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DENVER – Major League Baseball suspended Matt Chapman for one game and scheduled the sentence to be served Wednesday night.
Chapman said no thanks.
So he played.
And he dominated.
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The Giants’ wild, wacky, and just plain weird season keeps rolling along, with a compelling story every day, a new way to win every day, and a playoff scenario that’s stunningly becoming more of a talking point every day.
The latest storyline belongs to Chapman, who was the only player to receive a suspension from Tuesday night’s benches-clearing fracas at Coors Field, yet he did what he had every right to do: he appealed and played anyway.
Let the suspension come another day, he figured. Who knows? There’s a chance it could get lifted. But even if it’s not, the memories from Wednesday night’s 10-8 win over the Rockies won’t go away anytime soon.
Chapman, batting cleanup, swung mightily at the first pitch he saw and airmailed it over the wall in right-center, a whopping 450 feet for his 19th homer of the season. Oh, he also doubled, walked, and added his 20th homer, going 3-for-4 with four RBIs.
Moral of the story: always fight to stay in the lineup.
“It’s obviously unfortunate that I have to get suspended probably, but we wanted to appeal it, see what we could do,” Chapman said. “I want to get out there and help this team no matter what. Every game is super important for us. The fact I was able to get out there and make an impact is huge.”
Chapman’s first homer gave the Giants a San Francisco franchise record; they homered in their 17th straight game. Their only longer streak came way back in 1947, the year Jackie Robinson broke in with the rival Brooklyn Dodgers, when the New York Giants homered in 19 straight games.
Rookie Drew Gilbert, who has brought gobs of positive energy to the team, some seemingly over the top but all welcomed and embraced, also homered. In the 17 games, the Giants banged 36 out of the park, a remarkable advancement for a team that didn’t slug much early in the season.
“Better late than never, I guess, right?” Chapman said.
Chapman is a big part of this resurrection. And by the way, a funny thing happened on his way back from the injured list Aug. 23. The Giants went from a slumping team to a soaring team. From losing 10 of 12 to winning 10 of 11.
Maybe it wasn’t a fluke. With Chapman in the lineup, the Giants are 59-48. When he’s not, they’re 12-21.
Don’t look now – oh, go ahead and take a quick peek – but just four games separate the Giants from the final wild-card spot, held by the Mets. Though technically, it’s a five-game spread because the Mets own the tiebreaker.
After sweeping the Rockies, the Giants were in great spirits while dressing for their next flight to St. Louis. As part of their travel outfits, they all wore NFL jerseys as a tribute to the start of football season, and a couple of relievers went more retro than the rest — Matt Gage put on an Archie Manning No. 8 Saints jersey while JT Brubaker wore an Earl Campbell No. 34 Oilers jersey.
After three games in St. Louis, the Giants play their final two homestands sandwiched around one more weeklong trip and seemingly have an easier schedule than the Mets, who still need to play the Phillies, Rangers, Padres, and Cubs.
The Giants face the Dodgers seven more times. Otherwise, the only competition is teams currently under .500 including the final three in San Francisco against the hapless Rockies.
Enough playoff talk. It’s still all premature considering just 22 games remain, but there’s no denying it’s a special time for a streaky Giants team that has spent all season ebbing and flowing and currently is playing its best ball of the summer.
“We’re never out of a ballgame,” said starter Robbie Ray, who experienced it firsthand Wednesday.
The Giants were up 4-1 with two outs in the fifth inning when Ray thought he struck out Tyler Freeman for the final out. Umpire Dan Bellino mistakenly called the inside-corner fastball a ball, and Freeman singled on the next pitch. In a hurry, that 4-1 lead turned to a 5-4 deficit.
During the inning, manager Bob Melvin was ejected for disputing Bellino’s call. After the game, Melvin confessed he should have pulled his starter earlier.
“It’s 4-1, the inning’s over,” said Melvin, citing the scenario had Bellino made the right call, “and (Ray) is going to go out the next inning. I stuck with him one hitter too long, but I’m trying to get him through that inning. Here (with the mile-high elements that wear on bullpens), you try to be a little patient with your starters.”
Ray said the missed call and ensuing base hit affected him mentally and his flow: “I just felt the whole momentum shifted a little bit.”
No worries. The next half-inning, the Giants answered big. Patrick Bailey singled home the tying run, Heliot Ramos singled home the go-ahead run, and Chapman capped the rally with a three-run homer to put the Giants ahead 9-5.
The Rockies scored three in the ninth, but closer Ryan Walker eventually secured the save. The next step for the Giants is to prepare for the Cardinals and await the ruling from the league on Chapman, the only player among the three ejected Tuesday who got suspended.
That’s because Chapman clearly pushed Rockies pitcher Kyle Freeland during the melee. Michael Hill, the league’s VP for on-field operations, made the announcement, also divvying out fines to Freeland, Chapman, Willy Adames, and Rafael Devers.
The incident began when Freeland screamed at Devers for admiring his first-inning home run and taking ample time to begin his trot. Devers yelled back, and both benches and bullpens poured onto the field.
“Stuff happens in the heat of the moment,” Chapman said. “I felt I was there to defend my teammate and stick up for Rafi. I felt like (Freeland) was coming at him a little bit. Just trying to stick up for my teammate. Nothing personal. Just have my teammate’s back.”
Chapman said Buster Posey, the Giants’ top baseball exec, told him he thought appealing was the right call.
In retrospect, it certainly was.