Giants observations: Blake Sabol’s walk-off homer fuels win over Cardinals

What we learned as Sabol’s walk-off HR fuels win vs. Cardinals originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea

SAN FRANCISCO — Blake Sabol will spend this whole season under pressure since he’s a Rule 5 pick. Perhaps it’s time to start looking for a more permanent home than the team hotel.

Sabol hit a walk-off homer with two outs in the ninth on Tuesday night, stunning St. Louis Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley and giving the Giants a 5-4 win. The walk-off was Sabol’s first in the big leagues and the first of the season for the Giants, and it extended their winning streak to four games. 

The walk-off also got several teammates off the hook.

A play straight out of Little League got the Giants on the board first. When Thairo Estrada tried to steal second in the second inning, Willson Contreras’ throw sailed into center field. As Estrada cruised into third, center fielder Dylan Carlson overran the ball, allowing Estrada to race home.

The Cardinals tied it up on a Tommy Edman homer, but the Giants countered an inning later with a solo shot from Mike Yastrzemski. To better match up against St. Louis’ right-handed bats, the Giants went with a bullpen game, which was working out beautifully until the eighth. 

Scott Alexander was the sixth Giants pitcher to take the mound and he gave up two singles and a double as the Cardinals tied it up. Gabe Kapler brought closer Camilo Doval in to face Paul Goldschmidt, but the reigning NL MVP hit a 110 mph rocket that got past a drawn-in Brandon Crawford and scored two runs. 

Pederson led off the bottom of the ninth with a hard shot that led to an error at second base, and Yastrzemski followed with an RBI double. After Estrada popped up and Crawford struck out, Sabol jumped on a slider and ended the game. 

Hang ‘Em, Bang ‘Em

Yastrzemski jumped on an elevated curveball while leading off the fourth and crushed a no-doubter into the arcade section in right. The homer gave the Giants a 2-1 lead. 

Yastrzemski has five homers through 23 games, a pace that’s on par with his first three seasons with the Giants, not his disappointing 2022. He had just one homer last April and didn’t hit his fifth until June 3.

Bullpen-ing

Because the Cardinals have been the best team in the NL against lefties, the Giants went with an opener instead of Sean Manaea. John Brebbia had fun with it, warming up to a Kid Quill song that started with the lyrics, “I’m just the opener, no one came to see me.”

Brebbia got through Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado, as was the intention, and then turned it over to Manaea, who retired four of the five he faced but also gave up a solo homer. From there it was Jakob Junis, Taylor Rogers and Tyler Rogers to get a 2-1 lead through the seventh. Tyler Rogers was especially sharp, retiring all six he faced, including Goldschmidt and Arenado. 

Trending In The Wrong Direction

A brief “Let’s Go Cardinals” chant was heard in the eighth before it was drowned out by boos — and one person who mistakenly yelled “Go back to Kansas.” There was plenty of red behind the visiting dugout, and a night after announcing a crowd of only 20,203, the Giants said they drew 20,797.

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The early numbers this year were held up by a lot of weekend games and a series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, but this week is showing how much trust has to be built back. Even during last year’s disappointing .500 season, the Giants had just three crowds under 21,000. Their low during a non-pandemic season at Oracle Park is 20,039 from a Monday night game last May against the Colorado Rockies. 

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