Belt embraces wild Opening Day boat entrance, backs it up

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SAN FRANCISCO -- Brandon Belt isn't quite sure how he ended up on a boat on Friday afternoon. 

The self-proclaimed captain of the Giants spends more time on the water than any of his teammates and even hosted a fishing tournament this February in Texas. But when it came to the over-the-top entrance into Oracle Park to throw out the ceremonial first pitch for the 2022 season, Belt was hazy on the details. 

How did he end up on a boat?

"I'm not really sure, to be honest with you. They asked me and I said yes for some reason," Belt said after a 6-5 win over the Miami Marlins. "No, I thought it was an honor to be able to throw out the first pitch for the San Francisco Giants. I thought that was pretty cool. I figured my boys and my family would enjoy watching it. I'm not sure how the boat thing came about, but when it's something pretty ridiculous like that you've just gotta own it."

Belt said the Giants approached him last week with a plan to enter from a boat on McCovey Cove. That complicated idea was scrapped, and instead a truck towed a boat in from left field, Belt soaking in every last second of it. He played the part, too, but that was no surprise. 

"I don't know anyone else that can do that," starter Logan Webb said. "But he can do that. It's Brandon Belt."

Webb, who threw six strong innings, corrected himself. It's Captain Brandon Belt these days, a well-known fact in the clubhouse. But even most of the Giants were surprised when they saw Belt emerge from the left field wall, a captain's hat on his head as he tossed baseballs to adoring fans. 

"That was kept well under wraps," said Darin Ruf, who scored the winning run on Austin Slater's double. 

The stunt came with some risk, and not just because, as some Giants joked before and after the game, Belt has a long injury history. He got only nine at-bats in spring training because of knee irritation, striking out four times without collecting a hit. If Belt had gone 0-for-4 in a loss, the pregame festivities wouldn't have seemed so funny. 

"After he struck out in his first at-bat he was like, 'I shouldn't have done that,' " Ruf said, smiling. 

Belt found his swing quickly, though. He pushed a bunt the other way to help get the first run across and then hit a homer in the eighth, one that turned out to be crucial as the game went to extras. 

Belt said after his spring debut last Saturday that he felt "underwater" at the plate. After the second Cactus League game, he was "above water, on the beach, a little bit still in the sand and slow." 

(Yes, there is a theme to all of this.)

By the time the Giants flew to San Francisco, Belt was finding his timing. On Friday, he looked like the hitter who led the way for much of the second half last year. 

"I've been through it before," Belt said of the ramp-up. "I knew how to attack it, I think."

That magnificent second half ended when Belt tried to bunt at Coors Field in September. It took some guts, then, to square around in his second plate appearance of the following year, but Belt said he wasn't thinking about getting hit again.

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His push bunt busted the shift and gave the Giants the lead. His homer padded it, and when Camilo Doval blew the save, Thairo Estrada stepped up with a blast. In extras, Ruf and Slater backed a strong effort from relievers John Brebbia and Jose Alvarez. They made sure the day started with laughter and ended with celebration.

Belt soaked it all in, and at the end of a long first day at Oracle Park, he walked out of the clubhouse with a proud look on his face and a souvenir in his left hand. The Giants had put the first-pitch ball in a glass case and Belt was excited to take it home.

Somehow, he had made a ridiculous idea work, and he backed it all up on the field.

"He embraces it so hard," Brandon Crawford said, shaking his head. "You can say something and it doesn't even faze him."

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