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Panik Gives Giants Fresh Start With Walk-Off Hit

Published

11 years ago

May 2, 2015

San Francisco, CA – The first month of the season can often be a struggle for many teams. The Giants however, surpassed that theory by opening up the month of April as one of their worst starts in almost twenty years. But that’s now behind them, pinch-hitter Joe Panik delivered his second walk-off hit this season. San Francisco’s 3-2 victory over the Angels was the fresh start they needed to begin their ten-game homestead.

“He’s a great weapon to have off the bench,” said Giants manager Bruce Bochy. “With Joe, it’s a simple swing, short, and he smoked it. It’s a good thing he ended the game because I used all my set-up guys trying to end it.”

Heading into the bottom of the ninth the score was tied 2-2. Buster Posey led off the frame with a infield single. Pinch-runner Gregor Blanco advanced to second on Justin Maxwell’s sacrifice bunt. Angels reliever Joe Smith’s wild pitch moved Blanco to third and walked Andrew Susac. He struck out Brandon Belt but intentionally issued a free pass to Brandon Crawford.

That set up Panik’s single to center field giving San Francisco their third walk-off win of the season. The last time the Giants had walk-off wins over three straight home games was August 19 – Aug 21, 2003. Panik recorded his first career walk-off hit and second career walk-off RBI. Giants starter Chris Heston got off to a good start in the first retiring the first two batters he faced.

But Mike Trout knocked a double to center field. Kole Calhoun followed with a free pass from Heston before David Freese grounded into a force out to end the inning without any damage. Heston faced another hiccup in the third when Crawford’s error allowed a runner on base. But shortly after he returned to form retiring the next twelve batters he faced.

“He’s been really clutch for us,” Bochy said. “You lose [Matt] Cain, you lose [Jake] Peavy, you hope someone steps up, and he’s done more than that. I thought he threw the ball great tonight. It’s a shame he couldn’t come away with the win tonight, but he did his job.”

By the seventh things began to unravel for San Francisco. Kole Calhoun led off the inning with a single and Freese followed by grounding to third baseman Casey McGehee who mishandled the ball. Crawford recovered but was to late in tagging Calhoun at second. After the play was challenged, the umpires ruled it a fielder’s choice and Calhoun was out at second. Cron singled on the next play, putting two runners on.

Matt Joyce tied the game 1-1 with a single up the middle that knocked Heston out of the game. Jean Machi replaced Heston, striking out the next batter and forcing C.J. Wilson to fly out to center field leaving two stranded to end the inning. He tossing seven innings, gave up five hits, one run and struck out six.

The Giants clapped back in the seventh when Angel Pagan singled to led off bottom of the seventh. He advanced to second on a pass ball and Andrew Susac drove him in with a single to center field to make it a 2-1 game. The Angels tied the game again in the eighth. Reliever Sergio Romo gave up to back-to-back singles, the first resulting in a error at second. He struck out Trout and was replaced by Jeremy Affeldt who hit the next batter.

Affeldt was replaced by Santiago Casilla who gave up a sacrifice fly to Freese who tied the game 2-2. A pass ball moved Johnny Giavotella to third and Freese stole second. But C.J. Cron popped out to first to end the threat. Wilson takes full blame for this loss. His last visit to AT&T park was back in 2010 when he pitched for the Texas Rangers in game two of the World Series. Wilson yielded two runs (one earned), four hits over seven frames.

“I could’ve won the game for us, and I’m frustrated about that,” Wilson said. “Even thought I’m just a pitcher in the American League, I feel like I’m coming up there with a competitive at-bat, and I got a good pitch to hit and it just popped up.”

Nori Aoki sparked the offense in the first when he led off with a double. He advanced to second on Matt Duffy’s ground out to first baseman C.J. Cron. Pagan’s sacrifice fly drove in Aoki making it a 1-0 game. In his fourth quality start, Heston gave the San Francisco a chance to win. Pagan went 2-for-3 with a run scored and RBI. His 10 multi-hit game this season leads the club.

“We didn’t have a great month in April,” Bochy said. “So we’d like to turn things around here in May, play winning baseball, and it starts with this homestand.”

