There was a game played yesterday in which the home team trailed 3-0 in the sixth, 4-3 in the ninth, and 5-4 in the twelfth; they came back to tie the first two times, and took their first lead on the last play of the game. It was a phenomenal game, the twelfth-best of the season so far.
Giants 11, Pirates 10 (13) was better, and by a healthy margin.
As you might expect from the final score, neither starter was especially effective in this one. Pittsburgh's Jeff Locke caught a break in the first when he picked off Angel Pagan, who had led off with a single. That helped him get the inning to two outs, nobody on - at which point Buster Posey singled, Mike Morse doubled to score one run, and Hector Sanchez singled to drive in another.
San Francisco's Yusmeiro Petit made the lead stand up for the first two innings; Josh Harrison led off the first with a single but was erased on Neil Walker's double play ball, and a single-and-steal by Starling Marte and an Ike Davis walk were wasted in the bottom of the second. But Locke was spotless in the second and third, keeping his team in the game, and the Pirates made their presence felt in the third in a big way. With one out, Harrison singled and stole second, then scored on Walker's single. Andrew McCutchen made it three singles in a row, putting the tying run in scoring position, and Pedro Alvarez followed with a go-ahead 3-run homer.
Locke was perfect again in the fourth and fifth, while Petit put Harrison on with a walk in the fourth, but this time saw him caught stealing second. Pittsburgh struck again in the bottom of the fifth, starting with a one-out double by McCutchen. Alvarez singled to drive in a run, Marte doubled to put runners at second and third, and Davis was intentionally walked to load the bases. Jake Dunning relieved Petit and promptly brought another run in with a wild pitch; Tony Sanchez walked to reload the bases, another wild pitch scored Marte, and Clint Barmes brought Davis in with a sac fly. Sanchez was thrown out trying for third on the play, bringing the inning to a merciful conclusion.
The Pirates were now ahead 8-2 and their pitcher hadn't permitted a baserunner in four innings, so of course everything went horribly wrong. Pagan, Hunter Pence, and Posey started the sixth inning with singles, the third of which scored a run. Morse struck out, but Hector Sanchez singled Pence home to chase Locke from the mound. Bryan Morris relieved as part of a double switch, with Jordy Mercer replacing Barmes at short; the substitutions had little to no immediate effect, as Pablo Sandoval singled to load the bases, Brandon Hicks doubled a pair of runs home, and Brandon Crawford added a sac fly that brought his team to within 8-7.
Pittsburgh's double switch paid dividends in the bottom of the sixth when Mercer greeted JC Gutierrez with a double and came around to score on a pair of outs. But San Francisco came back in the top of the seventh, as Justin Wilson gave up a single to Pence and walked Posey, then came out for Tony Watson, who promptly yielded an RBI double to Morse and a game-tying single to Hector Sanchez. Sandoval hit into a double play to leave the go-ahead run at third.
Gutierrez recorded the first two outs of the seventh with no particular fuss; the third would be more of a challenge. Davis walked and Tony Sanchez singled, prompting a relief appearance from Jeremy Affeldt. Travis Snider (who had entered the game along with Watson an inning earlier in a second double switch) was pulled for pinch hitter Jose Tabata, who singled Davis home with the go-ahead run. Watson and Affeldt both allowed two-out hits in the eighth (a Joaquin Arias single and a McCutchen triple, respectively), and both stranded the runner.
Mark Melancon took over for the save situation in the top of the ninth. It lasted all of two hitters, as Pence led off with a single, advanced on a wild pitch, and scored on Posey's single. Posey was pulled for a pinch runner, and Morse promptly wasted that move by hitting into a force. Morse was also lifted for a faster player, who was immediately thrown out trying for third on Hector Sanchez's single. Sanchez was not pulled for a pinch runner, but pinch hitter Brandon Belt grounded out anyway. Santiago Casilla worked a spotless bottom of the inning to force extras.
Of course, the scoring promptly ceased. Jeanmar Gomez allowed a Crawford single in the tenth, but the runner was quickly caught stealing. Casilla walked Chris Stewart (now catching for the Pirates after their third double switch of the day), then sent him to third on a wild pitch and a passed ball before Walker struck out to end the inning. Gomez allowed a single-and-steal to Pagan in the eleventh, but stranded him at second in part because the pinch hitter the Giants used with two outs was Madison Bumgarner, who you may recognize as one of their starting pitchers.
Jean Machi relieved in the bottom of the eleventh and allowed a single to McCutchen, then committed an error that put Marte on base as well, but Davis hit into a double play to extinguish the threat. San Francisco rallied in the twelfth when Belt singled and stole second, but after an intentional walk to Crawford, Arias hit into an inning-ending force. The Pirates also used a pitcher as a pinch hitter in the twelfth, and Gerrit Cole actually singled to lead off the inning. One out later, Mercer singled as well, but Stewart then hit into, yes, a double play to quash another rally.
Jared Hughes relieved in the top of the thirteenth; his appearance went less than ideally. With one out, he walked Pence, then hit Juan Perez with a pitch. Machi, hitting for himself for lack of a better option, managed to get a bunt down, and Hughes continued to utterly lack control, throwing wildly to allow Pence to come in with the go-ahead run. Hughes settled down to record a pair of strikeouts and end the inning, but Sergio Romo cancelled a Walker HBP by inducing an Alvarez double play to end the game.
There were two players tied for first in batting WPA in this game. One was former NL MVP Buster Posey, who went 3/4 with three runs scored and two RBI, the second of which represented the game-tying run in the ninth inning. Posey's effort was worth +.325 WPA.
The other? Relief pitcher Jean Machi, who entered the game with a fairly typical career batting line for a reliever: 0 for 1 with a strikeout. This time, he got down the sacrifice bunt as ordered, and was rewarded by the opposing pitcher throwing it away to bring in the go-ahead run in the thirteenth. Not only did this earn Machi a Posey-tying +.325 batting WPA, it also set him up for his fifth win of the year, a total that equals the major league lead. Throw in two scoreless innings of relief (albeit assisted by two of the five double plays the Giants turned during the game), and you've got a pretty clear (and unlikely) selection as the hero of the third-best game of 2014 so far.
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