It’s safe to say that Wednesday night was the best night of Victor Bericoto’s young major league career. On a night where he gunned down a runner at home plate, the 24-year-old rookie hit a two-out 9th inning home run off Oakland Las Vegas Sacramento Athletics closer Elvis Alvarado (3-3) to give the San Francisco Giants a 2-1 victory.
Bericoto’s team trailed 1-0 going into the final inning, thanks to a home run by Max “No Not That One” Muncy, who went deep in the 8th inning to break a scoreless tie. Erik Miller (1-0) pitched out of a jam in the top of the inning, aided by some fine outfield defense, which set the stage for the Giants’ dinger party in the bottom half.
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First, Rafael Devers treated an Alvarado four-seam fastball like it was a story about him refusing to come out of the game for a pinch-runner, and his bat was the media. Devers blew it all out of proportion, launching the ball 416 feet into center field. Take that, organic eatery!
Then Alvarado hung a slider to Bericoto, and he blasted a rainbow God’s promise to humanity a secular, parabolically-arcing home run 445 feet over the wall, delighting Giants fans and reminding A’s fans what a truly punishing experience supporting their ungrateful team can be.
It’s a shame that starter Tyler Mahle couldn’t get his second win of the season after throwing 5.2 scoreless innings, striking out four, walking two, and giving up two hits. Mahle retired the first nine batters he faced, didn’t give up a hit until the 5th inning, and generally enjoyed his best outing in seven weeks, before his injured list stint for a totally-real ailment that wasn’t just cover for Mahle, well, sucking ass.
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The Giants helped out Mahle on defense Wednesday night. In the 4th inning, Casey Schmitt started a double play with a backhanded stop and flip to Willy Adames. One batter later, Jung Hoo Lee chased down a long drive while crashing into the right field wall.
It’s been a brutal series for Lee so far. He’s crashed into a wall and been clotheslined by the second baseman thanks to an errant throw while stealing second. Jacob Wilson had to barehand another wild throw to protect Lee while he stood on second on a different play. Early in Wednesday’s game, Lee almost got drilled with a foul ball while minding his own business in the dugout.
Later, Lee crashed into a chain-link fence on a different part of the right field wall while robbing pinch-hitter Jonah Heim with two out and two on in the top of the 9th inning. Perhaps Lee struck a deal with the baseball gods, where he became unstoppable at the plate in exchange for the ballpark actively trying to kill him.
In the 5th inning, Mahle escaped a two-on, one-out jam with a rarely-seen 4-7-2 double play. Schmitt snagged a Lawrence Butler line drive, then threw wildly to second trying to double Wilson off second. When the throw bounced into left field, Wilson tried to score, only to be gunned down by Victor Bericoto, despite Wilson’s creative efforts to dodge Eric Haase’s tag.
The Giants did very little against Athletics’ ace Gage Jump, who is apparently named after an X Games BMX event. Jump struck out nine hitters in five innings, with the home hitters struggling get a loud foul off the 23-year-old lefty. That being said, they did get a lot of foul balls off Jump — 21 in the first three innings. Jump struck out the side in the first inning, but it took him 19 pitches. He needed 17 pitches to retire Devers twice, while Bericoto and Haase each fouled off three two-strike pitches before going down on strikes.
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That meant Jump hit 97 pitches after five innings and the A’s bullpen took over. That didn’t help the Giants until the 8th, when pich-hitter Drew Gilbert and Matt Chapman drew walks, only to see Luis “Funky Cold” Medina whiff both Bryce Eldridge and Schmitt.
In the bullpen. Ryan Walker continued to be untouchable during Pride Month, either by opposing hitters or the commissioner’s office. He pitched a scoreless 7th, striking out Wilson, and has now given up only one hit and one walk in 4.2 innings in June.
But was Bericoto’s night as the Giants moved to 4-1 against their Highway 80 rivals. They’ll close the series Thursday, and if home runs are contagious, they couldn’t be facing a better pitcher than Jeffrey Springs, who has given up 21 homers so far this year. And he’s left-handed, which means Bericoto should get a shot at him. Who knows, maybe Mark Kotsay lets Springs run the bases and Bericoto can throw him out at the plate, too.
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