Cory Gearrin became the first pitcher in 25 years to play a position and get a save

If you happened to be at Friday night's Giants-D-backs game, and you had the fortitude to stick it out until the end of the 12th inning, then you happened to witness a number of unusual baseball feats. Arizona used 12 pitchers, a franchise record for a single game:

But it was Giants' reliever Cory Gearrin who did something that hasn't been done on a baseball diamond for 25 years. At the bottom of the 12th, the Giants were up, 7-6. Gearrin started the inning by striking out Chris Owings. But the next batter, Jake Lamb, was a lefty, so Bruce Bochy brought in Javier López, another lefty, to face him. But guess where he sent Gearrin?

Yup, just where you expected -- left field. Gearrin was the first pitcher to play a position for the Giants in nine years.

Last pitcher to play a position for the Giants: Good old Noah Lowry on June 8, 2007 vs. A's.

— Chris Haft/MLB.com (@goodforball) September 10, 2016

Unfortunately, Lopez walked Lamb, which means he didn't get to see any action in the outfield. Well … maybe it's not so unfortunate after all:

Gearrin said he went to outfield, asked guys what to do. "They said, 'Just play straight up.' I said, 'What's straight up?'"

— Andrew Baggarly (@extrabaggs) September 10, 2016

After just one batter, Gearrin returned to the mound. He intentionally walked Paul Goldschmidt, struck out Welington Castillo and got Yasmany Tomás to ground out, earning him the save. And that, dear friends, is where Gearrin accomplished something that hasn't been done in a quarter of a century. The last pitcher who played the field and also got the save was the Dodgers' Roger McDowell, way back on Oct. 1, 1991, in a game against the Padres.

McDowell ended up in the outfield for the same reason as Gearrin -- Tommy Lasorda wanted a lefty vs. lefty matchup. McDowell pitched the last two outs of the top of the eighth inning, then headed to the outfield to watch his southpaw teammate John Candelaria strike out Fred McGriff to start the ninth. Then, he came back to the mound and closed out the game, striking out Tim Teufel and getting Bip Roberts to ground out to earn the save.