SF Giants: Wilmer Flores’ walk-off homer salvages Carlos Rodón's gem in 5-3 win over Phillies
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The SF Giants capped off a much-needed sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday with a dramatic 5-3 victory. Entering the series, San Francisco had lost seven-straight games and was 11 games back of the final National League wild-card spot. While the playoffs remain a longshot for the Giants, they were better than a team currently slated for the postseason in three straight games.
The Giants turned to their ace Carlos Rodón to finish off the series while the Phillies started soft-throwing southpaw Ranger Suárez.
Suárez worked around a first inning double by Wilmer Flores and Rodón stranded a pair of baserunners in the second, but neither team got a run on the scoreboard until the bottom of the fourth.
J.D. Davis and Thairo Estrada worked back-to-back walks with one out to give the Giants their first baserunners since Flores' double. Without strikeout stuff, Suárez had to pitch for a ground ball. Instead, LaMonte Wade Jr., Austin Wynns, and Bryce Johnson each knocked RBI singles.
For Johnson, it was a particularly noteworthy single, marking his first career big-league hit. While Wynns was thrown out trying to advance to third to end the inning on the play (another questionable baserunning decision by the Giants), Johnson still recorded his first career hit and RBI.
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Philadelphia looked on the cusp of a big inning in the top of the sixth inning. Rodón surrendered a lead-off double to Rhys Hoskins followed by a single to Alec Bohm to put runners on the corners with nobody out and the Phillies most dangerous hitters coming to the plate.
Unlike Suárez, though, Rodón had the overpowering stuff to get out of the jam. Despite having already thrown 90+ pitches, Rodón was throwing his fastball harder than he had all game, sitting from 98-100 mph. While he walked J.T. Realmuto to load the bases, Rodón struck out Bryce Harper, Jean Segura, and Bryson Stott to end the rally.
Rodón finished his 6 scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts, making him the third pitcher in the National League to eclipse 200 strikeouts this season. It was also Rodón's ninth game with double-digit punchouts this season, tying Ray Sadecki and Tim Lincecum for the most such games in an individual season.
The day after Noah Syndergaard-the player Philadelphia opted to trade for at the deadline instead of paying the Giants' asking price for Rodón-struggled through 4.1 innings, Rodón gave Phillies management another reason to ponder if they should have done things differently.
Rodón will almost assuredly opt out of the two-year, $44 million contract he signed with the Giants last offseason. He has easily been one of the most overpowering pitchers in MLB.
The Giants have yet to sign a pitcher for more than $50 million under president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi. Barring a late-season injury, that will have to change if Rodón is going to be wearing a Giants uniform in 2023.
While San Francisco's analytically inclined front office may be hesitant to make a large investment in Rodón, no one else on the roster has consistently electrified Oracle Park like him. In this melancholy Giants season, Rodón has always brought incredible energy. It's worth wondering if that could motivate the team to buck their recent trends.
Besides, there are not many pitchers who can do this:
Unfortunately for the Giants, John Brebbia did not have Rodón's magic working for him. Entering in the seventh inning, Brebbia surrendered a pair of singles to Alec Bohm and Harper before hanging a slider to Realmuto that he deposited in the left-center field bleachers to even the game at 3-3.
The Giants nearly retook the lead in the eighth. Estrada started a two-out rally off David Robertson with a single and Wade followed it up with a line shot off the right-field wall. Had Wade hit the ball a bit softer, or Phillies right fielder Nick Maton played the carom any less perfectly, the Giants would have been leading. Instead, Estrada was forced to hold up at third, and Wade was held to a single.
Robertson pitched around pinch-hitter Brandon Crawford to load the bases and gain a platoon advantage against pinch-hitter Evan Longoria, who he struck out on five pitches.
Giants manager Gabe Kapler turned to closer Camilo Doval in the top of the ninth. He worked around a two-out single by Kyle Schwarber to keep things tied at 3 heading to the bottom of the ninth.
Robertson started his second inning of work by walking Johnson, arguably the best baserunner in the Giants organization. Immediately in a high-stress situation, Robertson struck out González and Mike Yastrzemski to bring him one out away from forcing extra innings. However, Flores sent a first-pitch slider 363' down the left-field line for a walk-off two-run homer.
The SF Giants are still just 64-68 and 8 games back of the Phillies for the final NL wild-card spot, but they finally have some positive momentum building once again. They will put that to the test tomorrow when they start a three-game series in Los Angeles against the Dodgers. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:10 PM Pacific.
