Giants can’t close, Cronenworth wins it in tenth for Pads 3-2

BY DANIEL GLUSKOTER

Jake Cronenworth’s tenth inning RBI double gave the Padres a 3-2 win over the Giants Saturday afternoon at Oracle Park, putting San Francisco’s division clinching celebration on hold for at least another day.

©DANIEL GLUSKOTER
Jake Cronenworth laces a tenth inning double to lead the Padres to a 3-2 win over San Francisco Saturday afternoon at Oracle Park.

With a franchise record 106 wins already under their belt and a magic number of one to clinch their first NL West crown since 2012, the Giants were five outs away from a celebration, but a sacrifice fly by Manny Machado off of Zack Littell after a single by Tommy Pham and a double by Trent Grisham tied the game in the eighth, setting the stage for the extra innings affair.

San Francisco starter Kevin Gausman pitched a solid seven innings, limiting San Diego to a run on six hits while striking out five, but was lifted by Giants manager Gabe Kapler before throwing a pitch in the eighth due to cramping in his right hand despite throwing only 84 pitches.

“We felt good about Littell,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “Obviously, he’s been excellent for us all year. He’s gotten some big swing and misses at the top of the zone. He’s been a great competitor for us and gotten out of so many jams for us. While it would have been nice to have [Tyler] Rogers and [Dominic] Leone available, I thought Littell was a really good option for us.”

©DANIEL GLUSKOTER
Austin Slater points to the sky after touching home plate following his sixth inning home run. The blast gave the Giants a 2-1 lead, but San Diego would come back to win 3-2 in ten innings.

The win snapped a seven-game losing streak for the Padres, but appeared to come too late to save the job of their second year manager Jayce Tingler, who reportedly will be fired following Sunday’s season finale.

With the Dodgers winning their evening contest against Milwaukee, the stage is now set for the final act of a race that has already seen the most wins by the top two teams since the divisional era began in 1969. The Giants held the previous record of 103 wins by a second place club in 1993, coming up a game short of the Atlanta Braves, but there was no consolation prize at the time as it was the final season before the advent of the wild card.

“Obviously, we would have liked to punch our ticket today and kind of do it ourselves, but that’s baseball,” Gausman said. “I thought we played a hell of a game all around. It’s unfortunate we lost today, but we’ll win tomorrow.”

With at least a tie for the division crown already assured, San Francisco will get another chance Sunday to control their own destiny with a win, and avoid a one game playoff at home for the title Monday against Los Angeles. With all games in the Majors scheduled two start at 12:05pm Pacific for added drama, Logan Webb (10-3, 2.93) will take the mound for the Giants while the Padres will be going with a bullpen game with Reiss Knehr (1-1, 4.85) as their opener. Meanwhile, at Dodger Stadium, Walker Buehler (15-4, 2.49) will be trying to keep the Dodgers hopes alive. At press time, the Brewers had yet to name their starter.

GAME NOTES:

Austin Slater’s sixth inning pinch hit homer was the 18th pinch-hit home run of the year for the Giants, breaking a single-season Major League record previously held by the 2016 Cardinals.

The Giants are the first team to have a .600 winning percentage in every month of the season since the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1942.

The Dodgers have already set an All-Time record for the expansion era with the most wins by a defending World Series champion, 105 and counting.

San Francisco has had the best record in the Majors for 124 days this season, the Dodgers have the second highest total with 19.

The last NL team to win more than San Francisco’s current total of 106 was the 1986 New York Mets, who won 108 games on the way to a seven-game World Series win.

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