There almost were too many incredible moments to count from the Giants’ thrilling 5-1 walk-off win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night at Oracle Park.
Here are the best stats from the Giants’ win that put them just .5 games back in the NL wild-card race:
Patrick Bailey’s Walk-Off Slam
Patrick Bailey is the first player in MLB history with a walk-off inside-the-park home run AND a walk-off grand slam in a season
(worth noting: Roberto Clemente had both in one on a walk-off inside-the-park grand slam 7/25/56, but not the separate Bailey has!) https://t.co/RroQBsER6S
Today Patrick Bailey 7/15/2022 Mike Yastrzemski 9/3/1973 Bobby Bonds 4/25/1969 Jack Hiatt 5/26/1959 Leon Wagner 6/16/1952 Bobby Thomson 5/8/1925 Billy Southworth https://t.co/XNApdEsz6Z
Not only was McCray’s outfield assist the fastest of the Statcast era in Giants history, but it ranks No. 9 all-time in MLB during that same span. The previous Giants record was held by Austin Slater, who had a 99.6 mph throw on July 24, 2018.
Justin Verlander’s Still Got It
This is the first time Justin Verlander has allowed 1 or 0 runs over a three-outing span since 2022, when he had two such spans
Only others age 42+ to do so in a 3-start span, last 125 seasons:
2022 Rich Hill 2015 Bartolo Colon 2008 Randy Johnson 2004 & ‘05 Roger Clemens 1982… https://t.co/7ksbAGdy5A
With his outing Friday, Verlander also became the first MLB pitcher age 42 or older to record at least two starts in the same season of at least seven innings with one or fewer runs allowed since Bartolo Colon in 2018.
After former Giants outfielder Michael Conforto hit a game-tying home run off Verlander in the seventh inning, the veteran pitcher saw his scoreless innings streak of 18 innings snapped. The streak began Aug. 26 and was Verlander’s longest since a 19-inning scoreless streak from May 10-21, 2022.
San Francisco's Patrick Bailey flips his bat after hitting a walk-off grand slam in a 5-1 win over the Dodgers in 10 innings Friday night at Oracle Park. (Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)
It might’ve been more frustrating, had it not been so predictable.
The Dodgers starting to turn a corner, only to stumble to the kind of maddening late-game loss that has come to define their season.
Entering this weekend’s series against the San Francisco Giants, the team had won four straight games. It had started to stack better offensive performances from its slumping lineup. It had begun to believe that better health and improved pitching could spark a surge to carry it through the rest of the campaign.
Then, they came out of an off day looking flat at Oracle Park.
Then, reality once again smacked them square in the face.
The Dodgers’ 5-1 loss to the Giants might have ended in a familiar way, with Tanner Scott giving up a walk-off hit — this time, a grand slam to Patrick Bailey in the bottom of the 10th — for the third time in the last eight days.
But on this night, the embattled $72-million closer was far from the only person culpable for a slice of the blame.
The Dodgers (82-65) did not hit on a cool night along the San Francisco Bay, with a seventh-inning home run from Michael Conforto accounting for the entirety of their scoring.
They did not back up another gem from Yoshinobu Yamamoto, letting his latest dominant outing (seven innings, one run, one hit, 10 strikeouts) go to waste.
Mostly, they squandered an opportunity to continue the momentum they had finally built with this past week’s long-awaited winning streak. They let the game come down to Scott’s unreliable left arm, and reignited long-standing doubts about their ability to maintain any level of consistent play.
“When you score one run and you’re in a tight ball game, then there’s just no margin [for error],” manager Dave Roberts said in another somber postgame address. “When you’re playing these close ball games, where any flare, any mistake costs you, that’s a tough quality of life too. So it’s not just those guys in the 'pen.”
Indeed, the Dodgers’ loss was set in motion long before Scott threw an elevated fastball that Bailey lined to left for his walk-off slam.
It started with their inability to hit Justin Verlander, who pitched seven innings of one-run ball with a heavy dose of curveballs and sliders. It escalated when they came up empty in a string of scoring opportunities, going 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position. It's a problem they’ve tried to address in recent days, including with reps of simulated situational at-bats in batting practice.
