Amber Searls-USA TODAY Sports
The Giants’ bullpen ate its Wheaties. And maybe Cap’n Crunch and Lucky Charms.
The Giants had been sluggish in the first leg of their doubleheader, and Gabe Kapler joked they would have to raid the kids cereal, sugar aisle of their clubhouse. It took some time for the energy to kick in to their bats, but their pitching was lively throughout.
Despite an offense that lacked a pulse, the Giants’ pitching sent the second leg of Saturday’s doubleheader into extra innings, and they just escaped after breaking through in the eighth in a 2-1 win in Washington that split the pair of the day’s games against the Nationals.
The Giants (40-24) have alternated winning and losing for a week without Evan Longoria, Alex Dickerson, Tommy La Stella and Darin Ruf and only have just welcomed back Mike Yastrzemski and Brandon Belt. Brandon Crawford was scratched for the second game, after which the Giants are 1.5 games up on the Dodgers and four above the Padres, with Los Angeles still to play Saturday.
Jake McGee was technically the winning pitcher and Caleb Baragar got the save, though the entire bullpen should have collectively collected the win on a day San Francisco had one hit before extras.
Baragar, trying to protect a two-run lead in the bottom of the eighth, got a huge break. In his first outing since being activated off the IL, he allowed a leadoff, RBI double to Starlin Castro. After he hit Victor Robles, a flyout appeared to move both runners over — but Robles overslid second base and was tagged out. Trea Turner flew out to end it.
The eighth was different immediately, LaMonte Wade Jr. ripping an RBI single off Kyle Finnegan — who also pitched in the first half of the doubleheader — into the right-center gap that allowed ghost-runner Curt Casali to score. The Giants then loaded the bases, and Wilmer Flores knocked an RBI single.
They could have and should have added on, but tappers from both Mike Tauchman and Mauricio Dubon became outs at home, and Austin Slater flew out, which is more how the Giants have played recently.
Entering the inning, the Giants had been a combined 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position in the series — a series that has included one out from Max Scherzer and zero from Stephen Strasburg, Patrick Corbin, Jon Lester and Joe Ross.
Entering the inning, the Giants had scored one run in 23 innings in the series, the one run (off Buster Posey’s bat) somehow boosting them to a win Friday. There has been so much frustration in a series in which the Giants have won two of three entering Sunday’s finale.
Fortunately for the club, their bullpen game was excellently executed.
Starter Conner Menez struggled through his second inning, but struck out Victor Robles and now has thrown 10 scoreless innings this season.
Jarlin Garcia, Dominic Leone, Zack Littell, Tyler Rogers and McGee followed, and none were touched, Washington finishing with four hits. Leone gave up a double but escaped; Littell surrendered a single but induced a double-play ball.
McGee, especially, was special. He was locked in a long battle with Yan Gomes with two outs in the seventh, and he reached back and buzzed a 97.3-mph fastball on the 10th pitch of the at-bat to strike him out and send the game to the deciding eighth.