Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports
LOS ANGELES — It all felt so right to Hunter Pence. He’s had the feeling before, and all the ingredients were on hand.
“Johnny had the magic going,” Pence said over Zoom. “He had the rhythm going. He had everything working. It was one of those special nights that doesn’t always come around. You could just feel it.”
What the night also brought were twilight skies that can hide baseballs; that can ruin feelings and no-hit bids.
Pence felt dreadful after the sixth-inning flyball off Kike Hernandez’s bat, which 99 percent of the time is an out, instead went for a triple, the left fielder dancing around with his palms turned up, the universal signal for not knowing where the ball went.
“To spoil that feels absolutely awful,” Pence said after the Giants’ 5-4 win at Dodger Stadium, really as odd as a victory can be. “… It was one of the best performances to be a part of. It definitely feels awful.”
Cueto probably does, too, after he was sailing, having entered the bottom of the sixth with 66 pitches thrown and not a hit surrendered, keeping Dodgers stars off-balance throughout. His fourth pitch to Hernandez, a fastball, did was it was supposed to: induced a lazy flyout.
If only Pence knew where to go.
“Played the outfield, played the outfield in this ballpark. Incredibly difficult to see that time of night,” Gabe Kapler said after an excellent night from his bullpen, which secured the game. “Everybody in the ballpark is going to feel for Hunter in that moment. All we want to do here is support Hunter.”
Cueto was visibly frustrated, but he shrugged after the game, chalking it up to the quirks of baseball. He said he and Pence had not talked much, just Pence apologizing and Cueto accepting it; “I know he felt really bad,” Cueto said through translator Erwin Higueros.
Pence compared it to feeling sick to his stomach, the most optimistic player in the game having reason to feel down. What should buoy the spirits, at least a bit, is Pence became the Giants’ fifth run, his sixth-inning touch of home ultimately making the difference.
Of course, that’s not the difference he wanted to make. He knew the game was about more than the final score.
“To lose a bid like that to losing a ball in the twilight — it’s always been tough for me, but those are things you never forget,” Pence said. “You never forget being a part of those nights, and you could feel it from Johnny.
“… He deserves better. It can’t happen, but it did.”