Dodgers starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto delivers in the second inning Friday. (Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)
Little by little, the turning points began to snowball. And ultimately, it all ended in an avalanche of orange Giants jerseys celebrating at home plate.
“We had opportunities to get a hit, to drive some runs in,” Roberts said. “We had some chances late to put up a crooked number. We just couldn’t come through.”
In the first and third innings, the Dodgers couldn’t capitalize upon one-out walks. In the fourth, they had two on with no outs, and yet still came up empty.
Yamamoto, fresh off his near no-hitter in Baltimore last week, made sure they stayed in it. He gave up one run in the first inning on a Willy Adames double, which plated Rafael Devers from first base after Andy Pages bobbled the ball for an error. But after that, he retired the final 20 batters he faced, lowering his ERA to 2.66.
Conforto, meanwhile, tied the score in the seventh, hitting only his 11th home run of the season to straightaway center.
From there, however, the horrors of the Dodgers’ horrendous play over the second half of the season quickly returned. They were handed a winnable game, and found a way to give it away.
They left another runner stranded in the eighth, after Max Muncy was hit by a pitch in the right forearm that eventually forced him to exit the game (but isn’t expected to keep him out going forward, after postgame X-rays came back negative).
They caught a break in the bottom of the ninth, when Giants pinch-runner Grant McCray was thrown out at home plate by Pages on an aggressive send on a shallow fly ball to center. But then they gave it right back in the top half of the 10th, when catcher Ben Rortvedt (once again filling in for Will Smith, who continues to nurse a bone bruise on his right hand) made his own out on the bases trying to advance as the automatic runner from second to third base.
It all set the stage for the bottom of the 10th, when Scott was thrust into the kind of situation that has haunted him repeatedly of late.
Matt Chapman led the inning off with a ground ball against Blake Treinen, moving the winning run over to third base with left-handed hitter Jung Hoo Lee due up next. At that point, rookie southpaw Jack Dreyer had already pitched in the eighth and ninth inning. Fellow lefty Alex Vesia was down after making back-to-back appearances in his return from the injured list earlier this week.
Thus, Roberts came to the mound, and summoned Scott into the game.
“He had three days off [before this],” Roberts said. “I felt it was the time to run him out there.”
At first, the decision seemed to work. Scott pitched Lee carefully to work a full-count. Then, he snapped off a slider that appeared to induce a putaway foul-tip.
But as Lee waved at the pitch, and home plate umpire Bill Miller initially signaled for strike three, third base umpire Chad Fairchild quickly overruled the call, motioning the ball had instead bounced off the ground and into Rortvedt’s glove — even though replays showed that Rortvedt had secured it without the ball hitting the dirt.
“Obviously we looked at the replay, it didn't hit the ground,” said Roberts, who was left helpless in the dugout on what was a non-reviewable play.
“I thought I got it clean, it definitely didn't bounce,” Rortvedt added. “But I think the way I caught, it might have been a trap.”
Either way, the at-bat continued. The next pitch was a slider out of the zone, putting Lee on base as disaster began to stir.
The Dodgers elected to intentionally walk the next batter, right-handed hitting Casey Schmitt, to bring Bailey to the plate. Scott’s first pitch to him was a slider in the dirt. The next: A 96.5 mph fastball just above the zone that Bailey timed up for a grand slam to end the game.
“Gave up a bad pitch to a hitter that can hit fastballs [and] it cost us again,” said Scott, who has a 5.01 ERA in his debut Dodgers season with nine blown saves, four losing decisions and 11 home runs allowed (tying his total from the past three years combined).
“I’m tired of it happening,” he added.
Dodgers pitcher Tanner Scott watches after San Francisco's Patrick Bailey hits a game-ending grand slam in the 10th inning of the Dodgers' 5-1 loss Friday at Oracle Park. (Godofredo A. Vásquez / Associated Press)
Roberts tried to give the closer a vote of confidence afterward, saying “we've just got to continue to try to give him confidence and, when the time's right, run him out there and expect good things to happen” — even though, the manager also acknowledged, it might be time to finally use Scott in lower-leverage sequences of games.
Rortvedt also took blame for the decisive pitch selection, even though he insisted the location of the fastball was one that “no one's supposed to hit.”
