Yaz's amazing catch helps Anderson to CG

SAN FRANCISCO -- Mike Yastrzemski gave his grandfather, Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski, a reason to cheer on his 81st birthday.

The younger Yastrzemski made an incredible leaping catch at the right-field wall to rob Ketel Marte of extra bases and then drew a bases-loaded walk to force in the go-ahead run in the Giants’ 5-1 win over the D-backs on Saturday night at Oracle Park.

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“If I’m not going to get him some hits, I might as well make the play for him,” Yastrzemski joked. “Hopefully it made things a little easier for him. The 0-for-3 wasn’t exactly a great present, but just trying to help the team win some way, somehow is always the goal.”

Yastrzemski’s exploits backed a brilliant effort by left-hander Tyler Anderson, who earned his first win with the Giants (13-16) after firing his first career complete game on 103 pitches. Anderson allowed only one unearned run on three hits to extend the Giants’ winning streak to a season-high five games.

With only nine days to go until the Aug. 31 Trade Deadline, the Giants now find themselves only a half-game behind the D-backs for the eighth and final playoff spot in the National League.

“We believe we can win all the time,” Anderson said. “In a shortened season, we think there's an opportunity.”

Anderson, a former first-round Draft pick of the Rockies in 2011, established himself as a regular member of Colorado’s rotation before suffering a left knee injury that led to season-ending surgery in 2019. The Giants claimed him off waivers over the offseason as rotation depth, but he didn’t earn the opportunity to start until Drew Smyly and Jeff Samardzija went down with injuries.

Anderson had allowed nine runs over 10 innings in his previous two starts, but he rebounded with a career performance and continued to stake his claim to a permanent spot in the Giants’ rotation.

"I think about the conversation I had with T.A. and he said, ‘Look, I want an opportunity to start every time through the rotation,’" manager Gabe Kapler said. "I told him, look, if you dominate and you're just good every time through, we're not going to take you out of the rotation. I think he earned the right to continue to make starts."

Ketel Marte doubled with one out in the first inning, but Anderson responded by retiring the next 16 batters he faced. The 30-year-old veteran didn’t allow another D-back to reach base until he grazed Kole Calhoun with two outs in the sixth. That brought up Marte, who promptly drove a 1-0 fastball deep to right field.

But Yastrzemski fearlessly ran back and crashed into the wall to secure the ball, keeping the Giants’ slim one-run lead intact.

“In the moment, you’ve got to really kind of work for your pitcher who’s working his tail off,” said Yastrzemski, who turns 30 on Sunday. “T.A. pitched an unreal game, and that was kind of a big moment. It was a 1-0 game, and you just want to go make a play for that guy and make sure that he can keep his momentum and keep rolling.”

“I was so pumped,” Anderson said. “I was amazed he caught it. I just wanted to make sure he got up and wasn’t hurt slamming into that wall. When he did, it was unbelievable. Yaz is a great player. He goes after every single one.”

Yastrzemski’s highlight-reel catch likely saved Anderson a run in the sixth, but a defensive lowlight allowed the D-backs to briefly tie the game the following inning. Starling Marte led off the seventh by reaching on a throwing error by Brandon Crawford and later scored on an RBI single by David Peralta to make it 1-1.

But Crawford atoned for his defensive miscue by igniting the Giants’ decisive four-run rally in the bottom of the seventh. The veteran shortstop drew a leadoff walk off reliever Matt Grace and advanced to third after top prospect Joey Bart hit a pinch-hit double off the top of the center-field wall. Bart, who came within inches of his first career home run, has now doubled in each of his first three games in the Majors.

Mauricio Dubón followed with a walk to load the bases with no outs, prompting Arizona manager Torey Lovullo to bring in Junior Guerra to face Yastrzemski. But Guerra issued back-to-back walks to Yastrzemski and Alex Dickerson, allowing the Giants to take a 3-1 lead. San Francisco added a pair of insurance runs on a forceout by Donovan Solano and an RBI single by Brandon Belt.

The extra run support helped give Anderson more leeway to continue his bid for 27 outs. He came out for the ninth with his pitch count at 91 and yielded a leadoff double to Marte, but Kapler decided to stick with him and give him the opportunity to go the distance.

Even so, Anderson didn’t believe the feat was within reach until he found himself in the ninth inning with two outs.

“I was like, ‘Damn, we might be able to get through this thing,” Anderson said.

Three pitches later, Anderson induced a groundout from Peralta to end the game, clinching the first complete game by a Giants pitcher since Sept. 14, 2018, when Chris Stratton tossed a two-hit shutout against the Rockies. (The opposing pitcher that day? Anderson.)

“I think milestones have taken on added importance,” Kapler said. “As long as it’s not at the expense of winning a baseball game for the team, or as long as it doesn’t put a guy at risk for injury, we certainly want to give them every opportunity to go after those milestones.”