PHILADELPHIA -- The Giants and Phillies played for four hours and 52 minutes on Tuesday night, and a lot of the action was forgettable. There were missed opportunities with runners in scoring position, bad calls by the umpires, bobbled balls on the field, poor pitches and even loose shoelaces.
There were also plenty of highlights, most notably for the Giants: Luis Gonzalez's two-run double, Donovan Walton's big RBI and a majestic Joc Pederson homer that brought the final two runs across in a 7-4 win.
After all of that, Gabe Kapler was eager to talk about ... his young catcher who struck out three more times.
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This has been a nightmare start to what should have been Joey Bart's breakout season. He's hitting .153 and striking out 54 percent of the time, and the power the Giants expected has dried up.
Bart's third strikeout Tuesday came after the Phillies intentionally walked the bases loaded with two outs in the 10th. It was on a missed 3-2 call, and Bart took that frustration out in the dugout. And then Kapler watched him regroup, pull his catcher's gear back on and get his head back in the game. The rookie catcher was crucial in helping the Giants make a big decision in the 11th, and Kapler was pleased.
With the Giants leading by three and Bryce Harper coming up with two outs and two on, Kapler walked out for a mound meeting. Kapler hates intentionally walking someone in that situation, but his inclination was to put Harper on first and let lefty Jose Alvarez go after Roman Quinn, who would have the platoon advantage but is a light hitter.
Still, there was some indecision. Kapler and Alvarez discussed throwing Harper a couple of chase pitches to see if he would bite. That's when Bart spoke up.
San Francisco Giants
"Joe had strong conviction: Walk him, let's just walk him. I thought that was really impressive," Kapler said. "That's not something that you hear from a young catcher often. He inspired conviction from the other people on the mound, myself, and Jose Alvarez. I think that mattered. I think sometimes we're pretty singularly focused on offense or defense, but there are some leadership characteristics that really came out today."
Bart said it was an easy call for him, noting that Harper is the reigning National League MVP. "I just felt like the best way to win was staying away from Harper," he said.
Kapler called the forcefulness one of the "better moments of [Bart's] career," noting that the Giants want all of their players to pride themselves on not getting too high or too low. That has been difficult in recent weeks for Bart, who has just one hit in his last 20 at-bats and has lost the No. 1 catcher job to Curt Casali over the latter half of May.
Giants coaches have seen Bart lose some confidence, which is natural for anyone struggling with strikeouts. What has not changed is Bart's desire to work through this. Teammates and coaches have praised him in recent days for the time and energy he continues to put in.
"It's been a tough spot for me, no doubt. There's really nothing to say other than I'm going to show up every day and work my ass off," Bart said. "That's all I'm going to do, and I'll keep bringing it defensively. I know what kind of player I am and I can be, and obviously I haven't been that player so far and it's super frustrating, no doubt, but I can't take it to defense.
"I've got to show up behind the plate and handle a staff and make plays and try to put the best game together behind the plate. I think our guys really came out and executed. A couple of swings helped them, but other than that, we're really holding a team that has a lot of star power and a lot of pop in the bat to really not doing much damage."
Jakob Junis and seven relievers combined to throw 183 pitches, and Bart caught every one of them. That would have been an exhausting night for Bart under any circumstance, but it turned into a frustrating one after the bad call in the 10th. With the bases loaded, Bart worked a 3-2 count and then let a sinker go by. It was off the plate on the inside, but home plate umpire David Rackley called it an inning-ending strikeout. Bart hung his head back in disbelief and walked slowly back to the dugout.
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The Giants have been waiting for Bart to run into one and snap out of this funk. At the very least, that would have been an RBI walk -- a positive result that kept the line moving at the end of a long plate appearance for a young hitter who desperately needs something like that right now.
"When it's going, it's going -- everything goes against you," Bart said. "It is what it is. I have no excuses for anything."
Bart said it would have been selfish to take that frustration back out behind the plate, noting that every pitcher he works with has a family to support, too, and they need 100 percent of his effort. Asked about his struggles at the plate, he put the responsibility on his own shoulders, saying hopefully the production is around the corner.
"If it was easy it wouldn't be worth it," he said. "There's a plan for me in this. I'm going to keep working my tail off every day and I'm going to bring it every day behind the dish and in the box. Hopefully sooner or later, things get better."