What we learned as Bailey’s walk-off lifts Giants to win vs. D-backs

What we learned as Bailey’s walk-off lifts Giants to win vs. D-backs originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

BOX SCORE

SAN FRANCISCO – A game that began with the early abrupt exit of pitcher Blake Snell ended on a much more encouraging note when Patrick Bailey doubled home Tyler Fitzgerald in the bottom of the ninth inning to walk it off and lift the Giants a 3-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday at Oracle Park.

Fitzgerald, who struck out in his previous two at-bats, lined a single to center to begin the rally. After Fitzgerald stole second base, Bailey drilled a 1-2 pitch from Diamondbacks reliever Kevin Ginkel into the left-center gap. The ball hit before the wall then bounced over for a ground-rule double.

Bailey drove in all three Giants runs. He had a two-run single in the fourth.

Ryan Walker (9-3) struck out three of the five batters he faced to get the win and help the Giants void the series sweep.

Snell’s first season with the Giants has been largely disappointing, and his outing against the Diamondbacks was just the latest bit of drama. The two-time Cy Young Award winner lasted just one inning and allowed two runs (one earned) before giving way to Landen Roupp.

San Francisco once again struggled with runners in scoring position but pushed two across in the fourth inning on Bailey’s two-out bloop single to left.

The Giants came up short once again with runners on base. They stranded six runners, five in scoring position.

Here are the takeaways from Thursday’s game:

Wade’s Defensive Gems

Giants first baseman LaMonte Wade Jr. made multiple big defensive plays that helped keep the game close.

In the first inning after Arizona plated a run and had runners at the corners, Christian Walker hit a sharp grounder to third baseman Matt Chapman. The four-time Gold Glover tried to make a quick throw to first but released the ball high, forcing Wade to jump to make the catch. As he grabbed the ball, Wade made a swipe tag on Walker. Umpires originally ruled Walker safe but the call was overturned after a replay challenge.

Wade also made a diving stop on Kevin Newman’s grounder down the first base line and made the final out then did the same thing to Josh Bell in the seventh.

Ugly Beginning

Bob Melvin often talks about the first inning being the best opportunity for opposing teams to have success against a starting pitcher, and that proved the case Thursday.

The Diamondbacks scored twice off Snell in the opening frame when the Giants’ lefty was forced to throw 42 pitches. Snell walked two batters but things really turned sour when the San Francisco pitcher got JakeMcCarthy to strike out swinging, only to see the ball get away from catcher Patrick Bailey for a passed ball that allowed a runner to score.

It’s not the first time Snell has made a very early exit. He retired only two batters in a pair of games while pitching for the San Diego Padres in 2021.

All Hands on Deck

With Snell gone so quickly, the Giants leaned heavily on their bullpen in the series finale and they held up well.

Five San Francisco relievers combined to limit the Diamondbacks to two hits over the final eight innings. Roupp handled the bulk of the workload, going four innings while striking out five and allowing one hit.

Erik Miller, Tyler Rogers and Camilo Doval all pitched effectively before Walker came in to slam the door.

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