That didn’t seem to give Scott much solace. He was so dumbfounded by his latest late-game implosion, he openly wondered if he was simply tipping his pitches.
“They’re on everything, it sucks,” he said. “I have no friggin’ clue right now. ... I’m having the worst year of my life.”
The Dodgers, of course, aren’t having a banner year as a team, either. They might not have ceded ground in the National League West standings on Friday, remaining 2½ games up on the San Diego Padres after that club’s own stunning loss at home to the Colorado Rockies. But, the Dodgers did lose all the momentum they had carried into this rivalry series; putting Scott in a position he has so often struggled, thanks to their earlier inability to put the game away.
Sasaki's next steps
Roki Sasaki could rejoin the Dodgers' big-league roster before the end of the regular season. But first, he'll have to pass one more minor-league rehab test.
Roberts said Sasaki, the rookie right-hander who finally rediscovered his 100 mph fastball last week after missing most of the season with a shoulder injury, will make one more start with triple-A Oklahoma City next week after experiencing a calf issue in his start last week.
If Sasaki comes through that outing OK, Roberts said he hoped to see Sasaki back in the big leagues, where he hasn't pitched since posting a 4.72 ERA in eight starts to begin the season.
"I don’t know in what capacity," Roberts said of Sasaki's role, which would likely be in the bullpen if he were to make the postseason roster. "But I’m hopeful that we’ll see Roki here before season’s end. ... From my understanding, Roki is in a good place to do whatever it is to help the team."
Luis Gil was terrific for the Yankees again on Friday night.
The right-hander stepped up and delivered six hitless innings to help New York take the opener of a huge three-game set with the division rival Boston Red Sox.
Gil was forced to work through traffic at times, but he navigated it well.
He retired first four hitters he faced before Masataka Yoshida reached on an error in the bottom of the second, and after he advanced into scoring position on a wild pitch, the youngster got a pop out to strand him there.
He then issued a one out walk to Ceddanne Rafaela in the bottom of the third, but a fly out and groundout helped him escape without any damage from the top of the order.
Gil put together a perfect fourth, but had to battle again in the fifth.
He was hurt by some questionable calls on back-to-back free passes to lead off the inning and then balked them into scoring position, but was able to retire the next three to get out of the frame with the no-hitter still in-tact.
A Jazz Chisholm throwing error then pushed Trevor Story into scoring position with one out in the sixth, but Gil got a strikeout and groundout to again escape the inning and end his night without any damage.
He finished with four walks and four strikeouts across six hitless innings, bringing his ERA to an outstanding 0.99 in five career starts against the Sox.
“Where we are in the division right now, everything is so tight,” Gil said through a translator. “All of the games are so important for us and we want to just do the best we can and keep things right there and just find a way to contribute.”
Gil certainly has done his part of late -- including tonight, he’s now allowed just one earned one over his past two outings, both of which have come against divisional opponents in the Sox and Blue Jays.
He's now down to a 2.83 ERA on the season.
Aaron Boone went as far as saying this is the best he’s been since returning from the IL.
“He started losing the strike zone a bit,” the skipper said. “But his stuff was good and he was able to get big outs. To buckle down in the fifth and hold them at bay there was big, hopefully this is another springboard for him.”
Would Jacob deGrom like to see the Mets retire his No. 48 at Citi Field?
“That’s not my decision,” the right-hander said.
If he were to have stayed when he hit free agency, that answer would be much clearer.
After leaving for Texas, though, it remains to be seen where the organization stands.
DeGrom will go down as one of the greatest pitchers in franchise history.
While his lone ring came with the Rangers, he took home the NL Rookie of the Year, a pair of Cy Young awards, and made four of his five career All-Star appearances in his nine years donning the orange and blue.
And he was arguably the most dominant starting pitcher in the game during that stretch -- accumulating a 2.52 ERA, 0.99 WHIP and 1,607 strikeouts following his big-league debut back in 2014.
Injuries derailed things towards the end of his tenure in the Big Apple, which led to the two sides going their separate ways, but there’s no taking away the countless dominant efforts deGrom put forward in a Mets uniform.
The 37-year-old said it would be a huge honor if he were to join the legendary group.
