SAN FRANCISCO -- The Giants gave veteran right-hander Alex Cobb extra rest after he received a cortisone shot to try to alleviate discomfort in his impinged left hip, but the issue ended up flaring up only nine pitches into his outing on Monday night.
After retiring José Ramirez, the second batter of the game, Cobb visibly grimaced and knelt down behind the mound, drawing a visit from manager Gabe Kapler and head athletic trainer Dave Groeschner.
A hobbled Cobb ultimately stayed in the game and grinded through five solid innings of two-run ball, and the Giants rallied for two runs in the bottom of the 10th inning to pull out a 5-4 walk-off win over the Guardians at Oracle Park.
- Games remaining (18): vs. CLE (2), at COL (4), at AZ (2), at LAD (4), vs. SD (3), vs. LAD (3)
- Standings update: The Giants (74-70) are 1 1/2 games behind the D-backs (76-69) for the third and final National League Wild Card spot. They’re currently tied with the Marlins (74-70) and a half-game ahead of the idle Reds (74-71) in the race.
The Guardians handed a 4-3 lead to closer Emmanuel Clase after Andrés Gimenéz delivered a go-ahead single off right-hander Luke Jackson in the top of the 10th, but the Giants came back to tie the game after Blake Sabol lined a 100.3 mph cutter to center field to score automatic runner Joc Pederson from second base.
Sabol proceeded to steal second and moved to third on a balk to set up LaMonte Wade Jr.’s walk-off single to center, extending San Francisco’s winning streak to four games.
“Today was ultimately a really grindy win for us,” Sabol said. “It took the whole team to win that. That was definitely a big win for us.”
The comeback ensured that the club didn’t waste a gutsy effort from Cobb, who has been pitching with a bothersome hip since early June. The 35-year-old hoped the treatment he received in between starts would resolve the issue, but he’s now resigned to pitch through some discomfort as the Giants continue their playoff push down the stretch.
“I think we did a lot going into this start to try to fix what’s going on in there,” Cobb said. “Once you go out there and you decide that you’re able to go, there’s a responsibility to kind of be able to eat up innings and give your team a chance to win.”
Cobb said there’s no structural damage in his hip, so he doesn’t feel he’s putting himself at risk by continuing to ask for the ball. He felt a “zinger” in the first inning, but the pain mostly subsided through the middle part of his outing. The lone damage against him came in the third, when shortstop Brandon Crawford committed a two-out error that opened the door for Josh Naylor’s two-run blast into McCovey Cove. Both runs were unearned, lowering Cobb’s home ERA to a Major League-best 1.95 this year.
“It’s not going to be perfect,” Kapler said. “We don’t expect it to be, but I think there are going to be some starts that are easier for him to get through than others. I think tonight was a real grind. He did a great job getting us through five innings. Obviously, early in the game we wondered if we were going to get two from him, let alone five. It was a pretty gutsy performance.”
Cobb felt his hip begin to fatigue as he got deeper into the game, so the Giants opted to remove him after he threw 79 pitches. He departed with a 3-2 lead thanks to a leadoff homer by Mike Yastrzemski and a two-run third that was sparked by Pederson’s RBI single, but Cleveland rallied behind Steven Kwan’s two-out, game-tying single off right-hander John Brebbia in the seventh.
The Giants’ rotation is beginning to come together now that rookies Kyle Harrison and Keaton Winn have seized regular starting roles, but they’ll still be counting on Cobb -- a 2023 All-Star -- to serve as Logan Webb’s co-ace and set the tone over the second half of September. Cobb hasn’t been to the postseason since 2013, so he understands what’s at stake and is determined to keep battling the rest of the way.
“It’s something you don’t take for granted when there’s been that big of a gap,” Cobb said. “I think you saw the last four nights now that this team is aware of that. They’re going to do everything they can to scratch and claw to get that opportunity late in September.”