Cory Gearrin lost his perfect batting average, but what he gained on Tuesday night was a whole lot more meaningful.
The Giants’ reliever threw three innings of scoreless ball in San Francisco’s 4-3 14-inning walkoff win over the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday, and Gearrin was the pitcher who made it all possible.
After Steven Okert, George Kontos, Mark Melancon, Josh Osich and Sam Dyson combined to throw five shutout inings in relief of Giants’ starter Matt Cain on Tuesday, it was up to Gearrin to preserve a 3-3 tie and give San Francisco a chance to win back-to-back games for the first time since May 27 and 28.
The right-hander kept the Rockies off the board in the top of the 12th, 13th and 14th innings, and allowed Giants’ center fielder Denard Span to single home left fielder Gorkys Hernandez in the bottom of the 14th to send San Francisco to a victory.
“It’s great, I think for the whole team,” Gearrin said. “The bullpen obviously did a good job tonight but the whole team coming back there, continuing to fight, the defense played great down the stretch. I think it does a lot for our whole crew. It’s a big win, so come back tomorrow and get after it.”
Gearrin came into Tuesday evening’s game 1-for-1 in his brief career as a hitter, and actually took the at-bat before Span’s game-winning single in the bottom of the 14th. Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy said Gearrin’s night on the mound was over, but with the team short on depth, Gearrin was forced to pick up the wood and face Rockies’ reliever Chad Qualls.
With Hernandez standing in scoring position, Gearrin had dreams of his own walkoff hit, but instead, Qualls set Gearrin down on strikes.
“It is, yes, it definitely is,” Gearrin said, when asked if sacrificing his perfect batting average was worth a victory. “I can’t say that anymore, I got to use that line for a year, but tonight was a great win. Top to bottom, everybody came out, so I’ll gladly sacrifice the thousand average for a walkoff win and a big win for us tonight.”
After Dyson tossed 1 and 2/3 scoreless innings to get the game to the bottom half of the 11th, Gearrin entered with the hopes of keeping the Rockies off the scoreboard.
For the second time this season, Gearrin picked up a victory in relief, as his first ‘W’ came in the Giants’ 17-inning win over the Reds earlier this year.
“It’s fun, you want to go out there and battle and get in an opportunity to pick your team up,” Gearrin said. “You just want to go out there and keep putting up zeroes. It was a lot of fun. Walking it off like that and getting to go out there and push yourself, it’s why we play.”