JD Davis led off the bottom of the ninth inning with a game winning solo homerun on Saturday night, leading the San Francisco Giants to a 3-2 walkoff victory over the Boston Red Sox at Oracle Park. The loss ends a five game winning streak for Boston.
San Francisco (57-48) had many chances to extend what was a 2-0 lead heading to the ninth inning, but left 12 runners on base and went 1-13 with runners in scoring position through the first eight. Boston stayed within striking distance and tied it off the Giants closer Camilo Doval in the top of the ninth. Masataka Yoshida led off with a walk, and Jarren Duran followed with a double off the fence in rightfield to put runners on second and third with no outs. Justin Turner made it 2-2 when he singled up the middle to score Yoshida and Duran. Doval escaped any further damage when pinch runner Rob Refsnyder was caught stealing second base, Rafael Devers flied out to left, and Triston Casas struckout swinging. Davis then won it when he took the first pitch from Sox closer Kenley Jansen in the last of the ninth off the foul pole in leftfield for the walkoff victory.
Duran and Turner had two hits each in the loss for Boston (56-48). Jansen (2-5) took the pitching defeat. James Paxton started on the mound and allowed one run on eight hits with two walks and five strikeouts in 5.0 innings of work. Doval (3-3) despite the blown save got the win for San Francisco. Wilmer Flores had three hits, while Davis, Michael Conforto, and Marco Luciano had two a piece. The Red Sox will begin play on Sunday 2.5 games behind Houston and Toronto for the final American League wildcard playoff spot, and will go for another series win in the rubber matchup against the Giants at 4:05 p.m. Both teams will be going with the bullpen on the mound in the finale. Lefthander Brennan Bernardino (1-0, 2.31 ERA) is the opener for Boston, and LHP Scott Alexander (6-1, 3.41) starts things off for San Francisco.
The Portland Sea Dogs also fell in walkoff fashion, 4-3 to the Richmond Flying Squirrels (SF Giants) at the Diamond in Richmond, Virginia on Saturday night in Double A Eastern League Baseball action.
Trailing 1-0 in the fifth inning, Portland took the lead. Phillip Sikes and Tyler Dearden led off with singles, and then Tyler McDonough singled into rightfield. Richmond rightfielder Victor Bericoto charged the McDonough hit and had it go under his glove, rolling away and allowing McDonough to also come all the way around and also score for a 3-1 advantage. Andy Thomas hit a solo homerun in the bottom of the fifth to pull the Flying Squirrels within 3-2. In the bottom of the ninth inning Luis Guerrero came on to try to pick up the save for the Sea Dogs, but was greeted by a leadoff double by Jimmy Glowenke. A wild pitch by Guerrero allowed Glowenke to get to third base, and he would be singled in by pinch hitter Ismael Munguia to even the score 3-3. Wade Meckler followed with a ground-rule double to centerfield to put runners on second and third with still no outs. Portland walked the next batter Shane Matheny to load the bases, before Guerrero would strikeout Vaun Brown swinging for out number one. Brady Whalen then came up and won it for his team with a sacrifice fly to center on the first pitch to give Richmond the series win.
Dearden had two hits in the loss for Portland, and Guerrero (3-2) was tagged with the blown save and pitching defeat. Tyler Myrick (1-0) won in relief for Richmond, and Glowenke had a pair of hits. The Flying Squirrels are now 16-10 in the second half of their season (49-46 overall), and in first place in the Eastern League Southwest Division. The Sea Dogs fall to 16-10 in the second half (56-39), and have had their first place lead shrink to just 1/2 game over the Somerset Patriots (NY Yankees) in the Northeast Division. Portland, who has dropped four of the first five games in this series with Richmond, will try to salvage the final matchup on Sunday afternoon with CJ Liu (5-7, 4.57 ERA) set to take the mound at 1:35 p.m.
Story by Chris Lessner
