Patrick Bailey’s big plays key Giants’ win over Pirates
PITTSBURGH — Base hits with men in scoring position weren’t exactly plentiful. Neither were a few key pitches that probably were strikes but were called balls. And the Pirates continue to give the San Francisco Giants fits.
Patrick Bailey cut through all of that with a casual single to right in the seventh to give San Francisco the lead for the third time Friday — and then stole second and careened around third to score on Luis Matos’ single to help the Giants win their first game out of the break 6-4.
Bailey, who had not recorded a steal in the big leagues, joked with first-base coach Antoan Richardson, “So you want to go first pitch?” He was astonished to hear the answer: yes. “I was like, ‘OK, here we go!’ ” Bailey said.
As so often was the case when the Giants were at their best in the first half, the youth provided a lift. The rookies in San Francisco’s lineup — Bailey, Matos and Casey Schmitt — combined for four hits, two runs, two RBIs and two steals, plus Bailey threw out a potential base stealer, his 13th in 33 tries — the third-best percentage among NL catchers with a minimum of 70 innings behind the plate.
Bailey’s arm is so good that the Giants pitchers are being even more careful with the running game, knowing if Bailey has even a slight shot he can get the runner. He’s also so good, though, that when Giants starter Ross Stripling exhausted his supply of varied times to the plate with Tucupita Marcano at first, “It was almost like, ‘Try it.’ You know?” Stripling said. “He’ll just hose them like he always does. I’m trying to do my thing as far as keeping them off balance a little bit, but at the same time, you’re like, ‘Just go. Good luck.’ So another one down.”
Giants rookies have 98 RBIs this season, the second highest number by a group of first-year players behind the Reds’ 101, and the team is 24-13 when Bailey catches. The pitching staff has a 3.30 ERA working with Bailey.
“Since he’s come up, he’s got to lead catchers in almost every category offensively and defensively,” Stripling said. “He throws everybody out, it seems like he gets big hits constantly, and then he’s just a really even-keeled presence.
“He’s wise beyond his years back there, which is a cheesy thing to say, but he really is. It just gets more and more impressive every week and you think, ‘Oh, he’ll cool off or things will come back to normal a little bit,’ but he just keeps showing what he can do.”
Stripling started two nights earlier than planned in order to get All-Star Alex Cobb an extra day of rest, and had to rush to find a facility — and a catcher — for a bullpen session in Houston on Wednesday. A place where he works out in the offseason had a mound and he found a more-than-eager high school catcher. “The kid was fired up,” Stripling said.
Giants 6, Pirates 4 San Francisco Pittsburgh ab r h bi ab r h bi Totals 37 6 10 5 Totals 31 4 8 3 Slater lf 4 1 1 0 Suwinski cf 4 0 0 0 Ystrzemski lf-rf 1 0 0 0 Reynolds lf 4 1 1 0 Flores 1b 5 1 2 0 H.Davis rf 3 1 2 0 Conforto rf 4 0 2 2 Santana 1b 3 0 0 0 Wisely pr-cf 0 0 0 0 Choi dh 3 1 1 2 J.Davis 3b 4 1 0 0 Triolo 3b 3 1 1 0 Bailey c 5 1 1 1 Marcano ss 3 0 2 1 Pederson dh 2 0 0 0 Gonzales 2b 4 0 1 0 Matos cf-lf 4 1 2 1 Hedges c 2 0 0 0 Schmitt 2b 4 0 1 0 Palacios ph 1 0 0 0 Crawford ss 4 1 1 1 Delay c 0 0 0 0 Joe ph 1 0 0 0 San Francisco 000 021 300 — 6 Pittsburgh 000 022 000 — 4 E_Marcano (3), H.Davis (1). DP_San Francisco 1, Pittsburgh 1. LOB_San Francisco 8, Pittsburgh 5. 2B_Slater (3), Schmitt (10), Flores (11). HR_Choi (4). SB_Conforto (3), Bailey (1), Matos (3). SF_Choi (1), Marcano (2). IP H R ER BB SO San Francisco Stripling 4 2-3 5 2 2 0 6 Manaea 2-3 1 2 2 2 0 Llovera W,1-0 2-3 0 0 0 1 0 Ty.Rogers H,21 2 1 0 0 0 2 Doval S,27-29 1 1 0 0 0 0 Pittsburgh Hill 6 7 3 3 2 2 Holderman L,0-2 BS,1-4 1-3 2 3 2 1 0 Borucki 1 2-3 1 0 0 0 1 De Los Santos 1 0 0 0 0 2 HBP_Borucki (Conforto). Umpires_Home, Jordan Baker; First, Brennan Miller; Second, Jansen Visconti; Third, Derek Thomas. T_2:44. A_33,813 (38,753). See More Collapse
Stripling continued to look as if he has the upper hand for the elusive fourth starter spot. He was excellent through four, with a particularly effective changeup, but he ran into trouble in the fifth. Ji Man Choi homered to open the inning, then Jared Triolo singled, as did Marcano — after taking what looked to be a strike three. Bailey appeared to say something to home-plate umpire Jordan Baker about the call.
“Obviously I wanted that pitch,” Stripling said. “I think if you go see my reaction, that’s probably about as animated as I’ll get, ever.”
Stripling then committed a balk so egregious — he started his delivery and stopped it — that two umpires called it simultaneously, allowing Triolo to score. Stripling said he got a little caught in between because Austin Hedges was in the box but hadn’t looked at him and he thought time might have been called.
That tied the score and the midgame zig-zag was on. San Francisco, which took the first lead on Michael Conforto’s two-run single in the fifth off lefty Rich Hill, went ahead again in the sixth when Matos singled, Schmitt doubled and Brandon Crawford provided an RBI groundout.
Pittsburgh clambered back with two more off Sean Manaea in the bottom of the inning to take a 4-3 lead. Manaea, who also had some wonky luck with the strike zone, gave up two hits and a walk, then Choi and Marcano provided sacrifice flies.
Tyler Rogers halted that pattern with two scoreless innings, and Camilo Doval, coming off his win in the All-Star Game, earned his major-league high 27th save.
Conforto was hit by a pitch in the ninth but manager Gabe Kapler said he didn’t need X-rays. Austin Slater came out in the sixth with a right heel bruise after a sliding attempt to grab a foul ball an inning earlier. Kapler said he doesn’t believe the injury to be major.
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
