PITTSBURGH -- Patrick Bailey and Dominic Smith spent the first seven innings of Wednesday afternoon’s rubber match against the Pirates watching from the dugout. But when manager Bob Melvin called on the two for pinch-hit duty with their team locked in a tight game in the late frames, they didn't shy away from the moment.
The two combined for three hits over the final two innings to propel the Giants to a 4-2, comeback victory at PNC Park.
Fresh off the bench with the Giants trailing 2-1 in the top of the eighth inning, Bailey led off the inning with a base hit. He later scored via a one-out walk from Rafael Devers, a single by Willy Adames and a sacrifice fly from Matt Chapman.
An inning later, facing Pirates closer Dennis Santana, Smith doubled home Jung Hoo Lee and later scored on Bailey’s second hit in as many innings, pushing the Giants ahead for the first time.
“[I was] trying not to do too much and get a good pitch to hit,” Smith said.
Smith took the first pitch of his at-bat to get comfortable. He then fouled off two pitches before getting the one he wanted: A middle-in cutter that he was able to drive down the right field line into the corner.
“After that it was just battle mode,” said Smith, who extended his hitting streak to 11 games with the base knock. “I really just wanted to make [Santana] fight and work hard to get me out. Like I said, that just comes with my experience being in that situation and not trying to do too much. I got the job done right then.”
It was the team’s ninth victory (9-46) when trailing after the seventh inning. Melvin said he’s starting to see his team take the at-bats late in the game that he saw when San Francisco went 16-11 in April.
“We talked about playing a little bit like we did earlier in the year and that’s the way we did earlier in the year off the good relievers … quality at-bats,” Melvin said. “Obviously, [Smith’s hit] was huge, [Bailey] coming off the bench to get two hits and drive in runs. That’s something that obviously is a good recipe for us. Showed up for us today. It’s been lacking for a little while. Hopefully it continues.”
The two weren't the only hitters batting in the middle-to-bottom of the order who supplied offense. Earlier in the game, Jerar Encarnacion teed-off on a middle-middle fastball from starter Andrew Heaney, belting it a Statcast-projected 442 feet into the second level of left-field seating at PNC Park. While he later exited the game with a right hamstring injury after grounding out, it was the second consecutive night that Encarnacion left his mark on a game by slugging a 400-plus foot home run.
After reaching a low-point during the last homestand after losing six straight games to the Mets and Pirates, the Giants are, at least for the moment, seeming to turn the page with back-to-back series victories on the road.
“At the end of the day, this clubhouse has a belief that we can win and go on a run and I think that's just what we're trying to do,” Smith said. “Understanding that it's one game at a time and if we can win that, then we’ll stack enough series wins and then who knows where we’ll be at the end of the year.”
Smith said the team struggled with the cloud of the Trade Deadline looming overhead. Now that the Giants can center their focus on the field, he feels they may be ready to push themselves back into the playoff race.
“This is a very talented team,” Smith said. “I know that we have some young guys, some older guys, a great mix of everything. When you have something like the Trade Deadline looming over a group, they made some moves, it kind of takes away from, I guess, what we can do out on the field. I’m not saying that as an excuse or whatever, but now that it's past us and we know who’s in this locker, you can see the guys are getting settled in.”