Outstanding, @AlenHanson92
#SFGiants pic.twitter.com/0ZpxxUwTEJ
— San Francisco Giants (@SFGiants) September 1, 2018
Derek Holland is no stranger to singing praise for his teammates. On Saturday, the Giants lost to the New York Mets 2-1, but Holland pitched six innings of four-hit, one-run baseball.
In the top of the sixth, Holland received a dynamic pair of defensive plays from Alen Hanson at shortstop, who was starting in place of Brandon Crawford. According to manager Bruce Bochy, Crawford sat the game out with a sore left knee. In Crawford’s absence, Hanson was stellar.
First, Hanson prevented Todd Frazier from heading to third on a stolen base. Nick Hundley’s throw sailed into center field slowly and could have allowed Frazier to advance if not for some trickery from Hanson where he pretended to have the ball. By the time Frazier realized Hanson was without the ball, it had been scooped up by Gorkys Hernandez in center field.
“It just shows he’s good,” Holland said. “He knows what he’s doing out there. He keeps everyone on their toes. He’s a baseball player and he’s showing it out there and that’s what’s awesome.”
On the next play, Michael Conforto hit an infield single deep into the hole to Hanson’s right. Hanson retrieved the ball but realized a throw to first was out of the question. Instead, he ambled over to third, tracking Todd Frazier the whole time. Once Frazier rounded third, Hanson whipped the ball to Evan Longoria at third, who tagged Frazier out.
“It was awesome,” Holland said. “I was going to be pretty upset if he got the hit because I made a good pitch, jammed him and everything. And that was a great play by Hanson to watch Frazier go past the bag. That’s a good heads-up right there.”
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