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Black Artists in America, Installation Three Wraps at the Dixon Gallery and Gardens

TRI-STATE DEFENDER — With 50+ paintings, sculptures and assemblages, the exhibit features artists like Varnette Honeywood from Los Angeles, whose pieces appeared in Bill Coby’s private collection (before they were auctioned off) and on “The Cosby Show.” Also included are works by Alonzo Davis, another Los Angeles artist who opened one of the first galleries there where Black Artists could exhibit.

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March 24, 2026

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By Candace A. Gray | Tri-State Defender

The tulips gleefully greet those who enter the gates at the Dixon Gallery & Gardens on an almost spring day. More than 650,000 bulbs of various hues are currently on display. And they are truly breathtaking.

Inside the gallery, and equally as breathtaking, is the “Black Artists in America, From the Bicentennial to September 11” exhibit, which runs through Sunday, March 29. This is the third installment of a three-part series that started years ago and illustrates part of the Black experience through visual arts in the 20th century.

“This story picks up where part two left off,’’ said Kevin Sharp, the Linda W. and S. Herbert Rhea director for the Dixon. “This era is when we really start to see the emergence of these important Black artists’ agency and freedom shine through. They start to say and express what they want to, and it was a really beautiful time.”

With 50+ paintings, sculptures and assemblages, the exhibit features artists like Varnette Honeywood from Los Angeles, whose pieces appeared in Bill Coby’s private collection (before they were auctioned off) and on “The Cosby Show.” Also included are works by Alonzo Davis, another Los Angeles artist who opened one of the first galleries there where Black Artists could exhibit.

“Though [Davis] was from LA, he actually lived in Memphis for a decade,” said Sharp. “He was a dean at Memphis College of Art, and later opened the first gallery in New York owned and operated by black curators.”

Another featured artist is former NFL player, Ernie Barnes. His work is distinctive. Where have you seen one of his most popular paintings, Sugar Shack? On the end scene and credits of the hit show “Good Times.” His piece Saturday Night, Durham, North Carolina, 1974 is in this collection.

Memphis native James Little’s “The War Baby: The Triptych” is among more than 50 works featured in “Black Artists in America, From the Bicentennial to September 11” at the Dixon Gallery & Gardens, the final installment of a three-part series highlighting the impact and evolution of Black artists through 2011.

The exhibit features other artists with Memphis ties, including abstract painter James Little, who was raised in a segregated Memphis and attended Memphis Academy of Art (before it was Memphis College of Art). He later moved to New York, became a teacher and an internationally acclaimed fixture in the art world in 2022 when he was named a Whitney Biennial selected artist at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.

Other artists like Romare Bearden, who had a Southern experience but lived up North, were featured in all three installments.

“During this period of time, he was a major figure,” said Sharp. “He wrote one of the first books on the history of African American art during a time when there were more Black academics, art teachers, more Black everything!”

Speaking of Black educators, Sharp said the head curator behind this tri-part series and Dixon’s partner in the arts is Earnestine Jenkins, Ph.D., an art history professor at the University of Memphis, who also earned a Master of Arts degree from Memphis State University (now UofM). “We began working with Dr. Jenkins in 2018,” he said.

Sharp explained that it takes a team of curators, registrars, counterparts at other museums, and more, about three years to assemble an exhibit like this. It came together quite seamlessly, he added. Each room conjured up more jaw-dropping “wows” than the one before it. Each piece worked with the others to tell the story of Black people and their collective experience during this time period.

One of the last artists about whom Sharp shared information was Bettye Saar, who will turn 100 years old this year. She’s been working in Los Angeles for 80 years and is finally getting her due. Her medium is collages or assemblages, and an incredible work of hers is on display. She’s married to an artist and has two daughters, also artists.

The exhibit catalogue bears some of these artists’ stories, among other scholarly information.

The exhibit, presented by the Joe Orgill Family Fund for Exhibitions, is culturally and colorfully rich. It is a must see and admission to the Dixon is free.

Visit https://www.dixon.org/ to learn more.

Fun Facts: An original James Little design lives in the flooring of the basketball court at Tom Lee Park, and he makes and mixes his own paint colors.