Jesus Rodriguez had a second chance Sunday, and this time he made it count. After striking out looking on four pitches in the 10th inning, Rodriguez came through in the 12th with a bases-loaded single to shallow right field that sent the San Francisco Giants past Pittsburgh 7-6 on Mother’s Day.
The game had been tied 6-6 after Willy Adames capped a rally with a 2-out, 2-RBI single, but Rodriguez first had to sit with the frustration of missing a chance to end it in extra innings. In the 10th inning on Sunday against Pittsburgh, Jesus Rodriguez had a chance to end the game but failed to deliver, and the 11th inning passed without a score after Ryan Borucki and the Giants defense held the Pirates scoreless.
That set up the 12th, where Justin Lawrence and the Pirates chose to walk Drew Gilbert with the bases loaded to get the matchup they wanted with Rodriguez. The gamble did not work. Rodriguez sent a 97 MPH sinker into shallow right field, and Heliot Ramos scored the winning run on the hit to finish off the Giants’ comeback.
The sequence fit the way Rodriguez is being used right now: learning to catch on the fly while trying to cover for a defensive hole left by one of the elite defenders in the league. That makes every at-bat carry a little more weight, especially in a tight game like this one, and the Giants needed every bit of it after losing their previous game badly in what was described as their worst game of the season.
Rodriguez’s finish also landed in the shadow of Patrick Bailey, a comparison that already points to the kind of place the Giants value most. Bailey may be remembered in San Francisco for his clutch hits despite a sub-.600 OPS, and Rodriguez just added his own entry to that category with a swing that turned a tense Sunday into a 7-6 win. For a club that needed a response, Mother’s Day offered it in the form of one sharp, decisive hit.