“Every time I took this mound for the Mets, I left it all out there,” deGrom said. “There were obviously some times where I got injured, but you can’t really control that, so when I was on that mound I felt like I left it all out on the field.”
It's not easy what Jonah Tong is attempting to do for the Mets.
Last month the young right-hander was pitching for Double-A and now he's going up against Jacob deGrom at Citi Field, thrusted in a pressure-filled playoff race and trying to help his team overcome its losing ways.
Forget about difficult, that's just unfair.
And even though manager Carlos Mendoza said Tong is mature for his age, he's still just 22 years old and deserves all the grace in the world following his rough start on Friday night.
"Keep your head up, keep going," Mendoza said about his message to Tong. "There’s no other way around it. Flush that one out and just keep moving forward."
Tong, of course, has the talent and potential to be a successful starting pitcher in the league. Look no further than his MLB debut just two weeks ago and you'll see a pitcher with the stuff that can be dangerous for a long time.
However, it's obvious he still needs time to continue to develop into the starting pitcher that he has the talent to be. But asking him, along with the two other rookies in the rotation, to be the savior of a flailing team with sky-high expectations that have not been met this season isn't the proper way to foster and nurture that talent.
After the loss, a clearly emotional Tong didn't have a lot to say. Still, he managed to get out that he didn't give the start that he wanted and even thought of the bullpen, saying that it "hurts" to know that his outing put "more stress" on a beleaguered group -- quite selfless for a 22-year-old.
"He’s a competitor," Mendoza said. "Obviously he cares a lot... He'll get through that one."
The question now becomes what will the Mets do next?
While he didn't confirm or deny that Tong would make his next start, Mendoza reiterated that New York could get creative. What's most sad about the situation, though, is despite how poorly his outing went on Friday, Tong remains one of the better options the Mets have at the moment due to massive failures elsewhere on the roster.
"It’s just life, so take it one step at a time," Tong said. "I mean, I’m always grateful for opportunity."
Among the players giving the right-hander advice was David Peterson who Tong said told him, "Keep your head up. The sun’s gonna rise tomorrow."
Wherever Tong makes his next start, he'll have time to learn from this one and hopefully grow from it.
"(I'm) gonna have some time to reflect on this and get ready for the next one and just go from there," he said.
Jacob deGrom had this one circled on his calendar.
He looked at the beginning of the season and wanted the chance to return to Citi Field.
Finally on Friday night, that opportunity came.
The right-hander knew it was going to be a special night, and that it was.
He couldn’t help but get emotional as the Mets took a look back at his prestigious nine-year career with the club with a tribute video before transitioning to his signature warmup song, “Simple Man” as he played catch pregame.
But once the action got underway, it was business as usual.
“It was really cool,” deGrom said. “This is where it all started, coming back here I thought it was going to be a very special day -- thankful to the Mets for playing that and like I said, these fans were great to me while I was here and that was a really nice thing to do.”
Fittingly, the 37-year-old was handed immediate run support, something he lacked throughout his time with the Mets.
The Rangers jumped on New York’s young right-hander Jonah Tong for a total of six runs on four hits and three walks in the top of the first, handing their hard-throwing ace the big advantage before he even threw a pitch.
DeGrom responded with a six-pitch bottom-half of the inning.
He worked around a one out Mark Vientos single in the bottom of the second, but then the bottom of the Mets’ order got to him in the third, as a solo homer and a pair of sacrifice flies made it a three-run ballgame.
But as Mets fans are very familiar with, it was lights out from there, as deGrom would set down the next 13 hitters in order to close out his night with seven strong innings.
He ended up taking home his 12th victory of the season after allowing those three runs on four hits and no walks while striking out just two batters on the evening.
“It means a lot,” deGrom said. “The fans were great to me tonight and they were great to me when I was here, I always enjoyed taking the mound in front of this crowd, so tonight was just as special.”
MIAMI (AP) — Detroit Tigers star left-hander Tarik Skubal left the club’s game against the Miami Marlins in the fourth inning Friday night after experiencing tightness in his left side.
The reigning AL Cy Young Award winner — and favorite to repeat this year — allowed a leadoff single to Heriberto Hernández and then retired Eric Wagaman on a flyout to center field when he exited. Skubal is currently under evaluation.
