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Another walk-off win for the Giants
By: Malaika Bobino
San Francisco, CA – It’s becoming contagious! The second consecutive night the Giants have defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers with a walk-off win. This time it came in extra innings when Guillermo Quiroz hit a home run for the 10-9 victory.
Pinch-hitter Quiroz had not played since April 24 and never had a walk-off hit in the majors. In the tenth inning with the game tied 9-9, Guillermo blasted a a solo shot to the left field stands while raising his right fist leaving the batter’s box.
“It felt great,” Quiroz said. “I hit it pretty good. He hung a split-finger fastball. The one before was pretty nasty, it just ran down. I knew [Brandon] League pretty well. I kind of knew what pitch he was trying to get me out with.”
The game started off great for San Francisco, they took a 6-1 lead through the fourth due to poor pitching from Matt Magill. In his second major League start, he lasted only 1 1/3 innings before surrendering six hits, five runs (all earned), four walks and two strikeouts. In the first frame Magill gave up three runs, and three walks on a 43-pitch start.
The Giants scored two more runs in the second after Matt threw a wild pitch scoring Marco Scutaro. Pablo Sandoval’s sacrifice fly gave San Francisco a 5-0 lead and ended Magill’s night on the mound. The lack of defense from Los Angeles put the Giants in a good position but that changed quickly.
“It tells me a lot about my club,” said Dodgers manager Don Mattingly. “I feel as good as you can feel about a loss. We’ve got guys banged up, no different than some other teams. We’re moving toward getting some people back. While I say that, I still see a club with plenty of weapons. We’ve still got fire power to score.”
A.J. Ellis homered in the fourth and Matt Kemp started the rally with a 2-run RBI single in the fifth cutting the Giants lead in half. Two back-to-back singles from Skip Schumaker and Juan Uribe put a halt to Ryan Vogelsong’s night as he fell one shy of qualifying for a win in a game he led by five runs.
“It’s a battle,” Vogelsong said. “Every pitch is like I’m battling myself.”
“I wanted to keep him in, but I was concerned. He was hitting his spots, then he lost it,” said Giants manager Bruce Bochy.
Dee Gordon’s two-run triple and Nick Punto’s RBI single gave Los Angeles a 8-6 lead. The Dodgers scored a total of seven runs and Ryan raised his ERA from 6.23 to 7.20. He tossed 4 2/3 innings allowing nine hits, seven runs, two walks and four strikeouts.
San Francisco battled back as they have done many times this season. Andres Torres hit a solo shot to center field, he was 0-for-14 until that home run. A wild pitch from pitcher Javy Guerra allowed the Giants to tie the game at 8-8 in the sixth. Gordon put Los Angeles back on top in the seventh but Pablo’s sacrifice fly tied the game again at 9-9.
With an opportunity to close out the game, San Francisco almost had a chance to win in the bottom of the ninth. Closer League loaded the bases with one out as Buster Posey was up to bat. He was the walk-off hero in last night’s game but, hit into a double play that sent the game into extra innings. In the tenth, the new hero was Guillermo who hit the game winning home run off his former teammate.
“Was it a split? No. Was he seeing the split? Yeah,” Brandon said. “Obviously, I want that pitch back, But I didn’t make him look too good on the 0-1 split, so of course I tried to throw it again. I hung one out of 12 that I threw. He got me.”
