DENVER -- Another night, another late-inning rally for the Giants.
For the second straight day, the Giants staged a thrilling comeback at Coors Field, coming alive for seven runs over the final two innings Wednesday to erase a three-run deficit and pull out a 10-7 win that extended the club’s winning streak to seven games.
With their 20th comeback win of the year, the Giants (40-28) snapped their string of eight consecutive one-run games and moved a season-high 12 games over .500. They’re now only a half-game behind the first-place Dodgers (41-28), whom they’ll face after wrapping up their three-game series with the Rockies on Thursday.
After losing a pair of Gold Glovers -- third baseman Matt Chapman (right hand inflammation) and catcher Patrick Bailey (neck strain) -- on back-to-back days, the Giants continued to show their resilience by embracing a next-man-up mentality, with Willy Adames, Casey Schmitt and Mike Yastrzemski each driving in multiple runs to help the club plate double-digits for the first time since May 13.
A refreshed Adames opened the scoring with his second home run in as many games in the first inning and added a sacrifice fly in the third, giving him five RBIs over the first two games of the series. Schmitt and Yastrzemski then delivered pivotal at-bats to fuel the Giants’ final two rallies in the eighth and ninth innings.
“Guys are stepping up, and they’re picking each other up where we need it,” left-hander Robbie Ray said. “It’s been huge.”
San Francisco trailed, 6-3, before the club loaded the bases on a trio of singles by Adames, Heliot Ramos and Dominic Smith in the top of the eighth. Schmitt forced in a run by working an eight-pitch walk off slider specialist Tyler Kinley before Yastrzemski smoked a two-run double off the top of the right-center-field fence to tie the game, 6-6.
“Just a grindy at-bat,” said Schmitt, who saw seven consecutive breaking balls from Kinley before laying off a full-count fastball to earn his free pass and bring Yastrzemski to the plate. “I just went in there trying not to think too much and just tried to battle. That was the only thing going in my head. Just get that run in any way possible and just battle.
“You’re always confident with Yaz up there. He was able to come through. That was awesome.”
Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer brought in Zach Agnos to face Tyler Fitzgerald with runners on second and third and one out, but Fitzgerald put down a safety squeeze on the first pitch he saw, allowing Schmitt to score the go-ahead run after he made a great headfirst slide to get his left hand on the plate ahead of Colorado third baseman Ryan McMahon’s perfect throw to catcher Hunter Goodman.
Schmitt was initially ruled out, but the call was overturned following a successful challenge from the Giants. Manager Bob Melvin quickly popped out of the dugout to issue the appeal, showing an extra bit of urgency after the team missed its window to challenge a call the previous inning.
“He looked safe right away to me,” Melvin said. “And then Casey’s reaction to it, too, the baserunner usually knows. I almost challenged it before I even heard from the video room.”
“I knew instantly,” Schmitt said. “I felt like my hand was in there before I got tagged.”
The Giants took a 7-6 lead into the ninth and appeared to have a chance to become the first team to win seven consecutive one-run games since the 1927 Cubs, but they got some much-needed breathing room after Schmitt and Yastrzemski each added RBI singles to help fuel another three-run rally. The extra cushion finally snapped the Giants’ streak of eight consecutive one-run games, which had been their longest such stretch since April 11-18, 2014.
Schmitt is now 4-for-8 with a home run and three RBIs in his first two games since subbing in for Chapman at third base. The 26-year-old also flashed the leather in the fifth, when he ranged to his right and into foul territory to snare a chopper off the bat of Keston Hiura and then made a phenomenal throw to first base to end the inning.
With Chapman likely to miss several weeks, the Giants will be counting on Schmitt to make the most of his extended look at third and continue to provide key contributions on both sides of the ball.
“It’s a great opportunity for him,” Melvin said. “He made a great play defensively. He’s got a real opportunity to do some good things while Chappy is out. We’re lucky to have him.”