SAN FRANCISCO — Austin Slater called game.
In his third game back from the injured list, Slater drove in the game-winning run in the 10th inning to cap off a three-run frame as the Giants beat the Astros, 4-3, on Monday at Oracle Park.
The Astros began the 10th inning by putting up up two runs to take a 3-1 lead. Victor Caratini capped off an 11-pitch plate appearance against Erik Miller by driving in Joey Loperfido with a sacrifice fly, giving the Astros the one-run lead. Following Jose Altuve’s bunt single, Alex Bregman drove in Trey Cabbage, who reached on his own bunt single, giving the Astros a two-run advantage.
Brett Wisely led off the bottom of the 10th with a sharp single to drive in Casey Schmitt, slicing the deficit to one run. Heliot Ramos reached base on an error by Peña, putting runners on first and second with no outs. Patrick Bailey followed Ramos with a bloop single to drive in Wisely and tie the ballgame. Michael Conforto loaded the bases as Rafael Montero misplayed a comebacker, loading the bases with no outs.
After Jorge Soler grounded into a force out, Slater hit a line drive over Loperfido’s head to drive in Bailey and secure the win.
Kyle Harrison allowed one run across 6 1/3 innings with three strikeouts, the first time in his first time pitching at least six innings in back-to-back starts since April. This is also the first time in Harrison’s career that he hasn’t allowed a single walk in consecutive starts.
Entering play, Harrison had allowed 17 earned runs over 26 innings (5.88 ERA) in his last five starts. During that stretch, opponents had a .318 batting average with an .885 OPS.
The Astros’ Spencer Arrighetti traded zeroes with Harrison through five innings, but in the sixth, Mike Yastrzemski launched a hanging curveball to Triples Alley to drive in Jorge Soler for the game’s first run. Per Baseball Savant, Yastrzemski’s 406-foot blast would’ve been a home run in any other stadium.
San Francisco’s lead wouldn’t last long. Yordan Alvarez led off the seventh with a triple, then subsequently scored on Jeremy Peña’s sacrifice fly to tie the game up at one. Alvarez, one of baseball’s slowest runners, could’ve settled for a double, but went for third base when Yastrzemski couldn’t cleanly and quickly get the ball back to the infield. Yastrzemski partially redeemed himself the following inning, laying out to rob Jon Singleton of extra bases.
Mauricio Dubón, making his return to San Francisco, went 1-for-4.
