Dubon’s 3-run blast keys Giants’ win over Rockies
Giants in control of NL wild card race
SAN FRANCISCO — When the San Francisco Giants opened the 2020 season, president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi and manager Gabe Kapler were determined to give a group of inexperienced and young outfielders an opportunity to prove they could contribute to winning clubs of the future.
With a three-run, go-ahead home run in the bottom of the fifth that led the Giants to a 7-2 win over the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday, rookie center fielder Mauricio Dubon is playing a significant role on a team that’s not waiting around to contend for a playoff berth.
The Giants’ second straight victory moved them from outside of the playoff picture to the top wild card spot in the National League as they finished the day with a nearly identical winning percentage to the 29-28 Cincinnati Reds. At 28-27, the Giants’ .5090 winning percentage technically gives them the slimmest of advantages over a Reds team that owns a .5087 winning percentage in a race that could come down to the final day of the regular season.
The only calculations taking place in the Giants dugout
Wednesday were coaches counting the number of outs the team’s pitching staff needed to get to secure the win after Dubon blasted a pitch into the left center field bleachers.
The Honduras native and Capital Christian High (Sacramento) product has taken an open center field job and run with it this season and delivered the most important hit of his young career in the bottom of the fifth inning against Rockies reliever Yency Almonte. His third home run of the year came with two outs in an inning in which one of his mentors, Brandon Crawford, capped off an eight-pitch at-bat with a game-tying sacrifice fly.
The Giants added two insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth.