The San Francisco Giants are within a half-game of the National League’s third wild-card playoff spot after defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-1, on Patrick Bailey’s walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the 10th inning on Friday night.
Reliever Tanner Scott took over for Blake Treinen after getting Matt Chapman to ground out to lead off the frame. With automatic runner Christian Koss already on, Scott walked Jung Hoo Lee after a seven-pitch battle, then intentionally walked Casey Schmidt to load the bases.
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Pitching to Bailey, Scott followed up a slider in the dirt with a 97-mph fastball high out of the strike zone but right in the Giants catcher’s comfort zone. Bailey knew he hit the pitch out of the park as soon as he connected, triumphantly flipping his bat to the ground.
The Giants’ victory ended the Dodgers’ four-game winning streak. That allowed Los Angeles to build its first-place lead over the San Diego Padres in the NL West back up to three games, which is now chipped down to 2.5 games.
However, the win was more impactful for San Francisco. Coupled with the New York Mets’ 8-3 loss to the Texas Rangers, the Giants are on the verge of seizing one of the NL’s postseason spots. The Mets have lost seven consecutive games and eight of their past nine.
“That was a special game,” Giants starter Justin Verlander said, via MLB.com, after allowing just one run in seven innings.
“That was one of the more fun games in a regular season I’ve been a part of. Obviously, we know where we’re at, playing the Dodgers at home,” he added. “It was one of those games that had a bit of a playoff atmosphere to it from the beginning, and one of those games that you just never know who’s going to step up and make a great play and take a great at-bat.”
For Bailey, it was his second walk-off home run of the season. His first one was more tiring, however, coming on an inside-the-park homer versus the Philadelphia Phillies on July 9. With Friday’s big blast, he became the first player in MLB history to register an inside-the-park walk-off home run and a walk-off grand slam in the same season.
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(Roberto Clemente had a walk-off, inside-the-park grand slam in 1956, according to MLB.com’s Sarah Langs, but didn’t achieve both feats in separate games as Bailey did.)
The Dodgers’ loss squandered an excellent start from Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who allowed one run and one hit over seven innings with 10 strikeouts. After allowing a run in the first inning on a walk to Rafael Devers and double from Willy Adames, the right-hander retired 20 consecutive batters.
Yamamoto has been victimized by particularly bad luck in his past two starts, losing to the Baltimore Orioles last Saturday after being one out away from throwing a no-hitter. In his past three starts, he has allowed only three total runs and six hits in 22 2/3 innings.