Former SF Giants third baseman snuffs out rallies in wild-card game
Evan Longoria was clearly slipping at the plate during his last years with the SF Giants. But as he proved during the first game of the Arizona Diamondbacks' wild-card series with the Milwaukee Brewers, Longo can still show off his Gold Glove form in the field.
With the bases loaded in the fifth inning and Arizona clinging to a 4-3 lead, Longoria turned what looked like a sure two-run single into an inning-ending double play.
Longoria robbed Milwaukee's Tyrone Taylor, who hit a 93.0 MPH screamer at an 11-degree launch angle - classified an "unlucky out."
Also unlucky? Willy Adames, who was doubled off second. Milwaukee loaded the bases with no one out and failed to score, a familiar sight to Giants fans tuning in to the playoffs.
“I kind of just jumped and threw my glove up,” Longoria told reporters after the game. “Sometimes, I don't even jump for those. I threw my glove up there. I felt it hit my glove and actually couldn’t believe I caught it. Then, I just looked around the infield to see if anybody had gotten too far off."
After silencing Milwaukee's crowd in the fifth, Longoria made a less athletic but more clever play in the the sixth inning. With Christian Yelich on first, William Contreras hit a slow roller for an infield hit. Longoria had no play at first, but spun and threw to second, catching Yelich off the bag.
The Brewers went from having runners on first and second with no outs to having just a runner on first with one out. Once again, they did not score, thanks to a veteran who turns 38 years old on Saturday.
The emergence of J.D. Davis made Longoria expendable for the Giants, especially when letting him go saved them $8 million. But the advanced statistics say Longoria was slightly above average at third base with two defensive runs saved in 300 innings at the hot corner.
For Arizona, Longoria's playoff experience made him the preferred choice at third, especially with Emmanuel Rivera and Jace Peterson both slumping. Peterson was hitting so badly he was initially left off the playoff roster, and Rivera slashed .146/.234/.164 over the season's last two months.
Milwaukee left 11 runners on base in Game One, and Longoria was responsible for at least four of them. Not bad for a guy in his 16th season.
