Respectfully yours
D-Backs survive bases-loaded intentional pass to Bonds
Posted: Friday May 29, 1998 10:33 AM
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Arizona elected to walk in a run rather than face Bonds in the ninth innintg (AP) |
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Some called it stupid. Some called it gutsy. Give it any name you want. Just call it a success.
With a two-run lead, two outs in the bottom of the ninth and the bases loaded, the Arizona Diamondbacks intentionally walked Barry Bonds and hung on to beat the San Francisco Giants 8-7 Thursday night.
"I thought it was a stupid move," losing pitcher Danny Darwin said. "I don't think it was gutsy. Something like that, anything can tie the ball game: a wild pitch, a passed ball, an error. Anything can happen in that situation, but it worked out for them."
Arizona manager Buck Showalter said he realized he was going against virtually every baseball convention by walking Bonds and bringing the tying run to third and the go-ahead run to second. And he said he was prepared to live with the second-guessing if it backfired.
"I know it was a little unorthodox, but I just felt it was the best chance for us to win a baseball game," Showalter said. "It was a choice between one of the great players in the game or a very good player. It was a tough call, but you go with it and you live with it."
Gregg Olson put together one of the ugliest saves imaginable, working around six walks in 1 1-3 innings, including the bases-loaded intentional pass. He threw 49 pitches, not counting the four wide throws to Bonds, and only 22 of them were for strikes.
Fighting rainy conditions, Olson began his outing with consecutive walks to pinch-hitters Bonds and Brent Mayne to load the bases with two outs in the eighth, but he escaped by fanning Rey Sanchez.
Olson began the ninth by striking out Darryl Hamilton, but the Giants then loaded the bases with two walks and a hit before Stan Javier had an RBI grounder that made it 8-6. After pinch-hitter J.T. Snow walked to load the bases, Showalter ordered Olson to intentionally walk the dangerous Bonds, forcing home a run and bringing up Mayne.
Winning pitcher Brian Anderson was thrilled by the shocking move.
"That was awesome," Anderson said. "There was no doubt. [Showalter] put up the four fingers and pointed to first. That was great."
Said Giants pitching coach Ron Perranoski: "Babe Ruth is the only one I've ever heard them do that to, but that was a little before my time."
Mayne worked the count full before he lined out to right fielder Brent Brede, who clutched the ball in his glove and fell to the ground in relief.
"Buck got lucky. Olson got lucky," Mayne said. "I hope they do it again next time and I'll hit another rocket off him. But I've never seen anything like that, maybe in Little League if a guy is hitting .900 or something."
Bonds brushed off questions, saying he didn't want to discuss it.
"I wanted to get him out to end the game, but saner heads prevailed," Olson said. "In the end, it was the right move. It was interesting. We won the game. We got the job done."
Added San Francisco manager Dusty Baker, who earlier this week intentionally walked St. Louis slugger Mark McGwire with nobody on and came out a winner in a 17-inning affair: "It was a gutsy move. I don't know if I'd do it. Each man has to walk in his own shoes."
Anderson won for the first time in seven weeks and Andy Fox, Devon White and David Dellucci homered for Arizona in its first visit to San Francisco.
Matt Williams, who hit 247 of his 289 career homers in a Giants uniform, didn't go deep but had three hits in his regular-season return to San Francisco.
The crowd of 12,066 welcomed the Gold Glove third baseman, traded from the Giants to Cleveland to Arizona in the past year, with a standing ovation. He singled in his first at-bat and scored during the Diamondbacks' four-run first inning.
Winless in his last eight starts, the victory for Anderson (2-6) ended a string of five straight losses. He gave up five hits in 6 1-3 innings in winning for the first time since beating Los Angeles on April 8 in his second start of the season.
Darwin (4-3) was roughed up for seven runs in 6 1-3 innings, the second time in as many starts he has been tagged for seven runs. He struck out seven and walked four.
Chris Jones, a former Diamondback acquired by San Francisco in a trade last month, hit his first homer as a Giant. Brian Johnson also had a two-run shot for the Giants.
Notes: Bonds leads the majors with 10 intentional walks. ...Poking fun at the swimming pool at the Diamondbacks' Bank One Ballpark, the Giants set up a hot tub on a platform erected next to the center field bleachers. It is part of a promotion during the four-game series in which the hot tub would be given away in a drawing of ticket holders if the Giants hit a homer landing in the tub. ... Williams hit 129 of his home runs while playing at 3Com Park.
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