OAKLAND – Brandon Crawford is well-regarded for his fielding ability. The Giants shortstop is a three-time Gold Glove winner and three-time All-Star, and has often been a reliably good defender for the Giants. In Saturday’s 4-3 Giants loss to the Oakland A’s, Crawford made two long-ranging running catches to keep the Giants in the game.
But on Sunday afternoon, Crawford’s reliable glove failed him on the last play of the game. In the bottom of the 10th inning, with A’s runners on first and second base with two outs, third baseman Matt Chapman hit a ball that bounced high off home plate. As Crawford charged in to scoop up the ball and throw it to first, the ball fell below his mitt, hitting his foot and careening into center field. It secured a walk-off, 6-5 win and 4-2 Bay Bridge Series win.
The play that won the Bay Bridge Series pic.twitter.com/8DAcbwB4h7
— NBCSAuthentic (@NBCSAuthentic) July 23, 2018
After the game, Crawford said he was aware of Chapman’s speed.
“I think he runs pretty good actually, that’s why I wanted to come get it,” Crawford said. “It was a high enough hop that I thought I could get it on that first big hop, but it came down a lot steeper than I thought it was going to. I think that’s what caused me to miss it.”
Crawford commended the Giants defense and pitching staff in the series.
“For the most part, we played pretty good defense,” Crawford said. “A couple of our guys pitched well. Our bullpen threw real well, we just need to start hitting.”
Despite two losses Giants nearly came back in both Saturday and Sunday’s games and forced extra innings.
“That’s good,” Crawford said. “You always want to keep fighting and we did battle back these last two games. I just think we need to get it going a little bit earlier.”
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