Here are the top 5 moments on April 9 in San Francisco Giants history.
Walk off: 1994 home vs. Cards, first half of a double header, tied, 3-3 in the 11th inning, 2 out, two strikes, Matt Williams singles home Darren Lewis off of Tom Urbani to take us to 4-0 on the season. 96 RBI in 112 games for Williams in strike shortened 1994.
2005: home v. Rockies, bottom of the 8th, down 1-0, bases loaded, two out, Michael Tucker hits a grand slam off Scott Dohmann and we went onto win 4-2. Tucker had a 12 year big league career, only in one did he have an OPS+ over 106. This was not that year and Tucker ended the season with the Phillies, given away for a 19 year old arm named Kelvin Pachardo who never made the show.
Walk off: 2008 home vs Padres, scoreless tie in the ninth, 2 out, Daniel Ortmeier doubles home Rajai Davis off of Heath Bell and we win 1-0. This was Ortmeier's last season in the bigs, he had 24 career RBI, none bigger than this one.
Walk off: 2010 home vs. Braves, a two run homer by Edgar Renteria in the 9th tied the score, now we're in the 13th, 2 outs, 0-2 pitch from Kris Medlen to Aaron Rowand - he singles softly to short, scoring Juan Uribe with the game winner. At 31 years old, the Giants gave Uribe 575 plate appearances in 2010, second most of his 16+ year career.
Walk off: 2011 home vs Cards, how about his one, bottom of the ninth, 2 outs, Giants down 2-1, a 3-2 count, Miguel Tejada doubles home Posey and Belt off Ryan Franklin to win the game. 9 years earlier Tejada was AL MVP but in his one season in San Francisco, a 37 year old Tejada had an OPS+ of 69, his worst batting season since 1997.
Here are the top 5 moments on April 8 in San Francisco Giants history. Lot of walk offs if you're looking for a good omen.
1974 home vs Reds, 9th inning, up 4-3, bases loaded, two out, Randy Moffitt gets Johnny Bench to fly out to right. Fewer than 5,000 paid for the fourth game of the season at the Stick. In a ten year career Moffitt started one game, that would come later this season. This game happened on the same day Hank Aaron his 715.
Walk off: 2005 home vs Rockies, 9th inning, down 8-7, Marquis Grissom hits a 3 run homer off Scott Dohmann to win the game 10-8 for the good guys. Grissom would only hit 1 more homer the rest of his career.
Walk off: 2008 home vs. Padres, the Giants were 1-6 coming into the game, it's only April 8 and we're already slumping (if you're looking for a 2017 analogue) 11th inning, 2-2, Bengie Molina hits the game winning homer off Cla Meredith and we win 3-2. Molina had 95 RBI in '08, his career best.
Walk off: 2011 home vs. Cards, the day we raised the flag for the first San Francisco World Championship, we had already come back in the 9th to tie the score, now it's the 12th inning, 4-4, bases loaded, two out, Aaron Rowand singles off Brian Tallet to score Schierholtz to win the game. This was Rowand's last year in the bigs; he parlayed a 124 OPS+ in '07 (his only good year with the bat since '04) into a 46 million dollar deal with the Giants.
Walk off: 2016 home vs. Dodgers, an 8th inning Trevor Brown homer tied the score, now it's the 10th, 2-2, Brandon Crawford leads off with a homer off Joe Blanton to beat LA, beat LA, beat LA. Through 2016, Crawford is 13th on the all time franchise list for shortstop plate appearances. He should crack the top 10 in 2017.
Here are the top 5 moments on April 7 in San Francisco Giants history.
1973 at Cincinnati 11th inning, 5-5, Bobby Bonds broke the tie with a two run double off Clay Carroll, scoring Maddox and Rader. In front of only 10,464 paid on the second day of the season on a Saturday in Cincinnati (tell me again about how baseball's dying now) the Giants beat the Reds 7-5. Bonds led MLB in total bases in '73 and finished third in the MVP vote.
1979 at Cincinnati, 7th inning, down 1-0, with 2 outs Mike Ivie hit a 2 run homer off Bill Bonham to put the Giants up in a game they'd win 4-2 in front of only 15,763 paid on the third day of the season on a Saturday in Cincinnati (tell me again about how baseball's dying now). This was Ivie's career year, 27 homers (well over half of his Giants career total) and an OPS+ of 152.
1987 home vs. San Diego, 7th inning, 3-3, Bob Melvin homered off Ed Whitson providing the final margin of a 4-3 victory. It was Melvin's second homer of the game; in a 10 year career he only hit 33 more.
1988 home vs San Diego, 4th inning, scoreless, Bob Brenly hit a 2 out 3 run homer off Eric Show, we'd win 6-1. Brenly's last productive season was in '87; he was awful in '88, hitting only 4 more homers with an OPS+ of 64 and he'd be released at season's end. Walk off: 1998 home vs Astros, 10th inning, 4-4, Rey Sanchez hit a pinch single off Billy Wagner to score Snow and send everybody home. Sanchez could not hit - played 15 seasons and never had an OPS+ over 97.
Here are the top 5 moments on April 6 in San Francisco Giants history.
1987 home v. Padres 8th inning, down 3-1, 2 outs, we only had a 19% chance to win the game when Candy Maldonado doubled home Will Clark and Chris Brown off of Lance McCullers (the dad) to tie the score. There aren't a ton of Giants/Dodgers trades, in fact, it would be two+decades until the next, but after the '85 season the Giants got Maldonado for Alex Trevino in a deal that worked out well for the good guys.
1987 same game, same score, now in the 10th; Clark led it off with a triple (only his third ever) off future Giant Craig Lefferts. You;d think that would have done it...but...
Walk Off: 1987 same game, same score, now in the 12th; two on, two out, future Giant Dave Dravecky on the mound gives up the walk off single to Chili Davis. Jeffrey Leonard scores and everyone leaves Opening Day happy. This was Chili's last season as a Giant, he left for the Angels as a free agent.
1994 home vs Pirates, 7th inning, 2-2, Kirt Manwaring doubles off Mark Dewey to score Clayton and Benzinger, giving the Giants a 4-2 lead; that would be the final score in a game that took less than two hours to complete. Manwaring had only 27 more RBI the remainder of the year in another 350 plate appearances.
2004 at Houston, 4th inning, down 1-0, bases loaded - Neifi Perez (yes, Neifi Perez) clears them with a double off of Andy Pettitte. Perez had a four hit game and the Giants won 7-5. Perez didn't last the season, getting released in August.
