San Francisco Giants Morning Minute: The Bench Mob, Belt’s Defensive Gem

On this edition of the San Francisco Giants Morning Minute, we discuss the bench mob taking the lead, and Belt’s defensive gem late.

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Good morning, San Francisco Giants’ fans, and welcome to another edition of the Giants Morning Minute. On Friday, the Giants opened their series with the Arizona Diamondbacks with a 6-4 win, moving their record to 5-0 at Chase Field. Johnny Cueto earned his 12th win, tying him for the National League lead, while Shelby Miller took his eighth loss. Santiago Casilla finished things off for his 18th save. The Giants are 51-31 after that win.

The Los Angeles Dodgers also won on Friday, so the deficit in the NL West remains at six games for the third straight day.

Here’s what went on Friday.

1 – The Bench Mob Carries the Load

The Giants and manager Bruce Bochy used another funky lineup on Friday. Center fielder Denard Span, who was initially in the lineup, was scratched with a stiff neck, leaving left fielder Angel Pagan, first baseman Brandon Belt, and shortstop Brandon Crawford as the lone opening day starters in the lineup. Those three players combined to go 0-11 (they did draw two walks that led to runs), but it was the unusual names that led the offensive charge.

Conor Gillaspie, who began the season in Triple-A Sacramento, started the scoring with a second-inning triple, his first three-bagger of the season, and the first of three hits on the day. In the fourth inning, Grant Green, who also began the season in Sacramento and was in just his second game with the Giants, got San Francisco within a run with a two-run single.

In the sixth inning, it was Trevor Brown, the backup catcher who wasn’t even on the 40-man roster until last September, who put the Giants ahead for good, slashing the game-winning, two-run scoring double to right field. It was surprising that Brown even got a chance to hit, with two runners in scoring position, Cueto on deck with two outs, and no one warming in the bullpen. Even after Diamondbacks’ pitcher Shelby Miller fell behind 2-0 in the count, he still pitched to Brown, and Brown made Arizona pay.

An insurance run came in the eighth inning, when Jarrett Parker, who also began in Sacramento, obliterated a baseball to left field, hitting an opposite field bomb for his fifth home run of the year. The sound that came from the ball off the bat was one of the loudest smacks you’ll hear on a diamond.

Those four players, three of whom didn’t start the year on the opening day roster, combined for eight hits, and drove in all six Giants’ runs.

2 – Brandon Belt’s Double Play

The lead was in jeopardy in the ninth inning, with runners on the corners and nobody out. With Yasmany Tomas at the plate, Casilla rolled doubles, getting a groundball that would turn into a double play, getting the Giants two steps closer to their 51st win. It went in the scorebook as a 3-6-3 double play, but it was anything but routine.

The first baseman Belt was playing in with the runner at third, and the chopper off Tomas’ bat came right to him. Right away, Belt takes a split-second glance towards third base, keeping Welington Castillo glued to third base. Then Belt turned and fired to his shortstop, Crawford, for the first out.

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When Belt took that look to third, Casilla had to stop running towards first and duck, getting out of the line of fire in case Belt could get that lead runner leaning too far. That took Casilla out of the play at first, meaning it was all on Belt to get back for the second out. That was no easy task, as Belt was already in, and the grounder took him away from the bag.

As he turned and fired, he simultaneously began making his way back to the bag, knowing it was all on him. He got to the bag, but couldn’t set his feet as Crawford made a pearl of a throw, hitting Belt in the perfect spot to let him tag the bag with his huge right foot as he was still moving, getting Tomas on the backend of the double play by a hairsbreadth.

It wasn’t a routine play by any means. For Belt to do everything he did in the very small window of time he had, from looking the runner back, to making an absolute perfect throw to second, to covering quite a bit of ground to get back to first, made it one of the best double plays that we will see this year.

Belt did all of that in the span of one, six-second Vine.

It’s not an easy play. Belt just makes it look like one.

Next: Giants Morning Minute: Unconventional Method Works

And that will do it for another edition of the Giants Morning Minute. Up next, the Giants and Diamondbacks square off for game two of the series, and their 10th matchup of the season. Jeff Samardzija and Patrick Corbin will take the mound.