The San Francisco Giants won a game Sunday in one of the most bizarre finishes of the young season.
The Giants and Texas Rangers were tied 2-2 in the 9th inning of Sunday’s game at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Ca. The Giants were hoping to get something started in the 9th through leadoff hitter Heliot Ramos, but on the first pitch of the inning, Ramos hit a weak ground ball to the left of the mound.
For the Rangers, the smart play would have been to hold onto the ball and accept a weak leadoff single. Instead, reliever Luke Jackson uncorked a wild throw to first, allowing Ramos to reach second.
After some hesitation, Ramos tried to go for third as Rangers first baseman Jake Burger was a bit too relaxed in trying to retrieve the first errant throw. Ramos’ decision to push the issue led to another errant throw, this time by Burger, that allowed him to score on a Little League homer.
Officially, this was scored a single with two throwing errors — one by Jackson and a second by first baseman Jake Burger.
Every so often, we see a team botch a play badly enough to allow this sort of thing to happen. To see it lead to a walk-off, however, is extremely rare.
Despite the ugly defense on display here, the Rangers only fell to 15-13 with the loss. The Giants improved to 19-10 to remain a half-game ahead of the rival Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West.
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