SAN FRANCISCO -- A few minutes before 2:30 p.m. PT on Sunday, an Oracle Park vendor walked up and down the aisles behind the plate and frantically tried to remind fans that beer sales would be cut off soon. At around the same time, Anthony DeSclafani looked up at a clock in the Giants clubhouse and did a double-take when he saw the time.
DeSclafani and Kansas City Royals starter Kris Bubic had buzzed through three hitless innings apiece in just 38 minutes and the pace didn't slow much from there. When the game was over after two hours and 15 minutes, DeSclafani joked that it felt like he was sitting down in the dugout every inning and then getting right back up.
Everything is faster with the MLB's pitch clock, including the rallies. On Sunday, that benefited the Giants, who stunned the Royals in the eighth and came back for a 3-1 win that kept them from getting swept.
The exciting rally included an RBI double, a mad dash from first and Michael Conforto's long game-winning homer into the arcade section. The whole thing lasted about three minutes.
"Everything feels faster," Conforto said. "Quick innings are very, very quick, and those kinds of rallies, I mean, they happen so fast. We saw it against us in the game yesterday. It's just kind of one of those things. We always say hitting is contagious, but I think it almost plays it up even more with the clock and just feeding off each other's energy. We'll have to remember that and take advantage of that."
Conforto fed off rookie Bryce Johnson, who raced from first to home in 10.39 seconds, the fastest such dash of the season in MLB. Johnson is the fastest player on the roster and won a job in camp by stealing 12 bases in 12 chances, but until the eighth inning Sunday, he had not had a chance to show off his defining skill.
A bloop single put Johnson on with one out in the eighth, and with the Giants trailing by a run, everyone in both dugouts knew he was going. Johnson tried to steal during the next at-bat but Thairo Estrada flied out as he was taking second, and he casually retreated to first. He went again on an 0-1 pitch to Wilmer Flores and had the bag stolen easily, but that presented a problem.
Johnson was sliding into second as the ball ripped down the left field line, but he popped up quickly and saw third base coach Mark Hallberg frantically waving him home. Johnson never broke stride and scored ahead of a strong throw from left fielder Nate Eaton.
In the dugout, Johnson told Hallberg that he couldn't have stopped him even if he wanted to because he had too much momentum going.
San Francisco Giants
"No, bro, I was sending you the whole time," Hallberg told him.
Johnson said he picked up the ball as soon as he popped up on second. After that, his speed took over.
"It was go time," he said.
That's not something these Giants can say often. They have one of the slowest collections of position players in the big leagues, but Johnson is an exception, and he provided a reminder that there's nothing quite like speed in the late innings. The 30,000 fans at Oracle Park roared as Johnson rounded the bases and the dugout exploded after a perfect slide.
"It was huge," Conforto said. "He fired me up. From the on-deck circle I'm down there and I'm supposed to tell him which way to slide so I had a great view of it. I saw him slide headfirst into second and he's gotta get up and round the bases. It's just an incredible play."
Conforto's game-winner came on a day when he nearly wasn't in the lineup. The Giants faced a left-handed starter for the first time this season and the staff debated whether Conforto or Mike Yastrzemski would get the day off Sunday, with the other possibly sitting Monday. Conforto was hitless against Bubic but smoked a 429-foot homer off reliever Ryan Yarbrough, becoming the first Giants hitter to homer off a lefty this season.
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The game-winner was more of what this roster is built around, but the Giants know they'll have to be more athletic moving forward. The new rules have shortened games but also brought speed back into the picture, and Johnson's ability could make him a game-changer late in games.
"We were having trouble getting on base, period," manager Gabe Kapler said. "That's what we needed to kind of get the fire started."