|
 A five-hour, 11-minute game can do that to you.
"It felt like the start of the year at the beginning of the game,"
Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford said after a 6-5, 12-inning
victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on Friday. "Now
it just feels like July again."
Crawford had three hits, drove in a run and scored the winning run
on shortstop Cliff Pennington's throwing error with one out in the
12th to lift the Giants (47-43) to a fourth straight victory in
their first game since Sunday.
Crawford singled to open the 12th against right-hander Randall
Delgado (4-3) and took second on a passed ball before left fielder
Gregor Blanco walked with one out and right-hander Ryan Vogelsong
beat out a perfectly placed bunt between the mound and third base to
load the bases.
Pennington back-handed center fielder Angel Pagan's grounder but
bounced his throw to the plate as Crawford scored.
"I was going to try to break up the double play, and I saw the throw
coming by me and saw it in the dirt, so I didn't have to really
worry about that," Crawford said.
Crawford also caught two Arizona runners at third base, once
throwing behind left fielder David Peralta to catch him off the bag
with runners on first and third and none out.
"Crawford put on a show," San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy said.
"Unbelievable. What a beautiful game he had. It was fun to watch."
Vogelsong (7-6) pitched the final two innings, getting the last out
with runners on first and second. He was the Giants' 10th pitcher,
one short of the San Francisco-era record, in the fifth-longest game
in Chase Field history.
"Guys were fresh coming into this game, but it took one game and
they are probably right back where they were," Bochy said.
Crawford, right fielder Hunter Pence, second baseman Joe Panik and
third baseman Matt Duffy had three hits apiece for the Giants, who
have won five of their last six.
Pence tied the score at 5 with a two-run homer to cap a three-run
seventh that included catcher Buster Posey's sacrifice fly.
Aaron Hill had given Arizona a 5-2 lead with a pinch-hit RBI double
in the sixth.
Peralta had three hits, including two triples, and second baseman
Chris Owings had two hits, including his third home run, for Arizona
(42-46), which lost its fourth straight.
Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt had two sacrifice flies
to lift his major league-high RBI total to 72, and center fielder
A.J. Pollock had two doubles.
[to top of second column] |
"We have to figure it out," Arizona manager Chip Hale said. "It is
four in a row now. We are a better team than that. We had a
three-run lead and we couldn't hold that. It is not good. You make
mistakes against a team like that ... they are very veteran-laden
and they took it to us."
Arizona led 4-1 after Owings' homer in the fourth off Matt Cain, who
gave up four runs in five innings, and was up 5-2 after Hill's
pinch-double.
Diamondbacks left-hander Robbie Ray struck out a career-high eight
in five innings, giving up two runs and eight hits in his ninth
start of the season.
"Up until the extra innings I felt like we played an awesome
ballgame," Owings said. "Maybe some guys were getting tired towards
the end there, but from what I saw I thought we were locked in."
NOTES: Arizona OF Ender Inciarte grounded out as a pinch hitter
after being activated from the disabled list Friday. He missed 24
games because of a strained right hamstring. Arizona placed C Jarrod
Saltalamacchia (neck) on the disabled list to create room on the
roster. ... The Diamondbacks gave No. 1 draft pick SS Dansby Swanson
a $6.5 million signing bonus, about $2 million under the projected
amount for the first overall pick in the draft. Swanson is expected
to report to Class A Visalia late next week. ... Arizona RHP Jeremy
Hellickson (blister) is scheduled to make his next start Tuesday,
but manager Chip Hale said Hellickson is not certain to be healed by
that time. ... San Francisco LHP Jeremy Affeldt pitched a scoreless
inning for Triple-A Sacramento on Thursday and, after another rehab
appearance over the weekend, is expected to join the Giants in San
Diego next week, manager Bruce Bochy said. ... The Giants began a
streak of 18 games against teams at or below .500. Tampa Bay also
opened the second half with a similar schedule.
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
