Bailey's walk-off slam stuns Dodgers as Giants tighten NL Wild Card race

SAN FRANCISCO -- On the surface, Patrick Bailey’s offensive numbers don’t look pretty.

The Giants’ catcher entered Friday with a career-low .594 OPS over 120 games, the third-lowest mark among Major League hitters with at least 400 plate appearances this year.

But Bailey has helped make up for the overall down season by delivering some of the Giants’ biggest hits of the year, with his latest coming amid the high-stakes nature of September baseball.

Bailey crushed a walk-off grand slam to lift the Giants to a dramatic 5-1 win over the rival Dodgers in 10 innings in Friday night’s series opener at Oracle Park, bringing San Francisco within a half-game of the Mets for the third National League Wild Card spot with 15 games left to play. (New York holds the tiebreaker, so the deficit is technically 1 1/2 games.)

The game was tied, 1-1, before Jung Hoo Lee drew a free pass and the Dodgers intentionally walked Casey Schmitt to load the bases with one out for Bailey in the bottom of the 10th. The 26-year-old switch-hitter subsequently ended the game by hammering an elevated fastball from left-hander Tanner Scott out to left field for his sixth home run of the year and his third in his last four games.

“That was a special game,” right-hander Justin Verlander said. “That was one of the more fun games in a regular season I’ve been a part of. Obviously, we know where we’re at, playing the Dodgers at home. It was one of those games that had a bit of a playoff atmosphere to it from the beginning, and one of those games that you just never know who’s going to step up and make a great play and take a great at-bat.”

It was Bailey's fourth career walk-off home run and his second this year, joining his walk-off inside-the-parker against the Phillies on July 8. Friday’s late-game heroics also made Bailey the first player in MLB history to record a walk-off inside-the-park home run and a walk-off grand slam in a season.

“Both are definitely pretty cool,” Bailey said. “I’m definitely not as tired this one as the inside-the-parker.”

Bailey’s blast ended a game that featured a classic pitchers’ duel between Verlander and Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who matched each other with seven innings of one-run ball.

Verlander, who celebrated 20 years of MLB service time on Friday, blanked the Dodgers through the first six innings, though he lost his shutout bid when he surrendered a game-tying solo shot to former Giant Michael Conforto to lead off the seventh. Los Angeles continued to threaten after Ben Rortvedt reached on a two-out double, prompting the Giants to intentionally walk Shohei Ohtani to put a pair of runners on for Mookie Betts.

Bob Melvin opted to stick with Verlander, who rewarded his manager’s faith by coaxing a first-pitch flyout from Betts to end the inning. The 42-year-old right-hander hit 95.5 mph on his 105th and final pitch of the night, which was his second-hardest pitch of the game.

The Giants took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first after Rafael Devers walked and scored from first base on Willy Adames’ double into the right-center-field gap, but they didn’t record another hit against Yamamoto, who struck out 10 and retired the final 20 batters he faced.

The Giants didn’t produce another baserunner until pinch-hitter Luis Matos reached on a throwing error by Betts to lead off the ninth. Devers followed with a single, and the Dodgers then intentionally walked Adames to load the bases with one out. Still, the Giants missed a chance to walk it off following a questionable baserunning decision.

After Wilmer Flores lifted a fly ball to shallow center field, the Giants decided to have pinch-runner Grant McCray attempt to tag up and score from third, but the speedy outfielder was easily thrown out at the plate by Andy Pages, resulting in an inning-ending double play that sent the game into extras.

Still, McCray quickly redeemed himself in the top of the 10th, when he made an unbelievable, 101.7 mph throw to nail Rortvedt, the automatic runner, after he tried to advance from second to third on Betts’ fly ball to right. Joel Peguero then retired Freddie Freeman on a groundout to give the Giants another chance to end it in the bottom of the 10th.

The Giants shouldn’t expect the intensity to go away anytime soon, as they’re due to face their archrivals six more times in the next nine days.

“Electric,” McCray said. “It’s something that kids dream of. It’s intense. It’s fun. There’s energy all around. Honestly, I wouldn’t trade it for anything. If we can keep this going until October and play every game like that, then I’m all for it.