After a recent stretch of dominant outings, Skubal struggled Friday, giving up four runs and four hits. Rookie Agustín Ramirez and Hernández hit solo homers off Skubal.
Skubal had allowed one earned run over his previous 27 1/3 innings and had thrown seven scoreless innings in each of his last two starts.
Tigers shortstop Javier Báez also left early, when he fouled off a pitch that struck near his left eye in the second inning.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — San Francisco Giants third baseman Matt Chapman’s one-game suspension was dropped by Major League Baseball on Friday and he instead will pay a fine for his role in a benches-clearing incident at Colorado on Sept. 2.
The Giants made the announcement ahead of Friday’s opener in a weekend series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, saying an agreement with the Commissioner’s Office had been reached.
Chapman had faced a suspension and an undisclosed fine after he made contact with Rockies pitcher Kyle Freeland.
Freeland, Adames and Rafael Devers also were fined for their involvement. Tempers flared after Devers hit a two-run homer in the first inning and admired it before beginning his slow trot.
“Look, we didn’t feel like we started it. It is what it is, deal with it going forward. We’ll see what happens in the appeal. The other ones were fines,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said the next day. “You knew something was going to happen. We were hoping there weren’t suspensions. Ended up being one, and it’s on appeal, so see where that goes.”
Devers crushed a sweeper over the right field wall and then Freeland took exception with Devers’ celebration, prompting both players to shout at each other.
BOSTON (AP) — New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge hit his 362nd career home run on Friday night, breaking a tie with Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio and taking sole possession of fourth place on the franchise’s all-time list.
The 468-foot shot gave New York a 1-0 lead over Boston as the longtime rivals battle for playoff position. The Yankees entered the night with a one-half game edge over the Red Sox in the AL East, behind division leader Toronto, with both in position for a wild-card berth.
Judge reached 362 homers in his 1,130th game. DiMaggio played 1,736 games and hit his last homer on Sept. 28, 1951, at the end of a 13-year career that was interrupted for three seasons because he served in World War II.
Judge’s 47th homer of the season raised his major league-best batting average to .324.
Judge broke a tie with Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra for fifth on New York’s career list Tuesday night. Babe Ruth hit 659 of his 714 homers with the Yankees. Mickey Mantle (536) and Lou Gehrig (493) are the other Yankees ahead of Judge.
The Yankees defeated the Boston Red Sox 4-1 in the series opener on Friday night at Fenway Park.
Here are some takeaways...
- Aaron Judge got the Yankees' offense started early, and he made some history in the process. The captain crushed a solo homer over the Green Monster in the top of the first, giving him 362 for his career to pass Joe DiMaggio for fourth on the Yanks all-time HR list.
- Judge started a two-out rally and scored the second run of the game two innings later. After he drew a seven-pitch walk, Ben Rice reached on catchers interference and Cody Bellinger lined an RBI single right back up the middle to make it a 2-0 ballgame.
- Giolito settled in nicely, allowing just the two runs (one earned) on five hits and a walk over 5.2 innings.
- Luis Gil threw extremely well after being handed the early lead, as he held the Red Sox to just two baserunners (a walk and a Jose Caballero error) over the first four innings. The righty was hurt by some questionable calls in the fifth, which resulted in a pair of walks, but retired the next three and to keep the shutout and no-hitter going.
A Jazz Chisholm throwing error put Trevor Story at second with one out in the sixth, but Gil got a strikeout and groundout to again escape the inning with no damage. The reigning Rookie of the Year finished his night allowing just six baserunners (two errors, four walks) while striking out four across six hitless innings.
- Fernando Cruz took things over in the bottom of the seventh and struck out the first two hitters he faced before Nick Eaton crushed just the second homer of his big-league career into the Green Monster, breaking up both the shutout and no-hitter.
Cruz is now up to an ugly 16.20 ERA across five appearances this month.
- Devin Williams was helped out by a great backhanded play from Ryan McMahon to strand a man on second in a scoreless bottom of the eighth following Cruz, then David Bednar put the finishing touches on the victory, securing his sixth save since joining the club.
