SF Giants beat LA Dodgers following unhinged 11th-inning play
Better to be lucky than good, as they say. After their unhinged 11-inning rivalry win against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night, the San Francisco Giants would have to agree.
With San Francisco holding a 7-5 lead in the top of the 11th, Dodgers star Mookie Betts came up to bat with a ghost runner on second and one out. Betts popped up, and Giants third baseman Casey Schmitt came in to field it. But the ball bounced off Schmitt’s glove for an embarrassing misplay.
It was only the beginning of the insanity.
Giants pitcher Jakob Junis grabbed the dropped ball and threw to first in a last-ditch effort to force Betts out. The throw had absolutely zero chance of beating Betts to the bag. But to make matters worse, Junis’ throw wasn’t close to catchable, and the ball sailed into right field.
Thankfully for San Francisco, the miscues weren’t over.
Michael Busch, the Dodgers runner on second, rounded third but did not head home when the ball bounced into the outfield, catching everyone, including teammate Betts by surprise. Betts sprinted halfway between second and third before having to freeze with Busch ahead of him.
The Giants quickly threw to second, catching Betts in a rundown. With no other option, Busch tried to score but was easily thrown out at home.
Officially, the play was recorded as a fielder’s choice, the classic E5-E1-9-6-3-2-1.
“That’s one of the craziest plays in the history of the game,” said Giants broadcaster Dave Flemming immediately after the sequence.
Radio announcer Jon Miller called it “a Greek tragedy” on the KNBR broadcast.
“One of the stranger ones I’ve been a part of,” Giants manager Gabe Kapler said. “I don’t really have any — I don’t know what to say about it, it was just so weird.
As elated as the Giants were to escape with the win, Dodgers players, especially those involved in the snafu, were despondent.
“I just thought wrong. I saw the play wrong, and I was wrong. I did it, and I did it wrong,” Betts said.
The extra-inning mayhem followed what had already been a chaotic day.
Before the game even started, the Dodgers welcomed the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence to take part in their Pride Month festivities. The Sisters’ presence followed controversy that included the Dodgers inviting, then uninviting, then reinviting the group; Los Angeles ace Clayton Kershaw voicing his displeasure and advocating for a Christian Faith and Family Day; Marco Rubio getting in on the action; and religious protests outside Dodger Stadium during the Pride Night celebration.
Meg Oliphant/Getty Images
That was all before the first pitch.
Once underway, the topsy-turvy game included — among other things — Emmet Sheehan throwing six no-hit innings in his major league debut (before getting pulled by Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who has never seen a historic pitching performance he didn’t want to ruin); the Giants crawling back from being down 4-0 to take the lead in the top of the eighth; and the Dodgers dramatically tying the game in the bottom of the ninth, setting the stage for the wild 11th inning.
“I think that was probably one of the craziest games I’ve been a part of with this rivalry,” Giants veteran Brandon Crawford said, quite the statement considering Crawford has played in more than 160 Giants-Dodgers games.
Following Friday night’s conclusion, the Giants find themselves just 1.5 games behind the Dodgers, with a chance to overtake them by the end of the weekend.
Source: SFGATE
