On tap tonight: Ball in the family
Interleague series opener vs. Giants pits Cole against shortstop/brother-in-law Crawford
There is always a dinner. It arrives sometime after the staggering improbability of, among 750 players on 25-man major league rosters, a man pitching to his brother-in-law. The woman in the middle watches from afar, with no plans of choosing whether to be just a wife to Gerrit Cole or sister to Brandon Crawford.
“I always get nervous watching,” Amy Cole told the Chronicle this week.
“Even when Brandon was in Little League, I would get butterflies watching him at the plate, so I think just because I care a lot about both of them, I think I take it harder than either of them sometimes.”
Three or four hours pass. The game ends. The awkwardness, perceived or tangible, can leave while they gather for a night out.
“We’re kind of back to being a normal family,” Amy said.
It has now been seen 18 times, so perhaps there is some routine to this otherwise extraordinary situation, one that will be reprised Tuesday night at Minute Maid Park. Cole and the Astros face Crawford and the San Francisco Giants at 7:10 p.m.
Right off the bat
It started June 11, 2013. Cole, the Pirates’ prized No. 1 overall pick from two years earlier, was called up to make an anticipated major league debut. Then his girlfriend of three years, Amy worked in Los Angeles.
“I had a huge meeting that week that I had to cancel, and I got a red-eye flight to Pittsburgh to make it to that game,” Amy said.
“And of course, it’s against the Giants.”
Her brother batted seventh and played shortstop. Crawford touched Cole for a seventh-inning single, one of seven hits the rookie righthander gave up.
Cole picked up his first major league win and even laced a single of his own during the 8-2 Pirates win. During one of Crawford’s plate appearances, Cole broke his bat.
“My brother signed it and brought it for him at dinner,” Amy said. “They both have a good time with one another, respect each other a ton, and also make it a lot of fun.”
Since Cole’s debut, Crawford has four hits against him in those 18 plate appearances. Cole has struck Crawford out five times.
Crawford enters Tuesday’s series opener on an unconscious tear, 20 for his last 46 with a 1.101 OPS. His brother-in-law possesses the American League’s second-lowest ERA (his 1.75 trailing only teammate Justin Verlander’s 1.05) and has posted 13.6 strikeouts per nine innings, the best beginning to any season of his sixyear career.
“I root for him a lot,” Cole said of Crawford on Monday. “I root for him pretty hard, like through all the season. So to have him come up against me, like, I no longer root for him in those situations. But at the end of the game, after we shower up, I’m still one of his biggest fans.”
That affinity for one another and ability to decompress after games allows Amy a sense of calm, almost rendering what happens on the field a footnote to their time together.
She enjoys watching both men talk baseball — both the game and business — regardless of their personal successes or struggles. Amy can relate, too, as a former UCLA softball player.
“They make it easy for me because they really respect each other, and, you know, I just root for them both to do well and stay healthy,” she said. “They’re both so good at flipping the switch. You have to in this game where there are so many ups and downs that, yes, they’re each other’s brother-inlaw. But it is just another game for them, and they have another one the next day.”
Cole’s offseason move to the American League ostensibly meant an end to these familial faceoffs, but the Astros paired with the National League West for 2018 interleague play. Two games this week and two more at AT&T Park in early August will bring them together.
In their blood
The Crawfords have had Giants season tickets for more than 30 years. As kids, Amy and Brandon played backyard baseball in the Bay Area. Brandon always wore a Giants helmet, forcing his little sister to wear A’s apparel.
“It’s a rarity that someone gets to do what they’ve wanted to do since they were 5 years old as a career,” Amy said. “And somehow, I get to realize that phenomenon between two family members.”