Giants try something new as offense struggles on ‘frustrating’ night originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO — Late in Tuesday night’s game, the Giants‘ media relations staff dug up a statistic that was jarring even by the ridiculous standard Tyler Fitzgerald has set over the past month.
With a 425-foot blast early in the game, Fitzgerald became just the second Giant ever to hit at least 15 homers through his first 59 career games. He joined a list that previously had consisted of only Willie Mays.
Fitzgerald has at times been a one-man show in the second half, but with the game on the line, the coaching staff took the bat out of his hands. Down by a run in the bottom of the 10th, Fitzgerald was told to try and bunt the automatic runner to third, but his attempt was a poor one.
The Giants actually caught a break when home plate umpire Jeremy Riggs mistakenly ruled Fitzgerald out for batter’s interference, a decision that could not be challenged. Before Riggs held his fist up, Casey Schmitt, the automatic runner, had been thrown out at third.
Instead of having Fitzgerald at first with one out, the Giants still had Schmitt on second and one out. But for a second straight night, they couldn’t get their free runner home, and for a second straight night, they fell to the Atlanta Braves, who widened their lead in the NL wild-card race with a 4-3 win.
The call by Riggs was a surprising one. But it was even more surprising to see Fitzgerald, by far the team’s hottest hitter in the second half, trying to put one down.
“Look, we’re trying to get a guy over to third, trying to get it down the third base line with LaMonte [Wade Jr.] up next,” Melvin said. “The guy [Braves closer Raisel Iglesias] is a pretty tough customer to try to string some hits together [against].”
The Giants have just eight sacrifice bunts all season, ranking in the bottom third in the majors. In each of these two games, they have had better opportunities to bunt but haven’t tried. On Monday, Mike Yastrzemski swung away while leading off the 10th and struck out. In the eighth on Tuesday, Michael Conforto came up with two on, no outs and the Braves leading by a run. He hit into a double play, although the Giants tied the game on a wild pitch anyway.
Conforto doesn’t have a successful sacrifice bunt in his career, making him an unlikely candidate to get that sign. Fitzgerald, on the other hand, felt that’s a job he should have been ready for, even if he is one of the league’s…