San Francisco Giants Matt Chapman runs the bases after hitting a two run home run in the bottom of the tenth inning at Oracle Park in San Francisco Sat Jun 7, 2025 (AP News photo)

Saturday, June 7, 2025

Oracle Park

San Francisco, California

Atlanta Braves 2 (27-36)

San Francisco Giants 3 (37-28)

Win: Tyler Rogers (3-2)

Loss: Pierce Johnson (1-3)

Time: 2:05

Attendance: 35,162

By Stephen Ruderman

The Giants pulled off their fourth win in a row in what was a pitcher’s duel, as they were down to their final out, and Matt Chapman hit a walk-off home run to left field to cap off an epic Giants’ 3-2 win over the Braves Saturday.

After Buster Posey shook things up on Wednesday, the Giants have been undefeated. They blew a lead last night, but they were able to win it on a walk-off wild pitch for their seventh walk-off win of the season.

Saturday, on Pride Day, and another gorgeous day for baseball at Oracle Park. San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie was on hand for pregame ceremonies, as were LGBTQ leaders, including State Senator Scott Weiner.

Iowayna Pena, Director of Government Affairs and Real Estate Development for the Giants, and a prominent leader in the LGBTQ Community, threw out the first pitch with the new Pride Ball. What is the Pride Ball you ask? It is a baseball with rainbow stitching. The Seattle Mariners first came up with the idea this year. To my knowledge, it was not used in Saturday’s game, but it would be pretty cool if they start using it for Pride Day next year.

Logan Webb took the ball. Let’s be honest here: Logan Webb is Matt Cain with a sinker. Webb looks like Cain; has the same build as Cain; and has the same mechanics as Cain. Most importantly and unfortunately, Logan Webb suffers the same level of being screwed by his offense as the great Matt Cain.

Saturday would be the same for the Giants’ ace. Webb started off strong, as he retired the first six men he faced. Webb ran into trouble but escaped a jam in the top of the third, and then he threw another 1-2-3 inning in the top of the fourth.

Braves’ starter Bryce Elder started off almost just as strong. He threw a one, two, three inning in the bottom of the first, followed by a pair of scoreless innings in the second and third.

The Giants struck first in the bottom of the fourth, as Wilmer Flores led off the bottom of the fourth with a home run to left field off a hanging slider by Elder. Elder retired the next three, but Braves Manager Brian Snitker decided to get thrown out of the game by Home Plate Umpire Gabe Morales afterwards.

Good chance Snitker got tossed to motivate his struggling team that has not had the kind of season they expected, and who has lost some tough games as of late. It appeared to work, as Michael Harris led off the top of the fifth with a home run to right-center to tie it. Webb retired the next three, and Elder threw a one, two, three inning in the bottom of the fifth.

The Braves then staged a rally off Webb in the top of the sixth, as they loaded the bases with nobody out on three-straight singles. Matt Olson popped up into an infield fly, and then Marcel Ozuna grounded into a fielder’s choice to put the Braves ahead.

Webb struck out Harris to end the top of the sixth and his day, as his pitch count got to him. Webb was just great over six innings, as he struck out ten, and didn’t walk a single guy.

The only problem? You guessed it: Webb couldn’t get any support. Elder one-upped Webb with 12 strikeouts over eight dominant innings. Elder, too, didn’t walk anybody, and on top of that, he only gave up three hits.

That’s why the Giants must have been ecstatic to see former Giant Pierce Johnson in the bottom of the ninth. Well, that, and the fact that it was a wild pitch by Johnson that won the game for the Giants last night.

Pierce Johnson struck out Daniel Johnson to start the bottom of the ninth, and then Heliot Ramos grounded a base-hit to left-center. Wilmer then popped up, and the Giants were down to their last out.

Matt Chapman came up to the plate as the Giants’ last hope on this beautiful afternoon. The count was 1-1 when Johnson threw Chapman a semi-hanging curveball in the bottom half of the zone. Chapman turned on it, and hit a two-run home run to left to win it for the Giants.

It was the eighth walk-off win for the Giants this season, and their second walk-off home run. Believe it or not, the Giants had nine walk-off wins at this point of the season in 2011.

Tyler Rogers, who pitched a scoreless inning in the top of the ninth, got the win, and Pierce Johnson took the loss for the second day in a row.

The Giants improve to 36-27, and they will go for the sweep Sunday with Landen Roupp (3-4, 3.18 ERA) on the hill. Spencer Strider (0-4, 5.68 ERA) will take the ball for Atlanta.

First pitch will be at 1:05 p.m.