Giants 6, Diamondbacks 4
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 28 — Despite a sloppy game, the San Francisco Giants managed to defeat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 6–4, Tuesday night for their 103rd win of the season. Two-thirds of their runs came due to wild pitches or bases-loaded walks.
Logan Webb pitched around a two-out infield single by catcher Daulton Varsho in the first. Luke Weaver responded by striking out the first two hitters in the bottom of the inning on eight combined pitches. The next batter, catcher Buster Posey, belted the ninth pitch of his at-bat into the gap in left-center for a double. Three consecutive walks followed, forcing in a run, before Evan Longoria watched a disputed third strike go by, ending the inning with the Giants leading, 1–0.
Jake McCarthy opened the third with a single. As Weaver dug in, Webb whipped a pickoff throw to first. McCarthy dove back as first baseman LaMonte Wade, Jr. missed the throw. The ball reached the wall in foul ground outside medium right field, allowing the speedy McCarthy to reach third. After Weaver whiffed, shortstop Josh Rojas plated McCarthy with a sacrifice fly to left, tying the game at one.
Giants Take Big Lead, Diamondbacks Make It Close Late
The Giants took the lead in the bottom of the sixth off Sean Poppen, who struggled some with command. It didn’t help matters that Rojas committed a throwing error on the first batter of the inning. After center fielder Steven Duggar popped to short — with Rojas making a spectacular one-handed over-the-shoulder grab — the inning fell apart. Poppen hit pinch-hitter Alex Dickerson on the left foot to put runners on first and second. (Manager Gabe Kapler said after the game that x-rays were negative.)
Second baseman Tommy La Stella and first baseman Wilmer Flores followed with consecutive singles — the latter driving in the go-ahead run. This brought up Posey with the bases loaded. A walk brought in Donavan Solano — running for La Stella, who left the game with Achilles discomfort — to make the score 3–1. Shortstop Brandon Crawford followed with an RBI single off new pitcher Joe Mantiply. After Kris Bryant grounded into a 3-2 force play for the second out, a wild pitch plated Posey to make the score 5–1. Pinch-hitter Austin Slater grounded to second to stop the bleeding.
The sixth Giants run came in the seventh off Brett de Geus. Longoria led off with a double and advanced to third on a follow-up single by Duggar. A wild pitch to pinch-hitter Thairo Estrada brought Longoria home.
The Diamondbacks made it a 6–4 game in the top of the eighth. Rojas led off with a double. After second baseman Ketel Marte walked, Varsho grounded into a 4–6 force play, beating the relay to avoid a double play. Right fielder Kole Calhoun followed with a single, scoring Rojas and advancing Varsho to third. A sacrifice fly by left fielder David Peralta plated Varsho to finalize the score.
Postgame Reflections
Weaver’s 41-pitch first inning shortened his outing, not only because he would reach the overall limit sooner. Manager Torey Lovullo said, “(We were) very concerned with that high pitch count in the first inning. So we decided to clip about 10 pitches off his overall number.” About the first, Lovullo added, “He made a pitch to get out of that inning, and there was a ton of damage control. It was one inning after a bunch of misfires, a bunch of traffic — and one run.
“What I (told) him was that it was a net positive to get through that first inning (without) giving up a couple (of) extra scratch runs and having us play very steep uphill baseball. (Weaver) kept us in the game and continued to pitch very well beyond that. For a couple tipping points, he continued to make pitches and do his job, but that elevated pitch count in the first ending is what changed his whole day. He blocked that out and did a nice job pitching through four (innings).”
The First Inning
Weaver added, “That was one heck of a first inning. And I don’t think I’ve ever done that before.” After a brief pause, Weaver continued, “Well, I haven’t. Especially the walks. It was exhausting. Those innings are tough. When the pitch count starts to go up, the body energy starts to go down a little bit, and you’re competing over and over and over again. (I ended up) getting to 40 — I’ve never (gone) that high — and running on fumes. (But I was) still trying to execute pitches, so (I had) this perfect storm going. It became a mental test. I obviously gave up the one run there, but I was telling myself to still limit the damage (because) there was still a lot of game left. That’s the message I took on the rest of the game.”
The Posey at-bat, to put it mildly, changed the course of the inning. “He did a great job battling,” Weaver said. Weaver only made one mistake, but Posey made him pay. After that mistake, Weaver was battling himself, as he put it. But it started on one close pitch in the Posey at-bat. “Looking back at a pitch, I think I got him on a cutter that I didn’t get the call on. Obviously, that would have been a big change in the inning. But those aren’t things that we control.” For the rest of the inning, Weaver felt like he was “getting a little ahead” of himself. He felt he was pitching too quickly out of the stretch. The hitters were “being patient” as Weaver tried to figure out exactly where the strike zone was.
The Subconscious
When asked whether the close pitch in the Posey at-bat distracted him, Weaver said he didn’t know. He added that sometimes “these things become subconscious in a way.” He explained, “Establishing where the zone was made me second-guess where (a pitch was), especially to a guy like that. You want that call, especially when you feel like it’s there. It changes the complexity of that inning. But sometimes, like that Longoria (at-bat) where I finally got him out (on) that strike three looking, where he thought it was a ball. To me, that looked like it was a strike. It finally looked like there was an area where — then I look back, and it’s a little bit off the plate. It’s hard sometimes to gauge those things and define where it is, because (the umpires) ultimately call the balls and strikes.”
Looking Ahead
Jose Alvarez (5–2) earned the win, while Poppen (1–1) took the loss, both in relief. Camilo Doval, who pitched a scoreless ninth, earned his first career save.
The Giants (103–54) remained two games ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers (101–56) — who defeated the San Diego Padres, 2–1 — for the NL West lead. On the flip side, the Diamondbacks (50–107) must win two of their five remaining games to avoid the worst record in franchise history. They will play the second game of the three-game set Wednesday evening. Giants left-hander Alex Wood (10–4, 4.00 ERA) will face Diamondbacks right-hander Merrill Kelly (7–11, 4.59 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 6:45 pm Pacific.
Main Photo:
Players/managers mentioned:
Logan Webb, Daulton Varsho, Luke Weaver, Buster Posey, Evan Longoria, Jake McCarthy, LaMonte Wade, Jr., Josh Rojas, Sean Poppen, Steven Duggar, Alex Dickerson, Gabe Kapler, Tommy La Stella, Wilmer Flores, Brandon Crawford, Joe Mantiply, Kris Bryant, Austin Slater, Brett de Geus, Thairo Estrada, Ketel Marte, Kole Calhoun, David Peralta, Jose Alvarez, Camilo Doval, Alex Wood, Merrill Kelly, Torey Lovullo
