PHILADELPHIA — After needing extra innings only three times in their first 46 games, the Giants played extra baseball Tuesday night for the second time in as many games with the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.
For the first time this season, they played into the 11th, but Donovan Walton wouldn’t let it go on any longer. He turned on the third pitch of the inning and drove it off the wall in right field, driving home ghost runner Joey Bart from second to score the decisive run in a 7-4 win.
Walton went from bad-luck goat to extra-inning hero, after a two-out ground ball in the bottom of the 10th bounced off the second-base bag and over his glove, allowing the Phillies to tie the game at 4 and negate Joc Pederson’s 10th inning infield single that gave the Giants their first lead in extras.
With one swing the next inning, Pederson gave San Francisco the insurance it needed, hammering a two-run home run into the second-deck in right field that bounced off the empty seats that once held fans who were long gone as the game drew on beyond four-and-a-half hours.
Manager Gabe Kapler made the bold decision to intentionally walk Bryce Harper in the bottom of the 11th, bringing the winning run to the plate. And it paid off, as José Álvarez got Roman Quinn swinging to end this marathon.
With their third extra-innings win of the season, the Giants secured a series win over a team that has lost five straight and 12 of its last 16, defeating the Phillies in extra innings for the second straight night. San Francisco had lost nine of 14 coming into Philadelphia but pulled out its third straight game Tuesday night.
Jakob Junis limited the Phillies to one run on three hits, lowering his rotation-best ERA to 2.68, but didn’t factor in the decision after manager Gabe Kapler came with the early hook with one out in the fifth.
Junis handed the bullpen a 3-1 lead, after the Giants plated three to get on the board in the top half of the inning, but they couldn’t hold on to it. John Brebbia allowed all four batters he faced in the sixth to reach base, and two scored to tie the game at 3. A vintage Jake McGee prevented the damage from being worse, touching 98 mph while needing to face only two batters to record the final three outs of the inning.
Thairo Estrada led off the fifth with his second single of the game. After being stranded on third base in the first inning, he would score the Giants’ first run after San Francisco loaded the bases on a single from Curt Casali, in the lineup at designated hitter, and a walk from Tommy La Stella.
La Stella was called on to pinch-hit for Evan Longoria, who afterward the television broadcast showed having a spirited discussion with manager Gabe Kapler in the dugout. The Phillies had turned to right-handed reliever Nick Nelson, so Kapler opted for the platoon advantage. Longoria had five home runs in his past five games — three against righties — but was hitting only .182 against right-handers this season.
Luis González made sure the decision wouldn’t come back to bite the Giants, lining his second double of the game into the the right field corner and driving in Estrada and Casali. La Stella would score on a sac fly from pinch-hitter Mike Yastrzemski on the next play, giving the Giants a 3-1 lead.
With a career-high four hits Tuesday, González improved his batting line through 31 games to .347/.384/.485, the best OPS (.869) among all qualified rookies in the majors.
Before breaking through in the fifth, the Giants had put runners in scoring position with nobody out in three of the first four innings but been unable to capitalize. They finished the game 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position and left eight runners on base.
Well-rested after Logan Webb’s eight-inning outing Monday, the bullpen would be tasked with protecting it most of the rest of the night. Junis, who had needed only 64 pitches to record one out in the fifth, was pulled as the lineup turned over for a third time and he faced the prospect of two tough lefties in the span of three hitters.
Once again, Kapler’s decision paid off, at least in the immediate aftermath. Jarlín García navigated through Kyle Schwarber, Jean Segura and Bryce Harper to record the final two outs of the inning, completing his 17th straight outing to start this season without allowing an earned run, tying Joe Nathan’s club record.
