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SAN FRANCISCO — Things got dicey again in the ninth inning. Mac Williamson dropped a deep fly ball to start the ninth inning, only minutes after hitting his first career home run to give the Giants (36-25) a 2-1 lead over the Red Sox (34-25). Santiago Casilla, Javier Lopez, and Hunter Strickland buckled down through the heart of Boston’s order though, and the Giants avoided a fourth-straight loss with a blown lead.
The big moment
After two merciful strikeouts against Price, the second one on three pitches, Williamson did the improbable on the first pitch he saw in his third at-bat. Price unfurled a cutter, and Williamson bombed it just over a leaping Chris Young into the left-field seats.
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At the plate
Price has been on a roll in his last five starts, and was squaring off with a Giants offense hitting .201 in the last eight games. Both parties played their part Wednesday night. Price retired 10 of the first 11 hitters on 37 pitches, and gave up two hits through his first six innings.
One of those was a long time coming though. Brandon Belt parked an 0-1 curveball into McCovey Cove for #Splash69, tying the game in the fourth inning. It was the Giants’ first splash hit since September 2014, when Belt hit one off Andrew Cashner – 622 days ago.
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After the celebration subsided, Price got back to work and set down the next six hitters. Trevor Brown injected brief life into the home dugout in the seventh inning, skying a deep fly ball that landed a few feet in front of the Chevron cars in left field. It ended a 10-pitch battle with Price, who finished the seventh inning with 96 pitches by striking out Parker.
The 97th one, however, landed over the wall and gave the Giants the lead, courtesy of Williamson.
On the mound
Bumgarner entered Wednesday’s start seeking his seventh straight win, a stretch last matched by a Giant in 2012 by Barry Zito. Bumgarner was without catcher Buster Posey for the first time in 45 starts, but navigated Boston’s offense just fine with the help of Brown. It’s a lethal group that leads baseball in an unlimited amount of categories, including batting average and OPS with men on base, with two outs and two-strike counts.
Fittingly, it was in a two-strike count when Bumgarner first got burned. He emerged unscathed from a testing, 30-pitch third inning, but left up a 3-2 slider that Chris Young planted in the left-field bleachers.
The Giants lefty responded fine, retiring the next four hitters, and escaping from the sixth inning after a fine running catch by Denard Span. It prevented Bogaerts from likely coming around to score from first base, and Bumgarner clenched his fist and shouted in appreciation of his center fielder.
Bumgarner finished his evening striking out in his second at-bat against Price, a final swing that brought Bumgarner down to his back knee. He threw six innings, struck out five, allowed four hits, one earned run and a walk.
In the ‘pen
Derek Law relieved Bumgarner with a 10-pitch seventh inning, cleanly working around a leadoff single from Young. It was a nice rebound for Law, who’s allowed a run in his last two outings (both Giants losses and blown leads).
Cory Gearrin picked up where Law left off, and struck out Mookie Betts and Boagerts in a strong eighth inning. Casilla faced only two hitters in the ninth, and struck out Jackie Bradley Jr. looking after Williamson dropped a Hanley Ramirez fly ball. Lopez came on to face David Ortiz for the second night in a row, and worked the count 0-2 before working a seven-pitch walk. Lopez struck out Travis Shaw, and was replaced by Hunter Strickland with two outs and runners on first an second.
Strickland faced Marco Hernandez, and induced a game-ending groundout to Brandon Crawford.
On deck
The Giants have an off-day Thursday before hosting the Dodgers this weekend. Johnny Cueto (9-1, 2.16 ERA) is looking for his sixth consecutive win, but he’ll have to get through Clayton Kershaw (8-1, 1.46 ERA) to do it. The Dodgers ace has allowed more than two earned runs only once this year. First pitch at 7:15 p.m. on Friday.
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