SAN FRANCISCO -- Pablo Sandoval, Kevin Pillar and Mike Yastrzemski all homered for the Giants on Friday for a 5-3 win in which the Brewers had a better success rate with replay review than hitting with runners in scoring position.
Three times, Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell challenged a call on the field, and twice the ruling came back in his favor. The third time, after Pillar kicked loose second base on a seventh-inning steal, it did not, and Yastrzemski followed with a two-run homer that provided the winning margin of San Francisco’s series-opening victory at Oracle Park, sending Zach Davies to his first loss after seven straight wins to begin the year.
The Brewers were 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and stranded 11 men on base in a loss started by Giants left-hander Drew Pomeranz, a veteran who entered the night with a 7.16 ERA. The Crew countered with Davies, who was 7-0 with a 2.41 ERA before giving up homers to Sandoval and Pillar over five innings in his first loss since last Sept. 22.
“We had our opportunities. I came up at the end there,” said Lorenzo Cain, who popped out to end the eighth with runners at second and third. “I didn’t get the job done.”
Cain was not alone.
“We didn’t get any multi-run innings where we strung together that next hit with a guy on base,” Counsell said. “We didn’t drive the baseball tonight.”
That meant every base was essential, and in three instances, it took a replay challenge to settle a disputed call:
1. Hello again
The inning: Top second
The call: Mike Moustakas out at first
The result: Overturned
For full context of a busy night of replays, one has to go back to May 25 at Miller Park, when Counsell and Ryan Braun were ejected by umpire Mike Estabrook for their critiques of the strike zone. The next day, Estabrook ejected Moustakas a half-inning after Moustakas disputed a called strikeout on which he attempted to check his swing.
Three weeks later, they met again, and Estabrook was positioned at first base on Friday when Moustakas hustled down the line to avoid a double play. He beat the throw, but Estabrook called him out, a ruling quickly overturned after a 45-second review.
“I knew I was safe. I knew I had beaten the throw,” said Moustakas, who went to first base and stood there, awaiting a decision from the dugout. “I never [signal to the dugout]. I know they’re going to look at the play, no matter what the play is.”
Counsell dismissed any suggestion that the call was carried over from those tense May games in Milwaukee.
“No, he missed the call. That’s [it]. Come on,” Counsell said.
2. Fancy footwork
The inning: Bottom sixth
The call: Brandon Crawford safe at first
The result: Overturned
Moustakas’ throwing error put the Giants in business before Crawford hit a bouncer to Aguilar, who hoped to start a double play. He fed to shortstop Orlando Arcia covering second base, who then fed back to second baseman Hernan Perez covering first. Perez handled the throw and danced across the bag as Crawford arrived. Estabrook’s initial call was safe, but the Brewers challenged and were again rewarded for it. Milwaukee remained within a run at 3-2.
“That’s just a great game awareness play,” Counsell said. “I’m sure you guys saw just how far he ran to cover the base. It’s pretty amazing.”
“He got over there and made an incredible play,” Moustakas said. “That’s something you don’t ever see, a second baseman being that aware and getting over there. That’s a huge double play for us right there.”
3. Kick save
The inning: Bottom seventh
The call: Pillar safe at second
The result: Confirmed
Pillar singled off Matt Albers leading off the seventh, but he appeared to get picked off when Albers' replacement, Alex Claudio, threw over. Aguilar, however, had trouble getting the baseball out of his glove, so his throw down to Arcia at second base was delayed.
As Pillar slid feet-first, he kicked the base loose from its peg and was called safe by second-base umpire Chad Fairchild. Again, the Brewers challenged, but this time replay officials determined that Pillar touched second base prior to the tag. By Rule 5.09(b)(4), if the impact of a runner breaks a base loose from its position, no play can be made on that runner at that base if he had reached the base safely.
"That’s definitely a first for me,” Pillar said. “I didn’t know what the rule was. In a brief conversation with the umpire at second base, he said in the many years that he’d been doing it, he’d never seen that before either. I guess you play this game long enough, you see things you’ve never seen on a baseball field.
"I just tried to stay in the general area. It’s part of the game, running first move, and sometimes you have the speed to beat the throw there, but it is a little bit of an uncomfortable situation when you’re running and the ball is thrown behind you. You’re just hoping you beat the throw there. You get there and the base is no longer there, it’s a stressful situation."
“I thought there was very little chance we win the challenge,” Counsell said. “When the base comes out, they can rule it dead. But there’s two outs left [before the decision to challenge calls shifts to the umpires], so I took a shot. They probably got it right.”