LOS ANGELES — For the last 52 days, a Giants team that enjoyed an unlikely first half run of excellence has sat alone in first place in the National League West.
Thanks to Buster Posey, Wilmer Flores and closer Tyler Rogers, they’ve made it 53 in stunning fashion.
A night after the Giants coughed up a 6-1 fifth inning lead and lost 8-6 on a walk-off three-run home run from Dodgers catcher Will Smith, it was San Francisco’s turn to break hearts as Flores launched a go-ahead two-run home run off closer Kenley Jansen to power the Giants to a come-from-behind 4-2 win.
“This group roots pretty hard for Wilmer Flores,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “He’s been as clutch as any hitter that we’ve had over the course of the last two seasons. This was his M.O. when he was in New York. He’s always been known to be clutch and come up in big spots and thrive in the biggest moments.”
With the Giants trailing 2-1 entering the ninth, Posey came off the bench for his fourth pinch-hit appearance of the season. The catcher drilled a Jansen sinker into right field to start a Giants rally before Steven Duggar replaced him as a pinch-runner.
Duggar didn’t have to do more than jog.
On the third pitch of Flores’ at-bat, he crushed a cutter 406 feet into the left field bleachers to stun a Dodgers crowd that was sent into a frenzy only 24 hours earlier when Smith launched a Rogers slider deep into the night.
“I was looking for something exactly where he threw it,” Flores said. “Something hard and something up.”
With Rogers warming in the bullpen, a Giants’ offense that has struggled to manufacture runs of late rallied for one more as a Darin Ruf double followed by walks from Donovan Solano and Thairo Estrada convinced Dodgers manager Dave Roberts to pull Jansen.
After lefty Victor González struck out LaMonte Wade Jr., Curt Casali drew a five-pitch walk to bring home Ruf.
Immediately after Rogers surrendered the walk-off home run on Tuesday, Giants manager Gabe Kapler affirmed his confidence in the right-hander and said he “couldn’t wait,” for the next opportunity to send him back to the mound.
Rogers got one heck of a chance at redemption.
Smith led off the bottom of the ninth inning and flew out to right field on the second pitch he saw before Cody Bellinger grounded out and A.J. Pollock tapped out to complete a smooth 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth.
“That was huge to get right back out there and try to forget about it,” Rogers said. “It’s just so cool to see all the guys in the clubhouse just happy for me. I’m happy for all of them. Kapler showing the trust in me personally was huge for my confidence tonight.”
Smith and Pollock are two of just five players who have ever homered off Rogers in a major league game, but neither were able to get their best swings off against the Giants’ righty.
“I’m going to have a celebratory Bud Light,” Rogers said a night after he vowed to wash away the disappointment of with a cheap beer.
The blown save marked Jansen’s first against the Giants since September 12, 2013, when Gregor Blanco recorded a game-tying hit in the ninth inning before the Dodgers won 3-2 in 10 innings.
The victory allowed the Giants to extend their near two-month reign atop the division and guaranteed they would at least split a pivotal four-game set in Los Angeles. Regardless of what takes place in Thursday’s finale, the Giants will head home for the weekend in sole possession of first place to face a Pirates team that was just swept in four games by the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The late heroics overshadowed impressive work from Giants starter Logan Webb who tossed five innings of two-run ball before relievers Jay Jackson, Zack Littell and José Álvarez held the Dodgers without a baserunner from the sixth to the eighth innings.
“Those guys, especially the last couple of times I’ve thrown and not been able to have a full workload, it’s been awesome,” Webb said of the relievers. “It’s a great group of guys and just to be able to watch them work each day, just like the rest of our team, it’s a great group of dudes.”
Unlike veteran starter Aaron Sanchez who is scheduled to make his seventh rehab start Thursday with Triple-A Sacramento since being sidelined with a shoulder injury and subsequent blister issue, Webb wasn’t given the luxury of building up his stamina in the minors.
When the youngest member of the Giants’ roster was ready to start pitching again after a five-week absence due to a shoulder injury, San Francisco thrust him back into the rotation for a three-inning start against the Nationals on Friday, July 9.
Webb still isn’t ready to throw 100 or more pitches in a start, but he’s been effective and efficient since returning from the injured list. Wednesday’s 75-pitch outing at Dodger Stadium went almost as well as the Giants could have hoped as he completed five innings while limiting a deep Los Angeles lineup to two runs.
Webb’s outing started poorly as he gave up a leadoff solo home run to shortstop Chris Taylor, who tormented the Giants with two home runs in Tuesday’s 8-6 loss, but he rebounded by only allowing two hits over the remainder of his start.
