The Padres will remember two plays more than any other from their 13-2 blowout loss to the Giants on Tuesday night in Oracle Park: Steven Duggar stealing second in the second inning and Mauricio Dubón’s bunt single to lead off the sixth.
If those two plays seem trivial, well, they are. But they happened in a blowout baseball game, when things like tradition and spirit of the game demand players to stop doing their jobs. To stop playing baseball.
The Giants weren’t bat-flipping or showing up their opponents, they just played baseball when arcane customs told them not to.
For as long as there have been rules in baseball, there have been unwritten rules — informal laws governing the sport, punishable by further breaking said silent doctrines. It can become a vicious cycle of running up the score and pitchers throwing at hitters, escalating until, at worst, a serious injury.
The Giants know the risks. They aren’t worried about them. The organization tries to find every last advantage they can, and this is no different. If the Giants keep putting together good at-bats and keep reaching base, they’ll drive up their opponents’ pitch counts, both tiring their pitching staff and creating more usable game film to study.
In running up Tuesday’s score, the Giants realize the Padres could very well retaliate in some form in Wednesday’s series finale — and the rest of the teams’ next 17 meetings. But they’re united and unbothered.
“I fully support both of those decisions,” Giants manager Gabe Kapler said of Dubón’s bunt and Duggar’s steal. “Our goal is not exclusively to win one game in a series. It’s to try to win the entire series. Sometimes, that means trying to get a little deeper into the opposition’s ‘pen. I understand that many teams don’t love that strategy.”
Every Giant who spoke with the media postgame, when asked about the concept of breaking unwritten rules, said a variation of the same talking point — “we’re focused on winning the series.”
“This was just work,” Alyssa Nakken, who made history as the first on-field woman coach Tuesday, said. “It’s our job. This is how we compete every single day, so we’re going to come out and do it again tomorrow.”
It all seems so simple and so logical but may amount to somewhat of a heel turn for baseball traditionalists. The Giants might be the first team to so brazenly, and publicly, flaunt the unwritten rules that let teams ease out of a game already in hand. They don’t plan on letting opponents down so easily. And if they become trendsetters in this area, everyone will win.
The first “offense” came in the second inning when Duggar stole second. His his single up the middle had just scored Thairo Estrada to push San Francisco’s lead to 10-1. The outfielder got the steal sign from third base coach Mark Hallberg and easily slid into second without a throw from San Diego catcher Austin Nola.
The Giants already had a nine-run lead, but it was still so early in the game. The Padres have a talented lineup that can make any lead feel in jeopardy; Duggar said postgame he didn’t think twice about swiping second there.
On the broadcast, Mike Krukow noted that “you never used to see that, if you do something like that somebody’s going to get drilled.”
Later, in the sixth inning, Dubón laid down a perfect bunt to beat the shift. San Diego third baseman Manny Machado hardly reacted, knowing there would be no play. The Padres, trailing 11-2, certainly didn’t appreciate the cheeky hit.
Dubón made it clear to reporters that he wasn’t trying to disrespect anybody. But when he reached first, Padres veteran first baseman Eric Hosmer had some choice words waiting for him.
“I definitely told him how I felt, how we felt about it,” Hosmer said postgame. “He said it was a sign given to him by their staff. I just told him I think you’ve got to be a little bit smarter in that situation. You’ve been playing professional ball for a good amount of time obviously if you’re at this level. You’ve got to be smarter than that.”
This novel philosophy — play hard regardless of score and game situation — is neither new nor half-baked. The Giants met as a team before the year and discussed it. They’re all-in as a group; as long as the pitcher on the mound is trying to get you out, you try to get on base. As long as the catcher is going to try to gun you down, you try to beat his throw. As long as the defense is giving you half the infield, you take it with a bunt.
In the eighth inning, the Padres sent outfielder Wil Myers to the mound to pitch in a game they already considered lost. Both Joc Pederson and Wilmer Flores homered off him. That’s not necessarily a sin, but it does cut to the core of the Giants’ philosophy that goes something like as long as the game’s not over, we’re going to put pressure on you.
“I guarantee you he wanted to strike me out,” Pederson said. “So am I supposed to just strike out or should I try to hit a home run? Hit a home run. It makes sense to continuously try to compete until the game’s over.”
Starter Alex Cobb, who struck out 10 Padres in five innings, said he’s happy the team is going “pedal to the metal” and that the team will decide as the season goes on if the advantages gained will be worth the potential retribution.
Cobb said it’ll be “fun” to see how this situation plays out. It might not be as fun for Duggar or Dubón.
“It is what it is,” Dubón said. “I think I’m big enough to handle getting hit by a pitch.”
At some point this season, the Giants will be in the same position the Padres were in tonight. That’s inevitable. And whenever that happens, the Giants said they welcome any opponent giving them a taste of their own medicine. It would be only fair.
“It’s not to be disrespectful in any way,” Kapler said. “It’s because we feel very cool and strategic. It’s the best way to win a series. When I say cool, I mean calm. We’re not emotional about it. We’re not trying to hurt anybody. We just want to score as many runs as possible, force the other pitcher to throw as many pitches as possible. If other clubs decide that they want to do the same thing to us, we’re not going to have any issue with it.”
Perhaps the most shocking aspect of this organizational commitment is that it took this long for a club to make it. If San Francisco has to lead in this area, like the franchise has in so many others, why not lean in and take it head-on? Both the Giants and the sport will be better for it.