San Francisco Giants’ Patrick Bailey, middle right, celebrates with teammates after hitting three-run inside the park home run during the ninth inning of a baseball game to defeat the Philadelphia Phillies in San Francisco, Tuesday, July 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
By Lincoln Juarez
SAN FRANCISCO – Patrick Bailey played hero with his walk-off inside-the-park home run as the Giants took an exhilarating game two from Philadelphia.
Tuesday night the Giants took the field for game two against the Phillies behind their newly-named All-Star starter Robbie Ray. Ray, who got selected to participate in his second career All-Star game on Sunday, is also coming off of one of the best starts of his career last Thursday night. He tossed a complete game for just the second time in his 11 year career, only allowing two runs on three hits and a walk.
Ray got off to another beaming start, setting the Phillies down in order on just eight pitches.
The Giants offense couldn’t match the start of their All-Star southpaw in a scoreless first inning at the plate.
Ray continued his stellar start in the top of the second, carving three K’s into the Phillies lineup (Castellanos, Kemp, Sosa) to keep the game scoreless.
Phillies starter Taijuan Walker, who has worked a lot out of the bullpen this year, went into game two of the series at 3-5 with a 3.64 ERA. Facing a Giants lineup who does particularly well against right-handed starters (40-27), Walker had a tough time keeping them off the scoresheet in the home second.
Yastrzemski walked to lead off the inning and two batters later Jung Hoo Lee executed a hit-and-run to perfection, placing runners on the corners and one out. On the first pitch he saw, Dom Smith sent a check-swing base-hit down the third base line, out of the reach of Alec Bohm.
The Giants led 1-0 after two full.
Philadelphia followed with pressure in the third on a walk issued to nine-hitter Johan Rojas and a 10 pitch at-bat to Trea Turner which resulted in a single to left. Rojas and Turner put Patrick Bailey’s 1.89 pop time to the test and succeeded on the double-steal. With two runners in scoring position, Ray struck out lefty Kyle Schwarber and got Bryce Harper to ground out to Adames at short and kept the Phillies off the board.
Taijuan Walker seemed to settle in by setting the Giants down in order in an eight pitch third inning.
Both starters made quick work of opposing lineups in the fourth. Robbie Ray threw 11 pitches in the fifth to retire the side in order as the Phillies had just two hits after five innings.
Four innings would be all Taijuan Walker saw, going four for the first time since May 30 against Milwaukee. Left-hander Tanner Banks replaced Walker in the fifth against a Giants offense that looked for more than their two hits, one run to that point.
Two more hits were all they would get.
The Phillies bell rang in the sixth as the offense came alive and chased Robbie Ray out of the ballgame. Two free bases (HBP, BB) and two hits allowed Alec Bohm to come around and score the game’s tying run.
Ray departed with two out in the sixth after another quality outing.
Bob Melvin handed the ball to right-hander Spencer Bivens who completed the inning without further damage.
In the seventh, the Phillies tried to build on their emerging offense. Hot off the bench, pinch-hitter Brandon Marsh dropped a single just inside the left-field line and advanced to second base after a bobble by Heliot Ramos.
Two batters later, Kyle Schwarber sent one swimming, 402 ft into McCovey Cove. Philadelphia took a 3-1 lead on Schwarber’s 28th home run of the year.
Into the home eighth, it was still a 3-1 Philadelphia lead. Righty Daniel Robert was the new pitcher who got welcomed to the game with a Heliot Ramos single and Rafael Devers walk that ignited the Oracle Park crowd. It was up to Willy Adames to keep the momentum swinging the Giants’ direction but failed to take advantage of a shaky Robert outing. He struck out swinging on a slider that would’ve been ball four.
Manager Rob Thomson took to the mound to make a change and bring his closer, Jordan Romano in to face Matt Chapman. The righty-righty matchup resulted in a pop-out to second-baseman Edmundo Sosa.
Yastrzemski, the next hitter, put the fans back in their seats with a fly-out to center, ending the Giants threat in the eighth.
After signing a minor league contract with the Giants on June 10, left-hander Scott Alexander made his season debut with the club. He spent the beginning of the year with Colorado going 1-1 with a 6.06 ERA in 19 relief appearances. The Giants expect him to bring some veteran experience to the bullpen in his second stint with the team (2022-23).
Following a two-out double by Schwarber and a walk to Bryce Harper, he was dismissed from his outing by manager Bob Melvin, to play the match-up game with righty Ryan Walker set to face righty Alec Bohm.
One pitch later, Bohm was retired on a 3-1 put-out.
Casey Schmitt started the home ninth with a rocket double down the left-field line. Two batters later Wilmer Flores singled to center. Matt Williams held Schmitt at third base with the winning run due up in Patrick Bailey with one out.
On the first pitch he saw, Bailey launched one off the bricks in right-center field. Inches away from a normal walk-off home run, the ball ricocheted along the warning track all the way to dead center field. Center fielder Brandon Marsh had to chase it down and Bailey was on the move. Right behind Schmitt and pinch-runner Brett Wisely, Bailey crossed the plate on the walk-off inside-the-park home run.
Electrifying the Oracle Park crowd the Giants celebrated the first inside-the-park walk-off home run in MLB since CLE’s Tyler Naquin in 2016 vs. Toronto, and the second by a Giant since the start of 1932, with the other being Angel Pagan’s vs. Colorado back in 2013.
When asked about the team’s ability to produce late and never feel out of a game, Bailey described it with the oh-so familiar slogan from the Giants last winning season in 2021 (107-55, NL West champions), “resilient”.
Resiliency is exactly what the Giants have shown in this recent stretch. Winners of six of their last seven and now just five games behind the Dodgers, who lost their fifth in a row Tuesday night in Milwaukee, the men in orange and black have given this fanbase a lot of hope heading into the final half of the season.
The upcoming weekend series against the Dodgers gets more intriguing by the day, but the Giants aim to take care of business with the potential to sweep the NL East leading Phillies with Justin Verlander on the mound still looking for his first win in 2025.
Win or lose Wednesday afternoon, Tuesday night’s win will keep the energy high for days to come.
Game three, Luzardo (7-5) vs. Verlander (0-6) Wednesday at Oracle Park, first pitch 12:45.
