Just like old times — Pence walk-off hit gives Giants a win. C1
Veteran mobbed after his winning double in 11th
SAN FRANCISCO >> Bases loaded. Closer on the mound. Game on the line.
It’s the situation every child dreams of seizing, the special moment every player aspires to author.
“It’s like a kid on Christmas morning for me,” Hunter Pence said.
As the elder statesman of the Giants, Pence isn’t a kid anymore.
Instead, the left fielder was Santa Claus for San Francisco, delivering the present of a game-winning double in the bottom of the 11th that compelled his teammates to rush onto the field and embrace Pence in a fit of emotion after a 3-2 win over the Padres Sunday.
“It’s a lot of responsibility, but that’s what you dream of every day,” Pence said.
After Andrew McCutchen blasted a one-out double against closer Brad Hand, the lefty walked Buster Posey intentionally and hit Brandon Crawford with a pitch to load the bases.
Pence’s objective was to make contact. He fell behind 0-2, but accomplished the mission.
A dribbler to the right side of the
infield had a 13 percent hit probability according to Statcast, but the ball evaded first baseman Eric Hosmer and rolled onto the outfield grass.
McCutchen scored to tie the game. Posey dashed home to win it. A celebration broke out to the left of second base as the Giants embraced Pence with bear hugs and wore smiles brighter than the sun that shined down on AT&T Park Sunday afternoon.
“He finds a way,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “It wasn’t a great start for him in the early go, but he comes up with the game on the line and he put it in play. Good things happen when you do that.”
While there’s valid concern that Pence’s ability to provide moments like Sunday’s might be dwindling, his capability to inspire euphoria in his teammates will never diminish.
“The joy of the team, the shared joy is very powerful,” Pence said.
The consummate teammate, Pence delivered the walk-off double after a series of miscues haunted the Giants in the 10th and 11th innings.
After Joe Panik led off the 10th with a double, Alen Hanson failed to put the ball in play and became the first strikeout victim of reliever Robert Stock’s career. In the 11th, rookie Reyes Moronta issued a leadoff walk to Manuel Margot, who stole a base and advanced on a wild pitch before breaking a 1-1 tie on a single by Cory Spangenberg.
Mistakes have a way of haunting tired clubs, but after playing their 17th game in 17 days, the Giants will head into an off day with
a 40-39 record thanks to Pence’s heroics.
“I know there’s some tired guys in the clubhouse,” Bochy said. “But we got nothing going on tomorrow and it gives them a chance to catch their breath. I’ll be out on the ocean somewhere.”
After the first-place Diamondbacks and the secondplace Dodgers both swept their opponents this weekend, the Giants couldn’t afford to fall another game back in the National League West standings by splitting a series against the lastplace Padres.
“To get this series I thought was huge,” Bochy said. “You get down a run and face their closer, just a great comeback. A lot of heart there. We fought there in extra innings and they found a way to get it done.”
Rookie right-hander Dereck Rodríguez began the day by laying a 3-2 fastball over the plate to Margot, but Margot’s leadoff home run was the only damage San Diego inflicted on Rodríguez. Despite needing 26 pitches to retire the side in the first, including eight in Margot’s at-bat, Rodríguez settled in and played the
part of a seasoned veteran on the mound.
“The leadoff guy hit the homer and then I just shut them down for the rest of the game,” Rodríguez said. “So that was really cool. That was a lot of fun and I’m super happy for Hunter.”
In the midst of his 99-pitch outing, Rodríguez induced 10 swings and misses and allowed just four Padres hits. The righty ramped his fastball up to 95 mph and spun off 23 curveballs, including 10 that landed in the zone for called strikes.
With the Giants trailing 1-0 in the sixth, center fielder Gorkys Hernández stepped to the plate and drove a 2-0 fastball to leftcenter field off of Padres starter Eric Lauer. Hernández’s blast bounced off the top of the outfield wall and into the bleachers, tying the score at 1-1 and giving Hernández his ninth home run of the year.
Hernández has played professional baseball since 2006, but the 30-year-old outfielder never hit more than eight home runs in a single season until he surpassed that total Sunday.
“That’s part of my job so if the home runs come, it’s good because everybody likes the home runs,” Hernández said.
Everybody likes the walkoff dribblers, too, it turns out. Especially when they come from Pence.
“All of my focus and all of my effort and all of the work that I put in is to be ready for moments like that,” Pence said.