Andrew Baggarly
Mercury News
LOS ANGELES -- The Dodgers had three runners in motion when Jamey Carroll's line drive whizzed into shallow right field. Nate Schierholtz didn't pause to consider the options or consequences.
He simply went for it.
"It was risky," Schierholtz said. "But I was confident I was going to make the play."
He did, sprawling on his stomach in the grass while catching the line drive mere inches above the turf. It protected Madison Bumgarner's first win of the season, bailed out closer Brian Wilson and provided an unbelievable ending to the Giants' 3-1 victory over Los Angeles on Thursday night.
"Really, that shows you the fine line between winning and losing," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said after his club swept a two-game series from their archrivals and split their six-game trip. "If he doesn't catch it, we lose."
Given his options, Bochy never plays it safe on the road. So he and first-base coach Roberto Kelly moved in Schierholtz a few extra steps after Wilson walked a pair to load the bases.
"I told Roberto, `We're going for a win here,' " Bochy said. "Carroll puts a lot of balls there. He's a tough hitter with two strikes. We're gambling a little bit, playing in, realizing if the ball gets by us, we're losing that game."
Schierholtz gambled a bit more, taking two more steps after Wilson got a second strike on Carroll. "I was pretty far in," said Schierholtz, who couldn't recall playing that shallow for anyone else besides
"That's the way we play. That's the way we played tonight. I stuck with it."
Aubrey Huff's diving attempts here in April earned himself a chalk outline from teammates. Schierholtz will receive something closer to a medal.
"Oh my God," Huff said. "First thing I thought was, `Thank God that wasn't me.' "
It took nine starts, but Bumgarner finally won for the first time since his Halloween night performance in Game 4 of the World Series. He came within an out of the first shutout of his career, too.
But the ninth inning was more trick than treat.
Bumgarner retired the first two hitters before losing his shutout bid on a bloop and an RBI double. Then Wilson upped the torture by straining to find the strike zone.
"I don't know if the ankle was bothering him," Bochy said of Wilson, who turned his foot on the mound the previous night. "He says he's fine. I certainly thought it wouldn't be as dramatic. It ended up being the most dramatic game of the road trip."
Bumgarner thought another decision went poof with Carroll's crisp contact, saying he felt for certain the ball would fall. Instead, he could enjoy a victory that "feels like a playoff win, it's been so long."
"I surprised myself," said Bumgarner (1-6), who has a 1.60 ERA in his last five starts. "I think I did a good job of ignoring it, thinking nothing of it. I'm happy though it hadn't been working out in my favor. It'll teach me about the game and what I have to focus on."
Bumgarner and Bochy had a moment of clarity Wednesday during a taxi ride to the park. Bumgarner realized he was pitching differently with runners on base, perhaps afraid to challenge inside. That might have contributed to that one big inning he couldn't seem to avoid.
"He wanted to use both sides of the plate, and he got back to that," Bochy said of Bumgarner, who scattered six hits. "He was determined to get his first win."
Bumgarner also doubled and scored in the third and put down both his sacrifice- bunt attempts, including one that contributed to a run in the sixth. Freddy Sanchez drove in Bumgarner with a sacrifice fly in the third and hit an RBI single in the sixth.
But in keeping with a season-long theme, the Giants failed to land a knockout punch. So they accepted it in another form.
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