Major League Baseball’s first game in Mexico City went to the Padres on Saturday, in an insane 16-11 win over the Giants that didn’t really resemble a normal baseball game.
At an elevation of 4,200 feet and with Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú having left and right fields only 332 feet deep, some offense was expected. The pregame line astoundingly opened at 17.5 combined runs. That number proved to be far too bearish. The ballpark played like a little league stadium and the San Diego put more balls in the air, despite a few impressive stretches from San Francisco.
The Giants can’t feel sorry for themselves as they have to play another game in the absurd confines on Sunday afternoon. Maybe they can bring in a humidor for the finale.
Sergio Romo got the crowd hyped up with a pregame dance to El Mechón before throwing out the ceremonial first pitch with former Padres closer Trevor Hoffman. The crowd might have enjoyed seeing the Mexican-American former Giants’ star, but many of the fans were there to see the Padres, a team that plays just a half hour from the host country.
They had something to cheer about early, when San Diego struck first on a play that also gave the Giants a scare. Fourty-two-year-old Nelson Cruz hit a hard combacker off what appeared to be the knee of starting pitcher Sean Manaea, far too quickly for the left-hander to get out of the way.
The ball stayed in the infield off the ricochet, but allowed enough time for Manny Machado to score easily from second. By the time J.D. Davis fielded the ball to throw out Xander Bogaerts who was trying to score from first, the throw was late and off target, allowing a second run. Amazingly, Manaea stayed in the game after being seen by a trainer and appearing to be in serious pain. He again did not pitch well, giving up five runs in two innings and walking four.
The Padres scored another run on a wild pitch in the second, but it was the Giants who hit the first of 11 long balls in the high altitude. Brandon Crawford will be forever known (until a game is played on Mt. Fuji) as the player with a home run at the highest elevation, hitting his first home run outside of the United States a whopping 455 feet.
It was one of the most memorable at bats of Crawford’s career, and not just because of those particulars. Crawford appeared to hit a line drive home run over the 332-foot right-field wall on the previous pitch, only for it to be overturned. The shortstop wasted no time with his encore.
LaMonte Wade Jr. had an encore of his own, hitting a home run in the next at-bat to right-center, cutting the lead to 3-2.
But there were more firsts. Mitch Haniger hit his first home run in orange and black, a three-run bomb in the fourth that tied the game 5-5 after the Padres had added two more in the bottom of the third. It was the start of a big six-run inning for the Giants, who added three more runs with a Thairo Estrada bases-clearing double later in the inning.
That would be the last batter San Diego starter Joe Musgrove faced. In only his second appearance of the season, Musgrove was knocked around to the tune of seven runs in 3.1 innings and had trouble with the pitch clock throughout.
Estrada would soon move to shortstop after Crawford scratched with right-calf tightness, and Brett Wisely, who was called up on Saturday, taking over at second base. Ron Wotus told reporters that the hard turf might be an issue, and it may have contributed to Crawford’s early exit.
The see-sawing continued. Juan Soto and Xander Bogaerts went back-to-back in the fourth after Jakob Junis took over for Manaea, cutting the Giants’ lead to 8-7. Then Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a two run jack followed by another solo shot from Soto, giving San Diego a 10-8 advantage in the fifth. Machado got MVP chants as he rounded the bases, with both bullpens likely wondering why they agreed to make the trip down south. Those home runs ended Junis’ night.
The pregame over had amazingly hit by the fifth inning. Of course there was more.
Blake Sabol hit the fifth homer in his first month in the big leagues, a two run shot to tie it at 10 runs apiece. Then David Villar hit another, 11-10.
But that was it for the Giants, who were shut down for the final 2.2 innings by the Padres pen. SD scored six more runs during that stretch, tagging Tyler Rodgers, Scott Alexander and John Brebbia.