SAN FRANCISCO -- Everything seems to be breaking right for the Giants, who took advantage of an overturned call at the plate to score four runs in the fifth inning and roll to their 10th consecutive win, a 4-2 victory over the Padres on Wednesday night at Oracle Park.
With their first 10-game winning streak since May 20-31, 2004, the Giants (42-32) have now climbed a season-high 10 games over .500, matching their high-water mark from last season. They’ve been the hottest team in baseball for over a month, going 25-9 since May 15, the best record in the Majors.
“Obviously, when you’re on a roll, good things are happening,” catcher Blake Sabol said. “At the beginning of the year, we started off cold and it felt like everything was going against us. I think that’s just baseball. For us, it’s just keep putting one foot in front of the other and just focus on the next pitch and the next game.”
The Giants were blanked through the first four innings by Padres right-hander Yu Darvish before a trio of rookies finally got the offense going in the fifth. Luis Matos and Sabol reached on back-to-back singles, and David Villar walked to load the bases with no outs for Brandon Crawford, who lifted a sacrifice fly to left field to put the Giants on the board.
After striking out Casey Schmitt, Darvish gave up a two-out single to Joc Pederson, though he appeared to avoid further damage after right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. uncorked a perfect 99 mph throw to nab Sabol at the plate. Sabol was easily tagged out by catcher Gary Sánchez, seemingly ending the inning, but the Giants challenged the call, arguing that Sánchez had blocked the path to the plate in violation of the home-plate collision rule.
“I was running as hard as I could,” Sabol said. “I was trying to avoid a collision there. Once I wasn’t able to reach home plate after he tagged me out, I was like, ‘OK, I feel like I didn’t even have a chance to touch it.’”
After a lengthy replay review, home-plate umpire Quinn Wolcott announced that the call had been overturned. Sabol was ruled safe, extending the Giants’ lead to 2-0 and keeping the inning alive.
“There wasn’t a clear lane to the plate,” Giants manager Gabe Kapler said. “The rule as we understand it is if the catcher’s left foot is on the outside of the line without the baseball, he’s not providing a clear lane to the plate for the baserunner. That’s what we saw on video. That’s what it looked like in real time. It seems like they got the call right on the field. That’s just our interpretation.”
The turn of events did not sit well with Padres manager Bob Melvin, who was ejected for arguing the call. A similar play unfolded in the White Sox 7-6 comeback win over the Rangers on Tuesday night, which resulted in an ejection for former Giants manager Bruce Bochy.
MLB provided the following explanation for Wednesday’s ruling:
“After reviewing all relevant angles, the Replay Official definitively determined that the catcher was in violation of the Home Plate Collision Rule. The catcher’s initial positioning was illegal and his subsequent actions while not in possession of the ball hindered and impeded the runner’s path to home plate.”
The Giants continued to add on after play resumed, with Mike Yastrzemski and J.D. Davis delivering back-to-back, two-out RBI singles to make it 4-0. The rally came at a cost, though, as Yastrzemski strained his left hamstring while going from first to third base on Davis’ single and was forced to depart the game.
Yastrzemski, who missed 15 games with a left hamstring strain in May, was replaced by pinch-runner Austin Slater, who remained in the game to play right field. Yastrzemski is expected to undergo an MRI exam on Thursday morning to determine the severity of the injury.
The four-spot helped the Giants improve to 8-3 in 11 bullpen games this year. Ryan Walker served as the opener before giving way to Sean Hjelle, who struck out five over four scoreless innings in his first appearance since being recalled from Triple-A Sacramento on Monday. Six Giants relievers combined to hold the Padres to two runs on eight hits, with closer Camilo Doval working a scoreless ninth to earn his 20th save of the year.
“I made the joke in the bullpen the first day I got here,” Hjelle said. “It’s kind of like merging onto a freeway. I was like, ‘I hope I can merge at the same speed you guys are going because you’re just clicking on all cylinders here.’”