Giants’ Rally Against Nationals Capped Off By Sandoval’s Walk-Off Homer
May 21, 2013; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval (48) watches the ball as he hits a walk off home run off of Yunesky Maya (31, not pictured) during the tenth inning at AT
In a recent turn of events, the San Francisco Giants that went 1-5 on their latest road trip to Toronto and Colorado, look like the San Francisco Giants that went 7-3 on their last homestand.
After Ryan Vogelsong and company shut out the Washington Nationals on Monday night, Matt Cain pitched seven innings of two-run ball Tuesday.
Cain was in line for a loss, but Gregor Blanco’s RBI triple tied the game in the ninth tied the game, and Pablo Sandoval’s walk-off two-run home run propelled the Giants to a 4-2 victory, their 13th comeback victory of the year. Sandoval launched Yunesky Maya’s floating fastball deep into the right center field bleachers. It wasn’t a cheapie, that’s for sure.
The first inning saw the Nationals score two runs on two doubles. Ryan Zimmerman didn’t miss Cain’s hanging fastball, and Ian Desmond chopped a double down the right field line. Buster Posey set up high and away, but Cain missed his spot by a few inches, which allowed Desmond to simply flip it down the line.
After that 21-pitch first inning, Cain settled in nicely. He didn’t allowed another hit until the fourth inning, and struck out seven for the game.
Adam LaRoche led off the fourth with a walk, Desmond followed with a single and Danny Espinosa advanced the runners. Cain lost control of a fastball on a two-strike count, which clanked Roger Bernadina’s upper-back area, loading the bases up for Kurt Suzuki. Suzuki rolled a ball in front of the plate and the Giants opted to get the force runner at the plate. Then, Stephen Strasburg then struck out on three-pitches to end the threat.
Blanco recorded three hits, and all three will be overshawdowed after Sandoval’s walk-blast stole the show. While Blanco’s game-tying triple highlighted the trio, he also scored on Angel Pagan’s RBI single in the second after leading off the inning with a single.
Cain’s change-up was lethal from the outset. Brooks Baseball claims that he garnered 10 swings and misses with it, which sounds about right. It had a nifty downward bite, and it induced a couple of ground balls as well. He also had good command of his slider, throwing 20-of-26 for strikes.
Marco Scutaro nearly tied the game in the eighth inning with a double that hit the base of the left field wall. The upside for Scutaro, though: he extended his hitting streak to 19 games.