There’s weird baseball, and then there’s the kind of baseball that the Giants and Diamondbacks played on Friday night -- a magnum opus of oddities, if you will. Madison Bumgarner took the hill for the Giants opposite Rubby De La Rosa, who was eligible for his first start since landing on the disabled list with a sprained ulnar collateral ligament. Following a successful rehab stint in High-A Visalia, De La Rosa tossed two innings against the Giants on a strict 50-pitch limit, as neither he nor the Diamondbacks wanted to risk further setbacks.
The first seven innings established a healthy, if fairly conventional, back-and-forth between the teams. Brandon Drury scored on a home run that was nearly overturned due to a questionable case of fan interference. Kyle Jensen hit a two-run jack off of Bumgarner in the third inning, succeeded by a tag-team effort from Joe Panik and Eduardo Nunez to plate a pair of runs in the fourth. Angel Pagan hit his 11th home run of the season, while Chris Owings knotted the score 5-5 after seven innings, driving in Socrates Brito on a fielding error and getting nabbed by a perfect throw to the plate moments later.
Over five hours and 20 combined pitchers later, it was time for weird baseball. Manager Bruce Bochy, having exhausted his supply of viable relievers, got creative with right-hander Cory Gearrin. During the 12th inning, he subbed his reliever for left fielder Angel Pagan, then brought Gearrin back to the mound in the next at-bat to face Paul Goldschmidt. It was the first time Gearrin had come face-to-face with the business end of the outfield, not to mention the first time since 2007 that the Giants had stashed a pitcher in the outfield, but no balls landed in his vicinity and he returned to close out the game for a 7-6 finish.
Not only was it one of the more peculiar games for the two NL West rivals, but it was one of the longest games of the season for both clubs. Clocking in at five hours and 23 minutes, it was the second-longest game the Giants have played this year, and the third-longest the Diamondbacks have endured. Fortunately for San Francisco, they’ve won every 5+ hour contest they’ve played so far in 2016, while Arizona has yet to clinch a marathon win.
Here are the rest of the box scores for Friday’s games. Keep an eye out for fourteen Jose Fernandez strikeouts, Mark Teixeira’s 11th career grand slam, and Kevin Kiermaier’s 99 m.p.h. putout.
Reds 4, Pirates 3
Nationals 5, Phillies 4
Yankees 7, Rays 5
Red Sox 13, Blue Jays 3
Tigers 4, Orioles 3
Marlins 4, Dodgers 1
Mets 6, Braves 4
Cubs 2, Astros 0
Indians 5, Twins 4
White Sox 7, Royals 2
Cardinals 4, Brewers 3
Giants 7, Diamondbacks 6 (12 innings)
Mariners 3, Athletics 2
Rangers 1, Angels 1
Rockies 4, Padres 1