Giants get it done in a pinch vs. Brewers
Belt, La Stella deliver key hits in taking series finale
The day after he padded the Giants’ lead with a home run in the 11th inning, Brandon Belt gave the Giants another heroic homer to help beat the Brewers 5-4 in the finale of heart-racing series between two of the best teams in baseball.
Belt tied the score with a pinch-hit, two-run home run to straight away center field in the seventh inning, and Tommy La Stella gave San Francisco the decisive lead with a pinch-hit single the next inning on the 11th pitch of his at-bat.
Both teams were playing on fumes Sunday after splitting two extra-inning contests in the first two games of the series. Of the seven games on the Giants’ road trip, four went to extra innings and only one was decided by more than three runs.
“We had all those things in mind as we entered the last game of this season, and for that reason it was pretty gratify
ing to take two of three,” said manager Gabe Kapler, who described the three-game set in Milwaukee as one of the Giants’ toughest all season. “Especially in this last game, we were a bit on fumes.”
Over their final four games of the road trip, Giants relievers threw more innings (21 2/3) than their starting pitchers (19 1/3). They were forced to add a reliever in place of a position player — John Brebbia for Thairo Estrada, optioned to Triple — for the second straight day after using eight relievers in an 11-inning win the night before.
The Giants needed a quality start from Johnny Cueto and got 5 1/3 innings while holding Milwaukee to three runs.
Called up Saturday as a bullpen reinforcement, Zack Littell gave the Giants two innings of scoreless relief and earned the save.
Littell wanted to “go out there and give those guys a day off,” he said. “They busted their (butt) the past five, six days with all those extra-inning games . ... Really the best way to describe it is gutsy. It’s been two weeks now of just nonstop grinding games out.”
Brandon Crawford, who scored the winning run after hustling out a bloop double in the eighth inning, said the entire road trip has felt like the postseason.
“The Diamondbacks series was even that way a little bit with close games and we had to grind out some wins,” he said. “It’s almost like a playoff atmosphere with all these close games.”
San Francisco trailed 4-2 when Belt stepped to the plate in the top of the seventh. Pinch-hitting
in the pitcher’s slot with Lamonte Wade Jr. on second base, after he worked a leadoff walk, Belt lifted a low breaking ball from reliever Daniel Norris to tie the game at 4-4 — his fourth home run since returning from the injured list Thursday.
“It’s been nice to have him back,” Crawford said. “I’ve seen him on some of these hot streaks before where it seems like he can hit a home run in every at-bat, and that’s kind of where he’s at right now.”
With left-hander Brett Anderson on the mound for the Brewers, Belt was out of the starting lineup for the first time since he returned from the injured list. Belt said he was feeling extra sore Sunday but offered to stay in the game after pinch-hitting nonetheless.
Kapler opted to give Belt the extra rest.
“We needed to try to get him a day off,” Kapler said. “It was very difficult to keep him off his feet and not play what could’ve been several more innings.”
Leading off the eighth inning, Crawford blooped a ball into shallow left field and hustled into second base for a double. With righthander Brad Boxberger on the mound, Kapler called upon La Stella to pinch-hit for righthanded-hitting Donovan Solano.
La Stella quickly fell into an 0-2 hole, but he fouled off five pitches and laid off three more out of the strike zone to work a full count. On the 11th pitch of his at-bat, La Stella laced a single up the middle to score Crawford and give the Giants a 5-4 lead.
“He understands how to work a pitcher and not chase,” Kapler said. “I thought he was able to grind through that at-bat beautifully. He just wasn’t going to lose.”
Added Crawford: “That was huge. Especially being down 0-2 right away, only seeing a couple fastballs those first two pitches. But then being able to fight off a good amount of offspeed, working the count back to 3-2 and get a good piece of a fastball up the middle, that was obviously the difference in the game.” SANCHEZ ON THE MOVE >> Aaron Sanchez, who lasted two innings Saturday while making his first start since May 4, was designated for assignment. San Francisco signed the 28-year-old former first-round pick to a one-year, $4 million contract before this season. He made seven starts with 3.06 ERA but never pitched more than five innings and landed on the injured list with a shoulder impingement in May. Since returning July 29, he had made two appearances in relief.. GAUSMAN ACTIVATED, NEXT START PUSHED BACK >> Kevin Gausman was reinstated from the paternity list, but his scheduled start Tuesday will be pushed back by a day to give him more time with his wife, Taylor, and their newborn. Alex Wood will get the ball Tuesday to open the Giants’ series against Arizona.