With latest win in Oakland, S.F. keeps slim hopes alive
Fear not, Giants fans: Sunday’s 5-4 victory over the A’s prevented the Dodgers from clinching a tie for the National League West title.
Fear this, Giants fans: The Dodgers soon could be prancing around the field at AT&T Park, celebrating the division crown in hostile territory.
Chris Heston and a parade of relievers did their part Sunday, corralling the A’s in the final home game of Oakland’s desultory season. Heston collected his first win in exactly two months, despite a midgame uprising from the A’s offense.
That kept the Giants alive and kicking, barely, in the NL West. They head into the season’s final week trailing the Dodgers by six games with seven to play, meaning the Giants must sweep the fourgame series against Los Angeles starting Monday night in China Basin.
The alternative is watching Don Mattingly’s crew in full exultation — right here in San Francisco. That’s not exactly an appealing prospect for the Giants, to put it mildly.
“If you’re worried about that, you take the focus away from competing,” third baseman Matt Duffy said. “You’ve got to play the game. The goal is for them not to celebrate at all.
“It’s not in the forefront of our minds, but I don’t think anyone wants to see them celebrate in front of us.”
This steep hill is complicated by the Dodgers’ scheduled starting pitchers for the first two games: Zack Greinke and Clayton Kershaw. They’re a combined 33-10 this season.
The Giants will counter with Jake Peavy on Monday night and Madison Bumgarner on Tuesday evening. Peavy, not surprisingly, is eager to take the ball in the series opener.
“It will be intense, and I look forward to being part of it,” he said Sunday. “I’m excited my team still has a chance to be in the playoffs. Obviously, that means we have to win tomorrow night.”
The Giants beat the A’s by leaning on Heston (12-10), some early offense and a stout bullpen. Heston stepped atop the mound with an 0-5 record and 4.60 ERA in his previous nine starts, not exactly an exclamation mark on his mostly sparkling rookie season.
He responded by smothering the A’s for four innings. Their first eight batters failed to hit a ball out of the infield, and Heston held Oakland hitless until Mark Canha smacked a double off the center-field wall with one out in the fourth.
By that point, the Giants led 5-0 and seemed in cruise control. The A’s soon sprung to life. They scored twice in the fifth and then chased Heston in the sixth, when Josh Reddick singled and raced around to score on Max Muncy’s triple.
Muncy scored on Stephen Vogt’s bloop single off George Kontos — and suddenly the A’s trailed only 5-4.
Just as suddenly, Kontos launched an impressive performance from the Giants’ bullpen. He, Cory Gearrin, Javier Lopez, Hunter Strickland and Santiago Casilla combined for four shutout innings, preserving Heston’s first victory since July 27.
“It feels great to get back in the win column — it’s been a while,” Heston said. “We need a lot of wins right now.”
That’s a gentle way of putting it. The Giants need to win at least six of their final seven games, and probably all seven, to extend their season. And they need four wins against the Dodgers to avoid watching their storied rivals celebrate.
“We don’t think about that,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “We’re in a tough position, and we know it. We’ll just try to win every game.”