For the first time, Tony Vitello got to live through the new extra-innings rule in Major League Baseball. The Giants and Washington Nationals made sure he got the full experience. 

After a wild hour, the Giants escaped with a 7-6 win in the 12th inning at Nationals Park. They’ve won three in a row and are back to even on the long road trip. 

The game went to extras after Ryan Walker coughed up a one-run lead in the bottom of the ninth. After the Giants failed to score their automatic runner in their half of the 10th, the Nationals loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the inning. 

Walker didn’t throw many pitches in the ninth, so he remained on the mound. He struck out Daylen Lile and then Nasim Nuñez, who swung through what would have been a game-ending ball four. Then, it got really weird. 

Jorbit Vivas hit a grounder to short and Willy Adames went for the force, but the runner coming from first beat him to the bag. With some quick thinking, Adames came through the second base bag and flipped the ball to first to end the inning. A stunned Vivas had somewhat shut it down, apparently thinking the inning was going to end with an out at second. 

After neither team scored in the 11th, Matt Chapman put the Giants back on top with a single in the 12th. This time, the Giants held on, with Caleb Kilian picking up his first career win. 

The third win in a row came on a day when the Giants trailed by four runs early. They had not come back from a deficit of at least four runs since last June 4. 

Adrian Houser gave up five runs in the first two innings and very nearly got knocked out in the second. With the Giants trailing 5-1, CJ Abrams hit a high fly ball to center that looked like a three-run homer, but the ball died 404 feet away from the plate and Houser got out of the jam.

That might have been a game-ender had it gone over, even with the Giants swinging the bats better, but instead they were given a chance to claw back. Heliot Ramos tied it in the sixth with a two-run homer, and Rafael Devers put the Giants on top with a two-out single in the seventh.

The Giants haven’t had many save opportunities early on, and Walker couldn’t hold on in the ninth. Drew Gilbert kept it from potentially being worse, throwing a runner out at third to end the inning and prevent a ninth-inning walk-off. 

Red-hot Ramos

Ramos was basically Aaron Judge against lefties in 2024, but last year was more inconsistent and the start of this season was a nightmare. He has found his swing in the nation’s capital, though. 

Ramos turned on a low slider from lefty Mitchell Parker in the sixth and tied it up with his second homer in as many days. For a second time in two days, he pounded his chest as he ran the bases, and this time Adames and Jerar Encarnación spurred him on from the top step of the dugout.

Ramos was slugging just .262 when the Giants landed in D.C. He’s currently at .384.

Hous It Going

Houser was charged with five runs — four earned — in 5 2/3 innings, and he has a 5.40 ERA through his first four starts, but you can bet he got some pats on the back in the dugout when he was finally done Saturday. Getting knocked out in the second would have put a strain on the bullpen, but Houser shut it down after the Abrams close call.

The biggest threat after the second inning was shut down when Patrick Bailey back-picked a runner on third. Houser retired nine of the last 11 batters he faced after that play.

That’s More Like It

The Giants swapped Ryan Borucki in for Joey Lucchesi late in the spring to get a lefty-killer on their staff. The early results have been disappointing, but mostly because Borucki has been crushed by righties and the staff has at times put him in tough spots and forced him to get through those matchups.

Vitello found the perfect spot for Borucki on Saturday. With a runner on second and two outs in the sixth, he came on to face James Wood, the reigning NL Player of the Week and the man who got this game going with a solo shot off Houser. 

Borucki went 3-2 on Wood and then struck him out on a slider. Lefties are now 2-for-14 against him this year with five strikeouts. 

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