San Francisco Giants Tyler Fitzgerald scores from first base as St Louis Cardinals catcher Pedro Pages waits for the throw in the bottom of the eighth inning at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Sat Sep 28, 2024 (AP News photo)

Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024

Oracle Park

San Francisco, California

St. Louis Cardinals 5 (82-79)

San Francisco Giants 6 (80-81)

Win: Ryan Walker (10-4)

Loss: Matthew Liberatore (3-4)

Save: Spencer Bivens (1)

Time: 2:51

Attendance: 36,328

By Stephen Ruderman

The Giants fought through a seesaw battle, and eventually got lucky to take the lead on almost the exact same error that won them Game 3 of 2014 NLCS, as they beat the Cardinals 6-5 to win their 80th game Saturday.

With the Cardinals’ 6-3 win in the series opener Friday night, the Giants have failed to finish over .500 for the seventh time in the last eight years. However, they still had a chance to finish at .500 for the second time in the last three years if they could win their final two games.

Blake Snell was originally set to go Saturday, and he said he would have gone had the Giants been playing a team in playoff contention, but Tristan Beck took the ball instead. The reason Snell was scratched Saturday is unknown, and this writer can only speculate, but considering that Scott Boras is his agent, that could explain a lot of things.

The Cardinals got on the board in the top of the first inning off Beck. With runners at second and third and nobody out, longtime Giant killer Paul Goldschmidt knocked in Masyn Winn with a sacrifice fly to left field.

Andrew Pallante took the ball for the Cards, and the Giants’ offense woke back up and was ready to go. Mark Canha doubled to center, and he got to third on an infield hit by Heliot Ramos. LaMonte Wade then lined a base-hit the other way to left, and Canha scored to tie the game. Jerar Encarnacion followed that up with an infield hit, and Ramos scored to give the Giants the lead.

Beck settled down after his rough tough of the first, and he ended up going four innings.

The Giants scored two more runs off Pallante in the bottom of the fourth to extend their lead to 4-1. With one out, Patrick Bailey singled in 2024 Willie Mac Award winner Matt Chapman, who had doubled to lead off the inning. Bailey then stole second, and he scored on a double by Casey Schmitt.

The Cardinals got their second run of the day in the top of the fifth against Sean Hjelle. It could have been more, as the Cards had runners at the corners with one out, but Hjelle was able to retire the final two to limit the damage to just one run.

Pallante ended his day with a one, two, three bottom of the fifth, and Camilo Doval pitched a scoreless inning in the top of the sixth. Matt Chapman led off the bottom of the sixth with a double off Chris Roycroft, and he scored two batters later on a sac fly by Patrick Bailey to make it 5-2.

Left-handed flamethrower Erik Miller has had a solid rookie season for the Giants. Miller made his major league debut all the way back on Opening Day on March 28 in San Diego with a one, two, three inning, and has been a reliable arm in the Giants’ bullpen all season.

However, Miller was unable to record a single out in the top of the seventh. Miller faced four batters, and the Cardinals had two runs in with the tying run standing at second.

Tyler Rogers then came in, and the Cardinals tied the game on a base-hit by Jordan Walker. The Cardinals loaded the bases with one out, but Rogers being the gamer that he is, retired the next two to keep the game tied.

Kyle Leahy, who finished the bottom of the sixth for Roycroft, threw a one, two, three inning in the bottom of the seventh. Bob Melvin then brought in his closer, Ryan Walker, for the top of the eighth. Walker ran into trouble, but he got out of it and kept the game tied going to the bottom of the eighth.

Left-hander Matthew Liberatore was then summoned for St. Louis in the bottom of the eighth. Liberatore set down the first two hitters he faced, but Tyler Fitzgerald reached on a ground ball back to the mound.

Brett Wisely then came up, and Melvin put on the bunt, which would set almost an exact replica of the end to Game 3 of the 2014 NLCS in motion. The Giants won that game when Gregor Blanco laid down a bunt in between the mound and home plate, a little bit on the third base side, that Cardinals’ left-hander Randy Choate winged down the right field line.

Wisely bunted the ball to almost the exact same place, though a bit closer to home plate, and like Choate, Liberatore threw it down the right field line. Fitzgerald scored all the way from first, and the Giants retook the lead. The only difference on the throws was that Choate’s throw was to the left of the first-baseman, and Liberatore’s throw was to the right of the first-baseman.

If you’re wondering why Melvin brought in Walker for the eighth, it was so that Spencer Bivens, who has had a solid rookie season following a long journey to the big leagues, could get his first major league save. Thomas Saggese lined a base-hit to center to lead off the top of the ninth, but Bivens settled down to retire the side in order, and indeed he got his first big league save.

Ryan Walker got the win in this bullpen version of musical chairs; Matthew Liberatore got the loss; and as you just saw, Spencer Bivens got his first-career major league save.

The Giants indeed got their 80th win, as they improve to 80-81. In 2022, the Giants finished right at .500 for the first time in their 140th year of existence. With a win Sunday, the Giants can finish at .500 for the second time in the last three years.

It’s kinda like how the Giants won the World Series for the first time in 56 years in 2010, and won it all again two years later in 2012, though nowhere near as cool or special. This would be more meh, but still interesting.

Hayden Birdsong (5-5, 4.66 ERA) will look to finish his up-and-down rookie season on a high note, as he will take the ball for the Giants in the season finale Sunday. Rookie Michael McGreevy (2-0, 2.40 ERA) will make the start for the Cardinals.

As has been the custom since 2015, every game in Baseball on the final day of the regular season starts at the same time, though anywhere between five and 20 minutes past the top of the hour. First pitch for the Giants and Red Birds Sunday will be at 12:05 p.m PDT.