SF Giants keep hopes of .500 finish alive with 6-5 win over Cardinals

SAN FRANCISCO — It might not matter for postseason seeding, with both teams already eliminated, but don’t tell any of the 36,328 fans who assembled on the shores of McCovey Cove under beautiful blue skies Saturday afternoon for the second-to-last time this season.

The crowd, which pushed the Giants’ season total over 2.6 million, stood on their feet as Tyler Rogers navigated a bases-loaded jam in the seventh inning and roared when he got Cardinals shortstop Masyn Winn to fly out to end the threat, keeping the ballgame tied at 5.

The highwire acts of Rogers and Ryan Walker, who stranded runners at second and third the next inning, set up a 6-5 win that kept the Giants’ hopes of a .500 finish alive heading into the final day of the season. A win Sunday would prevent a fourth losing record in Farhan Zaidi’s six seasons as president of baseball operations.

“Here at home, in front of a full house, those are important games to play good baseball,” manager Bob Melvin said. “The fans have supported us all year. Here we are in the position we’re in and we’re (almost) sold out last night and today. It’s a great atmosphere here in this ballpark. Day games are electric here.”

After St. Louis plated three to tie the game in the seventh, Tyler Fitzgerald scored the decisive run in the bottom of the eighth when Brett Wisely laid down a successful bunt. The Cardinals’ pitcher airmailed the throw into right field, and Fitzgerald raced home all the way from first base.

“He was trying to drop a bunt down and get on base,” Melvin said. “We keep trying to preach that if you put the ball in play, something good can happen. If you don’t strike out, put a ball in play, something good can happen. That’s going to have to be a theme for us next year, to cut down on strikeouts.”

Here are three takeaways from Game No. 161:

A long road Beck

Blake Snell was set to make his final start of the season Saturday, but when he informed the Giants that he instead planned to sit out, it gave them an opportunity to provide another one of their players with a full circle moment. At the start of spring training, Tristan Beck expected to figure prominently in the Giants’ rotation picture, but he only made his first start of the season with two games left, after Snell was scratched.

Beck’s year was altered when doctors discovered an aneurysm in his right shoulder that he eventually had surgically removed. He underwent the procedure March 3, endured months of rehab and made six appearances out of the bullpen before being given his first start — the fourth of his career.

“It was a nice little cherry on top to what was a long year,” Beck said after limiting St. Louis to one run over four innings on four hits, two walks and three strikeouts. “As the year went on, it became evident that starting might not be in the cards, so in a year where coming into it looked like I might have a shot to start some games, it was nice that I kind of got that opportunity.”

Beck walked the Cardinals’ first batter of the game and allowed him to score, but that was the only damage on his pitching line when he left the game holding a 4-1 lead. The run was the first Beck has allowed in five appearances, dating back to September 10, and only his third total since being activated from the injured list on September 3.

The 28-year-old right-hander finished a difficult year off the field with a 1.69 ERA — and a clean bill of health — and will enter next spring competing with Landen Roupp, Mason Black, Keaton Winn, Hayden Birdsong, Kyle Harrison and Carson Whisenhunt for a spot in the major-league rotation or bullpen.

“He was pretty inspired; you could see he was pretty amped up early in the game,” Melvin said. “I think he realized today, getting a start like that, big crowd, second-to-last game of the season, as far as his road’s gone, he’s got to feel pretty good about it.”

Who finished the game was equally noteworthy. Spencer Bivens, whose career took him to France and the independent leagues before he signed with the Giants, recorded the final three outs to notch his first major-league save at 30 years old.

A banner season

After taking a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the first, the Giants kept building on their advantage with scoring rallies in the fourth and the sixth, which proved to be important as St. Louis tagged Sean Hjelle and Erik Miller for four runs after Beck left the game.

Of course the table setter both times was none other than Matt Chapman, who collected his team-leading 38th and 39th doubles of the season to begin each inning. Both times, Patrick Bailey helped the Giants cash in on the opportunity, poking a single through the right side for the first of two runs in the fourth and driving a sacrifice fly to bring Chapman home in the sixth, extending the Giants’ lead to 5-2.

Already this month, Chapman has signed a $151 million contract extension, celebrated the birth of his first child and on Friday was presented the Willie Mac award, the prestigious annual honor voted on by teammates and coaches. The next afternoon he was back at it, etching his name in the organization’s record books.

Along with his 39 doubles, Chapman also has 27 home runs and a pair of triples. His second two-bagger of the afternoon was his 68th extra-base hit of the season, besting Brandon Belt (66 in 2016) and Hunter Pence (67 in 2013) for the most by a Giants hitter in more than a decade, since Pablo Sandoval had 74 in 2009.

It was his 13th game this season with multiple extra-base hits, five more than anybody else on the team. He has scored 38 more runs than the next-closest player on the roster (Mike Yastrzemski) and if he crosses the plate two more times in Sunday’s season finale could become the first Giant with triple digits since Pence in 2014.

Canha leaves injured

Snell didn’t want to chance injuring himself in a game without any playoff implications as heads into free agency, and he might have let out a sigh of relief when he saw Mark Canha scramble back to second base after starting the Giants’ two-run first with a double.

Canha was caught dancing off the bag by Cardinals starter Andre Pallente and appeared to tweak his hand diving back safely. He initially remained in the game but was replaced by Yastrzemski as a pinch-hitter before his next at-bat in the third inning, and the Giants later announced he left the game with a sprained right thumb.

The Bay Area native, 35, was acquired at the trade deadline from the Tigers, who just clinched an improbable playoff spot, and is set to become a free agent after this season. He said he hopes to keep playing and doesn’t expect the injury to linger more than a week or two into the offseason.