Giants Baseball Insider

Blake Sabol's walk-off homer lifts SF Giants to 5-4 win over Cardinals

Rookie Blake Sabol extended the SF Giants winning streak to four with a walk-off home run against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Marc Delucchi

Blake Sabol's walk-off homer lifts SF Giants to 5-4 win over Cardinals
Blake Sabol's walk-off homer lifts SF Giants to 5-4 win over Cardinals /
In this story:

The SF Giants defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 5-4 on Tuesday evening at Oracle Park, extending San Francisco's winning streak to four games. In the Giants first bullpen game of the season, the staff blew a narrow 2-1 lead in the eighth inning, but their offense had a comeback in them against Cardinals closer Ryan Helsey.

SF Giants relief pitcher John Brebbia throws a pitch against the St. Louis Cardinals. (2023)
SF Giants pitcher John Brebbia throws a pitch against the Cardinals. (2023) / Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports

Giants reliever John Brebbia made his first start of the season, retiring the first four batters he faced. Brebbia was replaced by southpaw Sean Manaea after allowing a single to catcher Willson Contreras.

After Manaea held the Cardinals scoreless in the top of the second, the Giants got on the scoreboard in the bottom half of the inning thanks to an electric play from Thairo Estrada. Estrada reached base on an infield hit. A few pitches later, he got an excellent jump in an attempt to steal second base. Contreras' throw sailed into center field where a bobble by Cardinals center fielder Dylan Carlson allowed Estrada to come all the way around the bases to score.

Cardinals speedster Tommy Edman tied things up in the top of the third with a solo home run, and Manaea would be replaced by righty Jakob Junis before getting out of the inning. Junis allowed one hit across one scoreless inning of work before he was replaced by lefty Taylor Rogers.

In the bottom of the fourth, Giants center fielder Mike Yastrzemski blasted a solo home run against Cardinals starting pitcher Jake Woodford. Yastrzemski has been scorching hot recently and is starting to match the level of production he showed early in his Giants career from 2019-2020. After Tuesday, he has an .850 OPS on the season.

Rogers and his twin Tyler would hold the Cardinals scoreless through the seventh inning. However, lefty Scott Alexander was unable to hold onto the one-run lead. Dylan Carlson and Paul DeJong led off the inning with singles before a one-out double by Tyler O'Neill tied the game at two.

With runners on second and third in a clear strikeout situation, Kapler turned to closer Camilo Doval. Doval surrendered a hard hit ground ball against Paul Goldschmidt right at shortstop Brandon Crawford, but it bounced off Crawford's glove and into center field. Both runners scored, giving the Cardinals a 4-2 lead.

Sean Hjelle held the Cardinals scoreless in the top of the ninth, leaving it up to the Giants offense against closer Ryan Helsey.

Helsey allowed an infield hit to Joc Pederson to lead off the inning, and Mike Yastrzemski put the tying run in scoring position with an RBI double. After a pop-out from Estrada and a strikeout by Crawford, the Giants' late rally seemed like it would fall short, but rookie Blake Sabol (Giants #33 prospect) took a 1-2 breaking ball well over the center-field wall for a walk-off homer. You can read more about Sabol and his unique journey to catching in the majors here.

The SF Giants are now 10-13 on the season and will look to win the series against the Cardinals tomorrow night. First pitch is scheduled for 6:45 PM Pacific. The Giants will send Anthony DeSclafani to the mound up against Cardinals lefty Steven Matz.

Published
Marc Delucchi
MARC DELUCCHI

Marc Delucchi (he/they/she) serves as the Managing Editor at Giants Baseball Insider, leading their SF Giants coverage. As a freelance journalist, he has previously covered the San Francisco Giants at Around the Foghorn and McCovey Chronicles. He also currently contributes to Niners Nation, Golden State of Mind, and Baseball Prospectus. He has previously been featured in several other publications, including SFGate, ProFootballRumors, Niners Wire, GrandStand Central, Call to the Pen, and Just Baseball. Over his journalistic career, Marc has conducted investigations into how one prep baseball player lost a college opportunity during the pandemic (Baseball Prospectus) and the rampant mistreatment of players at the University of Hawaii football program under former head coach Todd Graham (SFGate). He has also broken dozens of news stories around professional baseball, primarily around the SF Giants organization, including the draft signing of Kyle Harrison, injuries and promotions to top prospects like Heliot Ramos, and trade details in the Kris Bryant deal. Marc received a Bachelor's degree from Kenyon College with a major in economics and a minor in Spanish. During his time in college, he conducted a summer research project attempting to predict the future minor-league performance of NCAA hitters, worked as a data analyst for the school's Women's basketball team, and worked as a play-by-play announcer/color commentator for the basketball, baseball, softball, and soccer teams. He also worked as an amateur baseball scout with the Collegiate Baseball Scouting Network (later renamed Evolution Metrix), scouting high school and college players for three draft cycles. For tips and inquiries, feel free to reach out to Marc directly on Twitter or via email (delucchimarc@gmail.com).

Home/San Francisco Giants News