Late Night LaMonte clocked in a little bit early on Wednesday.
Just two days after delivering a 10th-inning walk-off single, Giants outfielder LaMonte Wade Jr. gave his squad another walk-off victory with a sac fly in Wednesday’s 6-5 win over the Cleveland Guardians in extra innings.
Catcher Patrick Bailey started off the 10th inning as the ghost runner and had to show off his legs for the game-winning run, but he slid in just under the tag to give the Giants a huge comeback victory.
San Francisco was staring down the barrel of a four-run deficit as late as the seventh inning, before J.D. Davis came up clutch again with a three-run dinger in the eighth to tie the game. Afterwards, manager Gabe Kapler said the victory could be a momentum builder, as the team wrapped up a 5-1 homestand to stay alive in the bunched-up National League Wild Card race.
“I don’t know what it is about this team, but I think this is something that’s worth being really optimistic about,” Kapler said. “When we get into those very close battles, we don’t give up. There’s a bunch of fighters in that room and guys are consistently battling. … I think we’re gonna look back at this game at the end of the season and believe that it’s very meaningful.”
The win pulled the Giants (75-71) within a game of the Arizona Diamondbacks (76-70) for the third and final Wild Card spot, but the D-Backs trailed the New York Mets 7-0 late in their game at Citi Field, meaning San Francisco can shave the lead to 0.5 games by the end of Wednesday night.
As maddening and frustrating as this season has been for the Giants, they’re just a couple hot weeks away from punching their ticket to the postseason once again. Following Wednesday’s win, the Giants have 16 games remaining on the schedule.