San Francisco Giants Matt Chapman (right) slides safely into home plate as the ball eludes Arizona Diamondbacks catcher Jose Herera (left) in the top of the third inning at Chase Field in Phoenix on Mon Sep 23, 2024 (AP News photo)
Monday, Sept. 23, 2024
Chase Field
Phoenix, Arizona
San Francisco Giants 6 (78-79)
Arizona Diamondbacks 3 (87-70)
Win: Hayden Birdsong (5-5)
Loss: Eduardo Rodriguez (3-4)
Save: Ryan Walker (10)
Time: 2:41
Attendance: 23,359
By Stephen Ruderman
The Giants stayed hot and played spoiler again, as they went into Chase Field to beat the Diamondbacks in the opener of this three-game series 6-3 on Monday night.
Now that they have been eliminated, Giants have been playing some of their best ball of the season with the pressure off and. They have gone 5-1 on this final road trip, taking two of three from the struggling Orioles, and sweeping the struggling Royals.
After playing spoiler in the American League Wild Card race, the Giants now had a chance to play spoiler in the National League Wild Card race. As the Giants came into Arizona for their final road series of the year, they would face a Diamondbacks’ team coming off a savage loss yesterday in Milwaukee.
The Diamondbacks looked to bounce back after blowing an 8-0 lead to the Brewers yesterday and falling back into a tie with the Mets for the second wild card spot. Since the Diamondbacks went 3-4 against the Mets this season, that meant they had fallen back into third wild card spot.
Left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez made the start for Arizona, and he started the night with a one, two, three inning in the top of the first Hayden Birdsong took the ball for the Giants following a pair of outings in which he had much better command.
However, the Diamondbacks pounced on the young right-hander in the bottom of the first. Back-to-back one-out doubles by Geraldo Perdomo and Joc Pederson gave Arizona a 1-0 lead.
After the Giants wasted a two-out rally in the top of the second, they would get on the board in the top of the third. Heliot Ramos lined a base-hit to center field with one out, and Jerar Encarnacion lined a double the other way to right to knock in Ramos and tie the game.
Michael Conforto lined out, and then up came Matt Chapman. Chapman hit a fly ball deep to left-center, and as Diamondbacks’ center-fielder leapt up against the wall to try and make the catch, he jammed his right shoulder and lost his cap. The ball rolled into center, and after Encarnacion scored, Third Base Coach Matt Williams waved Chapman in, who came all the way home with the inside-the-park home run.
It was Chapman’s 27th home run of the season, and the first inside-the-park home run by a Giant since Denard Span hit one against the Philadelphia Phillies at then-AT&T Park on Aug. 19, 2017. The Giants also have established a recent history of inside-the-park home runs after getting eliminated late in the season.
Conor Gillaspie hit an inside-the-park home run against the Rockies on Sept. 27, 2011, and Kelby Tomlinson did the same against those exact same Rockies On Oct. 3, 2015. Chapman’s inside-the-parker tonight adds to that list.
The Diamondbacks would get one of those runs back in the bottom of the third. With runners at first and second with two outs, Christian Walker hit a double to left that knocked in Corbin Carroll to make it 3-2.
With one out in the top of the fourth, the Giants got that run right back when Casey Schmutt pulled a home run down the left field line to make it 4-2. Schmitt has been swinging the bat well since he was called back up last week, going 6-for-14 in his last five games with that home run and four RBIs.
Michael Conforto hit an absolute bomb to the concourse above the pool out in right-center to make it 5-2 in the top of the fifth. As Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow said on the Giants’ telecast on NBC Sports Bay Area, Conforto hit it where Barry Bonds used to hit them.
Birdsong settled down with a one, two, three bottom of the fourth, and then he worked through a pair of walks to pitch a scoreless inning in the bottom of the fifth. That would end the night for Birdsong, who gave up four runs in five innings, while walking two and striking out six.
One of the biggest reasons Birdsong struggled in August was his command. In his last three outings, his command has been much better, as he has only walked five in his last 15 and two third innings.
Birdsong is slated to start the final game of the season for the Giants on Sunday against the St. Louis Cardinals. The question is whether he will make the start, or if the Giants will shut him down, which if they do, he will have ended his rookie season on quite a good note.
Hayden Birdsong pitched a scoreless bottom of the sixth, and the Giants tacked on a run against Scott McGough in the top of the seventh when Matt Chapman hit a triple to center. Just as he jammed his shoulder against the wall and lost his cap when going for Chapman’s inside-the-parker back in the third, the same exact thing happened in the top of the seventh.
Only this time, it was his left shoulder that he jammed into the wall. McCarthy will certainly feel it Tuesday, that’s for sure.
The Diamondbacks got a run off Erik Miller in the bottom of the seventh to make it 6-3, and Camilo Doval pitched a scoreless bottom of the eighth. Ryan Walker then took the ball for the ninth, and he threw a one, two, three inning to get his tenth save.
Hayden Birdsong got the win; Eduardo Rodriguez got the loss; and Ryan Walker picked up the save.
The Giants have now won six of their last seven to improve to just one game under .500 at 78-79. If they can go 4-1 in their final five games, which is very much doable, they will have their first winning season in three years.
As for the Diamondbacks, they fall to 87-70, and are now a half-game behind the Mets. They are a game and a half ahead of the Atlanta Braves for the third wild card in the National League.
The two teams will be back at it Tuesday night, and Logan Webb (12-10, 3.58 ERA) will make his second-straight start following a Giants’ win. Right-hander Brandon Pfaat (10-9, 4.66 ERA) will take the ball for Arizona. First pitch will be at 6:40 p.m.
National League Wild Card Standings:
- Padres 90-66 +3.5
- Mets 87-69 +0.5
- Diamondbacks 87-70 —
Braves 85-71 1.5
Giants News and Notes:
Jordan Hicks’ season is over, as he has been placed on the 15-Day Injured List on Friday.
Farhan Zaidi brought in Hicks and converted him into a starter. It was initially a success, but after a rough go of things, Hicks was moved back to the bullpen.
Major League Baseball News and Notes:
Longtime Charlie Blackmon announced that he would retire at the end of the season. Blackmon, a career-.292 hitter, will be hanging it up after 14 seasons, all with the Rockies.
Sports Radio Service 