Bailey rescues Giants

SF 3  TEX 2  (10)

Just when all hope seemed lost Patrick Bailey hit a two-run homer to lift the Giants to a much-needed win. Logan Webb had thrown a superb eight shutout innings and got the first two outs in the 9th. A double by Julio Martinez ended his day, agonizingly short of a shutout win. Camilo Doval was summoned to protect the 1-0 lead but an infield single by Ezequiel Duran crushed the home crowd’s dreams. Doval balked in a run in the 10th but his rookie catcher bailed him out in the bottom half.

It has been a run of ugly baseball and it looked like the anemic offense would waste Webb’s great start. He had 14 ground ball outs to go with six hits, a walk, and six whiffs in 107 pitches. Speaking of whiffs, the Giants struck out 17 times this afternoon. That’s right, 17 times. They got a solo shot from Michael Conforto in the 2nd but were otherwise 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position (until Bailey’s blast) and left nine men on base. A bright spot was a three-hit day from Thairo Estrada.

The Giants snap their losing streak at four games and improve their August record to 5-6. They are .500 (14-14) since the Break. If they play .500 ball the rest of the way (22-22) they’ll finish 85-77. They’ve lost the top spot in the Wild Card as they’ve fallen a game-and-a-half behind the Phillies but they are still strongly in second place in the NL West.

Another tough opponent comes to town, this time the Tampa Bay Rays. Monday night’s game is at 6:45 PT.

Go Giants!

–M.C.

p.s. here’s the win probability chart from FanGraphs: