San Francisco Giants Three Standouts: Game Five, 2-27

A few San Francisco Giants’ hitters stood out in Tuesday’s huge comeback win in the ninth inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The San Francisco Giants completed a major comeback on Tuesday, beating the Arizona Diamondbacks 14-12 on the strength of a six-run ninth inning, capped off by Kyle Jensen’s walk-off grand slam to dead center field. Though Jensen isn’t one of the three listed standouts, he had a huge day in his own right with two walks to go with his big blast.

The Giants’ late-inning heroics erased the sting of some early-inning errors. Three errors in the first five innings led to 10 runs, with eight of those runs being unearned. Pablo Sandoval committed two of the miscues in the second inning, while Kelby Tomlinson’s fifth-inning bad throw allowed another six unearned runs to cross the plate.

Here are three players (or groups of players) who stood out on Tuesday, all in a good way this time:

1 – The 1-2 Punch of Panik and Belt

Joe Panik played the role of leadoff hitter on Tuesday with Brandon Belt batting behind him, and the two put on some fantastic at-bats. Panik led off the game with an 11-pitch battle against Diamondbacks’ starter Taijuan Walker, fouling off six pitches before he swung and missed for strike three. Belt followed it up with a seven-pitch AB of his own before hitting a single off the first baseman’s glove.

In the third inning, Panik led off again, and saw another five pitches in an at-bat that ended as a flyout to center field. Belt hit a line drive double to left-center field on the sixth pitch of his at-bat. In the pair’s first two sets of at-bats, they saw almost 30 pitches combined. They’d get one more chance, with Panik grounding out in two pitches and Belt collecting his third hit on six pitches. In total, they saw 37 pitches in six at-bats, an average of over six per chance.

More from Golden Gate Sports

That’s what a skipper wants to see out of the top of his order. They are supposed to make pitchers work hard and throw a fair amount of pitches, giving the guys behind them a chance to see everything their opponent is working with. We don’t know if this will be the Giants’ batting order in the regular season, but they made a good case for putting this duo at the top on Tuesday.

2 – Austin Slater

Slater is competing for a backup outfielder job, and continued his hot start to the spring. He collected a pair of hits on Tuesday, including hitting a home run and driving in a run on a groundout.

One of Slater’s strengths is going to the opposite field, and he showed that ability off. His first at-bat resulted in a single through the hole in the right side of the infield to lead off the second inning. In the fourth inning, Slater took Diamondbacks’ relief ace Archie Bradley out of the park, launching one well over the wall in right field. In the fifth inning, Slater picked up his second RBI with a groundball to second base with one out.

The battle for the bench outfielder spot is wide open, and Slater is making a strong impression early in camp.

3 – Chris Shaw

Speaking of guys going to the opposite field, the Giants’ second-best prospect Chris Shaw showed that he has the ability to take what he is given as well. In the lineup because of Hunter Pence’s illness, Shaw wasted little time in getting the Giants on the board, taking an outside pitch and shooting it into the left-center field gap for a run-scoring double in the first inning.

Next: Three Standouts from Game Four

Shaw hit a similar ball in the third inning, scorching a line drive to left field. The result would be different, though, as this one was caught by the left fielder Yasmany Tomas on a nice running catch to his left. Shaw’s last plate appearance also came against Archei Bradley, and he showed a strong eye at the plate, taking some borderline pitches before working the walk to end his day.

Home/San Francisco Giants