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Look up in the sky. It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s Patrick Bailey flying around the bases after another of his heroic and dramatic, albeit improbable, moments in the batter’s box.
The most unlikely hitter in the Giants’ lineup created the most unlikely moment of the season Wednesday night at Oracle Park, hammering home the fact that anything is possible in this wacky rivalry.
How else do you explain Bailey’s three-run home run that sunk the Dodgers 3-0 before another loud sellout crowd?
For that matter, how else do you explain that Tyler Mahle, he of the 7.23 ERA coming in, outpitched legendary Shohei Ohtani, whose ERA is in the low zeroes?
And how else do you explain the Giants beating the mighty Dodgers on consecutive nights to stunningly clinch a series win?
“Obviously happy to come through for the guys,” Bailey said long after his seventh-inning theatrics. “The swings have been feeling better. To be able to come through in that moment is huge.”
He did it again. Another Supermanian clout. This is the guy who beat L.A. with a walk-off grand slam last Sept. 12, pulling the Giants to just a half-game out of the playoff race with 16 regular-season games to go.
We know how that turned out. The Giants quickly played themselves out of contention by losing nine of their next 11, ultimately costing manager Bob Melvin his job and opening the door for Tony Vitello to assume the reins.
Fast forward to Wednesday night, and Vitello could have made an easy decision to pinch-hit for Bailey against lefty Jack Dreyer, the Dodgers’ first man out of the bullpen following Ohtani’s six scoreless innings. Jung Hoo Lee and Heliot Ramos singled, and Drew Gilbert advanced them with a bunt. Bailey was due up next, and Vitello had the option of pinch-hitting Jerar Encarnación to inflict some serious damage.
If .478-hitting Daniel Susac had been healthy, he also could have been a pinch-hit candidate, but he’s shelved with an elbow injury.
Instead, Vitello (in collaboration with hitting coach Hunter Mense and bench coach Jayce Tingler) showed faith in Bailey to put the ball in play against a drawn-in infield – even though the switch-hitter would be swinging right-handed. He had been 0-for-6 from the right side this season with just one right-handed homer since the start of the 2024 season, his September slam against the Dodgers.
So of course he went deep Wednesday, crushing Dreyer’s middle-in, two-strike slider 407 feet over the left-field wall, effortlessly bat-flipping on the follow-through, and spiriting the Giants’ fifth win in six games.
“I’m not trying to be funny, but when they showed the replay, it was a confident, slow, cocky swing,” Vitello said. “As [coach Ron Wotus] said, it’s not anything he hadn’t done before. Baseball’s a pain in the butt because it’s not what you can do, it’s how many times you can do it. Here’s to him feeding off that a little bit.”
In 2025, Bailey became the first hitter in big-league history with a walk-off grand slam and walk-off inside-the-park homer in the same season, the latter moment coming against the Phillies. Don’t forget the walk-off homers against the Pirates and Rangers.
While the two-time Gold Glove catcher has been a disappointment offensively for much of his career, he tends to dominate highlight reels. It’s a reason Vitello stuck with him, knowing big moments are in his DNA.
“He’s a lot more confident than maybe you’d expect at times because he’s not real brash with anything,” Vitello said. “Also, he’s pretty calm. Those are two things you have to have in those moments.”
Bailey appreciated the rookie manager believing in him in the high-leverage scenario.
“It means a lot to me,” he said. “Obviously I’ve had a history of coming through in those situations. I’m glad that he got to see that.”
It’s not that anyone expects Bailey to suddenly morph into a constant threat at the plate. Low batting averages are the norm, and homers are few and far between. He’s committed to switch-hitting and continues to work on both swings despite all the other pregame duties required of a catcher. But he has the track record that at any given time, he can rock a ballpark with his exploits in the batter’s box.
“Pretty simple,” Bailey said. “God didn’t put a spirit of fear in me.”
Lost in the jollity of Bailey’s decisive homer is the fact he caught the first 18 innings of the series in which Giants pitchers yielded just one run against the best offense in baseball. First Landen Roupp and five relievers tossed a three-hitter. Then Mahle fired seven stellar innings and combined with two relievers on a four-hitter. Ryan Walker pitched the ninth in both games to earn saves.
The Giants are 2-0 in games started by Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Ohtani, and they snapped Ohtani’s streak of reaching base at 53 games. Only Duke Snider had a longer streak in Dodger franchise history. Ohtani, the two-way sensation who won four MVP awards, is 1-for-8 in the series with an infield single and three strikeouts.
“We’ve been on the attack, which is great,” Bailey said. “We’ve been filling it up. Our defense has been outstanding the last two games. The starters have been great. Bullpen, I think guys are just confident in their stuff right now.”
With Susac off the roster, the Giants called up catcher Eric Haase from Triple-A Sacramento. Susac had been hitting himself into more playing time, but in his absence, Bailey is expected to carry the load behind the plate.
“It sucks,” Bailey said of Susac’s absence. “You never want to see that. I’ve been super excited for him. It’s been really cool to watch what he’s done this year. I’ve got no doubt when he comes back, he’ll pick up where he left off.”
Meantime, Bailey will keep plugging away, and every once in a while, he’ll surely make his presence felt big-time at the plate. Like he almost always does behind the plate.
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