Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports
Mike Tauchman was in the midst of an awful game, which was occurring in the midst of an awful stretch at the plate.
It was bordering on historic.
The Giants outfielder was one pitch away from being the ninth member of a list of shame. Striking out six times in one game — the rarely worn titanium sombrero — had last been done by Milwaukee’s Geoff Jenkins in 2004. Carl Weilman, of the 1913 St. Louis Browns, had gone 43 years as the only player in modern Major League Baseball history to make that walk back to the dugout a half-dozen times in one contest.
To strike out that many times in one game, you need plenty to swing your way even when you’re not swinging at all: You need, likely, extra innings, which Tauchman got in the 13-inning circus; you need excellent pitching on the other side, which the Angels, led by Shohei Ohtani, possessed; you need a hitter mired in a deep slump; and you need that hitter to be trusted, to some degree, by the coaching staff.
Gabe Kapler was not going to pinch-hit for Tauchman against righty pitchers because, as the Giants continually say, they believe he will come around. It is a work in progress, but one that showed a peek of optimism in Wednesday’s 13th inning, when the struggling outfielder avoided history and swatted a 2-2 fastball into the right-field seats, the last blow in a bizarre, 9-3 Giants victory at Angel Stadium.
“All hitters go through struggles,” Kapler said of Tauchman, who entered that at-bat without a hit in 14 at-bats; without a multi-hit game since his first as a Giant, all the way back on April 28. “This has been a real significant one for Mike, but he’s not a quitter. He continues to grind and fight and stay in at-bats.”
Tauchman can be seen on the field before games working typically with hitting coach Justin Viele as they retool his swing on the fly, which is usually saved for the offseason. But if Tauchman does not come around, the offseason will not arrive when he’s with the Giants. He does not have any options remaining, and the best-in-baseball Giants cannot afford to waste a roster spot on an experiment, as much as they like Tauchman.
And they do like him. His glove has saved two games, and, entering play, he averaged 4.60 pitches per plate appearance. Among qualified hitters, Chicago’s Yoan Moncada is first at 4.43.
“Putting in a lot of work and trying out some new things,” said Tauchman, who is making an adjustment similar to Brandon Crawford, in starting with his arms further back, and said they’re working on his lower half and his proximity to the plate. “Sometimes it isn’t the right timing, sometimes it isn’t the right setup. … To be honest, I felt a little bit like a jumbled mess today. That’s why this game’s so difficult.”
The Giants took a chance on Tauchman when Mike Yastrzemski was hurting, but they said they had targeting the Yankee for a long while before shipping off Wandy Peralta and infield prospect Connor Cannon. They did not realize Steven Duggar was about to emerge as a legitimate hitting threat who is very difficult to option; did not realize LaMonte Wade Jr. would have the showing he had before he was optioned. Along with Alex Dickerson, their roster is packed with lefty-hitting outfielders.
There is not a whole lot of space for projects in this deep of a hole. Perhaps Tauchman’s swing — and he’s had a few big ones — showed a sign of breaking free.
“The guy just works his butt off every day,” Duggar said of Tauchman, who has a .566 OPS with San Francisco. “…He’s been so important to us, especially on a few of the homers he’s brought back. Great clubhouse guy, man. He’s a lot of fun to be around. It was definitely emotional for all of us just to see him get into one there at the end to put it away.”
To put the game away and a bit of embarrassing potential history.