Giants' Brandon Crawford celebrates his 0.00 ERA after pitching debut
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Shortly after he pitched in a major-league game for the first time in his career, San Francisco Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford was asked if this might lead to a conversation with his brother-in-law, New York Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole.
“I have a better ERA,” Crawford said matter-of-factly.
He’s not wrong.
Cole has 137 wins and 2,020 strikeouts in his career, but he can’t match Crawford’s 0.00 ERA. That will serve as a playful point of pride for Crawford, who threw a scoreless ninth inning Sunday to punctuate his team’s 13-3 win over the Cubs at Oracle Park.
The crowd of 36,842 loudly savored every moment of Crawford’s unexpected, 20-pitch outing. He wobbled early — throwing six consecutive balls while walking one batter and allowing a bloop single — before he settled down and retired Christopher Morel (fielder’s choice grounder), Ian Happ (flyball) and Trey Mancini (foul popup).
Thus did Crawford — a four-time Gold Glove winner, three-time All-Star and two-time World Series champion — achieve one of his career goals. He long ago pitched regularly at Foothill High in Pleasanton, then made three appearances on the mound at UCLA.
Before Sunday, he had appeared in 1,600 major-league games but had played exactly one defensive position. He’s a shortstop, plain and simple, but like many position players he daydreamed about stepping atop the mound in the big leagues.
Crawford, 36, good-naturedly shared his ambitions with manager Gabe Kapler the past three-plus years, without seriously lobbying. Then, in the top of the eighth Sunday, Kapler asked Crawford if he would take the ninth. He agreed, then hurriedly threw five or six warm-up pitches in the batting cage.
“I always give pitchers a hard time about it not being that hard,” Crawford said. “I think I proved today that it’s not. They probably don’t love that I have a zero ERA, because I’ll continue to give them a hard time about it.”
This wasn’t the typical position-player-on-the-mound outing, with lobbed pitches. Crawford threw the ball competitively, routinely hitting the high 80s with his fastball and once reaching 90 mph.
Giants catcher Blake Sabol said Crawford shook him off a few times, to throw a slider and sinker; Sabol told NBC Sports Bay Area, “I’m going, ‘OK, so I guess we’re mixing right now.’ I kind of embraced it after that.”
When Crawford returned to his locker after a brief postgame workout, he found the game ball and a laminated copy of the lineup card resting on his chair. Nearby, rookie Casey Schmitt — who was a standout closer at San Diego State — smiled widely when asked about his teammate’s outing.
“He was dirty,” Schmitt said. “That was super cool to see.”
Reach Ron Kroichick: rkroichick@sfchronicle.com; Twitter: @ronkroichick
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
