Giants edge Padres with help of rookie
SAN DIEGO — As rookie left fielder Chris Shaw leaped to snag a flyball at the Petco Park outfield wall, a fan reached out and made contact with Shaw’s glove, thrusting it away.
The fan may have taken the ball away from Shaw, but no one could take away his bat.
And in the end, that’s what the San Francisco Giants needed to secure a 5-4 comeback win over the San Diego Padres.
Shaw hit 24 home runs for Triple-A Sacramento and owns the longest home run hit by a Giants player this year, but his two-run single in the eighth inning off reliever Craig Stammen traveled just 241 feet.
The bases loaded, one-out hit brought home catcher Nick Hundley, who reached on a Padres error earlier in the frame, while pinch-hitter Brandon Crawford darted in from second base to give the Giants the lead.
As soon as Crawford realized Shaw’s blooper would fall in front of left fielder Hunter Renfroe, he took off sprinting and never looked back.
San Francisco hasn’t mustered many comebacks of late, but the two-run rally helped ease the pain from the lead the Giants squandered in the fifth as they locked up their seventh road series victory of the year.
Closer Will Smith pitched in a tense situation in the bottom of the ninth, picking up a save after Freddy Galvis crushed a 397-foot one-out double high
off the left center field wall.
Armed with a one-run lead in the fifth inning, starter Derek Holland threw a 3-2 slider to Padres right fielder Franmil Reyes that Reyes launched toward the left field bleachers.
Giants manager Bruce Bochy requested a replay review on Reyes’ home run, but officials couldn’t determine whether the fan who made contact with Shaw’s glove reached over the left field wall to do so.
The Giants didn’t promote Shaw to provide Gold Glovecaliber defense in left field, but the rookie had a chance to make one of the better plays of the season by one of the team’s outfielders. A potential web gem didn’t materialize as the missed opportunity wound up following a blatant misplay that occurred earlier in the inning.
Right fielder Hunter Pence had a chance to retire pinch hitter A.J. Ellis to open the inning, but a high flyball down the line landed in between Pence and second baseman Chase d’Arnaud in foul territory. Ellis later drew a walk from Holland and scored the tying run on Reyes’ home run.
The Giants wouldn’t have been in the game if not for Pence, who drove in three runs in his first two at-bats Tuesday.
While the sun already set on the 2018 Giants, it might soon do the same on Pence’s career.
After opening his night with a 437-foot, two-run moonshot in the top of the second, the 35-year-old became the fourth Giants player in the last 20 years to hit a home run, a double, drive in three runs and steal a base in the same game.
Pence joined Andrew McCutchen (2018), Ray Durham (2008) and Jeff Kent (1999) in elite company, but his performance did more than earn him a spot on a list that’s obviously difficult to join. It gave the Giants a reason to celebrate Pence as the final days of the five-year, $90 million deal he signed prior to the 2014 season winds down.
The Giants have provided no indication they plan to resign Pence next season, and if the outfielder wants to continue playing, he’ll likely need to find a club willing to offer a minor league contract and a non-roster invitation to spring training. Pence hasn’t announced whether he’ll attempt to extend his playing days, but it’s possible he decides to go out on his terms with the club he helped lead to two World Series titles.