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Winning ugly is perfectly OK. For a team that wasted so many brilliant pitching performances this season, the Giants were overdue to win a game that was anything but pretty.
“Probably our ugliest one,” catcher Patrick Bailey said after the Giants beat the Braves 5-4 Friday night at Oracle Park. “We’ll take it.”
Pitcher Hayden Birdsong issued five walks, more than in his five previous starts combined. Jung Hoo Lee and Tyler Fitzgerald got picked off first base. Heliot Ramos was caught trying to steal second.
The game was won in walk-off fashion in the 10th inning, not because of a base hit but because Braves reliever Pierce Johnson threw a curveball to the backstop, allowing Fitzgerald to scurry home on the wild pitch.
The ugliest moment of the night had nothing to do with the game. It had everything to do with an offensive, dangerous, and idiotic act in the top of the fourth inning.
A ball was tossed toward home plate apparently from the upper deck at Oracle Park, just as Atlanta’s Matt Olson was scoring on Sean Murphy’s sacrifice fly ahead of right fielder Mike Yastrzemski’s throw. Players, umpires, and fans alike were stunned over the foolishness of the classless event.
Giants broadcaster Duane Kuiper’s call: “Line drive to right. Yaz has got it. He’s coming in. Here’s the throw home. It is … not in time, and where did the other ball come from?”
Broadcaster partner Mike Krukow chimed in, “It came from the upper deck. Some clown threw a baseball on the field. I have never seen that.”
The ball nearly hit umpire Andy Fletcher and could have been a major distraction for Bailey, who was able to distinguish between one ball and the other. Still, after the play, he raised his arms in shock.
“I was just focused on trying to make the play,” Bailey said. “Then, obviously, out of the corner of my eye, I see a ball getting thrown on the field, which is kind of absurd for someone to do that. That was terrible. It should never be part of a play. It should never be close to hitting somebody.
“Hopefully they found him and kicked him out.”
As of late Friday night, the Giants and their security personnel hadn’t located the culprit, so there was no immediate identification and ejection. Security camera footage was being analyzed, and MLB was made aware of the matter.
Over the years, fans have tossed baseballs onto big-league diamonds. It’s mostly innocent stuff. Especially when someone beyond the outfield wall throws back a home run ball hit by a visiting player, a tradition at Wrigley Field.
It’s usually no big deal because nothing is happening except for a home run trot. But when a ball is thrown on the field during the middle of a play, in the heat of action, that’s just plain wrong on many fronts.
“It’s not good,” said Fitzgerald, the second baseman. “It could knock someone out easily. It’s unfortunate it happened. It’s not OK.”
The four umpires gathered to discuss the incident and let the game resume. Michael Harris II followed with an RBI single, cutting the Giants’ lead to 3-2. New Giants first baseman Dominic Smith’s second sacrifice fly of the night made it 4-2, but Olson’s seventh-inning homer tied the game.
When Fitzgerald was picked off first for the final out in the ninth, it meant he’d be the placed runner in the 10th. He was at second when the inning began and advanced to third on Lee’s groundout. With two outs and Wilmer Flores at the plate, Johnson threw a pitch in the dirt, and Fitzgerald darted home and had his jersey ripped off by teammates in celebration.
Afterward, Fitzgerald didn’t have much regret about the pickoff — he was trying to be aggressive with two outs and preparing to attempt a stolen base.
“I knew if I did get thrown out or picked off,” Fitzgerald said, “I’d start at second base (in the 10th). I knew the risk. … The advantage was us with me on second base. It worked out well. It was a sloppy baserunning game for our whole team, but in that situation, I think it was worth it.”
The Giants have won three straight games since president of baseball operations Buster Posey shook up the roster Wednesday. They lead the majors with seven walk-off wins.
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