Let’s start from the bottom of the sixth inning.
The San Francisco Giants beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 1-0.
They sent 15 batters on the plate and experienced 15 outs. No, they weren’t a hit, but they didn’t have a runner at base, as Mike Yastrezsky led the first inning with a weak single, and immediately retired on double play.
Zac Galen – who allowed 3 more earned runs in any of his 23 career starts – scored 6, and essentially did not allow any hard contact.
And so nothing you expected in the sixth inning. That was the last third of the lineup, with struggling Pablo Sandowal and then two decades of mustard, and you were already watching the seventh inning.
And then it became a rally. Oh the rally happened. And it was a solemn rally.
One day after the Giants hit three homers, responsible for all their runs, they rallied like this:
Let’s go
Alone
Let’s go
Alone
Alone
Alone
Let’s go
In the same way that they scored four runs, and no runs without a base. It doesn’t matter that he gets no run out of a base-filled situation; The damage was done.
And they must do that, as they won 4-2 for the second night in a row.
It was kind of for the Giants. They hit 4 hits and 3 walks without being out to start the sixth inning. Take those short runs and they had 2 hits, 0 walks and 24 outs.
It was a masterclass in an effective sequence. Getting 4 runs on 6 hits with just one extra-base hit (double by the roof) is rather sensational and touch silly.
The big blow came to Darin Roof, who broke the tie with a two-run single. Ruff didn’t get many chances about Rath’s decade, but in the fourth inning he replaced Alex Dickerson, then Dickerson failed a ball from his foot and left the game. And the roof came when it was most important.
One of the newborn parts of the Giants home run is that it’s more enjoyable to make this stupid rally and win. In years past, this would have been a game where you would have thought, “I don’t know how the Giants won, but this isn’t sustainable.” But now, because they have more weapons they have, they are durable, and this strange victory is a funny reversal rather than an occasional answer to prayer.
Kevin Gaussman threw more pitches than he liked, especially given how weak Arizona’s offense is. And he certainly would have chosen to support himself in more corners than he did.
But it worked, and it was mostly sympathetic. Gaussman scored 6 innings, and he had 2 hits, 3 walks and 1 run, while 9 runs.
He threw 100 pitches, but 20 of them – 20 of them – were swinging strikes. He loaded the bases with one out in the third inning, and then put two with no outs in the fourth inning, and both gave up just one run on the pickling route.
The Giants are now 21-21, and certainly feel smart to keep Gaussman on the trading deadline.
San Francisco started the series on Friday by losing the game’s demoralizing clinker. Winning a four-game series is not easy when you lose the opener. For those of you who don’t have a PhD in math, you have to win three games in a row. You can have it for free.
The Giants were at work. A 4-2 win gave them a third straight win, and a second series win. It also meant they won the season series 8-2, allowing only 2.7 runs per game.
Keep my clit wearing friends warm.
