SF Giants score nine runs in 11th; Verlander still searching for first win
CHICAGO — Kyle Harrison was getting thrown into the fire.
The Giants and Cubs entered the 11th inning tied at five. Ryan Walker and Erik Miller failed to protect San Francisco’s two-run lead in the ninth, leaving Justin Verlander still searching for his first win as a Giant. Harrison was the only fresh arm left. He’d never pitched in relief as a major leaguer, but manager Bob Melvin had no choice. As Harrison warmed, Wrigley Field remained packed.
As Harrison jogged to the mound, most of the crowd had disappeared. The life was gone; the party was over. The Giants scored nine runs in the 11th inning — the most they’ve scored in a single extra inning in franchise history — and sent thousands of fans home early, many of whom became indifferent to witness the inevitable.
The Giants have now won 23 games this season. They will win more over the coming months, the exact number being uncertain. What is certain is that few, if any, of their will match the cadence of their 14-5, 11-inning win over the Cubs — a barnburner reduced to a blowout.
“You’ve got to pick yourself up off the mat,” Melvin said, “which we did.”
There was no singular hero in the top of the 11th inning, a frame that started with the score 5-5. San Francisco’s nine-run flurry, rather, was a democratic effort.
Heliot Ramos started the parade with a booming double. Patrick Bailey broke the tie with an RBI single. San Francisco executed a squeeze play — Brett Wisely bunting, Ramos scoring. Willy Adames was plunked with the bases loaded. Jung Hoo Lee singled to drive in a run, prompting chants of “Jung! Hoo! Lee!” Chapman drove in two with a knock, and Wilmer Flores followed suit with his own run-scoring hit.
Chicago’s Ryan Pressly faced eight Giants batters. He didn’t retire a single one. As Pressly walked off the field, the few Cubs fans who remained showered him with boos. Those same fans then mockingly cheered when Caleb Thielbar, Pressly’s replacement, struck out the first batter he faced.
Thielbar, though, could not put an end to the scoring.
Ramos smashed his second double of the inning, driving in a run. Bailey, who provided the lead in the first place, generated San Francisco’s ninth and final run with a sacrifice fly. Once the inning ended and the visiting bullpen doors opened, Harrison’s first relief appearance had been downgraded from high to low leverage.
“It just goes back to competing. That’s what I love to do,” said Harrison, who averaged 96.2 mph with his four-seam fastball. “No matter the circumstance, if I have the ball on that mound, it’s baseball. That’s the way I looked at it. That’s the way I’m going to go about it.”
That rampage of runs provided relief from a soul-shattering ninth inning, one that saw the Giants lose a 5-3 lead and Verlander end up with a no decision. Verlander, currently sitting on 262 career wins, has now gone eight consecutive starts without a win, the longest streak of his career. But entering the ninth, Verlander looked destined for his first win in the orange and black.
Walker, who blew a save on Easter that cost Verlander a win, began his night by walking Pete Crow-Armstrong. Following a one-out walk of Carson Kelly, Walker allowed an RBI single to Justin Turner that sliced San Francisco’s lead to 5-4.
Walker struck out Ian Happ to record the second out, but he would not get the chance to finish what he started. With the left-handed hitting Kyle Tucker due up, Melvin summoned left-handed pitcher Erik Miller.
“Obviously things were a little shaky but I felt I could finish it out considering the things that were going on,” Walker said. “I kind of felt like I got a second wind … but I get his move. Especially Kyle Tucker coming up and we have an elite lefty in the bullpen. I think, overall, it was definitely the right decision.”
The left-on-left matchup didn’t pan out in San Francisco’s favor. Miller allowed a single on his first pitch to Tucker, the Cubs tied the ballgame — and saddled Verlander with a no decision in the process. Miller prevented Chicago from scoring the game-winning run and sent the game to extras, but he screamed into his glove as he walked back to the dugout.
“It’s crazy because (Verlander) could easily have four, five wins at this point,” Melvin said. “Just another one of those (games) where we’re a pitch away from getting him a win, and the next thing you know, he doesn’t. But that doesn’t mean he’s not performing well. He’s given us a chance to win every time out.”
Said Walker: “I literally apologized to him today. I’m like, ‘Dude, I’m sorry. I’ve ruined this twice for you already.’ I’ll get my groove. It’s a slow start right now, but I’m going to get there. I have no doubt about that. He’s great. He understands we’re all trying our best. At the end of the day, what else can you do?”
Miller ended up with a blown save on his record, but after the Giants failed to score in the top of the 10th, the left-hander put up a zero in the bottom of the frame. The game headed to the 11th. In time, the fans headed to the exits.
