Photo courtesy of San Francisco Giants. Yastrzemski celebrates his walk off hit at home plate on 6/19/23.

By Titus Wilkinson (@TitusWisme)

SAN FRANCISCO- The Giants winning streak was brought up to eight tonight by a Yastrzemski walk-off homer in the tenth as they beat the Padres 7-4.

Getting the start for the Giants was right hander Ryan Walker in his first ever start while for the Padres right hander Michael Wacha started.

First pitch was thrown at 6:45 p.m. and Adrian Johnson would be the one calling the balls and strikes in tonight’s game.

This game got off to an interesting start as Fernando Tatis Jr. lead off the game with a double. Then Tatis got caught trying to steal third despite originally being called safe. After Tatis was called out Juan Soto then launched one into left field that was deep enough to get over the wall making it 1-0 Padres. The homer was Soto’s 12th of the season.

After Manny Machado grounded out Xander Bogaerts drew a walk thankfully though for Walker Jake Cronenworth brought the inning to an end by grounding out.

The bottom of the first and entire second inning passed by rather quietly with each team only getting a hit apiece. In the second Taylor Rodgers came in for Walker who finished his night going 1.2 innings and giving up three hits, one homer, and walking one hitter.

In the third with Jakob Junis now on the mound San Diego threatened once again as Tatis reached on a rare error by Brandon Crawford and Machado hit a single. Bogaerts would kill the momentum though by grounding into a double play keeping the score 1-0.

With Junis still pitching in the fourth Cronenworth lead off the inning with a single followed by Gary Sanchez striking out. With Rougned Odor now hitting he got a double and with runners now on second and third Ha-Seong Kim got them both home with a base knock. Junis was able to get the next two hitters out but the damage had been done as the score was now 3-0.

The Giants couldn’t get a response going in the bottom of the fourth as they went down in order. In the top of the fifth Keaton Winn came in to replace Junis who finished with 1.2 innings pitched, four hits given up, and two earned runs.

The first batter Winn had to face was Soto who had already homered in the game. Despite the different pitcher it did not seem to matter to Soto who took the first pitch thrown at him and crushed it over the left field wall once again. The homer was Soto’s 13th of the season and made it 4-0.

This time in the bottom of the inning the orange-and-white got a rally going as with two outs David Villar responded by homering to left center field making it 4-1. Lamonte Wade Jr. also got a base hit but Joc Pederson flew out bringing the inning to a close.

Following up the fifth the Giants kept the momentum going as Mike Yastrzemski smashed one over the right field wall getting his ninth homer of the season. The homer made it 4-2 and despite the Giants not being able to get anymore runs in the inning the winds had certainly shifted.

The seventh and eight went by quickly as neither team got a hit though Tim Hill did take over for Wacha in the seventh inning. Wacha finished with six innings pitched, four hits given up, two earned runs, and two hitters walked.

With Winns able to close out the top of the ninth it all came down to the bottom of the inning for the Giants to formulate a comeback.

The inning got off to a good start as Blake Sabol who was pinch-hitting for Michael Conforto drew a walk. Yastrzemski then got a base hit putting runners on the corners with no outs. Feeling the pressure Luis Garcia who had come in to close the game for the Padres threw a wild pitch that got Sabol home. Now it was only a one-run game at 4-3 with still zero outs.

Luis Matos then flew out to center field but it was deep enough to get Yastrzemski to third. J.D. Davis then drew a walk to once again put runners on the corners with only one out. With Patrick Bailey up all he needed to do was put a ball in play to tie the game up. Bailey would do just that as he hit one to right field that was deep enough to get Yastrzemski home tying the game 4-4.

The Giants kept the lineup moving as Villar and Casey Schmitt drew walks loading the bases. Pederson had the opportunity to walk it off but was not able to as he struck out meaning extra innings were on the way.

In the tenth Tatis was the runner at second and Soto lead things off. Kapler did not let him see a pitch though as he intentionally walked Soto bringing up Machado. Camilo Doval was now on the bump and him and Machado got into a battle at the plate. Doval managed to get the win over Machado and then took care of the rest setting up a big end of the tenth.

The Padres responded in the bottom of the tenth by intentionally walking Thairo Estrada with Pederson on second. Sabol then laid a perfect bunt to advance both Estrada and Pederson. With Ray Kerr on the mound for the Padres he faced down Yastrzemski who had that late game swagger about him like he always does. With the count 3-1 Kerr threw a fastball right down the plate that Yastrzemski did not miss.

The smack of bat on ball was all you needed to hear as Yastrzemski had just walked it off to get the Giants their eighth victory in a row. The home run was a splash hit which was number 102 and Yastrzemski’s tenth home run of the season.

Doval got the win which brought his record to 2-2 while Kerr took the loss.

“Everybody’s gonna talk about Yas and for good reason that was a clutch of an at bat as it gets and he had several of them in the game,” manager Gabe Kapler said after the game.

The Giants next game will be the second of this three game home series against the Padres and the first pitch will be at 6:45 p.m.