On a storied night celebrating one of the greatest baseball players of all time, the San Francisco Giants scored an epic comeback in the last two innings of the game to ensure Willie Mays’ 80th birthday was indeed a happy one. Nate Schierholtz hit a two RBI double in the eighth while Freddy Sanchez closed it out with a RBI single in the ninth, clinching the Giants 4-3 comeback victory over the Colorado Rockies at AT&T Park.
Matt Cain had a decent outing tonight, lasting for 7 innings allowing 3 runs on 5 hits with 3 walks and 4 strikeouts. But it was Brian Wilson (W 1-1) who got the win for the Giants, coming in in the ninth after Schierholtz tied it up in the eighth.
Ubaldo Jimenez looked pretty good as well, going for 6 innings allowing only 2 hits and 1 run with 5 walks and 7 strikeouts. Their bullpen definitely let the Rox down though, with Rafael Betancourt and Felipe Paulinno (L 0-2) giving up the 3 deciding runs in the game.
With the win the Giants move back to .500 at 16-16 on the year. Full box score can be found here.
I truly feel blessed to have witnessed the historic evening with my own eyes as Giants legends like Orlando Cepeda, Willie McCovey, Gaylord Perry and more came out to celebrate Mr. Mays’ 80th birthday. There were video tributes from former President Bill Clinton, Hank Aaron, Bill Cosby, and Bud Selig, beautiful speeches from Jon Miller and Lon Simmons, even a letter from Barack Obama to congratulate Mr. Mays. A great ceremony all around to honor maybe the best all around player to every play the game. The ‘Say Hey Kid’ deserved nothing less; what a fitting way to cap of the celebratory night.
The Giants host the Rockies for the second meeting of their three game set as Madison Bumgarner (0-5 4.75 ERA) is still looking for his first win in 2011 against the Rockies’ Esmil Rodgers (3-1 7.66 ERA). First pitch is set for 6:05 PT and can be found on NBC Bay Area and KNBR 680 AM.
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