SAN FRANCISCO — A Casey Schmitt hit-by-pitch and a perfect Brandon Crawford bunt helped the Giants load the bases Sunday with no outs in the bottom of the 11th inning against the Boston Red Sox.
All the Giants needed was for Joc Pederson to come through in a tie game that manager Gabe Kapler said had a playoff-type feel.
On a 3-0 count, Pederson singled to right field off of Mauricio Llovera to score Patrick Bailey from third base and give the Giants a 4-3 win and their second walk-off victory in as many games.
“Playoff baseball, you don’t get a ton of hits but when you have opportunities, you have to capitalize,” Pederson said. “That’s what makes teams special.”
Following Pederson’s third career walk-off hit, the Giants now continue their homestand Monday with a four-game series with the Arizona Diamondbacks. San Francisco, winners of six of its last seven, leads the National League wild card standings and is two games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers for first place in the NL West.
“Some teams just have a flair for some late-inning heroics,” said Ross Stripling, who allowed one run in 4 1/3 innings in relief of opener Scott Alexander. “Seems like this team has that for sure.”
San Francisco also scored its first run Sunday with the bases loaded.
The Giants loaded the bases in the second inning without getting the ball out of the infield. Boston starter Brennan Bernardino plunked Michael Conforto and Luis Matos before giving up a bunt single to catcher Blake Sabol.
Schmitt’s hard-struck grounder to third scored Conforto and gave the Giants an early 1-0 lead.
Facing right-handed reliever John Schreiber in the third inning, Kapler took out the right-handed Austin Slater and replaced him with Mike Yastrzemski. When Yastrzemski left the game in the fifth inning with left hamstring tightness, future walk-off hero Pederson took his spot in the outfield.
Kapler also went with an opener approach for the second consecutive game, allowing Scott Alexander to get five outs on 16 pitches before bringing in Stripling for what he called a “featured role.”
San Francisco is now 14-4 when employing an opener.
The Giants were the beneficiaries of some shoddy fielding in the fifth inning by Boston’s Rafael Devers, who a mishandled a Crawford ground ball to give the Giants runners on the corner with no outs.
Wilmer Flores, who entered the day batting .394 in July, poked a ball into right field to give the Giants a two-run lead.
Stripling cruised along until the seventh, throwing 4 1/3 innings with three strikeouts and no walks. Adam Duvall’s solo home run for Boston ended his day with no outs in the inning, and Taylor Rogers replaced him.
“I think that some guys want more of an explanation and it’s more give and take, and you might get more emotion when they’re told they’re getting opened for,” Stripling said about pitching in long relief. “I think that I’ve done it a bunch and a decent amount here, so It think it’s a pretty easy conversation when they approach me about it.”
Rogers surrendered a Jarren Duran double before giving up a homer to San Francisco’s longtime nemesis Justin Turner, who launched home run No. 16 against the Giants to give the Sox a 3-2 lead.
Turner spent nine years tormenting San Francisco as a member of the rival Dodgers, and in his last two games as a member of the Red Sox, the 38-year-old has now hit a game-tying two-run single and a two-run home run in his last two games against the club.
The Giants had scored fewer than four runs in nine of their last 10 games before Sunday but cobbled together a Conforto single and a Matos double in the eighth inning to put two runners in scoring position.
Bailey’s ground ball tied the game 3-3, but Schmitt was called out on strikes to end the rally.
In his first day back with the major league team, right-hander Tristan Beck got the ball in the 10th inning. The Stanford alum worked around the ghost runner on second and a walk to leave the inning with the score still tied.
“I’m happy to take the ball whenever the team needs me, and obviously, you start counting down how many guys are left in the rotation,” Beck said. “I felt good physically, and I let them know that.”
Beck wouldn’t need to go out again as the Giants got the runner over to third on Crawford’s flawless bunt in his first game since July 16.
“Perfect execution always trumps good strategy, and that was perfect execution by Craw,” Kapler said.
Crawford added, “I wanted to hit obviously with Joc behind me, but I know in that situation, my job is to get a bunt down.”
Pederson’s hit gave San Francisco its second straight walk off win against Boston (56-49). Beck (2-0) got the win and Llovera (1-1) was hit with the loss.
Stay connected with us on social media platform for instant update click here to join our Twitter, & Facebook
We are now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@TechiUpdate) and stay updated with the latest Technology headlines.
For all the latest Sports News Click Here
