By Morris Phillips
Suffice it to say, the 815th win of Bruce Bochy’s career as the Giants’ manager was unlike no other.
First of all, Bochy wasn’t even present, having been hospitalized overnight soon after the Giants arrived in South Florida for their three-game set with the Marlins. While the cause of the hospitalization wasn’t disclosed, it was said to be precautionary, and Bochy is expected to rejoin the club for Tuesday’s game.
Among the other oddities: after 377 of the 480 pitches required to complete the game were thrown, Giants’ catcher Buster Posey sat in the dugout explaining to team athletic trainer Dave Groeschner how his side battle with the third base bag went decidedly to the bag, while teammate Hunter Pence sat unattended next to Posey after failing to drive in Posey with the go-ahead run in the 11th inning, and striking out for the seventh time since suffering a grotesque eye bruise in Saturday’s win in Washington.
Both players would shake it off, and continue until the game’s conclusion in the 14th inning where Brandon Crawford drove in the game-winning run with his seventh hit of the night, the first time a major-leaguer’s accomplished that feat in the last 41 years.
After five hours and 34 minutes of baseball, the Giants earned the 8-7 win allowing them to maintain sole possession of first place in the NL West for at least one more day. Ron Wotus, the team’s interim skipper in Bochy’s absence, had a humorous take on the Giants’ lengthy night at Marlins Park.
“Bochy picked a heck of a day to take off.”
Lost in the improbable conclusion was the Giants’ unlikely, two-pronged comeback after trailing 5-1 in the seventh. After scoring five times in the seventh and taking a 6-5 lead, the Giants came up with one more run in the eighth to tie, after the Marlins regained the lead in the bottom of the seventh.
After hitting .171 as a team with runners in scoring position since July 1, the Giants came up with four such hits in their comeback, capped by Crawford’s single scoring Denard Span in the eighth. The comeback allowed the Giants to avoid becoming another victim of Miami starter Jose Fernandez, among the best pitchers at home in the history of the game with a 26-2 record at Marlins Park.
Fernandez went six innings, allowing six hits and a run, but departed when his pitch count his 106. Relievers Hunter Cervenka and Nick Wittgren followed Fernandez, but retired just one of the seven batters they faced in the seventh, as the Giants mounted their comeback.
Giants’ starter Johnny Cueto lasted just five innings, allowing six hits and five runs, and failing to win for the fifth consecutive start after starting the season 13-1. But unlike the Marlins’ pen, the Giants’ relievers picked up Cueto. Of the seven relievers that followed Cueto, only Will Smith slipped, allowing the two-run Marlins’ rally in the seventh.
Eight Miami pitchers followed Fernandez, and five of them allowed a hit to Crawford, who became the first big leaguer to gather seven hits in a game since Rennie Stennett accomplished the feat on September 16, 1975. Incredibly, Stennett accumulated all seven of his hits without the benefit of extra innings. Manager Don Mattingly conceded that Crawford proved almost impossible to retire on Monday.
“We didn’t figure it out today,” Mattingly said. “He’s a tough out right now and obviously, when you’re getting seven hits, you’re feeling pretty good about yourself. So I’m sure this whole series, it’s not going to be fun trying to get him out.”
Among those observing Crawford’s feat was Ichiro Suzuki, who tripled in the Marlins’ win at Colorado on Sunday, the 3, 000 hit of his unique career. Suzuki pinch hit in the sixth inning on Monday, failing to pick up hit 3,001. As an illustration of what a tough feat Crawford accomplished, Suzuki, the unrivaled hit machine, has 50 games in his career with four hits, and seven games with five hits, but none with six or seven hits.
George Kontos pitched the 13th and 14th innings and picked up the win. Andrew Cashner, the Marlins’ trade deadline acquisition, took the loss, throwing just two pitches and allowing Crawford’s go-ahead hit. On that play, Crawford was thrown out at second trying to advance after Brandon Belt scored what would become the game-winning run. Cashner was brought in despite being the Marlins’ scheduled starter for Friday’s game against the White Sox.
Matt Moore will start for the Giants on Tuesday given the obvious mandate to pitch deep into the game with Tom Koehler the scheduled starter for the Marlins.
