-to-six runs.

Extra innings is supposed to be an advantage for the home team, not the road team. PERIOD.

SMACK OF THE STICK:

Joey Bart: Bart had to come in for Casali after the latter took a shot to the mask. Bart had two big at-bats, and struck out swinging both times, plummeting his average down to .169. If now’s not the time to send him to Sacramento, when is?

Camilo Doval: This is what happens when Doval over-relies on his slider. It’s what got him hit around at the beginning of the season, and it’s what cost him tonight.

Longo: He was starting to swing the bat a bit in St. Louis, but his bat has gone stone cold since, as we went 0-for-4 tonight.

Tommy LaStella: LaStella topped off—or shall I say bottomed out—Longo’s night with an 0-for-5 showing, including a strike out to end the ninth.

FLIP OF THE FINGER:

Bleacher Bums: Jurickson Profar pissed off the fans with something he did, but whatever it was, it didn’t warrant garbage and BEER BOTTLES being thrown at him. Thankfully, with all of the footage we have today, the fans who did this should be able to be identified, so they can be charged and banned from ever going to games again.

Rob Manfred: Just for the hell of it. He gave us the Extra Inning Rule, and plus it’s always fun to express my utter disdain for him.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

The Giants fall to 22-16, but they also now fall to four games back of the Dodgers. Yes, I know it’s May, but you have to keep pace with a team like the Dodgers, and you can’t get too far behind them. So I admit, I’m getting a bit worried. I really want to win the West again, but we can’t end up 10 games behind the Dodgers, and then expect it to happen again. The Giants really do need a win tomorrow.

Stephen