SAN FRANCISCO – Bob Melvin, without knowing it at the time, manifested what was to come from the Giants in their second game of a three-game set against the Atlanta Braves on Saturday.
While speaking with reporters in the dugout at Oracle Park two hours before first pitch, Melvin discussed how the past few games have come down to the wire for the Giants, both positively and negatively.
“It feels more dramatic because all of our games seem like they end on the last pitch of the game,” Melvin said.
A couple hours later, the game ended on … wait for it … the last pitch of the game.
Matt Chapman played hero after Heliot Ramos singled in the bottom of the ninth down one run, as the Giants third baseman walked it off in the bottom of the ninth to secure the comeback 3-2 win over Atlanta.
Again.
“Look, that’s why you keep playing. You keep fighting,” Melvin said postgame. “You get a guy on and all of a sudden you get a chance. One swing can do it, so you just keep battling to the end. We’ve seen it many times. What is that, our eighth walk-off? So we’re used to these kinds of games.
“It seems like as many as we’ve had like this, we’re battle-tested all the way to the end until that last out. We have a chance. This was obviously a sign of that.”
About 17 hours prior to Chapman’s walk-off, the Giants defeated the Braves 5-4 on a wild pitch walk-off in extra innings.
Saturday was San Francisco’s eighth walk-off this season, which leads all of MLB.
The down-to-the-final-pitch games haven’t always benefited the Giants, though, as most recently as Tuesday’s extra-innings loss to the San Diego Padres, San Francisco closer Camilo Doval, needing just one out to win the game, blew a save opportunity as San Diego won in the 10th.
But the Giants were on the right side of history Saturday, even if it comes with physical and mental pain.
“Torture. It’s torture baseball here,” Giants ace Logan Webb (6 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 10 K) said postgame. “But that’s just the way we like it. We play a lot of close games, especially in this ballpark. We played great defense again today. And we’re going to try to come up with a big hit when we need to.
“ … It’s exciting. We just got to keep it going. We talked about my last [outing], asked me if this was a low point, it’s ebbs and flows. You just got to keep going.”
After Webb’s last outing Monday against the Padres, an eight-inning shutout gem that received no run support amidst an offensive slump for the Giants, Webb was asked where the vibes ranked amongst other low points in his career.
Webb quickly corrected the reporter, stating it wasn’t a low point but rather just part of what comes with a 162-game season. He also was confident the guys were going to be able to turn things around, and to a certain degree, he was right.
San Francisco dropped the next game the following night, but hasn’t lost since. Saturday’s win extended the Giants’ win streak to four.
That also coincides with a flurry of drastic roster moves made by the organization on Wednesday, which included designating first baseman LaMonte Wade Jr. for assignment, something the team isn’t shy to admit has led to a different vibe in the clubhouse.
“We get a little different flavor in here, and to this point, it’s worked,” Melvin said.
The Giants don’t want to get too ahead of themselves, and they won’t. While they’ll take any win any way they can, they understand the issue that still lies. And while a one-run win is still a win, they hope to reach a point where they can create a little more space.
“I wouldn’t love to play them [close games] every single day,” Chapman said. “It’s going to serve us because we know how to play those games, we know what it takes to come out on top when the pressure is on and you got to make a play. Everything’s heightened in those moments, so I think it’s good for us to get that experience.
“But it seems like we’ve played for three weeks straight, one-run games every single day. Everyone would prefer to probably score some more runs. But it’s nice that we’re coming out on top.”
The Giants improved to 37-28, with both San Francisco and the Padres now sitting on game back of the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers in a tightly packed National League West race.
They head into Sunday’s series finale against the Braves with a guaranteed series win before heading to Colorado to face the worst team in baseball in the Rockies.
They still have confidence the offense will reach a consistent groove, but for now, the Comeback Kids will continue to live up to their name.
“It says a lot,” Chapman said when asked what another walk-off win says about the team’s fight. “That’s kind of how we were playing at the beginning of the year when we were really rolling. It’s good that we can get back to doing it. I think it could’ve been very easy for us to roll over after losing the first two games to the Padres, being down 5-0, but we came back, rattled off a few wins in a row.
“So it just shows this team’s not going to quit. And that’s going to serve us going forward.”
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