Remembering a classic from 2013.
Pagan’s inside-the-park home run gives Giants a crazy win
This story originally ran on May 26, 2013 SAN FRANCISCO >> The trust that has engulfed the Giants clubhouse over the past year was on full display Saturday, and this time a coach was there to share the spotlight.
Angel Pagan, representing the winning run, started to tire as he approached third base in the 10th inning against the Colorado Rockies. Pagan looked up and saw thirdbase coach Tim Flannery furiously waving him home.
When Flannery makes a split-second decision, Pagan said, the players know two things will surely happen.
“I’m going to score,” the center fielder said, smiling. “And he’s going to score with me.”
Pagan slid home safely, clinching a 6-5 come-from-behind win with a two-run, walk-off, inside-the-park homer. Flannery, as is his habit, had followed the Giants’ leadoff hitter all the way home, and at that point he turned back toward the dugout, running gleefully with his hands outstretched to greet onrushing Giants.
“Our guys just find a way to win sometimes,” he said.
This was the 14th comeback win of the season and seventh walk-off, and easily the wildest, strangest and most controversial. The Giants looked lifeless for much of the afternoon, then had two separate rallies halted by missed calls. They fell behind in the 10th, when their closer gave up a solo homer, then stormed back and won on the franchise’s first walk-off inside-the-park homer since 1931 and the first in baseball since 2004.
Giants manager Bruce Bochy, ejected after a blown call in the seventh, watched the final twists and turns from his clubhouse office.
“I couldn’t be prouder of these guys,” Bochy said. “That’s quite a win for us. These guys are entertainers.”
The show started with a depressing act, five innings of being shut out, as Barry Zito gave up four earned runs. The Giants finally got going in the sixth, scoring three runs to cut the deficit to 4-3. Andres Torres’ double tied it up in the seventh and put
Brandon Belt on third for Brandon Crawford, who hit a grounder to second.
Belt appeared to sneak his size-15 cleat under the tag, but was called out.
Replays showed that Belt was safe, and the call an inning later only further infuriated the Giants and Bochy, a longtime proponent of expanded instant replay.
Marco Scutaro tried to go from first to third on Pablo Sandoval’s single to left and was called out at third. Replays showed that the tag missed by a couple of feet.
The normally mild-mannered Flannery exploded, and Bochy argued for several minutes as the sellout crowd showered Alfonso Marquez, who missed both calls, with boos.
As he walked back to the clubhouse, Bochy thought his ever-resilient team was looking at a loss that might finally be too tough to overcome.
“That’s one that probably would have stayed with us for a long time,” Bochy said. “(But) they took some shots, and they bounced back.”
The recovery didn’t come right away. The game went to extra innings and Troy Tulowitzki put the Rockies back ahead with a solo homer off closer Sergio Romo.
AT&T Park fell silent, but stirred again when Crawford drew a leadoff walk in the 10th. A bunt put the shortstop in scoring position for Pagan, who was one of many students to hear one of Flannery’s most-repeated lessons. The dimensions at Third and King aren’t just frustrating during games; hitters often grumble when batting practice bombs drop harmlessly in front of the 421-foot sign in right-center field.
“I always yell, ‘That’s an inside-the-parker!’” Flannery said. “You always have to think there’s a chance.”
In yet another twist to a Giants run that simply seems unbelievable at times, Flannery actually called his “send” Saturday morning. While joining Marty Lurie’s KNBR show, Flannery was asked if he was ready to send someone for four.
“Yeah, I am,” he said before explaining how the conditions have to be perfect.
In the bottom of the 10th Saturday, everything clicked. Pagan’s drive off Rafael Betancourt was hit so hard that Crawford thought it might clear the fence, but instead it bounced off the right-field wall and caromed toward the center-field wall.
Pagan, nicknamed Crazy Horse, put his head down and took off. Flannery saw second baseman D.J. LeMahieu run out to cut off the throw home, not Tulowitzki, the strong-armed shortstop.
Together, Pagan and Flannery raced home, capping one of the wildest wins in recent baseball history. In a clubhouse drained of emotion, few were able to explain what they had just seen.
“That’s a typical Giants win, I guess,” Crawford said, shrugging.