Reigning Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes was so dominant that the Brewers right-hander had the Giants on the ropes from the first pitch of Monday’s game in Milwaukee.
But when Burnes began to pull, it was rookie center fielder Luis González who helped the Giants punch their way back. It was González’s seventh-inning single that chased Milwaukee’s starter from the game and it was the rookie’s two-run, ninth-inning homer off reliever Jake Cousins that powered the Giants to an impressive 4-2 come-from-behind win.
In between González’s hits, slugger Joc Pederson provided the type of gut punch that has defined his brief tenure with San Francisco. If there was any doubt as to whether actions speak louder than words, look no further than the towering 435-foot, go-ahead home run Pederson smashed in the eighth inning off of former Giants right-hander Trevor Gott.
With the Giants trailing 1-0, Pederson called timeout, stepped out of the left-handed batter’s box and acknowledged a fan heckling him from the lower box seats. Then he deposited the two-run blast over the right center field wall to move him into a tie with Atlanta’s Ozzie Albies for the major league lead with six homers on the season.
As Pederson dropped his bat to the ground, he turned to face the heckler again before jogging around the bases following a swing that sent a jolt of electricity through the Giants’ dugout.
Moments later, the Brewers struck back against lefty Jake McGee as shortstop Willy Adames sent a game-tying homer over the left center field wall.
On a night when the Giants had already used seven relievers and couldn’t afford to play extra innings, González assured they didn’t. After fouling off back-to-back two-strike pitches from Cousins, the 26-year-old Mexico native sent a high, arcing flyball toward the right field corner that landed in the second deck of the bleachers for his first career home run.
A two-run lead created enough breathing room for Camilo Doval, the Giants’ eighth pitcher of the night, to pick up the save.
With two starters, Anthony DeSclafani and Alex Cobb, already on the injured list and another in Carlos Rodón who needed an extra day of rest before pitching on Tuesday at Oracle Park against the A’s, the Giants asked their bullpen to cover all nine innings for the second time in four days.
A relief corps that entered the game with a major league-best 1.71 ERA lowered that mark as the lone earned run allowed over the final eight innings came against McGee in the eighth.
Milwaukee scored its first run in the second inning against right-hander Dominic Leone, who hurt his own cause by committing a throwing error on an unnecessary pick-off attempt to second base.
One run may have been enough for Milwaukee with the way Burnes was pitching, but the Giants remained competitive by driving up the right-hander’s pitch count. Pederson’s seven-pitch walk in the sixth preceded a nine-pitch strikeout from Brandon Crawford in the seventh before Wilmer Flores became Burnes’ 11th strikeout with a six-pitch at-bat.
On his 106th pitch of the night, Burnes finally surrendered his second hit of the evening as González drilled a groundball single through the left side of the Brewers’ infield. The former St. Mary’s (Moraga) star exited to a standing ovation, but with Milwaukee hoping to avoid using standout set-up man Devin Williams and All-Star closer Josh Hader, the Giants had given themselves enough time to mount a comeback.
And after González, who was claimed on waivers last summer and re-signed on a minor league deal in December, delivered the go-ahead hit, the team wrapped up its best 10-plus game road trip in nearly 30 years with an 8- 3 mark.
Speaking of the road trip, how did the Giants end up in Milwaukee again?
The Giants’ visit lasted fewer than 24 hours, but was required due to a scheduling adjustment resulting from the mid-spring agreement between MLB owners and the Players Association on a new collective bargaining agreement.
After the first week of the regular season schedule was wiped away due to the 99-day owner-imposed lockout, the league found new dates for three games between the Giants and Brewers that were initially scheduled for San Francisco’s first road trip of the season. Monday’s game was jammed between a previously scheduled 10-game road trip and a two-game series at Oracle Park while the other two games will be played as part of a September 8 doubleheader in between trips to Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles and Wrigley Field in Chicago.
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George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism