Mauricio Dubón’s three-run blast keys win, gives Giants control of NL wild card race
SAN FRANCISCO — When the Giants opened the 2020 season, president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi and manager Gabe Kapler were determined to give a group of inexperienced and young outfielders an opportunity to prove they could contribute to winning clubs of the future.
With a three-run, go-ahead home run in the bottom of the fifth that led the Giants to a 7-2 win over the Colorado Rockies, rookie center fielder Mauricio Dubón is playing a significant role on a team that’s not waiting around to contend for a playoff berth.
“It’s pretty special,” Dubón said after calling the home run the highlight of his career. “I knew it was gone right away, but my dad told me look like you’ve been there before, so that’s what I’ll try to do next time.”
The Giants’ second straight victory moved them from outside of the playoff picture to the top wild card spot in the National League as they finished the day with a nearly identical winning percentage to the 29-28 Cincinnati Reds. At 28-27, the Giants’ .5090 winning percentage technically gives them the slimmest of advantages over a Reds team that owns a .5087 winning percentage in a race that could come down to the final day of the regular season.
The only calculations taking place in the Giants dugout on Wednesday were coaches counting the number of outs the team’s pitching staff needed to get to secure the win after Dubón blasted a pitch into the left center field bleachers.
The Honduras native and Capital Christian High (Sacramento) product has taken an open center field job and run with it this season and delivered the most important hit of his season in the bottom of the fifth inning against Rockies reliever Yency Almonte. His third home run of the year came with two outs in an inning in which one of his mentors, Brandon Crawford, capped off an eight-pitch at-bat with a game-tying sacrifice fly.
The Giants added two insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth, including one on a Brandon Belt single that marked his fifth time reaching base on Wednesday and also gave the veteran first baseman 500 career RBIs.
The four-run fifth also allowed rookie Logan Webb to collect his third win of the season as the right-hander tossed 5 1/3 innings of two-run ball against Colorado. Webb has been a fixture in the Giants’ rotation throughout the season, but he didn’t actually start Wednesday’s game at Oracle Park.
“The most compelling advantage is avoiding the difficulty of the first three or four hitters in their lineup as the starting point for Logan,” manager Gabe Kapler explained.
Following a series of inconsistent outings in which Webb battled command issues, Kapler sent rookie left-hander Caleb Baragar to the mound in the top of the first to face the Rockies. Baragar became the first relief pitcher to open a game for San Francisco this season and answered the call by throwing a scoreless, 10-pitch first inning.
“I’m just having a lot of fun,” Baragar said. “The game is so much more fun here than it is in the minor leagues. Everybody is playing hard, everybody is trying to win every single game, nobody is selfish and being on a team with that kind of camaraderie has been an unbelievable experience.”
Kapler left Baragar in the game to face left-handed cleanup hitter Charlie Blackmon in the second, but Blackmon doubled off the right field wall and the Giants immediately tabbed Webb to take over. Webb hadn’t pitched at least five innings while allowing two runs or fewer since an August 21 start against the Diamondbacks, but he responded with a strong performance against a free-swinging Rockies lineup that only struck out once against the Rocklin, Calif. native.
“I think (pitching coach) Andrew Bailey is front and center here,” Kapler said. “He spends a ton of time with Logan Webb working on his mechanics, working with him in the bullpen and really honing in on his mindset. Andrew is just relentless in his pursuit of putting players in position to have success.”
The Rockies held an early advantage for the third straight game after scoring in the third inning against Webb, but Giants third baseman Evan Longoria tied the game with a solo shot out to center field off rookie starter Ryan Castellani in the bottom of the fourth.
Designated hitter Austin Slater nearly gave the Giants a 2-1 lead in the same frame, but Rockies shortstop Trevor Story made one of the best defensive plays that’s taken place at Oracle Park this season to rob Slater of a RBI single. With Steven Duggar at second base, Slater lined a one-hopper into the hole between third and short that forced Story to move to his right, corral the ball and then fire a perfect strike across the diamond with his momentum taking him the other way.
The game didn’t stay tied for long as the Rockies benefitted from a defensive lapse from left fielder Alex Dickerson, who misjudged a Raimel Tapia line drive that led to a go-ahead RBI double. Tapia hit a ball directly at Dickerson, but the Giants’ left fielder appeared to move in instead of working backward, leaving him unable to catch the ball as it carried over his head.
Dickerson’s teammates immediately picked him up in the bottom of the fifth on a night where the Giants received outstanding contributions from several rookies. Dubón’s home run was the offensive highlight, but Baragar, Webb and reliever Tyler Rogers recorded the first 21 outs against the Rockies to key a much-needed victory. Rookie catcher Joey Bart caught all three pitchers, caught Story stealing second to end the third inning and then tripled and scored a valuable insurance run in the bottom of the eighth.
With veteran Kevin Gausman set to start Thursday’s series finale, the Giants have a chance to secure a series win and pad their win total before closing the season with four games in three days against the second-place San Diego Padres.
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