- Caballero received the start at short over Anthony Volpe for the second straight night, and while he committed an error, he made up for it with his offense and speed. He ripped a ground-rule double leading off the seventh before stealing third and then hustling down the line to beat the throw on a grounder with the infield in.
Caballero is now up to a league-best 46 stolen bases on the season.
- Chisholm picked up his 30th stolen base of the year in the top of the eighth -- he is now just two home runs away from joining Bobby Bonds and Alfonso Soriano as the only three players in franchise history with a 30/30 season.
Game MVP: Luis Gil
The young right-hander was masterful, holding the Sox hitless across his six innings of work.
Highlights
AARON JUDGE HOMERS TO OPEN THE SCORING!
With that home run, he passes Joe DiMaggio for the fourth-most home runs in Yankees history 👏 pic.twitter.com/nnAVhmnZq3
The Mets got hammered once again on Friday night, losing to the Texas Rangers by a score of 8-3 to extend their losing streak to seven games.
Here are the takeaways...
- Tasked with putting a stop to a six-game losing streak in just his third career start and facing one of the game's best pitchers on the other side, Jonah Tong had a lot on his plate. Up for the challenge anyway, the 22-year-old had a disastrous outing and failed to get out of the first inning.
Throwing predominantly changeups early, Tong couldn't find a feel for his fastball and that came around to bite him. After walking two of the first three batters, sandwiched between a strikeout, the right-hander retired Jake Burger on a flyout for a path out of the inning. Tong then got to two strikes on Josh Jung and with Citi Field behind him, he needed to make one more pitch to escape the jam. Instead, two straight hits on two straight fastballs scored two runs.
The third walk of the inning loaded the bases before Tong got to two strikes once again, this time on Cody Freeman, but another single drove in two more to double the Rangers' lead. The rookie ran the count full on Michael Helman before allowing a two-run double that ended his night.
Tong lasted 0.2 innings and allowed six runs on four hits and three walks. It was the shortest start from a Met pitcher since David Peterson recorded one out in September 2022. Tong entered the game with a 4.09 ERA and it ballooned to an unsightly 8.49. He threw 40 pitches (20 strikes).
- Shell-shocked by what just happened in the top of the inning, the crowd on hand unfortunately didn't really give Jacob deGrom his much-deserved standing ovation when he took the mound in the bottom of the first inning in his first time pitching in Citi Field since leaving the team in free agency in 2022. The former Met wasn't on the mound for long, needing six pitches to retire the side in order.
- After four straight outs to start this game following 25 straight outs to end Thursday's game, Mark Vientos' single in the second ended a terrible string of 29 consecutive outs made by the Mets. DeGrom retired the next two.
- Led by the bottom of the lineup, New York got to deGrom in the third. Francisco Alvarez began the inning with a solo shot, his eighth of the season, before Cedric Mullins and Francisco Lindor followed with a single and a double to put runners on second and third with nobody out, showing signs of life. Juan Soto and Pete Alonso each had a sacrifice fly that cut the deficit to 6-3 with plenty of ballgame left.
- Thanks to Huascar Brazoban (3.1 innings of scoreless relief) and Ryne Stanek (five up, five down) the Mets entered the later innings still in the game. However, after allowing three runs in the third inning, deGrom settled back down and found his groove, denying New York any chance of making a comeback. He ended his night by retiring the final 13 batters he faced and pitched seven terrific innings in his old home.
- Gregory Soto's recent struggles continued after giving up a two-run home run to pinch-hitter Dylan Moore in the seventh inning. Soto now has a 5.52 ERA in his last 15 games and a 9.45 ERA in his last seven games.
- Ryan Helsley allowed a screaming double to his first batter of the ninth and it looked like he was on his way to having another outing to forget, but Lindor made a great play on a flyout to shallow center field and doubled up Jung at second base.
Game MVP: Jacob deGrom
In what was another ugly performance by the Mets, it was at least nice to see deGrom back on the Citi Field mound, even as a member of an opposing team.
Mets second baseman Jeff McNeil was ejected from Friday's game against the Texas Rangers in the bottom of the fourth inning by home plate umpire Scott Barry.
McNeil, 0-for-2 on the night against Jacob deGrom, disagreed with a strike three call that appeared low and reacted angrily before getting tossed.
