By Jeremy Kahn
PHOENIX-Eric Chavez played against the San Francisco Giants in the Bay Bridge Series for the Oakland A’s, but he is now playing for the Arizona Diamondbacks and he continues to be a pest for the Orange and Black.
Chavez hit a walk-off single off of Sandy Rosario in the bottom of the ninth inning, as the Diamondbacks defeated the Giants 4-3 before a crowd of 36,091 at Chase Field.
“It was a fastball away. I’d never faced that guy before, so I didn’t know what he had. I was just looking for a strike,” said Chavez.
In his career versus the Giants, Chavez is now 43-for-174, a .247 clip over his 15-year career with the A’s, New York Yankees and now the Diamondbacks.
“This has kind of been the only time I haven’t swung the bat good the whole year, but I feel fine. I just haven’t been getting any hits. So that was a nice one to get,” said Chavez.
Willie Bloomquist led off the ninth inning with a single, and then after an Adam Eaton sacrifice bunt advanced Bloomquist to second base, Paul Goldschmidt was walked intentionally to bring Chavez to the plate and he took a Rosario offering to the opposite field to win the game.
It was the 12th walk-off win of the season for the Diamondbacks and the first walk-off for Chavez since June 4, 2007 against the Boston Red Sox, when he hit a home run in the bottom of the 11th inning off of Kyle Snyder and made a winner out of current Giants reliever Santiago Casilla (according to Retrosheet).
After being tamed by former Oakland A’s pitcher Trevor Cahill for six innings, the San Francisco Giants finally got to the right-hander in the top of the seventh inning.
Cahill pitched 6.1 innings, allowing three runs on nine hits, while walking three and striking out three.
Gregor Blanco led off the top of the seventh inning with his second home run of the season to get the Giants their first run since Angel Pagan scored in the top of the first inning of Friday night’s 1-0 victory.
After a Roger Kieschnick strike out, Pagan singled and then scored the second run of the inning on a triple by Marco Scutaro.
Brandon Belt struck out for the second out of the inning, and then the Giants tied up the game on a single by Buster Posey off of Josh Collmenter.
Hunter Pence then singled for his third hit of the game that advanced Posey to third, but the two were stranded, as Pablo Sandoval grounded out to Collmenter to end the inning.
Pagan came up huge in the field in the bottom of the seventh inning, as he made a diving catch off a sinking liner off the bat of Montero.
“Did a great job again, he’s excited to be back,” said Bruce Bochy.
Miguel Montero got the Diamondbacks on the board after he singled to right field in the bottom of the fourth inning, to score Martin Prado, who doubled to leadoff the inning.
Following the Montero single, Gerardo Parra hit a sacrifice fly to Pence in right field that scored Aaron Hill, who singled following Prado.
After a sacrifice bunt by Cahill, that advanced Montero to second base, Willie Bloomquist drove in the third run of the frame to score Montero, but after attempting to stretch the single into a double, Bloomquist was tagged out by Brandon Belt after a great throw by Pagan in centerfield.
Ryan Vogelsong saw his scoreless inning end at 15, as he allowed those three runs to cross the plate in the bottom of the fourth inning.
In all, Vogelsong went six innings, allowing three runs on nine hits, while walking two and striking out one.
This was the seventh consecutive start that Vogelsong held his opponent to three runs-or less.
“Felt pretty good, I was not as sharp as I was on Sunday,” said Vogelsong.
Vogelsong did pickup his second hit of the season in the top of the fifth inning with a single, but was stranded at third base.
Like in the fifth inning, when Vogelsong was stranded at third base, it happened again in the top of the sixth inning, as Hunter Pence was stranded just 90 feet away from home plate.
Pence advanced to second on a wild pitch after singling with one out, went to third on a Pablo Sandoval ground out to first base and then Brandon Crawford struck out swinging to end the inning.
Things could have gotten a lot worse for the Giants in the bottom of the sixth inning, as the Diamondbacks loaded the bases with one out.
Aaron Hill walked, then Montero singled and then Parra singled to load up the bases against Vogelsong.
Cahill hit a sharp hit ball to Crawford at shortstop, and he threw to plate, where Buster Posey just barely got to home plate ahead of the sliding Hill for the second out of the inning.
Bloomquist then grounded out to Vogelsong for the final out of the inning, and escape the jam.
There was a scary moment for Bochy in the bottom of the fourth inning, as Montero lost control of his bat and flew towards the Giants dugout.
“The net saved me,” said Bochy.
Not did it get a chuckle from the Giants dugout, but Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson was shown on the television getting a good laugh.
“My guys did too,” said Bochy.
NOTES: Yusmeiro Petit will take the ball in the series finale against his former team, while 13-game winner Patrick Corbin will head to the mound for the Diamondbacks.
With the loss, the Giants drop 2-3 on their three-city, 10-day road trip, thru Colorado, Arizona and San Diego.
The Giants are now 26-40 (.393) away from AT&T Park with 15 games remaining, the fifth-lowest winning percentage in the National League.
Tony Abreu will be activated back to the roster on Sunday, as major league teams can increase their rosters for the final month of the season.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau in Friday night’s 1-0 victory, this was the first time in 21 years that the Giants won a game where they scored their only run in the top of the first inning.
On their last two occasions, both wins came against the Atlanta Braves (August 7, 1991 and September 30, 1992).
DOWN ON THE FARM: Infielder Christian Arroyo, the first-round pick in the 2013 MLB Draft, was named the Arizona Rookie League MVP.
In 45 games with the AZL Giants, Arroyo batted .326 going 60-184 at the plate with 25 extra base hits and 45 runs scored.
Arroyo was not the only player to be named to the AZL All-Star team, as Giants second round pick infielder Ryder Jones and left-handed pitcher Luis Ysla and AZL Giants manager Nestor Rojas was named Field Staff All-Star of the Year.
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