LaMonte Wade Jr. hits walk-off, Giants rally past Guardians in 10 innings
SAN FRANCISCO -- LaMonte Wade Jr. lined a single in front of sliding center fielder Myles Straw in the 10th inning to drive in Blake Sabol with the winning run, and the San Francisco Giants rallied past the Cleveland Guardians 5-4 on Monday night.
The comeback victory kept the Giants just 1½ games behind Arizona for the third NL wild card. San Francisco has won four straight following a six-game slide.
Cleveland dropped its third in a row and remained 7 1/2 games back of first-place Minnesota in the AL Central.
"They call him late-night LaMonte for a reason," Sabol said. "What makes him such a special player is no matter what's happening, whether he's 0 for 4 or if he's 4 for 4, he's the same guy walking up to the plate. When he walked up there at the end, I felt pretty good."
After the Guardians went ahead in the top of the 10th, San Francisco answered with two runs and won in its final at-bat for the sixth time this season.
Sabol, who entered as a pinch-hitter in the seventh, singled off All-Star closer Emmanuel Clase (2-9) to drive in Joc Pederson with the tying run.
After Sabol stole second and moved to third on a balk, Wade laced a line drive to short center that fell just in front of Straw. The crowd of 20,705 — the third-smallest at Oracle Park this season — roared as Giants players rushed onto the infield to celebrate.
"(Clase) throws hard. Just trying to hit something up the middle and let him supply the power, but still stay within the approach, not trying to get too big," Wade said. "I was able to do that."
Wade had two hits. Mike Yastrzemski also had two for San Francisco, including his 14th home run.
The Guardians blew leads of 2-0 and 3-2 before going ahead 4-3 in the 10th on Andrés Giménez's RBI single.
Luke Jackson (2-2) fielded a comebacker and threw out Josh Naylor at third base.
"Everything worked together to get today's win," Sabol said.
Naylor hit his ninth home run and had two RBIs for Cleveland in the Guardians' first appearance at Oracle Park since 2017. Naylor and his brother, Bo, each had two hits.
Josh Naylor doubled in his first at-bat, then turned on a splitter from starter Alex Cobb in the third and crushed it over the right-field wall into McCovey Cove.
Pederson singled home a run in the bottom half and another one scored on J.D. Davis' groundout, putting the Giants ahead 3-2.
Cleveland tied it in the seventh on Steven Kwan's two-out RBI single.
STARTING OFF
Cobb made his first start at home since his bid for a no-hitter was broken up with two outs in the ninth inning at Oracle Park on Aug. 29. He allowed three hits and two unearned runs in five innings.
Cobb had a cortisone shot between starts and had his outing pushed back a day because of it, but the first-time All-Star was in noticeable discomfort facing his first batter against Cleveland, reaching around to massage his right hip at various points. After Cobb threw his ninth pitch, manager Gabe Kapler and athletic trainer Dave Ghroeschner came out to check on the pitcher.
The three met briefly and Cobb remained in the game.
"It's not going to be perfect, we don't expect it to be, but there are going to be some starts that are easier for him to get through than others," Kapler said. "Tonight was a real grind."
Cobb said he's accepted that the hip impingement injury he sustained in June is likely to linger the remainder of the season.
"Kind of my disappointment today was the fact that I thought that maybe the cortisone shot would totally get rid of it, and it didn't," Cobb said. "So now I just have to reassess and realize I'm probably going to have to deal with some sort of issues in there throughout the rest of the year."
The game was the 82nd started by a rookie for Cleveland this season, most by any team in the majors.
Gavin Williams threw six uneven innings and helped the Guardians establish a franchise record with 542 1/3 innings pitched this year by rookies.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Giants: Davis was pulled with lower back tightness in the seventh. ... RHP Ross Stripling threw 50 pitches during a live bullpen session. One of San Francisco's top free-agent acquisitions in the offseason, Stripling has been on the injured list because of a lower back strain since May 19. …. Kapler said it's possible C Patrick Bailey (concussion) will be activated off the IL by Wednesday.
UP NEXT
Giants LHP Sean Manaea (5-5, 5.00 ERA) returns to the rotation after pitching out of the bullpen for a while. Manaea is unbeaten in five career games against Cleveland.
Guardians RHP Cal Quantrill (2-6, 5.70), who sat out a month earlier this season due to inflammation in his pitching shoulder, will be going for his first win since May 7.
