SAN FRANCISCO — By now, you should know not to count out these San Francisco Giants until the 27th and final out.
Because — look! — they did it again.
Silenced for six innings Monday night by longtime nemesis Michael Wacha, trailing the Padres by two runs entering the ninth inning, the Giants manufactured yet another come-from-behind win, extending their season-best winning streak to eight games, walking off their division rivals in improbable fashion.
Mike Yastrzemski, who homered once already in the sixth and scored the tying run in the bottom of the ninth, launched a walk-off splash hit in the bottom of the 10th to beat the Padres, 7-4.
Camilo Doval pitched a scoreless top of the 10th, stranding the automatic runner, to set up the game-winning rally in the bottom half.
The Giants, who had mustered two runs on a pair of solo home runs through the first eight innings, rallied for two runs to tie the game in the ninth. Yastrzemski raced home to score the tying run, his outstretched hand barely beating Juan Soto’s throw to the plate, after Blake Sabol led off the inning with a walk and came around to score on a wild pitch from Luis Garcia, who walked two batters, allowed one hit and recorded only one out. Lefty Ray Kerr, the Padres’ third pitcher of the inning, was able to strike out Joc Pederson with the bases loaded and two outs to send the game to extras.
Despite nine straight wins away from Oracle Park, the Giants’ win Monday night to kick off a seven-game home stand against NL West opponents was only their fourth win in their past 10 games at home. They won for the fourth time this season when trailing after eight innings, including the second time this week.
In their first bullpen game without John Brebbia, their usual opener and leader in appearances last season, the Giants spread out the work and the runs. Soto alone matched the Giants’ offensive output through eight innings, with a pair of solo home runs, and Ha-Seong Kim drove in two more with a fourth-inning single.
Rookie Ryan Walker warmed up to Brebbia’s self-deprecating song of choice (“The Opener” by Kid Quill) but immediately ran into trouble, serving up the first of Soto’s two home runs. Jakob Junis surrendered the next two runs on a two-strike single to Kim in the fourth. And Keaton Winn, making his Oracle Park debut, was given a rough introduction by Soto, who homered for the second time on the first pitch the 25-year-old rookie threw in his home ballpark.
Winn went on to throw 59 more pitches and completed five innings of work, allowing only two more hits and striking out four, in his second MLB appearance.
Luis Matos, also playing his first game in front of the home fans, contributed a crucial sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth, allowing Yastrzemski to tag up from second and putting him in position to score the tying run on the next fly ball, a not-that-deep line drive to left from fellow rookie Patrick Bailey.
More excellent defense from Bailey prevented the Padres from extending their early advantage, adding Fernando Tatis Jr. to his list of base-stealing victims. Tatis led off the game against Walker with a hustle double, then immediately took off for third with a terrific jump. Bailey, though, fired to third, David Villar laid a perfect tag and Tatis was called out upon replay review, only his second time caught stealing in 13 attempts.
Bailey’s pop time on the play was 1.44 seconds, tied for the fourth-best by a catcher on a throw to third this season and a tick better than his time (1.46) when he nabbed Mookie Betts, another uber-efficient base-stealer, trying to steal third over the weekend.
Bailey also contributed the Giants’ first and one of only four hits off Wacha, lining a single to right field in the second inning. The play allowed Brandon Crawford, who reached on a walk, to advance to third — the Giants’ only runner in scoring position for the first eight innings — but he was left stranded there after LaMonte Wade Jr. popped up for the third out.
After exploding for 29 runs in three games at Dodger Stadium — a franchise record — the Giants’ bats were silenced by Wacha, who is enjoying a late-career renaissance this season but is no stranger to success against San Francisco.
Holding the Giants to a pair of solo home runs, Wacha only slightly raised his ERA this season to 2.90, tied for fourth in the National League, and his career ERA against the Giants to 1.64, the lowest of any pitchers in the majors with at least seven starts against them since 1913.
A wall-scraper from David Villar got the Giants on the board in the bottom of the fifth. Barely clearing the left-field fence, it was no less sweet for Villar, who was seeking his first home run since the clubs’ meeting in Mexico City, before he was demoted to Triple-A.
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