SAN FRANCISCO — The Giants and Phillies combined for 23 hits Saturday. And in a preview of what’s to come for the remainder of September, that only equaled the number of players used by San Francisco.
The teams traded leads five times, but ultimately it was the one whose postseason hopes have dried up that prevailed over the one still fighting for a wild-card berth for a second straight day. Joc Pederson’s bases-loaded walk proved decisive in the Giants’ 5-4 win, securing a series win over the Phillies.
Here are some takeaways.
— September line change: When the sixth inning was over, the public relations official announcing all the defensive replacements to the press box tripped over his words. The names just kept coming.
In all, six new players took the field for the Giants at the start of the seventh — four of whom had just pinch-hit the previous inning.
The Giants’ line change strategy — intended to gain the platoon advantage when their opponent brings in an opposite-handed reliever to their starter — is well documented, but this was taking it a new degree.
It paid off, as the pinch-hitting quartet of Lewis Brinson (for Luis González), J.D. Davis (for Andrew Knapp), Wilmer Flores (for LaMonte Wade Jr.) and Evan Longoria (for Mike Yastrzemski) helped San Francisco rally for a run and take a 5-4 lead that proved decisive.
Brinson led off with a double (but was thrown out at home on fielder’s choice), and Davis scored the go-ahead run after Pederson drew a bases-loaded walk. The subs couldn’t have hurt defensively, either, as John Brebbia (one of the other two new players, in addition to Bryce Johnson, who took over in right field) and Jarlín García teamed up to record a scoreless top of the seventh, the first time Philadelphia didn’t immediately respond with runs after a Giants scoring rally.
Camilo Doval struck out Matt Vierling with the tying run on third base to end the eighth inning and eventually finished off a four-out save. When he entered the game with two outs in the eighth, Doval became the 22nd player used by the Giants on Saturday. Austin Slater entered as a defensive replacement in the ninth, becoming player No. 23.
Now, imagine what Kapler could do with a roster of 40. (Or, maybe, don’t.)
— Red-hot Joc: With runners at the corners and one out in the fifth, Phillies manager Rob Thomson came with the hook for his starter, Noah Syndergaard. The Phillies had three left-handers in their bullpen, but with Pederson and Brandon Crawford due up, Thomson nonetheless called on the righty Connor Brogdon.
The decision backfired almost immediately, as Pederson followed with his second RBI single of the afternoon, driving home Mike Yastrzemski, who started the rally with a ground-rule double to right-center.
Combined with his bases-loaded walk in the sixth and another RBI single in the third, Pederson was responsible for three of the Giants’ five runs Saturday — only continuing a stretch of hot hitting ever since he snapped his homer drought.
Pederson is riding a new streak now: hits in eight straight games, over the course of which he is batting .542 (13 for 24). Dating back to the start of August, Pederson is batting .379/.455/.672, raising his season OPS to .873, 50 points higher than it was a month ago.
— Junis: Like his Phillies counterpart, Giants starter Jakob Junis wasn’t long for this back-and-forth affair.
The only out Junis recorded in the fifth was a ground ball fielded by Brandon Crawford, who was playing in on the grass and fired home to nab Kyle Schwarber at home plate. Schwarber doubled as one of two Philadelphia hits to lead off the inning, but the the Giants escaped the inning without allowing a run.
Lefty Scott Alexander, who relieved Junis, snagged a hard-hit ground ball from Bryce Harper and started a 1-6-3 double play that ended the frame.
Junis’ sinker-slider combo was on when he was in the strike zone, generating 12 swings and misses and racking up five strikeouts over 4 1/3 innings, but the Phillies dinked and dunked and walked their way to seven hits and three runs (two earned) and ran Junis’ pitch count up to 78 before he exited.
The one, big mistake came to Bryson Stott, who led off the fourth by sending a hanging change-up over Levi’s Landing and into McCovey Cove for the first splash hit by an opposing player since Charlie Blackmon did it in June.
— Crawford’s error(s): Before homering into McCovey Cove, Stott laid down a bunt in an attempt to beat the overshift deployed by San Francisco, which left Crawford as the only man on the left side of the infield. Crawford charged and barehanded the ball but had no time to get set, and his throw sailed wide of LaMonte Wade Jr. at first base.
Stott was able to take second base, and Jean Segura drove him home one batter later for the Phillies’ first run.
Crawford was credited with a throwing error, his 16th of the year, matching his totals from 2018 and 2019, which are tied for the third-most he has committed in any of his 11-plus seasons. However, it took him more than 140 games in both those seasons to reach that total, while he has racked up 16 errors in only 91 games this year.
The season began with Crawford being presented his well-earned Gold Glove trophy from last season, but it’s safe to say there won’t be another award presentation before next season.