Ronny Mauricio entered the game to play third base, shifting Brett Baty to second base.
Jeff McNeil has been ejected after arguing a called third strike with home plate umpire Scott Barry pic.twitter.com/4tdg8u5eDw
Kodai Senga took the mound on Friday night making his first Triple-A start following a demotion from the Mets.
The right-hander found immediate success, getting a pair of Worcester hitters to chase forkballs in the dirt for two strikeouts in a perfect top of the first.
The Sox were able to strike against Senga in the second, though, as a leadoff single and two-out RBI double down the right field line brought home the first run of the game.
Senga rebounded nicely over the next three innings -- he put together a clean third, used a double play ball to work through the fourth, and then struck out a pair in an easy fifth.
He then needed just eight pitches to cruise through the sixth after Syracuse’s offense rallied to hand him a lead for the first time in the bottom-half of the fifth.
That closed Senga's final line with one run allowed on just three hits with no walks and eight strikeouts.
He used his full arsenal on the night as he threw 74 pitches, 52 of which were strikes.
Senga had allowed three or more earned runs in six of his last eight outings prior to his demotion, lifting his ERA to 3.02 for the season.
He is expected to make at least two minor league outings before potentially rejoining the big-league team.
Friday’s dominant showing was certainly a good first step.
Kodai Senga struck out eight in six innings tonight for Triple-A Syracuse 🔥
SAN FRANCISCO — Giants manager Bob Melvin sat down behind a podium late Friday night and asked a question that was more pertinent than any he would be asked.
“Where do you want to start?” he said, smiling as he looked out at a packed interview room at Oracle Park.
With a game like that, where do you start?
Perhaps with Justin Verlander, the 42-year-old who celebrated 20 seasons of MLB service time by throwing seven strong innings against a star-filled lineup that seemingly had found its stride earlier this week at Dodger Stadium.
Or maybe with Matt Chapman and Dominic Smith, who combined for one of the better defensive plays of the year, saving an early run in a game that would go to extra innings. The stretch at first will send Smith to the MRI tube, but teammates stopped by after the 5-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers to celebrate him for giving everything he had — including perhaps part of his upper hamstring — to the effort.
How about with Grant McCray? The bold young outfielder has not started a game since he was added as a speed-and-defense September call-up, and his wheels weren’t enough to get him home safely when he tagged on a shallow fly ball in the bottom of the ninth. McCray was thrown out at the plate, but he recovered in a magnificent way, making a 101.7 mph throw to third in the top of the 10th to snuff out a potential Dodgers rally with Mookie Betts at the plate and Freddie Freeman due up.
You should probably start, though, with where this one ended.
Patrick Bailey has had a nightmare of a season at the plate, but he’s well on his way to a second straight Gold Glove Award and he might take home the Platinum Glove, too. It was the bat that was in the spotlight on Friday, though.
Bailey crushed a Tanner Scott fastball into the seats in left for a walk-off grand slam, which will fit nicely alongside his walk-off inside-the-park homer when he tells stories to his kids one day. It’s probably not a shock that he’s the first MLB player to do both in one season, but the way this one ended was a surprise. It had been 56 years since a Giants catcher hit a walk-off grand slam and more than two years since Bailey had gone deep from the right side.
On a night when you could have picked a half-dozen Giants to do the on-field interview and get splashed by Willy Adames, Bailey ended up being an easy choice, and then he went and joined what was described as the most exciting clubhouse celebration of the season.
When it was over and everyone had calmed down, it was clear that something had shifted.
The Giants are still taking things one day at a time, but they also have started to mention the MLB postseason, which now is well within their grasp. Perhaps that was because Friday felt like a playoff game.
“We’ve got a lot of young guys that haven’t quite experienced that atmosphere yet, so to come through in a big way like that, that’s a big boost to a team that hasn’t really proven ourselves,” Verlander said. “To know that when those moments come along, which inevitably they will, there’s big moments that come along if you want to make it to the playoffs, much less win in the playoffs, then you’ve got to have the belief that you can succeed in those moments.”
The Giants are long past the point of finding belief in a season that felt lost in July and August. They have been the hottest team in baseball for several weeks, steadily picking up ground on the New York Mets. On Friday, it felt like a dam broke.
