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Michael Conforto hits game-winning homer in SF Giants win over Marlins

At the end of a long, dreary road trip, Michael Conforto hit a game-winning homer to lift the SF Giants over the Miami Marlins.
JD Salazar|
Michael Conforto hits game-winning homer in SF Giants win over Marlins
Michael Conforto hits game-winning homer in SF Giants win over Marlins

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Miami MarlinsSan Francisco Giants

There is sunlight in Miami, and it took everything the SF Giants had to finally see it.

It shined down on the Marlins, who have made themselves at home, at home, during this painful series. The Giants, though, hadn't tasted anything but doom and gloom on this road trip. Before tonight's 5-2 win over Miami, they hadn't won for a week straight. They blew a two-run lead yesterday and a three-run lead the day before. Two brutal extra-inning losses, and a blown five-run lead before that. In the foul miasma of Miami, all the Giants wanted was a singular ray of hope.

Giants starting pitcher Alex Cobb was in cruise control early, striking out five in the first two frames, completely shutting down Miami early on. In fact, Cobb was so confident in his stuff that, when Marlins CF Jazz Chisholm reached base with two outs in the third, Cobb attempted to pick him off three times before throwing a pitch to the next hitter. Under the new pickoff rules, this allowed the speedy Chisholm to automatically take second base. It represented one of the first times this season a pitcher has aggressively pushed the bounds of the pickoff rule, and while it failed, Cobb backed it up and quickly dispatched the next hitter to end the inning.

The game turned in the 4th, when for the second consecutive day, a lefty starter left the game early with an injury. This time, though, it was the Marlins' starting pitcher, Trevor Rogers (not to be confused with the Giants' Rogers, T. or Rogers, T.), who exited with left forearm tightness. Before he left, though, he allowed a single to Thairo Estrada and a booming double from Darin Ruf that opened the scoring. In came reliever George Soriano for the Marlins, making just his second major league appearance. Despite loading up the bases, the Giants wasted a golden opportunity against a vulnerable reliever, leaving the inning with only one run.

Miami took advantage of this break, striking back in the bottom of the fifth. Not ones to shy away from the name game, Marlins' hitter Garrett Cooper singled in Garrett Hampson with a seeing-eye single, knotting the game up at one. Cobb, who had been cruising all game, found himself in trouble after a single and a walk loaded the bases. With the Marlins threatening for the first time all game, J.D. Davis made the defensive play of the series to keep things tied up.

All in all, Cobb acquitted himself well in the series finale. He went five strong innings with just one earned run, allowing seven hits and a walk, but no extra-base hits. After his efforts, the bullpen clamped down, with John Brebbia, Scott Alexander, and Tyler Rogers combining for 3.2 scoreless innings. But the Giants' offense could do nothing else to help out, and the game went to the bottom of the ninth tied at 1.

Tyler Rogers started the inning quickly, inducing two easy outs. But the Marlins were relentless, with a pair of singles putting the winning run on second. In came Camilo Doval to try to save the game for San Francisco. After a heated battle with Jazz Chisholm, Doval outdueled the Marlins All-Star to bring the game into extra innings. 

Against Miami reliever Tanner Scott, the Giants' bats stayed ice cold, recording two strikeouts and a weak grounder in the top of the 10th. It didn't take long for Miami to take advantage of San Francisco's ineptitude, starting the inning with the speedy Chisholm at second. After an intentional walk to the dangerous Luis Arráez, Doval twice had issues calling the right pitch. With Doval distracted, Miami executed a quick double-steal, which put runners at second and third after J.D. Davis couldn't handle a perfect throw by Joey Bart. But Doval dug deep, striking out the next two batters to end the inning, showing off his electric triple-digit heat and his lethal snapping slider.

That opened the door for Michael Conforto, who finally gave the Giants the hit they were looking for. San Francisco hadn't recorded a hit, let alone a run, since the 4th inning. But with one out in the top of the 11th, Conforto finally broke the dam. His booming, two-run shot put the Giants up 3-1.

As if a curse had been lifted, David Villar followed up with a two-out double in front of Mike Yastrzemski, who crushed one to deep right field.

Miami’s hopes of staying in the game flickered with a leadoff double that brought the game to 5-2, before a 1-out walk brought the potential tying run to the plate. Taylor Rogers, he of the much-maligned double-digit ERA, came in as the last man standing to try to preserve the game. And he did just that, tearing through the remaining Marlins despite a bases-loaded threat to end the game at just that, 5-2.

This was a win that took everything the Giants had: from Alex Cobb authoring a masterful start, to Darin Ruf pulling his weight when the Giants needed him the most, to Camilo Doval closing out a stressful 9th and 10th, to Conforto and Yastrzemski blasting open the game in the 11th. It was a day when nothing was easy, on a road trip where nothing was given, in a season where the optimism of the early season has quickly turned to doom and gloom. And San Francisco can’t keep winning, not like this. But to find a way to turn their season around, the Giants need to be able to win when the storm clouds threaten to blow in and rain them out. Today, at least, in a stadium where the whooping of the fans must have made it seem more like the seventh circle of hell, the Giants left the Sunshine State with a ray of hope.

The SF Giants will return home for a seven-game homestand against the Mets and Cardinals. First pitch against the Mets tomorrow is scheduled for 6:45 PM Pacific at Oracle Park.

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JD Salazar
JD SALAZAR

JD Salazar is a contributor for Giants Baseball Insider, focused on producing in-depth analysis of the SF Giants. They are a streamer, writer, and biomedical engineer.

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