S.F. happy to take advantage of New York’s many mistakes
GIANTS 3, METS 2
NEW YORK — When it comes to certain charitable contributions, the Giants are not proud. They’re more than willing to accept any and all gifts from their opponents.
The Mets were quite generous Wednesday night at Citi Field, where the Giants took advantage of a couple of questionable baserunning decisions and a stunning managerial move to secure a 3-2 victory, leaving them a win from a three-game sweep.
Brandon Crawford’s tworun double in the seventh inning proved the difference, and the Giants — who were in a gift-giving mood themselves — got their 82nd victory to clinch
their first winning season since 2016.
Mets starter Taijuan Walker, except for one pitch to Kris Bryant that was smashed over the left-field wall, dominated for six innings. But in the seventh, the Giants got a couple of breaks. Bryant reached when third baseman Jonathan Villar booted his grounder, and Alex Dickerson hit a popup that dropped in short right-center.
By no means had Walker lost it. He certainly deserved to stay in the game at 74 pitches and with a 2-1 lead, so he was infuriated when manager Luis Rojas emerged from the dugout to make a pitching change.
Though some pitchers hide their frustration when getting the hook, Walker held nothing back, raising his hands and saying what was on his mind.
Rojas summoned a lefty, Aaron Loup, who had limited lefty hitters to a .159 average, all singles, but it backfired. Crawford pulled a pitch into the right-field corner to score Bryant and Dickerson. Walker was seen in the dugout continuing to express his displeasure.
“I guess I wasn’t too surprised because I knew Loup was warming up,” Crawford said. “I knew there was a possibility that he would come in, but with Taijuan cruising, I wasn’t sure what they were going to do.
“As far as my approach, it doesn’t change a whole lot from pitcher to pitcher. I’m looking for something over the plate that I can handle.”
Crawford’s double gave the Giants the lead, and the bullpen stifled the Mets the rest of the way. The Giants were out-hit 10-4 but the Mets hit into five double plays and scored just one earned run.
It didn’t come against Johnny Cueto. Like Rojas, Giants manager Gabe Kapler had to make a decision whether to pull his starter during a rough inning. Kapler walked to the mound with the bases loaded and two outs in the fifth inning and, after a quick chat with his pitcher, left him in the game.
Even though the batter was Pete Alonso, the two-time defending Home Run Derby champion who has 28 homers this season. Alonso worked the count to 3-2 before making weak contact and hitting a routine grounder to third.
At that point, Kapler’s decision seemed to pay off, but Bryant picked up the ball and made a terrible throw to first for an error, allowing the Mets to score the tying run. Kapler returned to the mound, this time to pull Cueto, who was frustrated but not to the extent of Walker.
“The kid was pitching a really good game,” Cueto said. “If it were me, obviously, I was not going to be happy being taken out of the game. But that’s the decision the manager makes.
“Maybe I would’ve reacted the same way because I want to go deeper into the game.”
The Mets gave two more gifts to the Giants with their unique baserunning. When Villar lined to center, Javy Baez took off from second even though Mike Yastrzemski didn’t need to go far to make the catch. Baez was doubled off easily.
Similarly, Michael Conforto took off from first base when Baez lined to Bryant at third and got doubled off with ease.
The Giants had their share of mishaps as well. Darin Ruf left early on a liner and was doubled off, and besides the Bryant error, left fielder Alex Dickerson was charged with a ninth-inning error after he and Austin Slater converged on a seemingly routine fly that caromed off both their gloves.
Also in the ninth, first baseman Brandon Belt missed a foul popup that he usually snags, so closer Jake McGee was forced to work overtime to get three outs. Alonso batted with two outs and the bases loaded and popped to second, ending the game.
“That’s a key to a wellrounded team,” Crawford said, “being able to hit through some mistakes and pitch through some mistakes when we make them, but for the most part, we’ve done a pretty good job not making them.”