BOX SCORE
OAKLAND -- "Wild game, huh." Giants manager Bruce Bochy.
Four hours and fifteen minutes, 385 pitches, 12 pitchers, 14 walks, four errors, and the game ended with extra innings just 90 feet away. Wild indeed.
"That would have been a tough one to take," Bochy said. "Up five runs."
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Madison Bumgarner was one Oakland A's score away from being left bereft of his ninth win of the season. Still, he wasn't fazed. "I knew we were going to get out of it," he said.
He might have been one of the few. Multiple teammates said they knew fear when Jemile Weeks' nestling pop-up to right-center field was bee-lining for the Coliseum grass. A stumbling Ryan Theriot kept it off the ground, and moved Bumgarner into a tie with Matt Cain for the team lead in wins with the game's final out.
"That last one almost fell in," Bochy said sheepishly.
Amidst the madness of Game 2 of the Bay Bridge Series, the offense generated by the heart of the Giants order stood out, specifically the four hits from Pablo Sandoval and Brandon Belt out of the sixth and seventh spots in the lineup.
San Francisco Giants
"He's a huge part of this offense," Bochy said of Sandoval. "He lengthens out the lineup."
Sandoval is 13-for-36 (.351) in his last 10 games, in stark contrast to the .292 average Giants' sixth-place hitters are batting on the season.
But it's expected from the Giants' All-Star third baseman.
Has Belt, on the other hand, ever had a stretch of games in which he's hit so well?
Not if you ask him. "No, not at this level, not even close," Belt said.
It's true, Belt is tearing it up. He hit his first home run of the season against Houston 11 games ago, and hasn't looked back. His 11-game hit streak has seen him go 15-for-34 (.441) with four home runs and 12 RBIs. He's raised his average from .224 to .265.
The reasons for success are simple. "Huff's hurt, Pill's down, it's probably helped Brandon knowing he'll be out there every day," Bochy said.
It has. Whereas Belt used to approach the day's lineup card with trepidation, he now steps up just to double-check where in the order he's hitting.
But that's not the only thing that's spurred Belt's offensive surge. He gave serious credit to Bumgarner.
"I was pretty upset he hit a home run before me," Belt said with a smile. "That lit a fire under my butt. I had to get it started."
It's more than started. The first base position is his. "He pretty much won that job," said Bochy.
Belt, whose wrist was on ice where he was drilled in Friday's game, cited a lot of hard work in the cage and extra time with the coaching staff for his hot hand at the plate.
"It's more of a feel," Belt said. "It's hard to explain. I'm not worried about mechanics."
If he keeps producing, and the Giants keep winning wild ones like the first two games of this epic installment of the Bay Bridge Series, he won't have to worry at all. He will have arrived.
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Buster Posey received 193 pitches Saturday. After the grueling effort, Bochy said he checked on his catcher in the ninth inning, and that he was fine.
Posey will be behind the dish again to receive Matt Cain in Sunday's finale.
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The Giants won't face A's ace Brandon McCarthy, who was scratched Saturday because of his lingering shoulder discomfort.
It's not confirmed, but speculation is that it will be A.J. Griffin making his MLB debut.
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Angel Pagan will play center field Sunday. Pagan, who had a day off Friday and was the designated hitter Saturday, is batting .179 (7-for-39) over his last 10 games. He hasn't played in the outfield since Wednesday's loss to the Angels.