Every other team in the wild-card race lost, and the Giants are now just a half-game behind the Mets, or 1.5 games if you take the tiebreaker into account. They picked up a game on the San Diego Padres, who lost to the last-place Colorado Rockies, and on the Cincinnati Reds, who got blanked up the road in Sacramento. The Arizona Diamondbacks got walked off in Minneapolis, and the Giants even gained ground on the Dodgers, who are hoping to wrap up the NL West in time to set their postseason rotation.
For all that has gone right in recent weeks, the Giants have always known that they would have to get through Los Angeles in the end. Friday was the start of a stretch of seven games in 10 days against the Dodgers, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto did his part, striking out 10 Giants and allowing just one hit.
But Verlander kept them close, with some help from Chapman and Smith. The Giants had a chance to walk it off in the bottom of the ninth, and there was some urgency. Shohei Ohtani, Betts and Freeman were due up in the 10th.
Melvin had no problem with the decision to send McCray, noting that it took a perfect throw to get him. Still, it was questionable, especially with Chapman due up next. It certainly wasn’t a fun walk back to the dugout for McCray, but as he grabbed his glove, he fired himself up.
“I just wanted to take one away, honestly,” he said.
McCray did so in memorable fashion. Catcher Ben Rortvedt tagged when Betts hit a fly ball to right and got cut down by the fastest throw by a Giant in the Statcast era. Asked about it later, McCray looked over at Casey Schmitt’s locker.
“Schmitt says he throws harder than me,” he said. “Will you guys let him know he doesn’t?”
As Verlander took his turn in front of the cameras, the two young players argued about who actually does have the better arm. It was the type of moment that didn’t exist in the clubhouse a few weeks ago, but right now, the Giants can seemingly do no wrong.
If you take a step back, it’s all a little insane.
In the top of the 10th, the Giants survived Ohtani-Betts-Freeman because of a stunning throw from a September call-up, which led to a scoreless inning for a reliever who was struggling in Triple-A for most of this season. In the bottom of the 10th, they got a walk-off from a catcher who has spent most of this season trying to get his average comfortably above .200.
The walk-off was Bailey’s sixth in the big leagues and gave him two memorable ones this season.
“Both are definitely pretty cool,” he said. “I’m definitely not as tired on this one.”
In between the inside-the-park walk-off and Friday’s slam, the Giants often struggled just to score one run. But right now they’re firing on all cylinders, and they’re no longer simply hoping to get back into the race. They’re right in the thick of things, and given how bad the Mets have played and how red-hot the Giants have been in September, they really should be considered the favorite to get that final postseason spot.
It’s been a long, strange journey, and Melvin, after figuring out where to start, summed it all up neatly.
“There have been extremes all year,” he said. “And we’re riding this one.”
The Yankees shortstop has struggled mightily on both sides of the ball, and it’s led to him losing more and more playing time to trade deadline acquisition Jose Caballero down the stretch in September.
Volpe is on pace for a new career-high in homers with 19 to this point, but he’s hitting just .206 with a .268 on-base percentage while striking out 140 times over 141 games.
He’s also committed a league-high 19 errors at shortstop and has accounted for -9 Outs Above Average, despite being just one year removed from taking home his lone career Gold Glove award.
Some of that can be pinned on a shoulder injury he's been playing through for some time now, but with top prospect George Lombard Jr. waiting in the minors, there still have been questions of whether or not Volpe is still the SS of the future for the organization.
GM Brian Cashman was asked that exact question before Friday’s series opener in Boston.
“I think he’s a good player,” Cashman told reporters. “This year not withstanding, I think he’s got a lot of abilities that are positive. I think he’s had a tough stretch, but he’s someone we can count on and believe in.
“At the same time, this isn’t the season that we expected or he expected -- but that doesn’t change our viewpoint of what he’s capable of. As you know, I think he’s a really talented guy and I think he has a chance to be a positive impact on us.”
Volpe is out of Friday’s lineup, and manager Aaron Boone says he isn’t expected to start at any point this weekend as he recovers from a cortisone shot in his injured right shoulder.
This is just the first time in his big-league career that the youngster is sidelined for two consecutive games, but the team expects he could be available off the bench at some point this series.
