20 Apr 14
The Giants left San Diego this afternoon with one victory by the skin of their teeth, or, perhaps, the brush of a catcher’s mitt against a player’s jersey, 4-3.
The brush of a catcher’s mitt in question occurred in the bottom of the third. Xavier Nady, the former Giant, headed for home following Will Venable and Seth Smith, both of whom scored easily. The relay from Brandon Belt (itself relayed from Hunter Pence) Buster Posey caught and wheeled to his left to attempt to tag Nady as he headed to brush the plate with his back leg.
The umpire ruled Nady safe. But the Giants challenged the call, and after a scant 88 seconds, the umpires in New York saw what the television viewers saw on their replay: Posey indeed tagged Nady after he wheeled to his left to make the put out. Nady was out, and his run came off the board. By the margin of that run, the Giants won the game.
Had not Nady been ruled out, Giants’ starter Time Lincecum would have been in big trouble with a runner on third and two outs. Instead the inning was over, and the Giants held a two-run lead. Lincecum went on to pitch three more full innings and to claim the victory, improving his record to 1-1. He allowed 7 hits, 3 earned runs, 3 walks, and 1 home run. He struck out 7. He bettered his opponent, Robbie Erlin, who gathered his second loss to make his record stand at 1-2.
All tangled up at the plate, Pablo Sandoval took the day off. Buster Posey hit his fourth homer in the first inning to build the Giants a 4-run lead with Angel Pagan’s 2-run single in the second.
The Giants play three in Colorado beginning Monday evening.
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